In November 2025, I hosted three workshops at the Las Vegas-Clark County Library District in collaboration with Raw Femme. Below is the program text and works used. If you’re interested in bringing this workshop to your establishment, please contact me!

    The Poet’s Playlist:
    How Poems Become Songs

    In this interactive workshop, we’ll listen to poems brought to life through musical settings, uncovering how composers use rhythm, tone, and instrumentation to reflect the mood, themes, and structure of the text. Together, we’ll analyze how music deepens our connection to poetry.

    Participants will:

    • Reimagine a classic poem by suggesting how they might set it to music.
    • Listen to and discuss poems set to music, from classical art songs to contemporary works.
    • Explore how composers interpret poetic elements like imagery, repetition, and emotion.

    Resources & Works Cited

    Kimball, Carol. Song: A Guide to Art Song Style and Literature. United States: Hal Leonard, 2006.

    MAYA ANGELOU

    Angelou, Maya. And Still I Rise: A Book of Poems. United States: Random House Publishing Group, 1978.

    Foster, Ruthie. The Phenomenal Ruthie Foster. Proper Records PRPCD040, 2006. https://stores.portmerch.com/ruthiefoster/music/the-phenomenal-ruthie-foster-cd.html

    PAUL BOURGET

    Debussy, Claude, Hugo Wolf, Ludwig van Beethoven. Salzburg Recital. Jessye Norman and James Levine. Phillips Digital Classics 422 378-2, 1991. https://www.discogs.com/master/3126369-Jessye-Norman-James-Levine-2-Ludwig-van-Beethoven-Claude-Debussy-Hugo-Wolf-Salzburg-Recital.

    Debussy, Claude. “Les Cloches.” In Debussy: 43 Songs for Voice and Piano, edited by Sergius Kagen. New York: International Music Company, 1961.

    EMILY DICKINSON

    Digital Public Library of America. “The Manuscript of Dickinson’s Poem Beginning ‘I Felt a Funeral in My Brain,’ ca. 1861. | DPLA.” https://dp.la/primary-source-sets/the-poetry-of-emily-dickinson/sources/830.

    Bird, Andrew. “I felt a Funeral, in my Brain [feat. Phoebe Bridgers].” Loma Vista LVR03382, 2023. https://andrewbird.bandcamp.com/album/i-felt-a-funeral-in-my-brain-feat-phoebe-bridgers.

    FERDINAND FREILIGRATH

    Classicals.de. “Franz Liszt Liebesträume – S. 541.” Recorded and performed by Gregor Quendel. https://www.classicals.de/liszt-love-dreams.

    Wikipedia. “O lieb, so lang du lieben kannst (Ferdinand Freiligrath).” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/O_lieb,_so_lang_du_lieben_kannst.

    JOHANN WOLFGANG VON GOETHE

    Wikipedia. “Erlkönig (Goethe).” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erlk%C3%B6nig.

    Wikipedia. “Erlkönig (Schubert).” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erlk%C3%B6nig_(Schubert).

    Heller, Andre and Othmar Schmiderer, dirs. Jessye Norman: A Portrait. 2005; European Union: DOR FILM / ORF / BR, WDR / ARTE G.E.I.E. 2008. DVD.

    Internet Archive. “L’Apprenti Sorcier – La Valse – España – Suite Pastorale.” Orchestre National De L’Opéra De Monte-Carlo. Paul Paray. Festival Classique – FC 440, 1971. https://archive.org/details/lp_lapprenti-sorcier-la-valse-espaa-sui_paul-dukas-maurice-ravel-emmanuel-chabrier/disc1/01.01.+L’Apprenti+Sorcier.mp3.

    University of Washington: Department of German Studies. “‘The Sorcerer’s Apprentice’ by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, translated by Laila Collins.” https://german.washington.edu/research/translations/sorcerers-apprentice.

    LANGSTON HUGHES

    Hughes, Langston. “Dreams.” The World Tomorrow 6, no. 5 (1923): 147. https://credo.library.umass.edu/view/full/mums312-b215-i250.

    Powell, Rosephayne. Hold Fast to Dreams. Temple University Singing Owls. Performed November 2024. YouTube video: 2:56. Posted by “dunnprt,” February 2025. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9MIUOk2tMc0.

    Wikisource. “The Weary Blues (collection)/Fantasy in Purple.” https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Weary_Blues_(collection)/Fantasy_in_Purple.

    Price, Florence. Fantasy in Purple. Amaro Dubois and Tingting Yao. YouTube video: 2:04. Posted by Amaro Dubois, April 2021. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cvY5Q6VRznA&list=RDcvY5Q6VRznA&start_radio=1.

    DOROTHEA TANNING

    The Poetry Foundation. “All Hallows’ Eve by Dorothea Tanning.” https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/55388/all-hallows-eve.

    PAUL VERLAINE

    Classicals.de. “Claude Debussy Suite bergamasque – L. 75.” Recorded and performed by Gregor Quendel. https://www.classicals.de/debussy-bergamasque.

    The Reader. “Featured Poem: Clair de lune by Paul Verlaine.” Chris Routledge, March 2009. https://www.thereader.org.uk/featured-poem-3/.

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