The+Ballad+with+music

We have read many different forms of poetry and while many go well with music, in my opinion, the ballad is by far the best. Perhaps it is because of the way the meter is structured or the way it seems to tell a story so well, the ballad is perfect for music. The performances worked well with this form because it is easy to set to music. I find it interesting that almost every ballad is easy to put to music and many famous songs such as "The wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald" by Gorden Lightfoot or "Big Bottom" by Spinal Tap are ballads.1201881885

It's so funny that you mention those famous songs, because the first image that comes to mind when I hear the word ballad, I immediately think of songs. I never thought of ballads of poems because I only heard them in song form. Famous rock groups will all of a sudden go really mellow and start singing about an experience they've had or a girl they've met, and that is a ballad. The other song that comes to mind when I think of ballad is The Ballad of Davy Crockett. Not just because it has the word ballad in the title, but because it is a story set to music. Born on a mountain top in Tennessee/The greenest state in the land of the free/Raised in the woods so's he knew ev'ry tree/Kilt him a b'ar when he was only three/Davy, Davy Crockett, king of the wild frontier. It's all a story... with a great catchy tune! 1201924633

Well, I agree that the ballad has been the most fun to work with because of the music we've gotten to listen to and the challenge of putting it to music. I'm not much of a musical person, so when I first heard that we were doing ballads, for some reason, I thought more of the common nursery rhyme type ballads, but after hearing all the different types of music that this form can be put to, I really do think it's been my favorite poetic form so far too. It's versatility to adapt to old and modern music is actually pretty cool, because it shows flexibility in the form but also a certain constant quality of music throughout history. 1201933338

I think that a ballad is great for music, but i also think that some ballads need to have a premeditated melody. my partner and i had "John cable and the three gentlemen" as a ballad to perform and it was so hard to find a song to. The lines were shorter and the punctuation made it very hard to put a tune to. Maybe for the more musically inclined it wouldn't seem as bad but i for one was quite puzzled as to how i was going to sing a ballad like this. Maybe someone is up to the challenge for fun?

I do have to say though that i enjoy ballads because it is a poem with a story that is easy to follow. It is fun t o read a poem that is more of a tale and i think that is why the ballad is one of my favorites thus far.1201935378JJa-c

I agree with JJa. A major issue I had with my ballad was trying to find a song that fit it. I found that i could cram it in to pretty much any song; however, I could never exactly get it flow like I did when i just read it. I would always try to squeeze the last few syllables into one or strech out one into a few: I could never find music that just clicked together with every line. One thing I noticed about the other presentation was that this is no common issue. The ballad is such a muscial form, and I am surprised that each does not come with its own specified melody to be sung with, like a song. It seems to me that if the author wrote a ballad, he or she intended it to be sung a certain way, not just to any ole common tune. 1201937642

I think ballads are definitely the most musical of the types of poetry we've studied so far. I know it has been my favorite, because of this fact. Other types, like the sestina for example, are hard to read because they don't really have a musical quality; they sound more like artsy-fartsy prose with mixed-up word order in the sentences. But just reading the ballad sounds like a song, because it lends itself an obvious rhythm. When my group performed our ballad, we snapped a beat and then read the poem to the beat, and it still had a musical quality to it. And like mka said, I think the ballads remind us of nursery rhymes and children's stories and pretty love songs, and that's probably why we enjoy them so much. 1201988227

JJa mentioned that the punctuation made it difficult to fit the ballad to the tune. However, I think that is one interesting thing about putting the ballad to music. It seems like many of the ones we hear slightly alter lines or syllables of the poem to make it fit with the music. I’ve noticed that even if the lines are meant to pause in the poem, they aren’t always performed that way. Do you think this is ok to do, or does it ruin how the poem was first meant to sound? Also, as mmi said, almost all of the ballads we’ve read have a pretty obvious rhythm to it. This makes it easy to fit to music, and I think that’s partly why they are more pleasing to hear. 1202019374

The ballad should be the most or one of the most musical types of poetry because that was the way that the ballads were supposed to be performed, to music. This is probably why I like the ballads so much because there not just word tricks that have to be solved in order to dwelve into the meaning but rather they are mostly clear cut and easy to understand because of the fact that they are supposed to be understood by the common audience to which they are performed to. The songs that get paired with the ballad are an added bounus and further streach the fact that this is performance poetry and not the type of poetry that you expirence by reading a book but rather the type of poetry that you expirence by watching and listening to it. If this form of poetry turns out to be the most musical poetry that we will study all year I really won't be surprised because its very nature tends to the musical side of poetry because this is poetry that must be performed and sung to others. user:DGr-c

