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Music Views
Poetry in Song
by PKelly on Nov 02, 2004
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It's been the month of the Poetry in Song Competition, a venture that we've been running here at Walking Oliver in partnership with the Times Educational Supplement. We were warned that we might only get 100 or so entries for the first year, but 1300 submissions later!!! we're a bit overwhelmed, smiling with pleasure and relief, and wondering how in the world we're going to choose only 10-15 winners out of this massive outpouring of creativity.
The Poetry in Song idea struck me shortly after I wrote and recorded our 2nd CD, Hello, Michael Rosen! Setting Michael's poems to music and getting his enthusiastic response to his lyrics-turned-music got me thinking. If two crusty, world-weary adults (sorry Michael!) could get such a kick out of this kind of activity, a kid would really love it!
So when one of our imaginative staff members came up with the idea of sponsoring a competition… voila! The First Annual Poetry in Song Competition was born. And we're loving it.
And we learned some really interesting things about kids…
Our theme this year is "Dreams," a broad topic leaving lots of room for interpretation. So we got dreams not only about flying and dancing, nightmares about monsters and goblins, fantasies about being a pop star or footballer or meeting the queen, but also serious longings for an end to war and crime, a wish that parents would stop fighting, or relief from bullies. Kids are worried about our world.
And what are we teaching them?
Along with the poems we asked our entrants to tell us about where they shop for books, for CDs, about their current favourite song, band, favourite television show, stuff like that.
What is disheartening, but not surprising, is the effect of advertising on our youth. A seriously limited number of products are being hyped with multi-million pound advertising budgets, eclipsing everything else in the minds and vision of our children. We're still compiling our data, but it's clear that children are only buying the bill of goods sold by the advertisers, and we encountered only small variability in children's tastes in books, films, CDs or sport heroes.
We as parents and teachers must be aware of encouraging our children to dig beneath the surface for other choices. Let's not force-feed our young. Let's expand their choices, not narrow them. Try that unfamiliar book, or listen to a different kind of music in the car. The libraries are an inexpensive way to try something on for size.
It's not easy to fight the corporate battle, but it's a fun-filled adventure, to be sure!
That's the end of my rant. I can't wait to start writing the music for the CD- I've already got lots of ideas. Thanks to all who submitted poems and took the time to write. Get your friends to do it next year, or try writing one together!
Take it easy!
Paul
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