Play mea poem...
START
Illustrator : Sophie Rozenn Boucher
What is a poem?
What is a fable?
Do we still perform poetry today?
What is a poem?
The poem
Figures of speech
The symphonic poem
Quiz
What is a fable?
The fable
Text and melody
Sound variables
Guided listening
Do we still perform poetry today?
Let’s analyze together
The slam
Tips from an artist
Let’s sing together
Musical literature
What is a poem?
The word poetry comes from the Greek word that means “to create.” A poet plays with the rhythms and sounds of words to create emotions. Short words, long words, words with songlike vowels, words with punchy consonants, words that repeat, words that echo…
Musical literature
What is a poem?
Poetry has existed since antiquity. It has diversified a lot over time. Poems are often written in lines that are grouped together to form verses. A poem can also be written like an ordinary piece of text. In that case, we refer to it as a prose poem.
Musical literature
To play with the musical quality in the text, poets use:
Repetition
Rhyming
Onomatopoeia
Alliteration and assonance
Musical literature
To play with the musical quality in the text, poets use:
Rhyming
Did you know?
Zig et zig et zag, la mort crie cadence Frappant une tombe avec son talon, La mort à minuit joue un air de danse, Zig et zig et zag, sur son violon.
Excerpt from Égalité-Fraternité by Henri Cazalis
Musical literature
To play with the musical quality in the text, poets use:
Alliteration and assonance
Did you know?
Le vent d'hiver souffle, et la nuit est sombre,
Des gémissements sortent des tilleuls ; Les squelettes blancs vont à travers l'ombre
Courant et sautant sous leurs grands linceuls,
Excerpt from Égalité-Fraternité by Henri Cazalis
Musical literature
To play with the musical quality in the text, poets use:
Repetition
Zig et zig et zag, quelle sarabande!
Quels cercles de morts se donnant la main !
Zig et zig et zag, on voit dans la bande
Le roi gambader auprès du vilain!
Did you know?
Excerpt from Égalité-Fraternité by Henri Cazalis
Musical literature
To play with the musical quality in the text, poets use:
Onomatopoeia
Mais psit ! tout à coup on quitte la ronde, On se pousse, on fuit, le coq a chanté Oh ! La belle nuit pour le pauvre monde !
Et vive la mort et l'égalité !
Did you know?
Excerpt from Égalité-Fraternité by Henri Cazalis
Musical literature
The symphonic poem
Whereas poets play with words to create sounds that evoke sensations in us, musicians play with sounds to tell stories. Symphonic poems (or tone poems) are based on literary texts that the composer aims to relate musically by guiding our imagination with music that is said to be “descriptive.”
Musical literature
The symphonic poem
Camille Saint-Saëns drew inspiration from this poem by Cazalis, a few verses of which you just read, to compose his symphonic poem titled Danse Macabre. This dance, in which the living dance with the dead, inspired many artists. It symbolizes equality and reminds us that we are all equal in death, no matter our social status, our wealth or poverty.
Musical literature
The symphonic poem
Music fuels the imagination and heightens our emotions. Wagner said that “Where the power of the words ceases, there that of the music begins.” In other words, music complements the power of words, it intensifies our emotions and sensations. Just like with films, in which music complements the images, music can illustrate the words of a story, a poem, or … a fable.
Musical literature
"La mort à minuit joue un air de danse"
At midnight, Death plays a dance tune
What instrument do you hear?
Listen to the 12 strokes of midnight
Musical literature
"frappant une tombe avec son talon"
Striking a gravestone with his heel
Did you Know ?
The double bass is the lowest instrument in the family of bowed strings.
True
False
Listen to the 7 taps of the heel on the double bass
Musical literature
« joue un air de danse […] sur son violon »
playing a dance tune [...] on his violin
What is a bow?
A thin, arch-shaped piece of wood that holds up the strings of bowed string instruments.
Horsehair stretched on a stick that the string player uses to stroke the strings.
Listen to the dance tune on the violin
Musical literature
« les squelettes blancs […] courant et sautant »
white skeletons [...] running and jumping
Which family of instruments does the xylophone belong to?
Listen to the sound of skeleton bones rattling on the xylophone
Brass
Strings
Percussions
Woodwinds
Musical literature
« on se pousse, on fuit, le coq a chanté »
The rooster has crowed: they run away, they flee.
