How a ‘Hamilton’ Song Helped Amanda GormanOvercome a Speech Impediment阿曼達·戈爾曼通過唱歌克服言語障礙

斯科蒂·安德魯 佐伊·克里森·瓊斯

“For there is always light，

If only were brave enough to see it，

If only were brave enough to be it.”

Those are the words from Amanda Gormans poem. She is the poet who literally stole the show1 with her rousing poem， “The Hill We Climb，” at President Joe Bidens inauguration.

Ahead of the performance， Gorman spoke to CBS and noted how the poem was amended after the violent attack on the Capitol. “I wanted it to be a message of hope and unity. And I think that Wednesday2 for me really just underscored how much that was needed，” she said. “But to not turn a blind eye to the cracks that really need to be filled.”

Her words were strong， succinct， poignant， and powerful. She delivered them with precision and poise like that of a veteran orator. But Gorman is young. In fact， at the age of 22， Gorman became the youngest poet to recite in any Presidential inaugural.

While her words were powerful， full of emotion， and captured the moment with awe， it wasnt the only thing about her that captivated viewers across the world. Gormans recitation， her speech and voice moved with such grace and confidence， her words flowed like water， yet few would believe that she too like our new President Biden had been dealing with a speech impediment since childhood.

You wouldnt know it from her commanding delivery at the inauguration， but up until a few years ago， National Youth Poet Laureate Amanda Gorman struggled to overcome speech impediment.

For much of her life， including when she was still an undergraduate at Harvard， Gorman had trouble pronouncing the letter “R.”

To practice saying the letter， shed listen on repeat to one song she said was “packed with ‘Rs”—“Aaron Burr， Sir” from Lin-Manuel Miranda3s historical opus4， “Hamilton5.”

“I would try to keep up with Leslie Odom Jr. （who played Burr in the original Broadway cast） as hes， you know， doing this amazing rap，” Gorman told CNNs Anderson Cooper， following her triumphant inaugural performance. “I would say， if I can train myself to do this song， then I can train myself to say this letter.”

Sure enough， rapping along with Odom Jr. and Mirandas fast-paced rhymes worked， and Gormans performance of her piece， “The Hill We Climb，” ranked among the highlights of President Joe Bidens inauguration.

Overcoming a speech impediment is a milestone she shares with the 46th President， as well as a love for “Hamilton” （the original Broadway cast performed at the White House while he was Vice President and reunited in 2020 for a Biden campaign video）.

Gorman said she owes a lot to the Pulitzer Prize-winning musical， calling it “part of （her） speech pathology6.”

“Its why I included it in the inaugural poem，” she told Cooper. “Also， beyond that， I think ‘Hamilton is such a great kind of American cultural piece of what it means to be a better country.”

Gorman snuck in7 a few references to “Hamilton” in her stirring poem， some of which Miranda caught. He lauded her performance in a tweet.

“You were perfect. Perfectly written， perfectly delivered，” he wrote. “Every bit of it. Brava！”

Politicians and cultural titans like Barack Obama， Hillary Clinton and Oprah Winfrey echoed Mirandas praise. In her fleeting moments on the inaugural stage， as Gorman called on the American people to summon the bravery it takes to “be” the light， she became a light for the country， too.? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ■

因為光明永在，

只要我們足夠勇敢去探尋光明，

只要我們足夠勇敢去成為光明。

這是阿曼達·戈爾曼的詩句。她就是在喬·拜登總統(tǒng)就職典禮上，以其激動人心的詩作《我們攀登的山》搶盡典禮風頭的那個詩人。

朗誦前，戈爾曼接受了哥倫比亞廣播公司的采訪，指出在國會大廈遭到暴力沖擊之后，這首詩做了怎樣的修改。“我想讓這首詩傳遞出希望和團結的信息。我想，對我而言，發(fā)生在那個星期三的事件（1月6日）確實凸顯出我們是多么需要這樣的信息。”她說道，“但不要對那些真正需要填補的裂痕視而不見。”

她的詩句鏗鏘有力，簡潔明了，感人肺腑，大氣磅礴。她像一位老練的演說家一樣，精準到位、淡定自若地朗誦了自己的詩句。事實上，戈爾曼還很年輕，僅有22歲，成為在美國總統(tǒng)就職典禮上朗誦的最年輕的詩人。

