The Halls are Alive with the Sound of Poetry

It's like music to our ears: March is Music in Our Schools Month. Hey, Poetry Paraders, we just used an idiom meaning it's exactly what we wanted to hear! Music in Our Schools Month highlights the importance of music education and promotes the fun and adventure of music in school. Today's first poem celebrates the sound of music and the sound effects of poetry: it uses onomatopoeia, words that sound like the things or actions they describe: 

Tuning Up  

I'm at a concert

And the tuba moans.

     The tuba moans

And the bassoon groans.

     The bassoon groans

And the violin sings.

     The violin sings

And the cymbal rings.

     The cymbal rings

And the trumpet toots.

     The trumpet toots

And the flutist flutes.

     The flutist flutes

And the drummer drums.

     The drummer drums

And the cello hums....

Then ending all this dissonance

The baton raps and starts to dance. 

-- Felice Holman

Our next poem uses alliteration, the repetition of first sounds in neighboring words. It also uses feminine rhymes like classy/brassy and peasants/presence.  A feminine rhyme is a rhyme of two or more syllables with a stronger first syllable. A masculine rhyme, on the other hand, is a rhyme that matches only one syllable: loud/proud and born/horn in this poem, for example.  Okay, that's too confusing on a Poetry Friday.  For today, let's just say that there are a lot of ways to rhyme! 

The Trumpet  

The trumpet is loud,

Triumphant and proud.

It's bold and incredibly brassy.

It can sound cool and shady,

Behave like a lady,

Or be guttural, gutsy, or classy.

The trumpet was born

To blow its own horn.

It's been played both

By princes and peasants.

The coronet's cousin,

With your lips a-buzzin',

Is ideal for announcing

Your presence.

-- Brian P. Cleary

In our final poem, the speaker describes a music class experience that begins on a low note but ends on happy one: 

Music Class

I hear birds.  I sing frogs.

My heart hears every note,

yet my song is locked

inside my throat.

Someone laughs.

I'm way off-key.

The teacher holds my hand

and opens a special box

of things with secret voices.

I get maracas and triangle.

I am an aria.  I am a madrigal.

With silver bells and tambourine,

     I can sing! 

--Kristine O'Connell George

Music offers many opportunities for us to express ourselves and to reveal our special talents.  It's true with poetry, too: Poetry on Parade encourages you to read a poem, write a poem, perform a poem, draw a picture for a poem, share a poem... watch, listen, and respond to a poetry performance.  Our visiting Author's Day poet Brod Bagert urges, "Clap your hands! / Stomp your feet! / Feel the rhythm! / Feel the beat!" This March, there's music in the air and poetry everywhere at Lafayette School.