About the Authors

Wynton Marsalis, author of Moving to Higher Ground; How Jazz Can Change Your Life and numerous non fiction texts and speeches, is currently Artistic Director at Jazz at Lincoln Center and serves as Cultural Correspondent for CBS. His accolades include nine Grammy Awards, a Pulitzer Prize, and numerous national and international recognitions for his talents and efforts in music and humanitarian contributions. Working with writer, Phyllis Magold, Arts, Rhetoric, and Swing provides an opportunity for him to share his educational goals and artistic message to students outside the traditional music curriculum. (For further biographical information, visit http://wyntonmarsalis.org)

Phyllis B. Magold is a freelance writer and former high school English teacher and administrator. Ms. Magold attended Marquette University and graduated Summa Cum Laude with a BA in English from Otterbein University, where she also received her Master of Education degree with a focus on curriculum development. She has earned numerous local, state, national, and international recognitions and awards for her writing and work in education. Working with Wynton Marsalis in writing Arts, Rhetoric and Swing,has fulfilled a goal of bringing a fresh perspective of the arts, the use of language, and the importance of mutual respect into the classroom.

Geoffrey C. Ward is a prize-winning historian and the author or co-author of eighteen books. He is also the writer or principal writer of 24 PBS documentaries, including The Civil War and Jazz that are used in classrooms all across the country.

Moving To Higher Ground

“Wynton Marsalis is absolutely the one to write this book. Here he is as young as morning, as fresh as dew, and already called one of the jazz greats. He is not only a seer and an exemplary musician, but a poet as well. He informs us that jazz was created, among other things, to expose the hypocrisy and absurdity of racism and other ignorances in our country. Poetry was given to human beings for the same reason – [This book] is an absolute joy to read.”
– Maya Angelou

Contents (174 pages)

Introduction: Now, that's jazz
Chapter 1: Discovering the joy of swinging
Chapter 2: Speaking the language of jazz
Chapter 3: Everybody's music: the blues
Chapter 4: What it takes – and how it feels – to play
Chapter 5: The great coming together
Chapter 6: Lessons from the masters
Chapter 7: That thing with no name
Afterword: Conversation between Justice Sandra Day O'Connor and Wynton Marsalis

ISBN: 978-0-8129-6908-5

Arts, Rhetoric, and Swing

“This beautifully written teachers' guide provides ready-to-use discussion points and essay questions along with clearly identified standards and terms. It makes me wish I were a student once again, learning the incredible connections between the arts, coming alive for the first time to the pulse of life in jazz and the written word.”
–Nancy Nestor-Baker PhD
The Ohio State University College of Education and Human Ecology

Contents of Teacher's Edition (80 pages)

Language Arts Standards Alignment
Essential Questions
Unit and Lesson Plans
Bloom's Taxonomy Objectives
Biographical Information
Synopsis of Text
Chapter by Chapter Summary and Analysis
Persuasion and Rhetoric
Aristotelian Triad
Aristotle's Three Appeals
Studying Moving to Higher Ground through Philosophy of Art
Assessments
Video and Audio Supplements
Glossary of Literary and Rhetorical Terms

ISBN (Student Edition):
978-0-9887358-1-1
ISBN (Teacher Edition):
978-0-9887358-0-4

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