Did you know?
The oboe is a wind instrument of the family of woodwinds.
True
False
Listen to the crowing of the rooster on the oboe
Musical literature
Camille Saint-Saëns, Danse macabre
What is a fable?
A fable depicts fictional characters, who most of the time are animals who can speak. These animals have human characteristics, both positive and negative.
What is a fable?
A fable has an explicit or implicit moral. The story is recounted in vivid language with formal vocabulary.
What is a fable?
Fables are halfway between poetic texts and narrative texts. They are often written in verse and involve a play of sounds and rhyming, while still having punctuation, like an ordinary text.
What is a fable?
Jean de La Fontaine wrote 240 fables. He dedicated his first collection to the son of King Louis XIV. In his fables, this author criticizes human behaviour and exposes many major societal problems of his day.
What is a fable?
Fables have inspired many great composers to write melodies based on their favourite texts. Listen to this melody by Jacques Offenbach.
What is a fable?
Which fable did you hear?
The Hare and the Tortoise
The Grasshopper and the Ant
The Crow and the Fox
La Cigale, ayant chanté Tout l'Été, Se trouva fort dépourvue Quand la bise fut venue. Pas un seul petit morceau
De mouche ou de vermisseau. Elle alla crier famine
Chez la Fourmi sa voisine,
La priant de lui prêter
Quelque grain pour subsister Jusqu'à la saison nouvelle.
Je vous paierai, lui dit-elle,
Avant l'Oût, foi d'animal, Intérêt et principal. La Fourmi n'est pas prêteuse ;
C'est là son moindre défaut. « Que faisiez-vous au temps chaud ?
Dit-elle à cette emprunteuse.
— Nuit et jour à tout venant Je chantais, ne vous déplaise.
— Vous chantiez ? j'en suis fort aise. Eh bien ! Dansez maintenant. »
La cigale et la fourmi
Les animaux modèles
Francis Poulenc composed a ballet titled Les animaux modèles based on fable texts. The composer described the actions and emotions in these stories by playing with sound variables:
Intensity
Timbre
Duration and Tempo
Pitch
Animal exemplars
Create two word clouds that describe the personalities of our two characters: the grasshopper and the ant.
Create
Now that you have described the personalities of our two characters, listen to these two themes composed by Poulenc and guess which one corresponds to the ant and which one corresponds to the grasshopper.
Animal exemplars
This excerpt corresponds to the…
Ant
Grasshopper
This excerpt corresponds to the…
Ant
Grasshopper
The grasshopper
Listen to the timbre of the clarinet, it is warm, like the personality of the grasshopper!
Listen to strings playing short notes, like the bouncing hops of the happy grasshopper!
The ant
Listen to the louder and more pronounced dynamics of the ant’s determined personality!
Listen to the violas, doubled by the bassoons at the end. Their lower, darker timbres represent the ant’s serious personality.
The grasshopper and the ant
Listen to this last exchange between the grasshopper and the ant: Do you hear the contrast between the staccato sounds and legato sounds representing the opposite personalities of our two characters? The melody gets lower and lower. The piece ends with the stark sounds of the bassoons that describe the ant’s brash decision to not lend anything to the grasshopper.
The grasshopper and the ant
In this fable, Jean de la Fontaine did not explicitly formulate a moral. Several lessons can be taken from this text. What moral(s) can you deduce? What do you think about the grasshopper’s attitude? What about the ant’s reaction? What lessons can be learned from this story?
Read this text: Do you recognize the characteristics of a poem? Is it written in lines? Do you hear rhyming at the ends of the lines? Do you hear repetition?
Are there any similes or metaphors? If you can answer several of these questions with a “yes,” that means it’s poetry!
Did you recognize those words?! Those are lyrics to Ensemble, sensibles: a song by Ariane Moffatt that she recorded with the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal for the project “Une chanson à l'école”!
Many singer songwriters of our time are poets! They play with musical qualities and the meanings of words in order to move us.
There exists a World Cup for slam and poetry. Here are two examples of slam:
Did you know?
Would you like to write poetry? Here are a few tips from David Goudreault, a slam poet !
Did you know ?
Tip 2
Tip 1
Let’s sing together, Ensemble, sensibles!
See you soon at the Maison Symphonique !
