Books

Red Robin Hood: A Collection of Alternative Fairy Tales

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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”

Music

Classical Music Stories Tutorial: What to Do When the Music Changes

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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”

Music

Rhetorical Questions: Classical Music Style

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First of all, my apologies for the hiatus. Illness can really knock you out, am I right?

And with that question, I have oh so masterfully segued into the topic of today’s post. (Mwah ha ha!)

Rhetorical Questions In Books…and Music Continue reading “Rhetorical Questions: Classical Music Style”

Books, Music

The Who’s Tommy: A Rock Opera (As Experienced by an Assistant Director)

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Last week Northwestern University saw its last performance of a concert production of The Who’s Tommy and I was fortunate enough to be able to serve as the assistant director for the incredible Geoff Button. For those of you unfamiliar with the show, the rock band The Who released a concept album in 1969 called “Tommy” which was later made into a musical (or rock opera if you will). It’s a story about a young boy (Tommy) who witnesses the murder of his mother’s lover by his parents after his father returns unexpectedly from war. Although his mother turns him away from the fight he sees everything through a mirror, and when Continue reading “The Who’s Tommy: A Rock Opera (As Experienced by an Assistant Director)”

Books, The Other Stuff

5 (More) Literary Mashups That Totally Need to Happen

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When I stumbled across a post I made a while back called  Top 5 Literary Mash-Ups That Totally Need to Happen I thought…why not? So without further ado, here are five more that should also definitely happen: Continue reading “5 (More) Literary Mashups That Totally Need to Happen”

Music, The Other Stuff

Looking for the Author’s Meaning (Or How I Pranked My Creative Writing Class)

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What happens when a book, song, or piece of art is given a title that has seemingly nothing to do with the work itself? Or when something inside the work just doesn’t seem to align with the rest of it?

Apparently, our brains naturally try to connect the dots. We’ll Continue reading “Looking for the Author’s Meaning (Or How I Pranked My Creative Writing Class)”