In response to kec’s question…I think it is ok for a musically performed ballad to alter lines or not hit every syllable or follow all of the correct punctuations. If this form of poetry was meant for the common audience strict adherence to the actual poem wouldn’t be that important. I think the audiences back then when the ballad first appeared were probably more concerned with the music and how catchy the ballad was instead of the actual lines. I think that’s one of the reasons why I like this style better than the other ones because the ballad gives the performer more latitude, more range when performing the poem as compared to the villanelle or sestina. As for mha's thinking about how well music goes with ballads...too bad we couldn't make ours work...but that's probably more the musicians fault than the actual structure of the ballad that we did. 1202058632

I have to say that I enjoyed putting the ballad to music. My partner and I were a bit skeptical at first about performing because we had "John Cable and the Three Gentlemen." The lines were usually short, but they sometimes varied in length so it was hard to set a precise rhythm. In some verses, we would have to split up the lines in order to have the ballad fit our melody (which was Barbie Girl). We were slightly concerned about doing this because we were afraid that the ballad would be hard to follow and understand. However, we felt that it worked out. So in response to kec's question, I do not see a problem with altering lines or missing syllables and so forth. Alterations need to be made in order to bring out the musicality of the ballad. The ballad has a musicality hidden underneath its words, and people can use many tactics to bring it out. One can see this with the ballad performances. I am sure that each performance of the same ballad was different. People heard different musicalities with the ballads and used their own creative ways to perform them.1202151812

I actually felt that the ballads were quite versatile in regards to matching the lines to a tune. My group had the ballad "The Death of Leamington." Because of its sad, depressing theme, we chose a sad and depressing sounding song (Colors of the Wind from Pocahontas). I sat down at the piano to try to work with it, and I was initially discouraged. Nothing seemed to fit. But just by spending some time to work with it, the lines to the ballad began to fit together with the music--even crescendoing and decrescendoing at appropriate moments. It felt incredibly rewarding. I feel like if you pick a suitable tune, you can fit a ballad to many songs with a little tweaking here and there. Also, the melody or voice that goes along with the poem greatly affects the overall effect of the poem. For example, one group in my class performed the ballad to the tune of a very child-like song and used puppets to go along with it. This changed the mood of the poem. Ballads have been my favorite section thus far not only because I love music, but also because of the way the readers themselves can create a mood to the poem with a simple melody. 1202182178

Putting music to the ballads made studying this kind of poem more enjoyable. It was hard to come up with a tune that would fit with all of the lines but once we found one it worked out. It was cool that some groups were able to take the tune of an already popular song to perform their ballad. By putting them to music it was a way to make the ballads seem like they were from our time and we were able to make them our own. I also feel like it was easier to understand what was being said in the ballad. I was able to focus on the words and how they went with the tune of the song and really took in what the author was trying to say in the ballads.1202242151

I think that putting the ballad to music was a genius idea and a great assignment, even though I complained about it the whole way along. Stephanie and I had "Bagpipe Music" by Louis MacNeice, which I absolutely loved from the very first time I read it. However, being forced to put the song into music form made us analyze the poem to a degree that I'm sure we wouldn't have done if we hadn't made it into a song. Lucky for us, this particular poem fit absolutely perfectly into song form, and we were able to make a really nice sad folk song out of it. Therefore, I'm going to pretty much agree 100% with KFr -- using the ballads and turning them into songs not only made the ballad unit more enjoyable, but it also made us further analyze the ballads and discover their deeper meanings. 1202249846

Yeah, I agree. I mean ballads are basically supposed to be sung so I thought that hearing the ballads in song form rather than just reading them was really cool. I was amazed by some of the ways groups interpreted their ballads. One group in period F had "from The Ballad of Reading Gaol II" by Oscar Wilde, and their interpretation I thought was quite brilliant. For the line "And, green or dry, a man must die," instead of just singing the whole line, they sang "And, green or dry," but they simply spoke "a man must die." Just that simple alteration placed such an emphasis on the death of a man. I don't think that we can get this effect when we simply read the ballads like ordinary poem. Did anyone else see or have a particularly interesting performance. 1202254637

