The rock group Meat Puppets has a song that is pretty much the epitome of comfy hobbit life in the Shire. Continue reading “Songs for Every Book: Hobbits and Meat Puppets”
Songs for Every Book: Hobbits and Meat Puppets
Tag: #classic literature
Pride and Prejudice: A Choose Your Own Adventure Story with Classical Music
If YOU were in control of the story, what would happen next?
If you’re like me and love to read novels, you also love to use your imagination. Traveling to foreign places, having adventures, and experiencing all kinds of emotions and experiences through the characters we read about can be a fun escape from the world!
Classical music can also transport us into new worlds. Film scores can transport us to a very specific place, but you can imagine your own images and storyline to match any piece of instrumental music you hear!
Here’s a choose-your-own adventure version of Pride and Prejudice, then, with which you can follow along as you listen to some music written waaaaaay back in the 18th century (around when the book was actually written in the first place!). Some details are different than what you’ll actually find in the book, but others are the same.
Ultimately, the choice is yours.
What will happy to Lizzy Bennet? Continue reading “Pride and Prejudice: A Choose Your Own Adventure Story with Classical Music”
A Music Version of Doublethink (Classical Music Stories: 1984)
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)”
Who Would Be the Worst Babysitter: Friar Lawrence or the Grinch?
I wouldn’t trust either of them within thirty-nine and a half feet of my child! But who would actually be the worst?
The Friar
Friar Lawrence literally looked two teens in the eye and said, why yes, I’ll help you get married. Then he proceeded to give the EXTREMELY IMPORTANT letter detailing how Juliet isn’t actually dead to someone who has no idea what the stakes are. Shouldn’t he have said something like, “Hey man, if you don’t deliver this letter it’s going to be really, really, really, really, really bad?” Or maybe he did and the other friar just thought to himself, “Ha, another one of Larry’s jokes. What a guy!” Continue reading “Who Would Be the Worst Babysitter: Friar Lawrence or the Grinch?”
Songs for Every Book: A Rock Star Version of Mr. Knightley
If rock music had been around in the 18th century, Mr. Knightley would have been majorly jamming to this song in his frustration over Emma.
She just can’t seem to get it in her head that he loves HER, not, Harriet! How could she possibly be so blind??
The Bots just get it: Continue reading “Songs for Every Book: A Rock Star Version of Mr. Knightley”
Red Robin Hood: A Collection of Alternative Fairy Tales
Fairy tales have been passed down throughout the ages, where different cultures have recorded unique variations of the same fundamental stories. The SurLaLune series, for example, has entire books of all the different versions of Beauty and the Beast, Cinderella, The Twelve Dancing Princesses, etc.
But there are some versions that have been passed down much less reliably over time, and after working with a team of highly skilled researchers from only the best institutions from around the world, we are excited to premiere here a preliminary list of their titles, alongside brief summaries. We can only hope that as research continues the details of these stories will similarly be brought to light, to delight children’ ears just as they did in ancient times. Continue reading “Red Robin Hood: A Collection of Alternative Fairy Tales”
Songs for Every Book: An Alternative Happy Ending for Ophelia
If tragedies were dark chocolate, Hamlet would be 87% cacao — at least!
Starting with Scene 1, Hamlet’s dad is murdered, his mom marries his evil uncle, and Hamlet himself sends off his childhood buddies to be murdered. Casual. At the end basically everyone dies, including Hamlet and his love interest, Ophelia (…AND his mom AND his uncle AND Polonius AND you get the idea).
For me, Ophelia’s suicide by drowning is one of the most tragic deaths of the play, though. While all the deaths are truly awful, she’s more of a bystander than actively embroiled in all the nasty craziness. She’s doing her best, but can you imagine watching your boyfriend go insane and then hearing that said boyfriend killed your dad??
But what if Ophelia pulled through? Continue reading “Songs for Every Book: An Alternative Happy Ending for Ophelia”
Classical Music Stories Tutorial: What to Do When the Music Changes
On this blog you’ll often find Classical Music Stories, a series that connects music to your favorite books and characters through storytelling. Of course, the purpose of the series isn’t to force one particular way of hearing the music, but instead to spark ideas on how to hear your own stories in music.
But how do you do that? Continue reading “Classical Music Stories Tutorial: What to Do When the Music Changes”
New Year’s Resolutions: Seeking Book and Music Recommendations
Wow, how is it almost 2019 already?! With a new year comes new resolutions, new opportunities, new struggles, and new experiences. It’s also a time for reflecting on the past year. I’ve generally tended focused on the first half of this with posts like Top 5 Inspiring Book Characters for the New Year and Top 4 Independent and Inspirational Book Characters, but this year I’m combining the two by looking to the future by reflecting on the past — using some of the past year’s posts to (hopefully) provide some inspiration for the new year! But I don’t just want to share my own ideas, so please do comment below to help me and others who read this post to find even more inspiration for the new year! Continue reading “New Year’s Resolutions: Seeking Book and Music Recommendations”
Ho Ho Holmes: The Perfect Bookish Gifts for Literary Characters
It’s that time of year! The time of year, that is, when you feel the guilt of asking how can I know him/her so well and yet can’t think of a single thing to give them as a gift???
While I can’t really help you there, I do know that books tend to be great gifts for all kinds of people — literary people included. Here are some books that you might give back to your favorite literary characters, then, to thank them for the gift of their existence! Continue reading “Ho Ho Holmes: The Perfect Bookish Gifts for Literary Characters”
If Mermaids Wore Suspenders 