#1984 – If Mermaids Wore Suspenders

1984cover

Every new version of this unsettling theme is the Thought Police altering the facts.

Classical Music Stories is a series that connects music to your favorite books and characters. Since listening to classical music can be like hearing a story, imagining specific stories that match the music can make it that much more fun and accessible!

At first, it’s easy to hear how the music keeps playing the same melody over and over again in slightly different ways. But over time that becomes harder and harder to hear. Continue reading “A Music Version of Doublethink (Classical Music Stories: 1984)” →

Books, Music

If You Like 1984…

February 20, 2016February 20, 2016 Aubrey Leaman

…the book, not necessarily the year.

If you like George Orwell’s 1984, then you might like the band Muse. Their sound is classified as alternative, but I think you could also call it rock. The vocals are particularly fantastic, there are some incredible electric guitar lines, and they even play off of classical music at times. Overall, their sound is hard to describe but it’s fantastic.

Some of their songs have this rebellious and apocalyptic feel (hence, my association with 1984). A prime example:

Are you already familiar with Muse? Do you think the song matches the book?

Books

The Best Classic Books as Inspired by Pastries

September 5, 2015September 5, 2015 Aubrey Leaman

Thanks to sfarnell for tagging me in the Pastry Book Tag! As usual, I can’t do anything quite like the rest of the world, so I turned this into a list of some of my favorite classics!

P.S. What in the world is a croquembouche??? Continue reading “The Best Classic Books as Inspired by Pastries” →

Classical Music Stories

George Orwell’s 1984 and John Cage

July 28, 2015August 15, 2016 Aubrey Leaman

John Cage’s Sonata 12 is what I imagine a child’s larks and a parent’s lullaby would sound like within George Orwell’s 1984.

What would it be like for a parent to sing his or her child to sleep, knowing that that same child will report him or her to the Thought Police at the slightest sign of dissension? What would it be like knowing that your own progeny would more likely than not send you to a swift and horrible death? It is incredible to imagine the mixture of parental love and crippling fear that must be felt for the tiny creature in such circumstances.

When I listen to Cage’s piece, I imagine the beginning and ending to present the parent who is watching his or her child play nearby. The music is playful and lilting as the child frolics around, but at the same time definitely unhinged because that innocence is a façade for something much darker. In the middle, the parent sings the child to sleep with a lullaby and gazes on his or her face that is made to appear so innocuous by sleep.

Can you hear it?