Thursday, April 24, 2014

Playlists...for Books!



A student shared that she had recently read a book that included a playlist to go along with certain points of the story.

Hmmm...that's a novel (pun intended) approach to including music with literature.

It got me thinking.

Would the Laura Ingalls Wilder books be more interesting if appropriate music was chosen to be played at certain points during the stories?

Other than Mr. Edwards singing "Old Dan Tucker" and Pa's fiddle music I don't recall too many references to music so there is a LOT of room for musical enrichment taking advantage of a bit of dramatic (or musical) license.

Dance scenes, of course, would have appropriate dance music from the time period.

Worship scenes could make use of hymns.

Perhaps Native American music when the family was frightened by the Indians when Pa was away.

You get the picture?

~*~*~

I must admit that at the moment my remembrance of this set of books is blurred by the beloved TV series.

(I am a product of pop culture!)

~*~*~

But how about applying this idea to other books?

Wouldn't it be interesting if, as you read a book, you'd come encounter pages on which you would find suggested listening examples to enrich your reading.

Of course, the listening material could be found online - perhaps on the author's website?

Thus making the process of reading a book not only mental, but aural as well.

~*~*~

As a musician and music educator I believe a person can never listen to too much music.

Nor can a person read too many books.

What do you think?

What book would YOU choose to select music for?


1 comment:

  1. These days we expect everything to have a soundtrack. Listening to recorded books is one way to experience this.

    ReplyDelete