Tuesday, January 17, 2006

the music of words

So, Jon Brumit's typewriter piano got me thinking about the music of words and what if you could not only match a tone per key but also attach it on a computer keyboard so one could conceivably play the poem as quickly as one types. Garageband on my machine as a typing keyboard, but it only has the entire middle line of the keyboard and seven keys on the top row along with z, x, c, v to change pitch. So, like John Brumit's manual typewriter, I could play a song out of a poem. In this case with Garageband, you can't use space, because the space key stops the recording.

This is the first stanza of my poem, "Opera":

I promised I would get to know him.
cover to cover. an Opera. Words standing in the
spotlight of this page. I have no patience for black
tea. He tells his friends he never sees me write
poetry. Like holding your breath through the tunnel
to make your wish come true. It is difficult.


This is what it sounds like. You really only hear a third of the letters since not all the keys are mapped out.

Here's the same track with added jazz drums.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

heeey, nice opera! i'm excited to see the typewriter piano had some sort of motivational effect on you! i'll have a flash version of the instrument up within a month or so, i'll keep you posted...! jb