Music paper - Book Report/Review Example

Full Perceiving Poems and Songs Songs are poems set to music, usually intentionally done by the poet or more appropriately, composer. In agreement to the points discussed in the article, personally, I have observed most songs are poems whether rhyming or free versed, are artistically arranged before put into music. The lyrics and music, I believe are the outcome of the emotions of the composer which compels one to put his thoughts to words and put the necessary accompaniment, satisfying the desired emotional expression in both the lyrics and music.

Generally, this is the ideal that has been known throughout the decades so it is educational to know that there is another way of composing songs as in the case given in the text. Collaboration in the making of both the lyrics and rhythm may be hard to imagine because a great number of people are involved, having different ways of expressing themselves. However, looking around, there have been so many evidences that show how the process successfully worked, with the many musicals that emerged throughout generations.

Musical is but one of the examples given by the author where a collaboration of writers and musicians work together to come up with a work of art. I have always known that the composition of a song is inspired in a person’s mind through the circumstances in one’s life affecting him emotionally or in any other aspect of one’s life. Of course I am also aware that not everyone is able to compose a song so that it is not really an easy task for the emotional composer but it also takes talent and skill to complete the job.

This makes me admire the ability of songwriters and musicians who work together to finish a job, taking a more challenging task that considers the differences among the team not only in their perspectives but in their kind of music as well. Probably the real challenge here would be coming together as one mind to the making of a wonderful music. When it comes to changing the lyrics of a song, maintaining the rhythm and tempo, this could be said to be a common practice especially to budding composers who are not very skilled in composing the desired music.

Probably this is the easiest way of composing a song because the emotion is already in the desired music and all the lyricist has to do is employ his words to the music to bring out meaning to it and stir the emotions of listeners. Ned Rorem’s (Chiego 115) comment about a song being a bastard because of the forced combination of poem and music is quite funny but true. But is not that the spirit of art? The blending of two or more different arts to create another art which perhaps might be even better when they are treated differently, is how I perceive the beauty there is in music.

However a song is composed would not really matter as long as it is the expression of one’s self as art should allow in a person. It may be offending to some to find that the one art we are discussing is a combination of two different ones which are not supposed to be together but one must also accept that the outcome is beautiful. Probably what Rorem wanted more to have is the recent musical or poetic form of expression where the poem and music are combined but not like in the song where the lyrics are given the same rhythm as that of the music used.

Instead, the poem may just be simply read with a background rhythm to give drama to the reading of the poem. Such method, I could imagine, equally stirs the listener’s emotions as well as fully express the thoughts of a poet. I reckon that soft music should be used in such to take the meaning of the song to the listener’s heart and not just to accomplish a performance. Though it has not been mentioned in the text, I assume that this style has borne the modern rap songs where the lyrics are sometimes sang and sometimes simply recited.

The background music does not always follow the strictest rules for the use of notes as the lyrics are sang which makes me imagine the aforementioned progress in music. Also, this kind of music uses different genres which could be likened to Rorem’s comment about song which is the marriage of poem and music; I guess if I am given the same freedom, I would say rap music is the incestuous marriage of different genres. Giving a distinction between songs and poems, Bob Dylan’s definitions could most perfectly give the difference as simple as his statement is.

Truly, one can say that anything that is put into rhythm is considered a song while that which one cannot bring into a tune is plainly a poem. No one could have said it better than Dylan, stating a fact that no one could refute but have to agree with. Reference Chiego, John. The Musical Experience (2nd Edition). USA: Kendall Hunt Publishing, 2010. Print.