Illustrator : Sophie Rozenn Boucher
Play me a poem
Orchestre Montréal
Created on April 6, 2022
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Transcript
Play mea poem...
START
Illustrator : Sophie Rozenn Boucher
What is a poem?
What is a fable?
Do we still perform poetry today?
What is a poem?
The poem
Figures of speech
The symphonic poem
Quiz
What is a fable?
The fable
Text and melody
Sound variables
Guided listening
Do we still perform poetry today?
Let’s analyze together
The slam
Tips from an artist
Let’s sing together
Musical literature
What is a poem?
The word poetry comes from the Greek word that means “to create.” A poet plays with the rhythms and sounds of words to create emotions. Short words, long words, words with songlike vowels, words with punchy consonants, words that repeat, words that echo…
Musical literature
What is a poem?
Poetry has existed since antiquity. It has diversified a lot over time. Poems are often written in lines that are grouped together to form verses. A poem can also be written like an ordinary piece of text. In that case, we refer to it as a prose poem.
Musical literature
To play with the musical quality in the text, poets use:
Repetition
Rhyming
Onomatopoeia
Alliteration and assonance
Musical literature
To play with the musical quality in the text, poets use:
Rhyming
Did you know?
Zig et zig et zag, la mort crie cadence Frappant une tombe avec son talon, La mort à minuit joue un air de danse, Zig et zig et zag, sur son violon.
Excerpt from Égalité-Fraternité by Henri Cazalis
Musical literature
To play with the musical quality in the text, poets use:
Alliteration and assonance
Did you know?
Le vent d'hiver souffle, et la nuit est sombre, Des gémissements sortent des tilleuls ; Les squelettes blancs vont à travers l'ombre Courant et sautant sous leurs grands linceuls,
Excerpt from Égalité-Fraternité by Henri Cazalis
Musical literature
To play with the musical quality in the text, poets use:
Repetition
Zig et zig et zag, quelle sarabande! Quels cercles de morts se donnant la main ! Zig et zig et zag, on voit dans la bande Le roi gambader auprès du vilain!
Did you know?
Excerpt from Égalité-Fraternité by Henri Cazalis
Musical literature
To play with the musical quality in the text, poets use:
Onomatopoeia
Mais psit ! tout à coup on quitte la ronde, On se pousse, on fuit, le coq a chanté Oh ! La belle nuit pour le pauvre monde ! Et vive la mort et l'égalité !
Did you know?
Excerpt from Égalité-Fraternité by Henri Cazalis
Musical literature
The symphonic poem
Whereas poets play with words to create sounds that evoke sensations in us, musicians play with sounds to tell stories. Symphonic poems (or tone poems) are based on literary texts that the composer aims to relate musically by guiding our imagination with music that is said to be “descriptive.”
Musical literature
The symphonic poem
Camille Saint-Saëns drew inspiration from this poem by Cazalis, a few verses of which you just read, to compose his symphonic poem titled Danse Macabre. This dance, in which the living dance with the dead, inspired many artists. It symbolizes equality and reminds us that we are all equal in death, no matter our social status, our wealth or poverty.
Musical literature
The symphonic poem
Music fuels the imagination and heightens our emotions. Wagner said that “Where the power of the words ceases, there that of the music begins.” In other words, music complements the power of words, it intensifies our emotions and sensations. Just like with films, in which music complements the images, music can illustrate the words of a story, a poem, or … a fable.
Musical literature
"La mort à minuit joue un air de danse"
At midnight, Death plays a dance tune
What instrument do you hear?
Listen to the 12 strokes of midnight
Musical literature
"frappant une tombe avec son talon"
Striking a gravestone with his heel
Did you Know ?
The double bass is the lowest instrument in the family of bowed strings.
True
False
Listen to the 7 taps of the heel on the double bass
Musical literature
« joue un air de danse […] sur son violon »
playing a dance tune [...] on his violin
What is a bow?
A thin, arch-shaped piece of wood that holds up the strings of bowed string instruments.
Horsehair stretched on a stick that the string player uses to stroke the strings.
Listen to the dance tune on the violin
Musical literature
« les squelettes blancs […] courant et sautant »
white skeletons [...] running and jumping
Which family of instruments does the xylophone belong to?
Listen to the sound of skeleton bones rattling on the xylophone
Brass
Strings
Percussions
Woodwinds
Musical literature
« on se pousse, on fuit, le coq a chanté »
The rooster has crowed: they run away, they flee.
