Projects
The Music of Words - Phase 2
Abstract
Poems for children and the youth by Portuguese authors such as Afonso Lopes Vieira, Sidónio Muralha, Matilde Rosa Araújo, Eugénio de Andrade, Luísa Ducla Soares or Manuel António Pina have often been set to music by composers/musicians such as Tomás Borba, Francine Benoît, Fernando Lopes-Graça or Suzana Ralha. Therefore the first goal of the project “The Music of Words – phase 2” is to develop a continuous study of songbooks and songs based on poems of Portuguese children’s literature.
The starting point of this work was the book A Música das Palavras: Sidónio Muralha, Matilde Rosa Araújo, Eugénio de Andrade, Luísa Ducla Soares, Manuel António Pina, João Pedro Mésseder by José António Gomes (Porto: Tropelias & C.ª, 2017, ISBN: 9789898582522, https://www.wook.pt/livro/a-musica-das-palavras-jose-antonio-gomes/19249971). This volume was published with the financial support of the Municipality of Ílhavo, due to the fact that every year Ílhavo Public Library (BMI) organizes a small but very specific project of reading and music promotion called ‘A Música das Palavras’. It usually involves the library staff, a speaker, local music teachers, sometimes a local music school and also children and their parents. This set of activities includes an oral and written presentation of the writer and the composer of the songs as well as a bibliographic and documental exhibition organized by the BMI. This one is always focused on a specific writer/poet whose poems were set to music. After the exhibition BMI provides the readers and researchers with a complete file on the author’s life and works.
The research products related to this reading and music promotion project deal with the relationship between literary language and musical language. They have been published and will continue to be so. Subsequently the research team intends to develop this kind of work and share it with the community not only in public sessions organized by the BMI, but also in academic events. The researchers will also discuss and offer ideas and suggestions on the pedagogical use of songs based on poetic texts, both in literary and musical education and in reading promotion activities. Consequently they will try to influence teaching practice and librarians’ practice as far as the promotion of literature and music is concerned.
The starting point of this work was the book A Música das Palavras: Sidónio Muralha, Matilde Rosa Araújo, Eugénio de Andrade, Luísa Ducla Soares, Manuel António Pina, João Pedro Mésseder by José António Gomes (Porto: Tropelias & C.ª, 2017, ISBN: 9789898582522, https://www.wook.pt/livro/a-musica-das-palavras-jose-antonio-gomes/19249971). This volume was published with the financial support of the Municipality of Ílhavo, due to the fact that every year Ílhavo Public Library (BMI) organizes a small but very specific project of reading and music promotion called ‘A Música das Palavras’. It usually involves the library staff, a speaker, local music teachers, sometimes a local music school and also children and their parents. This set of activities includes an oral and written presentation of the writer and the composer of the songs as well as a bibliographic and documental exhibition organized by the BMI. This one is always focused on a specific writer/poet whose poems were set to music. After the exhibition BMI provides the readers and researchers with a complete file on the author’s life and works.
The research products related to this reading and music promotion project deal with the relationship between literary language and musical language. They have been published and will continue to be so. Subsequently the research team intends to develop this kind of work and share it with the community not only in public sessions organized by the BMI, but also in academic events. The researchers will also discuss and offer ideas and suggestions on the pedagogical use of songs based on poetic texts, both in literary and musical education and in reading promotion activities. Consequently they will try to influence teaching practice and librarians’ practice as far as the promotion of literature and music is concerned.
Aims
• To identify relevant examples of songbooks and specific songs based on poems written by Portuguese authors of literature for children and the youth
• To analyse the intersemiotic and intertextual dialogue between literary language and musical language in specific songbooks and songs (e.g. Tomás Borba and Lopes Vieira, José Afonso and Pessoa, Eduardo Queiróz / Eugénia Melo e Castro and Maria Alberta Menéres, Suzana Ralha and Regina Guimarães, Sérgio Godinho, José Barata Moura, João Loio…)
• To describe the historical background of the songs as well as the literary profile of writers and the musical profile of composers/musicians
• To share the developed studies with the educational and academic community either in specific public talks and in music sessions or in specialized publications
• To provide useful ideas and suggestions on the pedagogical use of songs based on poems both in literary and in musical education
• To identify relevant examples of songbooks and specific songs based on poems written by Portuguese authors of literature for children and the youth
• To analyse the intersemiotic and intertextual dialogue between literary language and musical language in specific songbooks and songs (e.g. Tomás Borba and Lopes Vieira, José Afonso and Pessoa, Eduardo Queiróz / Eugénia Melo e Castro and Maria Alberta Menéres, Suzana Ralha and Regina Guimarães, Sérgio Godinho, José Barata Moura, João Loio…)
• To describe the historical background of the songs as well as the literary profile of writers and the musical profile of composers/musicians
• To share the developed studies with the educational and academic community either in specific public talks and in music sessions or in specialized publications
• To provide useful ideas and suggestions on the pedagogical use of songs based on poems both in literary and in musical education
Coordination
Research Team
José António Gomes |Graça Mota | Chief librarian of Ílhavo Public Library | Lisete Cipriano, head of the Culture Division at Ílhavo Municipality | Ana Cristina Vasconcelos de Macedo (IEL-C; ESE) | Sara Reis da Silva (Minho University)
Participant Institutions
Ílhavo Public Library and Ílhavo Municipality (Culture Division); IEL-C (Research Nucleus in Literary and Cultural Studies at the College of Education (ESE) of Porto Polytechnic (P. Porto)
Funding
Initially provided by Ílhavo’s Municipal Library (BMI) and the Municipality of Ílhavo for specific purposes: organizing sessions open to the public; preparing and publishing publicity material; setting up bibliographic and documental exhibitions; publishing research products; lecturer’s expenditure
Period
From March 2020 until July 2024
Keywords
Poetry for children and the youth; songs; songbooks; literary language; musical language