盡管她的詩句氣勢恢宏，飽含情感，震撼人心，但令全球觀眾傾倒的并不僅僅是她的詩句。戈爾曼的朗誦優(yōu)雅自信，節(jié)奏流暢。但幾乎無人相信，如我們的新總統(tǒng)拜登一樣，她自小就有言語障礙。

從她在就職典禮上威嚴大氣的朗誦根本看不出她有言語障礙，其實直到幾年前，全國青年桂冠詩人得主阿曼達·戈爾曼一直在努力克服言語障礙。

她生活中的大部分時間，包括她還在哈佛讀本科的時候，戈爾曼就總發(fā)不好字母“R”這個音。

為了練習發(fā)好這個音，她反復聽一首她稱之為“塞滿了‘R”的歌——林-曼努埃爾·米蘭達的歷史音樂劇《漢密爾頓》中的“阿龍·伯爾，閣下”唱段。

“你知道，我會盡量跟上小萊斯利·奧多姆（百老匯演出的原班人馬中阿龍·伯爾的扮演者）的節(jié)奏，像他那樣表演這首精彩的說唱。”戈爾曼在成功完成總統(tǒng)就職詩歌朗誦之后，接受美國有線電視新聞網(wǎng)的安德森·庫珀采訪時說道，“我覺得，如果我能練好這首歌，那么我就能練好讀準這個字母。”

果不其然，跟著小奧多姆和米蘭達的快節(jié)奏韻句練說唱的方法奏效了，戈爾曼朗誦的作品《我們攀登的山》成為喬·拜登總統(tǒng)就職典禮的諸多亮點之一。

和戈爾曼一樣，克服言語障礙也是第46任總統(tǒng)人生經(jīng)歷中的一個轉折點，而且拜登總統(tǒng)也非常喜歡音樂劇《漢密爾頓》（拜登擔任副總統(tǒng)期間，百老匯原班人馬曾在白宮演出，并于2020年為拜登競選拍攝宣傳視頻時重聚）。

戈爾曼說，她非常感謝普利策獎獲獎音樂劇《漢密爾頓》，稱其“幫（她）克服了言語障礙。”

“這就是為什么我把它寫進了就職典禮詩。”她告訴庫珀，“此外，我也認為《漢密爾頓》是一部偉大的美國文化作品，展現(xiàn)了成為一個更好的國家意味著什么。”

戈爾曼在她鼓舞人心的詩中，悄悄引用了《漢密爾頓》的幾處唱詞，米蘭達注意到了這些“機關”。他在推特上贊揚了她的表現(xiàn)。

“你太完美了。詩寫得完美，朗誦得完美，”他寫道，“每一處都棒極了！”

貝拉克·奧巴馬、希拉里·克林頓和奧普拉·溫弗瑞等政界名人及文化界巨頭和米蘭達一樣對戈爾曼表示贊賞。戈爾曼在就職典禮講臺上的短短幾分鐘里，當她號召美國人民鼓起勇氣“成為”光明時，她也因此成為了這個國家的光明。? ? ? ? ? □

1 steal the show最受歡迎;最為出彩。? 2 2021年1月6日，美國國會大廈被美國時任總統(tǒng)唐納德·特朗普的支持者暴力闖入，引發(fā)騷亂事件。

3美國演員、作曲家、制作人。? 4 opus（由某一作曲家創(chuàng)作、按發(fā)表順序編號的）音樂作品;編號作品。? 5《漢密爾頓》根據(jù)美國第一任財政部長、美國開國元勛之一的亞歷山大·漢密爾頓本人經(jīng)歷改編，由林-曼努埃爾·米蘭達編劇、作曲及主演，于2015年8月6日在百老匯首演。

6 pathology病理學。? 7 sneak in偷偷溜進。

Inspiring Quotes by Amanda Gorman

While we might feel small， separate， and all alone， our people have never been more tightly tethered. The questions not if we will weather this unknown， but how we will weather the unknown together.

Poetry， and art in general， means showing up with your best self. And whoever that may be， that in and of itself is beautiful. The more that we can bring our authentic selves， with hope， into the moment the more that moment will show up for us.