Imagining books and music in quirky and creative ways
The day I stumbled upon these books was a good, good day.
I always love looking at Klutz books when I go to a craft or toy store, even though I’m technically an adult now. The childhood memories are fun by themselves, and honestly some of the books still look pretty cool! Case in point? This Lego make-your-own-movie book. Continue reading “Your Next Creative Hobby: The Make-Your-Own Lego Movie Books”
You’ve waited a long time. You’ve lost sleep in anticipation, in fact. But now, FINALLY, ARRRiel the Pirate Mermaid is back with some new adventures (featuring my *cough* super impressive drawing skills).
Previously on ARRiel the Pirate Mermaid, ARRiel met a dinosaur and they sailed off into the sunset.
Now for their next adventure: Continue reading “Create-Your-Own-Comics: ARRiel the Pirate Mermaid and the Trampoline to Space”
In the spirit of Easter being tomorrow and spring coming (although if you live in the midwest you’d never know it), behold! Classical music inspired by chicks and hens. Is this a poorly-veiled excuse to share some of my favorite music ever? I’ll leave that for you to decide. Continue reading “Hens and Chicks (Or Easter-ish Classical Music)”
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”
“In the old times, when it was still of some use to wish for the thing one wanted, there lived a king whose daughters were all handsome, but the youngest was so beautiful that the sun himself, who has seen so much, wondered at her beauty each time he shone over her.”
-The Frog Prince
In many stories, there are stock characters: the evil stepmother, the beautiful queen, the creepy vampire, the clever detective (and of course, the butler did it!) … There may always be variations, and characters may not always be explicitly transparent as stock characters, but they’re Continue reading “Stock Characters You Can Hear in Classical Music”
A large part of this blog is imagining books and characters in different pieces of classical music. But for any one Classical Music Story there are so many others that could be imagined within the music, even using the same book or characters!
And so Classical Music Stories: Choose Your Own Adventure Remix was born.
How it works: each segment of this approximately 4-minute piece of music is imagined to relate to a different part of the story (in this case, Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre). Start reading at the very beginning (0:00) and on until the first juncture where you can choose what Rochester does next. Then it’s as simple as continuing to make choices and following the story and music until the end! You can either listen to the music while reading, pause the music in between sections when you have to make a decision, or listen to the music first all the way through and follow the story in a second listen-through. The choice (once again) is yours!
Enjoy! Continue reading “A Choose Your Own Adventure Story with Classical Music”
“But Mr. Tate said, “This court will come to order,” in a voice that rang with authority, and the heads below us jerked up. Mr. Tate left the room and returned with Tom Robinson. He steered Tom to his place beside Atticus, and stood there. Judge Taylor had roused himself to sudden alertness and was sitting up straight, looking at the empty jury box.”
-To Kill a Mockingbird
Suspense is obviously in horror stories (“No! Don’t open that door!!!”) but it’s also all over the other books we read whenever we find ourselves holding our breath to Continue reading “Suspense in Classical Music (and Books!)”
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)”
It’s a tricky question.
Peter Pan has fought off Captain Hook time and time again, even Continue reading “Who Would Win in a Sword Fight: Peter Pan or Romeo?”
I read an article about a piece of music the other day where each section started with a direction, like “to be whispered like an incantation.” Not being the sharpest knife in the drawer, it took me a while to figure out what these directions actually were. Continue reading “If Authors Told You How to Read Their Books…As Inspired by Music”
If Mermaids Wore Suspenders 