It was through sheer luck that I met Aruna Jade the musician (thanks to delightful AIESECers at NMIMS Shirpur), she shared more about her ‘100 Days of Melody‘ project during the first few conversations. The entire domain was new to me, and the project was fascinating – 100 melodies for 100 days – and Aruna was asking me to complement the music with poetry. Keen to experiment and learn in the process, I readily agreed.
About the Project | Quoting Aruna:
Thus begins my adventure into music, soundscapes and thoughts. It’s an experiment to post a sound bite of a musical thought or melodic arrangement for a hundred days. Hence it also becomes a challenge, a big learning curve and the forming of a lifestyle – of daily efforts towards making music, of following practice rituals, of balancing different types of tasks both creative and technical, of breaking unproductive habits and cultivating effective ones, hopefully finding fulfillment too somewhere along the way. I don’t know if I can keep up, if I’ll hit a century, but it’s worth a try.
This project idea struck me last year when I came across Jay Zes‘ 100 Days of Poetry blog and not only did I love the content but was inspired to do something similar with my form of expression. After a long year of failing to even begin, I’m still excited because – better late than never!
So here it is – day 1.
Mission – 100 Days of Melody
Motto – Explore | Experiment | Experience
Gear – Music | Art | Word Porn
My Role in 100 Days of Melody
Doing the first 3 melodies (which she asked me to work on) allowed me to explore new ways of expression. My writing had always been an ejaculation of thoughts – may that be business insights or poetry out of an emotional turmoil. Experiencing music calls for varying levels of internal turbulence, and expressing it through words requires visualizing what the notes are making me feel.
Having loved the experience, I have decided to write poetry for all 100 of her melodies – would be borrowing the titles and the art work she has chosen for each.
The Best Way to Experience This
My process involves me sipping a strong brew, having Aruna’s track (the one being worked on) on the loop in my ears and typing out what I feel in a few minutes’ time. While the track and the poetry have independent identities and make perfect sense without each other, they are best experienced together. Have the track playing and read the poetry – my words have been one with her music as I wrote them.
Tried embedding the Soundcloud links here. My poetry for her first batch is up here: 100 Days of Melody #1 – First 10 (do check it out!)
And of course, your feedback would really help. This is a learning curve. Thank you! 🙂
[first published on Frankaffe]
