"The author's conviction on this day of New Year is that music begins to atrophy when it departs too far from the dance; that poetry begins to atrophy when it gets too far from music; but this must not be taken as implying that all good music is dance music or all poetry lyric. Bach and Mozart are never too far from physical movement." [--Ezra Pound]
Last night, Poetry & Poets in Rags linked to the following article that begins by featuring William Butler Yeats's poem http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KQtNSGLKHBQ set to music by http://www.quinlanroad.com/:
http://ikke.waarmaarraar.nl/blog/442/ID/148927/GO/0/The_Stolen_Child_-_William_Butler_Yeats.html
Today, another article appeared on the web that highlights McKennitt's musical association with poetry:
http://www.columbusdispatch.com/live/content/life/stories/2007/10/10/2_MCKENNITT.ART_ART_10-10-07_D3_4985069.html?sid=101
She is quoted as saying:
"I look for particular kinds of poems. First of all, they must resonate within the banner of the rough theme that I might be working on. . . . The second thing is looking at the imagery. I love to find a very strong imagery. . . . One is also looking at the pragmatic things: Are the phrases of the poem singable? Because sometimes you get wonderful poems but they can be misery to sing."
This past June, Poetry & Poets in Rags linked to this article by Sam Sadigursky:
http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/article.php?id=25888
The Words Project is about setting poetry to music, specifically jazz. Here is Sadigursky's website: http://www.samsadigursky.com/. Click http://www.samsadigursky.com/live/ to go further into the site and you will hear his music. Click on "Listen" to select tracks.
In the article he writes:
"Basing a composition on a poem presents a multitude of challenges artistically and musically. A poem, regardless of form or verse, exists on its own, its own entity, possessing a rhyme, rhythm and a music within. I constantly ask myself whether poets actually want this done to their work. It can often feel like clothing a great nude sculpture or framing an unframed work of art and thus must be approached with great delicacy. "
On Sadigursky's title webpage, there is this quote from http://www.jazzchicago.net/:
"Words and music--a union not always equal or necessarily tranquil. Serious words, expressing perceptive thought in an artful way is hardly the norm in jazz or any music, especially since music is generally constrained by beats and measures in a way much modern poetry is not. As such, the combination of the arts of poetry and music is a rarely attempted feat and one that is hardly ever pulled off successfully, with most lyricists reverting to moon and June rhymes and shallow platitudes. Thankfully, Sam Sadigursky’s The Words Project is the exception to this norm in its brilliant combination of poems by poets like Donald Justice, Paul Auster, and Maxine Kumin. . . a satisfyingly emotional and haunting experience"
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Check out these terrific responses to setting poetry to music:
Zyskandar A. Jaimot at http://www.moontowncafe.com/poetry/read_reviews.asp?cat_id=1&subcat_id=245&poem_id=51612
Johanna Donovan and Mitchell Geller at http://68.178.150.189/discus/messages/5424/26412.html?1192136119
misskeenish and White_Rabbit at http://fray.slate.com/discuss/forums/thread/407898.aspx
michaela gabriel at http://www.rachelmallino.org/ITWS/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=449
Kitty at http://wc6.worldcrossing.com/webx?14@@.1dde09ef (the now "recent" posts in the IBPC News thread)
Making (Mignon) at http://p098.ezboard.com/fthewaters35527frm14.showMessage?topicID=42.topic
Fred Longworth, Will Eastland, and Lazarus at http://wildpoetryforum.com/~wildpoet/discus/messages/12/52396.html?1192111978
Beth Vieira at http://www.criticalpoet.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=29011&sid=2a586e6f5e2b0c96bacd750cdb4eafa4
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Both Kitty and michaela spoke of http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MU_Tn-HxULM (http://www.lib.rochester.edu/camelot/shalcomb.htm)
michaela further spoke of these:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EVQF_RXHlX0 (http://www.potw.org/archive/potw85.html)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uYc7mAMcbbg (http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/15403)
michaela reminded me of http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lgww82X7aOk (http://poetry.poetryx.com/poems/10079/)
And, in reference to Sam Sadigursky, he joined poet/singer Andrea Tierra, her husband Edmar Castañeda, and Dave Silliman, in a rendition of Tierra's poem http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GQxKwedDX04. Go to her website: http://www.andreatierra.com/live/ and click on "Poetry".
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Will Eastland calls it "composing a setting for the text" and he shares an mp3 of his work at http://wildpoetryforum.com/~wildpoet/discus/messages/12/52396.html?1192193217
White_Rabbit shares examples at http://fray.slate.com/discuss/forums/thread/407898.aspx
More great conversation from these poetry lovers:
maryanncorbett , Making (Mignon), and Judy at http://p098.ezboard.com/fthewaters35527frm14.showMessage?topicID=42.topic
Dragon, reader2rider, & Beth Vieira at http://www.criticalpoet.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=29011&sid=501e3484fd2c9ed2dd6b2fc64ca6e30e
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Some more very considered responses to setting poetry to music, broadening and deepening this discussion in our poetry community, some with examples for us to check out:
michaela gabriel at http://www.rachelmallino.org/ITWS/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=449
Making (Mignon) at http://p098.ezboard.com/fthewaters35527frm14.showMessage?topicID=42.topic
Dragon at http://www.criticalpoet.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=29011
Guy Parker, Emusing, & Jim Doss at http://wildpoetryforum.com/~wildpoet/discus/messages/12/52396.html?1192487194
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This is an extraordinary interboard discussion, and I want to thank all the participants. There has been no response, short or long, that I have not enjoyed and appreciated. This is probably the case for others as well. May I request, that if a blog post or online article is inspired in you from some aspect of this discussion, that you please share it in the thread, and I will link that in as well.
Here is Brad Walseth's article in JazzChicago.net: http://www.jazzchicago.net/reviews/word.html. It is the article with the quote referenced in this thread's first post. It turns out that it is a very recent and strong article, and made the News at Eleven section of Poetry & Poets in Rags yesterday.
At the forums . . .
Carol moves from a private forum to http://poetryandpoetsinrags.blogspot.com/2007/10/news-at-eleven-faery-has-lured-child.html and gets speciific about what works and what doesn't for Loreena McKennitt's rendering of "The Stolen Child".
Steve Bunch at another private forum speaks of http://woodstockjournal.com/ work.
posthumous, Dragon, arabianlady (Brenda), & I discuss, at http://www.criticalpoet.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=29011&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=0, among some tangentials and other points, poetry written to be set to music, and what types of poems are selected for music by composers.
Helen Margaret Rees at http://wildpoetryforum.com/~wildpoet/discus/messages/12/52396.html?1192597691 speaks of relevance and links to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YIKWHuxljFE.
Pris Campbell at http://www.facebook.com/topic.php?uid=2224667413&topic=5133 compares http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EVQF_RXHlX0 to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nsKc7zQtfRU
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