Coaxing Poems 8: Tap it Out

Sweet greetings to you, my Poem Friends! Welcome to the eighth of ten poetry video visits here at The Poem Farm. In each of these short clips, I will share a small something about poetry, and you will always be able to find the poem(s) I read below the video. If you wish, you may watch the earlier videos linked below:

COAXING POEMS VISITS:

Visit 1: We Are Libraries

Visit 2: Eat the World

Visit 3: Make & Break a Pattern

Visit 4: Abacadabra!

Visit 5: Tell Us a Story

Visit 6: Give it Space

Visit 7: Choose a View

And now I am pleased to share Visit 8: Tap it Out:

Students - While most of this series has focused on meaning making in our poems, today's visit centers on sound. The sound of a beat, the tapping, the rhythm in our blood as we read and dance and move to a poem or song.

Spring Lions

by Amy LV

I love playing with meter, rhythm, and beat. One way I do this is by borrowing the meter of another poem or song and bringing my own ideas to it. Sometimes, when my writing is finished, I'll sing it...and sometimes I will just leave my lines as a poem, and no one will ever know that it is singable.

When I do this, I usually write out the poem or song that I am using as my "meter model," and count the syllables for each line, noting the number at the beginning or ending of each line. Then, this guides me in the writing of my own verse. Sometimes I copy the numbers down on a new blank page, right at the ends of where my own lines will go to help me write each line in the same rhythm as my model.

Then, as I write, line-by-line, I tap my fingers on the table or my shoulder and if my model is a song, I sing my poem to see if my words and syllables (and stresses, or the stronger or emphasized syllables) sound right.

On my notebook pages below, you can see where I have writen out a few little well-known tunes and their syllable counts.

Counting Song Syllables

Photo by Amy LV

You can try this same thing. It helps to start with a simple tune, matching each line of what you write to the sound of the tune you choose. It may even help to write your first meter-model poem together with a class, clapping and tapping syllables together. It can take a little while to get used to doing this, but once you start, you will find yourself tapping everywhere!

I often think about how wonderful it would be to be a musician and to invent new song rhythms, singing them along with new words, and I have been fortunate to have some friends who do this. Some of you have heard songs by my friends Barry Lane and Gart Westerhouse. These musicians write their own material and sometimes set the words of others to music too. It is an honor for me when they write music to my words, and in a way, it's the inside out process of what I do when I set poems to others' music. Here are a couple of pieces for you to enjoy by these friends. I share them with my gratitude to Gart and Barry:

Barry Lane sings THE SOUND OF KINDNESS, my latest book.

Gart Westerhouse plays piano and sings "In the Dark of Morning," a free verse poem shared here at The Poem Farm.

For those of you who are interested in music, you may wish to do this yourself - find some words (by you or another) and make a tune to go with them. If you play an instrument, experiment with bringing your instrument into the party too.

Thank you to Truman Elementary in Lackawanna, NY and Lindbergh Elementary in Kenmore, NY for the lovely visits this month. I am smiling away over here remembering our time together.

The final two Coaxing Poems videos will be up by month's end as once April begins, I will begin my (as yet unchosen) National Poetry Month Project.

Rose is hosting this week's Poetry Friday over at Imagine the Possibilities with a joyful nod to spring and its birds. Each Friday, all are invited to share poems, poem books, poetry ideas, and friendship in this open and welcoming poetry community.

May you tap your way through the week ahead!

xo,

Amy

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Day 1 - National Poetry Month 2015 - Sing That Poem!

Happy National Poetry Month!

Welcome to This Year's Poem Farm Project!

Find the Complete April 2015 Poem and Song List in This Post!

(Introductory Poem - Sing this verse to the tune of Mairzy Doats!)

First, I would like to welcome all old and new friends to The Poem Farm this April. Spring is a busy time on all farms, and this one is no exception.  Each April, many poets and bloggers take on special poetry projects, and I'm doing so too.

