Music expresses that which cannot be said and on which it is impossible to be silent. ~Victor Hugo
Music is the poetry of the air. ~Richter
Music rots when it gets too far from the dance. Poetry atrophies when it gets too far from music. ~Ezra Pound
Poetry and music have an ancient connection. Both poetry and music are mediators between spirit and experience.
Poetry is direct, archetypal and universal imagery which our primal mind can immediately recognize. The rules of sentence structure do not apply as strongly as do those of tone, rhythm and meter, metaphor, and the effective use of silence. These of course are also the language of music.
Its language is a language which the soul alone understands, but which the soul can never translate. ~Arnold Bennett
Music is the literature of the heart; it commences where speech ends. ~Alphonse de Lamartine
Music is the shorthand of emotion. ~Leo Tolstoy
For this project you will use the words and imagery of a poem to create a short song. We combine poetry analysis with musical analysis to make the best possible choices. Guiding us further along the way are our selected readings fromPaul Zolla's masterful collection of interviews "Songwriters on Songwriting", beginning with the John Hiatt interview and an analysis of his song "Have a Little Faith In Me".
Watch this short clip from PBS Newshour about Natalie Merchant's recent double disc release which also uses classic poetry in her new song projects.
1. Choose a poem from one of the great poets in your native language. English speaking students should either choose a poem from Poets.org or you may choose any poem that has meaning for you, even write your own short poem if this is a particular talent of yours. Poems may be excerpted and summarized into the song as well, using perhaps only a few key lines from the poet, combined with your own lyrics/poetry if you wish to personalize the piece in that way.
Other Sources of Poetry on the Web:
Poetry Links
Poems for Teens
Comments (1)
Theo said
at 11:01 am on May 26, 2010
Something that just popped into my head was The Doors' "Horse Latitudes". It's a very strange song (if you can call it that), made up of Jim Morrison's poetry. One of the oddest example of poetry into song, for sure.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gy9Ipdvj7Ok
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