Find a piece of music on YouTube (popular and personally familiar music is acceptable) that employs word painting, and share it with the class by embedding the video.
In your initial prompt, discuss what words are being "painted." You may use the timer on YouTube to point out where in the song these moments occur. Would the musical work have had the same e ect if the composer had not used word paintina? Are there other sections of the song where word painting could have been used to create a better e ect? Did word painting a ect the feelings expressed in this work, or was it unnecessary?
Hello Class,
The band 10cc has a song called Clockwork Creep. It is about a bomb in an airplane, from the perspec ve of the bomb. There are so
many examples of word pain ngs throughout the en re song. By just looking at the overall song, it is a li le stressful, in the sense that it moves very quickly and leaves you on edge. This matches the idea
because of the presence of the bomb.
One of the main word pain ngs li ered throughout the song is the phrase " ck a ck me bomb". The ar sts sing it in a way that mimics the cking of a bomb. This phrase rst appears in second 17, and is found during the whole song. Then, right a er that in second 20, the lyrics say, "I'm a jumbo jet". It is as I the point of view has switched from the bomb to the plane. During
this part of the song, it sounds like it is the plane talking through the speakers of the plane. You know how when you listen to the pilot on a
plane it has a speci c sound, like a mu ed and mechanical sound? This goes on for ten seconds. Pre y cool word pain ng! In second 43, the Iyrics say, "our me is running down, down, down down, down". You guessed it; the melody's notes go down during this part! Then at the minute mark of the video, the melody goes up with the word "up" being sung. Then immediately a er at 1:06 the words down are sung again as the notes go down too. At 1:13, the melody starts a big high while singing "ooh", the plumets down with the words "the gravity of the situa on". It is almost as if gravity had pulled that note down quite a few steps. From 1:50 to 2:15 the plane seems to take over the comm again and talks about how he is an envied plane by how well he lands, how safe the plane is, and how great of a plane he is. During this me, the song gets increasingly sweet. It doesn't have the pressure of the cking sounds, no harsh and fast rhythms, and has mimics of bird whistles towards the end of that part. The plane reall