Did you know?
The oboe is a wind instrument of the family of woodwinds.
True
False
Listen to the crowing of the rooster on the oboe
Musical literature
Camille Saint-Saëns, Danse macabre
What is a fable?
A fable depicts fictional characters, who most of the time are animals who can speak. These animals have human characteristics, both positive and negative.
What is a fable?
A fable has an explicit or implicit moral. The story is recounted in vivid language with formal vocabulary.
What is a fable?
Fables are halfway between poetic texts and narrative texts. They are often written in verse and involve a play of sounds and rhyming, while still having punctuation, like an ordinary text.
What is a fable?
Jean de La Fontaine wrote 240 fables. He dedicated his first collection to the son of King Louis XIV. In his fables, this author criticizes human behaviour and exposes many major societal problems of his day.
What is a fable?
Fables have inspired many great composers to write melodies based on their favourite texts. Listen to this melody by Jacques Offenbach.
What is a fable?
Which fable did you hear?
The Hare and the Tortoise
The Grasshopper and the Ant
The Crow and the Fox
La Cigale, ayant chanté Tout l'Été, Se trouva fort dépourvue Quand la bise fut venue. Pas un seul petit morceau De mouche ou de vermisseau. Elle alla crier famine Chez la Fourmi sa voisine, La priant de lui prêter Quelque grain pour subsister Jusqu'à la saison nouvelle. Je vous paierai, lui dit-elle, Avant l'Oût, foi d'animal, Intérêt et principal. La Fourmi n'est pas prêteuse ; C'est là son moindre défaut. « Que faisiez-vous au temps chaud ? Dit-elle à cette emprunteuse. — Nuit et jour à tout venant Je chantais, ne vous déplaise. — Vous chantiez ? j'en suis fort aise. Eh bien ! Dansez maintenant. »
La cigale et la fourmi
Les animaux modèles
Francis Poulenc composed a ballet titled Les animaux modèles based on fable texts. The composer described the actions and emotions in these stories by playing with sound variables:
Intensity
Timbre
Duration and Tempo
Pitch
Animal exemplars
Create two word clouds that describe the personalities of our two characters: the grasshopper and the ant.
Create
Now that you have described the personalities of our two characters, listen to these two themes composed by Poulenc and guess which one corresponds to the ant and which one corresponds to the grasshopper.
Animal exemplars
This excerpt corresponds to the…
Ant
Grasshopper
This excerpt corresponds to the…
Ant
Grasshopper
The grasshopper
Listen to the timbre of the clarinet, it is warm, like the personality of the grasshopper!
Listen to strings playing short notes, like the bouncing hops of the happy grasshopper!
The ant
Listen to the louder and more pronounced dynamics of the ant’s determined personality!
Listen to the violas, doubled by the bassoons at the end. Their lower, darker timbres represent the ant’s serious personality.
The grasshopper and the ant
Listen to this last exchange between the grasshopper and the ant: Do you hear the contrast between the staccato sounds and legato sounds representing the opposite personalities of our two characters? The melody gets lower and lower. The piece ends with the stark sounds of the bassoons that describe the ant’s brash decision to not lend anything to the grasshopper.
The grasshopper and the ant
In this fable, Jean de la Fontaine did not explicitly formulate a moral. Several lessons can be taken from this text. What moral(s) can you deduce? What do you think about the grasshopper’s attitude? What about the ant’s reaction? What lessons can be learned from this story?
Read this text: Do you recognize the characteristics of a poem? Is it written in lines? Do you hear rhyming at the ends of the lines? Do you hear repetition? Are there any similes or metaphors? If you can answer several of these questions with a “yes,” that means it’s poetry!
Did you recognize those words?! Those are lyrics to Ensemble, sensibles: a song by Ariane Moffatt that she recorded with the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal for the project “Une chanson à l'école”!
Many singer songwriters of our time are poets! They play with musical qualities and the meanings of words in order to move us.
There exists a World Cup for slam and poetry. Here are two examples of slam:
Did you know?
Would you like to write poetry? Here are a few tips from David Goudreault, a slam poet !
Did you know ?
Tip 2
Tip 1
Let’s sing together, Ensemble, sensibles!
See you soon at the Maison Symphonique !
Illustrator : Sophie Rozenn Boucher