January Prompt: Music to the Mind

[Prof. Tarma Amelia Black]

New year, new themes, another new prompt -

How often do you hum or sing to yourself, a something which shows up and you find yourself enjoying the music? Not talking about something that you've just listened to, and it stays and stays and stays ...

Are any of these songs, or bits of melody, inspired by a book which you just read or are reading? Are they songs coming from a book, which ended up being made into a musical or a movie which incorporates music as an intrinsic part of it? Or maybe you make up songs or melodies on your own, when you are reading a good book, simply because music has to be part of it?

What book or books have you read which inspires you to hum or sing? I immediately think of Don Quixote, by Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra, which had been made into the musical Man of La Mancha (adapted from Dale Wasserman's I, Don Quixote). The Impossible Dream, Dulcinea and Man of La Mancha (I, Don Quixote) immediately jostle for 'listen to me!' in my mind, as I think of the book.

Have you read a book or story which calls for a song, either one of your own composition or one that is from somewhere else? I've read an adventure story, and something starts playing in my mind, that later on I realize is Ride of the Valkyries. Or, in an adventure story of a strange kind (think Jumanji by Chris Van Allsburg), Ode to Joy starts playing (from the movie Die Hard).

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