Jonathan Shaw

     After the first coursework for the 'Composition 1' module, "Mirrors", we were later given a small optional task to have a go at setting text to music. The text given was William Carlos Williams’ glorious poem, "This is just to say":

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I have eaten

the plums

that were in

the icebox

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and which

you were probably

saving

for breakfast

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Forgive me

they were delicious

so sweet

and so cold.

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     As comical and witty as the poem was, I treated it in that exact vein and wrote a quick Wagnerian epic to accompany the text, then recorded myself singing along to it, and presented it to the class the following week alongside with a few other people that had a go. The piece achieved what I expected – it made people laugh – so that is success enough for me!

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     There isn’t much else to say, except that this was perhaps my first witty orchestral piece in a quirky style that I would later write in occasionally. Perhaps, though, too often…