Words and Music

I love words and I love music. There's so much power in both of them, how words bring ideas to life, and music brings emotion to words. Together, they're magic, music and words.

 Once upon a time, I was a teacher. Early in my student teaching, my cooperating teacher did the most miraculous thing: The students had all just finished reading (or not) and, for the most part, hating The Scarlet Letter, but nearly all of them rocked the final assignment. Why? Because their task was to find a song--any song, any year, any genre--that personified a character, relationship, or major theme in the story and eloquently explain and defend their rationale. Their choices, and presentations, were amazing, even the kids who barely cared about showing up to class let alone completing homework assignments. Especially those kids, actually. Some of theirs were the best. Given the opportunity to find something they actually cared about and connect it to something in school, they thrived. No, assignments can't always be that fun, but every once in a while it's a beautiful thing. I learned a lot that day and, more importantly, so did the kids.

So what's all this ruminating about? I was just reading Delirium, a poetic book where love is, literally, forbidden. Coincidentally, or maybe it was fatefully, I was also listening to Dashboard Confessional. On came their song, “The Secret’s In the Telling,” and I got lost in how perfectly it seems to encapsulate Delirium. Now, I can’t stop thinking about both of them. Novel and song have a deeper connection in my brain and in my heart. Beautiful.

Words and music. Magic.