Poetry and Music

[egordon99]

6/9 Update - My EP is now live at https://open.spotify.com/album/0x1GoAm8FATrfxTFqFfHTi

In addition to three "Poem-songs", there are also two cover songs.

Regarding the album cover, I did a Location search in my Google Photos album (basically every picture from my phone over the last ~6 years) to find pictures I took in New Jersey. The picture I ended up choosing was taken real quick last summer while my wife was driving us up to Cape Cod from Philly. We were on the NJ Turnpike right around Newark Airport.

So it certainly fits in the theme of being ON THE ROAD and since it involved lots of cars on the NJ Turnpike, I decided it was fate and I had to also record a cover of Simon & Garfunkel's "America"

NJ-Album-Cover.jpg


Hope you enjoy!



************************************************** ********************
I wrote this "song" back in December and posted a quick recording of it at the time.

Here's a proper recording of it; we just had our Young Change baby grand tuned, and I started with a properly mic-d piano (Warm Audio WA-47 and WA-47jr recorded in stereo), then added the vocals through the WA-47, and finally two guitar parts (my CEO-7) before heading down to my "MIDI studio" where I added some other stuff

I think this was a good exercise in arranging different instruments to suit the song.

Enjoy!



And here's the poem -

To an Athlete Dying Young
BY A. E. HOUSMAN

The time you won your town the race
We chaired you through the market-place;
Man and boy stood cheering by,
And home we brought you shoulder-high.

Today, the road all runners come,
Shoulder-high we bring you home,
And set you at your threshold down,
Townsman of a stiller town.

Smart lad, to slip betimes away
From fields where glory does not stay,
And early though the laurel grows
It withers quicker than the rose.

Eyes the shady night has shut
Cannot see the record cut,
And silence sounds no worse than cheers
After earth has stopped the ears.

Now you will not swell the rout
Of lads that wore their honours out,
Runners whom renown outran
And the name died before the man.

So set, before its echoes fade,
The fleet foot on the sill of shade,
And hold to the low lintel up
The still-defended challenge-cup.

And round that early-laurelled head
Will flock to gaze the strengthless dead,
And find unwithered on its curls
The garland briefer than a girl’s.

[ReneAsologuitar]

Very well written poem!
The melody is so lovely, I like it!
Instrumentation is laid out nicely!
I am impressed by your guitar collection.
Thanks for sharing this beauty!!!
Respectfully,
Rene

[egordon99]

Originally Posted by ReneAsologuitar

Very well written poem!
The melody is so lovely, I like it!
Instrumentation is laid out nicely!
I am impressed by your guitar collection.
Thanks for sharing this beauty!!!
Respectfully,
Rene

Thanks for listening! To clarify, I did not write the poem. It was written by a British poet a long long time ago.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Shropshire_Lad

[FrankHudson]

Nice job with the Housman poem set to music. I also love sparse piano mixed with acoustic guitar. The two instruments just meld so well.

Always like hearing folks combining literary poetry with music, as that's been a the focus of my Parlando Project over the past 7 years. Here's a recent piece from that Project with Emily Dickinson's poem musing on "The Things We Thought (That We Should Do)" where I mix in piano and a little celesta too.

Emily Dickinson with acoustic guitar & piano

And as to A E Housman's poetry, here's a spooky one of his done with (electric piano) and guitar a few years back in my Project:

Her Strong Enchantments Failing

[egordon99]

Thanks for listening!

Yeah, I've checked out your Parlando project... Good stuff!

Right now I'm working on putting together an EP with a few of my "poem songs" and getting it onto Spotify/Apple Music via DistroKid.

Originally Posted by FrankHudson

Nice job with the Housman poem set to music. I also love sparse piano mixed with acoustic guitar. The two instruments just meld so well.

Always like hearing folks combining literary poetry with music, as that's been a the focus of my Parlando Project over the past 7 years. Here's a recent piece from that Project with Emily Dickinson's poem musing on "The Things We Thought (That We Should Do)" where I mix in piano and a little celesta too.

Emily Dickinson with acoustic guitar & piano

And as to A E Housman's poetry, here's a spooky one of his done with (electric piano) and guitar a few years back in my Project:

Her Strong Enchantments Failing

[FrankHudson]

Originally Posted by egordon99

Thanks for listening!

Yeah, I've checked out your Parlando project... Good stuff!

Right now I'm working on putting together an EP with a few of my "poem songs" and getting it onto Spotify/Apple Music via DistroKid.

Keep us appraised of when it comes out.

[egordon99]

Originally Posted by FrankHudson

Keep us appraised of when it comes out.

I've working on the album cover and everything is recorded, so just need to get the tracks mixed.

You can probably guess where the title of the album came from. The picture was taken by me in New Jersey, it's a road, and you can count the cars on this particular road


NJ-Album-Cover.jpg

[b1j]

A while back Loreena McKenitt (sp?) set most verses of a Tennyson mini-epic poem to song: The Lady of Shallott. Despite its 11-minute length, it was remarkably engrossing, even singable, probably in equal measure because of her ethereal voice and his vivid verse and gripping story. It’s made me think recently of trying that with a sonnet, maybe by Shakespeare, maybe someone else.

Too precious? What do you think?