I think the main thing that our group realized when working on finding a song to fit our ballad was that almost every song that we could think of needed to be changed at least slightly in order for it to fit the ballad perfectly. We ended up using a piece inspired by "Colors of the Wind" (Pocahontas) but we had to mold it to fit the form. The songs that did fit perfectly to ballads were mainly those that were written originally for ballads. I think the most important part of choosing music for the ballad was finding a tone that would fit the theme of the poem. If a depressing ballad is put to upbeat music, it loses a lot of its meaning in the performance. Overall, through the performances in class and through what I've heard on the podcast, most of us did a good job choosing a song that fit the meaning of the ballad well. 1202255531

I think that what's great about putting the ballads to music is that it makes it so much easier to understand. Maybe it's just because I'm more of a auditory learner than a visual learner, but when I hear a ballad in song, or anything for that matter, it makes more sense. It's the same as when Br. Tom reads in class. The other part that made understanding these ballads easier was the fact that they were written as stores, so there was more focus on the plot rather than symbols, metaphors, etc. I definitely enjoyed these much more than other types of poetry because I like music. Everything makes more sense in a song. 1202258911

Obviously, I think we all agree that we like the ballad. I think one of the reasons is that it's specifically meant to be put to music. When we read other poems, we had to interpret it based solely on the words written within the structure. In terms of deciphering, that made it very difficult without some guidance. With the ballad, it becomes a little easier. Not only is it a little more formulaic, for lack of a better word, because of its signature plotlines, but when listening to someone sing it, we have that guidance. It helps to insert some of the inflection that gives us so many clues to the undertones, themes, and metaphors embedded in a poem. To touch on kho's point, the tempo and tone of the song would need to be compatible with the ballad in order to convey the author's intent and it therefore helps us as readers understand what the author was trying to accomplish and gives us more insight into our analyzation. user:kco-c

I think that because the ballad is so easily put to music it is the type of poetry that we come in contact with the most today. I have found that for this reason it has been the easiest form of poetry to study because I have been exposed to it without noticing it. Many songs such as the examples that Br. Tom brought to class are ballads, but were written as songs not as poetry. Especially when ballads are put to music, they are easier to understand because the music can help to explain the mood of the poem. On the other hand if the music used doesn't match the poem it can destroy the meaning of the poem. This is what makes the ballad complex is trying to fit the poem to music. My partner and I found that this can make all the difference in getting the meaning of a ballad across to an audience. I also think that ballads are easier to understand because of their narrative aspect. The stories told by the ballads are short and simple making them very easy to follow.1202273770

The ballad's adaptability in terms of music is really what makes it great. Like in other poetry, there is an infinite amount of tones and dialects one can read a ballad in prose. But the element of music gives ballads a whole new level of expression. You can look at any ballad and find a million different songs it could easily be played to. Just look at our class presentations, besides hearing the theme from Gilligan's Island twice, everyone did a different song. And if you think about it, that is probably why the ballad became such a popular poetic form and also why it has survived so long in literature. Whether you were the most educated and rich nobleman in all of Europe, or the lowliest peasant farmer, you could enjoy the ballad with the same enthusiasm. You could be in it for the intellectual exploration that poetry allows us, or merely the time-passing enjoyment of singing clever rhymes. I enjoy it for both.1202286780

The ballad performances have been one of my favorite assignments for many of the reasons all of you above have mentioned. It was great for us to have our own poetic license to see how the ballad would fit into a particular beat, rhythm, or song. Depending on the way in which each particular group read the ballad, they could perform it accordingly. Some groups found music to play along with their ballads (kudos!), others sang it with a simple melody, others spoke/sang the ballad. It may have been difficult at first to decipher what exactly would fit best with the ballad, but everything seemed to turn out well for most groups in the end. Our creativity was able to shine through—should we use background music or not? Should we wear costumes? This line doesn’t quite fit with the beat so I might have to make adjustments. I definitely think the applicability of music to this assignment made it that much more enjoyable. The class in which we listened to Bob Dylan and such was an engaging class because it gave us an idea of the direction in which to go for our own ballads. Overall, I have only positive feedback about this project; all students seemed to work hard to deliver the ballads in an interesting, entertaining way. The podcast idea is fun, too! My only suggestion would to have more performances like this for poetry. 1202309693