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IWW
Practice-W Exercise Archives
Exercise: Music Hath Charms
These exercises were written
by IWW members
and administrators to provide structured practice opportunities for its
members.
You are welcome to use them for practice as well. Please mention that
you found
them at the Internet Writers Workshop
(http://www.internetwritingworkshop.org/).
Prepared by: Alice Folkart
Posted on: 11 September 2011
Posted on: 15 February 2015
Posted on: 20 September 2020
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Exercise: In 400 words or less, create a scene in which
you describe some kind of music and the effect it has on
a listener or listeners.
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In William Congreve's 1697 play, The Mourning Bride, a
character says, Music hath charms to soothe the savage
breast. (often misquoted as 'savage beast') It's still
true. We play a lullaby to put a baby to sleep and a suitor
woos his beloved with a serenade. But music can also wake
the savage beast within us. Soldiers march off to war to
stirring patriotic music. Somber music is played at a
traditional funeral, but in New Orleans, a dixieland jazz
band sets a lively pace returning from the cemetery. Acid
rock, house, hip hop, reggae, or rap can turn an arena into
a writhing sea of sweaty bodies. Opera buffs swoon over an
aria. Swinging big bands were the sound track to the heartaches
and homecomings of WWII.
Music mirrors our culture and society and is a way to travel
back in time. Listen to Mozart or Bach, and you are in a
different world for a while. Show us a character appreciating,
or hating, or being stirred by music, and describe that music so
that we will know why the character reacts as he does. The music
can be from any place or anywhere—harpsichord, jungle drums, a
shepherd's flute, or a one-stringed Chinese banjo.
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In your critique, consider whether the description of the music
will help the reader to 'hear' it. Does the author's description
make us understand why the character reacts as he/she does? What
tools of the writing craft does the author use to evoke the sounds
of music—language, pacing, repetition, rhythm, or perhaps comparison
to senses other than hearing.
Web site created by
Rhéal Nadeau and
the administrators of the Internet Writing Workshop.
Modified by Gayle Surrette.
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