[egordon99]

Originally Posted by b1j

A while back Loreena McKenitt (sp?) set most verses of a Tennyson mini-epic poem to song: The Lady of Shallott. Despite its 11-minute length, it was remarkably engrossing, even singable, probably in equal measure because of her ethereal voice and his vivid verse and gripping story. It’s made me think recently of trying that with a sonnet, maybe by Shakespeare, maybe someone else.

Too precious? What do you think?

Yes! She is a wonderful artist who I've been following since the mid-90s.

She has done a lot of poetry to music, my favorite is her setting of "The Highwayman" by Alfred Noyes which is also a long epic poem.

As for Shakespeare, go for it! This is art, there are no rules.

[FrankHudson]

Originally Posted by b1j

A while back Loreena McKenitt (sp?) set most verses of a Tennyson mini-epic poem to song: The Lady of Shallott. Despite its 11-minute length, it was remarkably engrossing, even singable, probably in equal measure because of her ethereal voice and his vivid verse and gripping story. It’s made me think recently of trying that with a sonnet, maybe by Shakespeare, maybe someone else.

Too precious? What do you think?

Sonnet, it just so happens, means "little song." So not precious (any more than any art is). Here are some challenges and tactics I've taken with combining sonnets with music:

Many sonnets are dense in language. Some are hard to sing with more relaxed folk style settings. Pick wisely unless you're willing to go full "art song."

Even if it's obscured, most sonnets imply a story or a character, so look for those elements to bring out in your performance.

Songs love to use refrains, yet few sonnets use any refraining material. I've created refrains where the literary poem didn't have one. There are no laws broken if you choose to repeat a line or phrase in the original text when you turn it into a song.

Here's a Christina Rossetti sonnet that worked well to set to a folk-style melody. Oddly instead of adding lines such as refrain, I accidently left off the last line in this recording, which seemed to add to the mystery of the absence spoken of at the ending.

Christina Rossetti's May

Here's another, a romantic and dangerous one by Tudor-era English poet Thomas Wyatt where I tired to bring out the drama:

They Flee from Me

[FrankHudson]

Originally Posted by egordon99

I've working on the album cover and everything is recorded, so just need to get the tracks mixed.

You can probably guess where the title of the album came from. The picture was taken by me in New Jersey, it's a road, and you can count the cars on this particular road


Attachment 92500

Looking forward to hearing it.

[b1j]

Originally Posted by FrankHudson

Sonnet, it just so happens, means "little song." So not precious (any more than any art is). Here are some challenges and tactics I've taken with combining sonnets with music:

Many sonnets are dense in language. Some are hard to sing with more relaxed folk style settings. Pick wisely unless you're willing to go full "art song."

Even if it's obscured, most sonnets imply a story or a character, so look for those elements to bring out in your performance.

Songs love to use refrains, yet few sonnets use any refraining material. I've created refrains where the literary poem didn't have one. There are no laws broken if you choose to repeat a line or phrase in the original text when you turn it into a song.

Here's a Christina Rossetti sonnet that worked well to set to a folk-style melody. Oddly instead of adding lines such as refrain, I accidently left off the last line in this recording, which seemed to add to the mystery of the absence spoken of at the ending.

Christina Rossetti's May

Here's another, a romantic and dangerous one by Tudor-era English poet Thomas Wyatt where I tired to bring out the drama:

They Flee from Me

Frank, I’ve been meaning to reply, but I keep letting it slip my mind.

I agree with your points. The language in most poems calls for crisp diction and phrasing that illuminates the main ideas. After reading through them again, I’ve decided to give Shakespeare’s sonnets a pass, as they don’t really contain narrative arcs; they’re mostly first person appeals to another person. I’d like to tell a developing story, like Lily, Rosemary, and the Jack of Hearts or The Lady of Shalott. Or I might go with sage advice to another, like Forever Young.

At the moment, Kipling’s “If” is dancing in my head. Its rhyming scheme is musical, and iambic pentameter is the king of meter. While there is no refrain, there is plenty of anaphora that grounds the work: good place for a main melodic motif.

I enjoyed your two verse-songs. In my case, I’m going to aim to write a melody within a harmonic setting, so it may turn out something like the “art song” you mentioned.

[FrankHudson]

Originally Posted by b1j

Frank, I’ve been meaning to reply, but I keep letting it slip my mind.

I agree with your points. The language in most poems calls for crisp diction and phrasing that illuminates the main ideas. After reading through them again, I’ve decided to give Shakespeare’s sonnets a pass, as they don’t really contain narrative arcs; they’re mostly first person appeals to another person. I’d like to tell a developing story, like Lily, Rosemary, and the Jack of Hearts or The Lady of Shalott. Or I might go with sage advice to another, like Forever Young.

At the moment, Kipling’s “If” is dancing in my head. Its rhyming scheme is musical, and iambic pentameter is the king of meter. While there is no refrain, there is plenty of anaphora that grounds the work: good place for a main melodic motif.

I enjoyed your two verse-songs. In my case, I’m going to aim to write a melody within a harmonic setting, so it may turn out something like the “art song” you mentioned.

Wishing you the best on tackling "If."

[egordon99]

Glad to see this thread is still alive.

My son (freshman in HS) read "If" in his English class and actually recommended I try to put music to it. I haven't done that yet but it's in my list of poems to get to eventually.

[b1j]

It’s beginning. I’ve chosen a preliminary harmonic setting and a tempo. Next it’s creating the melody.

Don’t stop what you’re doing: this could take months.