Making Music Mean – An Introduction to the Theory and Practice of Composing Music that Reads Poetry and Narrative

Abstract

Music provides new readings of literature. Although readers expect writers to employ words while commenting on music, the first section of this report, called “Theory,” demonstrates how the musical text brings out new understandings from what readers can now refer to as a wordful text. A history of this undertaking brings together Ancient Greek philosophy, centuries of semiotics, and twentieth-century Caribbean thoughts on filin, with autobiographical references that show how these all synthesize into a highly personal form of Cultural Studies newly reconsid-ered as Creation-Research. “Practice,” the second section, begins with a musical epigraph and then provides references to musical scores by Franz Schubert, Johann Friedrich Reichardt, and the au-thor. Contrasting with the preceding part, this creates more hearing than reading by including direct links to sonic examples of the music discussed, turning readers into listeners who can begin to read with their ears and hear with their eyes.