2008 - Communication Across the Curriculum (CAC)

H u m a n i t i e s
The Gift of Song
by Kirsten
Hallford
HUMA 1302: Introduction to the Humanities. Kirsten
Hallford undertook to compose and write the lyrics
for two pieces of music, greatly indebted to the age
of the Italian and northern European Renaissance, as
well as the Islamic cultures. Her essay, in which she
provides both historical and cultural background to
the lyrics she wrote, is intended to accompany her
songs.
Adele Yung
Music has been around for as long as people have had vocal
chords. Singing is universal. We sing to celebrate, to entertain,
to mourn, and to inspire. We sing on Broadway, in the shower, at
school, at church, in a group or by ourselves. There are so many
different ways to sing and types of music to sing to, it would take
up countless books to categorize. The music of the times of the
European Renaissance is to be noted, however, because it is one of
the first time periods where their melodies have been carried to our
time. This fascinating era introduced new musical ideas, including
the madrigal, the ballade, and the round.
When I decided to write a Renaissance song, I first wanted to
do a madrigal, “a poetic and musical form. The poem was usually
of two or three stanzas, each one three lines long, followed by a
refrain of two rhyming lines. The music was usually for two voices or
parts, sometimes for three, and the melody for the stanzas differed
from the melody for the refrain.” (web – “singers”) I liked the idea of
more than two voices singing, and also putting to music Patriarch’s
sonnets. Romantic and cute, the madrigal would be something I
would want to sing were I in Renaissance times. But continuing to
reflect made me decide I wanted to write my own song, with my
own lyrics, accompanied by my own guitar (or, “oversized lute”).
What was supposed to be as a love sonnet to music became a
story of sorts. It’s sung by a young, romantic teen girl who lived in
Venice, and is an account of her encounter with a handsome young
sailor who just came off the deck his ship. They flirt a little, and he
soon is gone, leaving her with dreams in her head. My madrigal had
become a short ballade, but with the nonsensical words in-between
the verses, typical of a madrigal. Simple and innocent, I deemed it
the first “Badrigal” – not the catchiest name, but served its purpose.
I attempted to put a couple Renaissance-song characteristics into
one song, and it worked out fairly nicely. …Why not try it again
I knew my second song was to be about Christmas, or at least
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