This month at The Poem Farm, you will find a game called Sing That Poem! Every day I will post a new poem written to match the meter of a well-known song....but I'm not telling which song.  You can print the Sing That Poem! PDF below or just look at the song titles in the sidebar here to match each day's poem with the song it was inspired by.  I'll post a recording each next day with the answer to the previous day's poem/song match, and you can sing right along if you wish. My goal in this project is to stretch my writing muscles into new meters and to have some fun too. 

Find Your Printable Matching Form Here

Each day, I'll keep a running list below of the whole month's poem/songs in case you miss some or join us late.  I'm glad you're here.

SING THAT POEM! Answers

April 1 - Let's Play Ball - Words Here (Below) / Let's Play Ball - Tune Here

April 2 - Blue Soul - Words Here / Blue Soul - Tune Here

April 3 - At Night - Words Here / At Night - Tune Here

April 4 - Sharing - Words Here / Sharing - Tune Here

April 5 - Winterspring - Words Here / Winterspring - Tune Here

April 6 - I Will - Words Here / I Will - Tune Here

April 7 - Greefee Wumpa - Words Here / Greefee Wumpa - Tune Here

April 8 - Look - Words Here / Look - Tune Here

April 9 - There is a Poem - Words Here / Tune Here

April 10 - City Home - Words Here / City Home - Tune Here

April 11 - In the Harbor - Words Here / In the Harbor- Tune Here

April 12 - Ocean Writer & The Best Dog Words Here/ Both Poems Tune Here

April 13 - Painter - Words Here / Painter - Tune Here

April 14 - Librarian's Song - Words Here / Librarian's Song - Tune Here

April 15 - You and Me Words Here / You and Me - Tune Here

April 16 - Memories - Words Here / Tune Here

April 17 - Red Kite - Words Here / Tune Here 

April 18 - Small Wish - Words Here / Tune Here

April 19 - Spice Song - Words Here / Spice Song - Tune Here

April 20 - Still - Words Here / Tune Here

April 21 - Cool as You Are - Words Here / Cool as You Are - Tune Here

April 22 - Earth Day Song - Words Here / Earth Day Song - Tune Here

April 23 - I Want You To Know This Before My Party Words Here / Tune Here

April 24 - Rattlesnake, Rattlesnake Words Here / Rattlesnake, Rattlesnake - Tune Here

April 25 - Life's Door - Words Here / Life's Door - Tune Here

April 26 - In a Book - Words Here / In a Book - Tune Here

April 27 - Alone Outside - Words Here / Alone Outside / Tune Not Here Yet

Let's sing!

xo,

a.

Here it Comes!

by Amy LV

Students - Which song does this poem match?  You can look at the songs in the sidebar or on the Song Page to try to sing this one to different tunes.  I know you can figure it out.  And if not, I will sing it to you tomorrow!

You will notice that I am trying to incorporate the rhythm and rhyme patterns from well-known songs into my poems each day.  Sometimes I might change the line breaks, and I may not repeat every line and word in the exact same way that the model songs do.  However, I promise that my poems this month will be singable!  I really enjoy writing out the syllables for a known song and then counting out my poem's syllables, checking the beats and rhymes for singable-ness.

Why a baseball poem to start the month?  Well, here where I live in Western New York, the grass is starting to show after a long winter of snow.  That means that baseball season is soon.  Hooray!

If you are curious about previous Poem Farm projects during past Poetry Months, here's a little history of National Poetry Month here:

April 2010 - First month ever of The Poem Farm.  It was to be a 30 day project

April 2011 - A roundup of techniques from all of 2010 - TPF would stay online.

April 2012 - Dictionary Hike - Daily poems from A-Z from random words.

April 2013 - Drawing into Poems -A new daily drawing inspired some new poems.

April 2014 - Thrift Store Live - Daily poems grown from my own thrift store photos. 

April 2015 - Sing That Poem! - Matching song game to explore various meters.

You can learn details of all of the neat Poetry Month projects happening 'round the Kidlitosphere at Jama's Alphabet Soup. Jama has graciously rounded us all up again!  Have fun exploring, and happy April!

Please share a comment below if you wish.