Reflection Letter
I love music. It’s rare to find me in a completely quiet moment. Usually there is some sort of soundtrack accompanying me through my day. Even when I’m in front of students, I’m often playing classical music in the background. One look through my iTunes and you can easily see that I have an eclectic taste in music. You’ll find everything from country to rap, indie rock to reggae, pop to alternative, classical to classic rock, and even some Native American soundtracks. I never understood those who tried to pigeonhole their musical tastes into one genre. Why discriminate when there is so much good music out there? To me, different music fits different moods. When I need to get pumped up, It’s hardcore rock or rap all the way. When I’m taking a long drive, that’s my time for indie rock. When I feel like singing at the top of my lungs, I just throw on some old school Mariah and I’m golden.
So, it should come as no real shock that when looking at the options for projects, the soundtrack option immediately jumped out at me. Often, when watching a movie or TV show with a good soundtrack, I’ll think about how awesome it must be to get paid to select music that accompanies a show. There is so much emotion in music, and if you get just the right song, it can add so much to your message. I do the same thing when reading a good book. I’ll be in the middle of a book and then a song will start playing and it will click that the song I’m listening to reminds me of the book I’m reading. I remember in middle school I was reading some book while listening to the new Matchbox 20 album, Yourself or Someone Like You (1996). I remember feeling like every single song on that album went perfectly with the book. I don’t even remember what the book was called, but I remember listening to that CD on repeat until I finished the book. To this day, I could sing every single song on that album by heart.
When I originally decided on this project, I was going to do it for The Fault In Our Stars, by John Green. I figured it’d be a good book to dig through some of my indie and alternative rock albums (and maybe even bust out some Swedish techno music). But as it happens, I was reading Pride and Prejudice on our drive up to Pennsylvania for Thanksgiving. I kept hearing songs on the radio that tied in perfectly with what I was reading in the book, such as the song “Mercy” by Shawn Mendes. The more I started thinking about it, the more I wanted to do it for Pride and Prejudice. How cool to set a classic novel to contemporary music! The teaching applications aside (I mention those in my introduction on the About page), I kept picturing Pride and Prejudice as a TV-series, me being the one who gets to chose the music for the show, and thinking about how cool the contrast would be between the contemporary music playing while actors walk around in period dress. I knew I had to do this book.
In terms of process, I mention this a bit on the introduction of the About page, but essentially I picture Elizabeth Bennett as a real trail-blazer feminist in her time period. She speaks her mind and makes no apologies for it. So, on the playlist, I wanted to include some female artists that have a similar character. Gwen Stefani jumped out at me first. Since she hit the scene in the ‘90s with the band No Doubt, I’ve been a fan. She was and is just SO COOL. She doesn’t care what people think about her, and she tells it like it is. She even wrote a song about it, which I chose for the first song on the playlist. Pat Benatar, Taylor Swift, Beyonce, Katy Perry, and Meghan Trainor have all made headlines for telling it like it is, and as such it’s no coincidence that they had also written songs that resembled many of the things Elizabeth Bennett goes through. If the playlist seems laden with unapologetic, strong-willed women, that’s intentional. These women each remind me of Elizabeth Bennett in their own way. Whether they do it through pop, hip hop, or all out rock, they are speaking their minds and making no apologies for it.
However, Elizabeth has a softer side as well. She loves with her whole heart and wants to be loved in return. Everyone wants to love and to be loved, strong women just need to be loved by someone who can handle them. Elizabeth knows this and waits until she finds a man worthy of her love. Hence, she finally falls for Mr. Darcy. To show this softer side of Elizabeth, love songs have also been included on the playlist. After all, Pride and Prejudice is a love story. But, in typical fashion, Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy’s love is not an easy one to come to. They have to go through their fair share of struggles, so most of the “love” songs included on this album reflect the fact that there has been some sort of struggle that took place.
I’m proud of this playlist. I think the songs relate really well to the storyline and to Elizabeth Bennett. It also provides a sampling of music from the ‘80s, ‘90s, early 2000s, and today (I sound like a radio tagline, but it’s true). The format of the website should help readers to easily identify which songs should accompany certain parts of the book, and I think readers of Pride and Prejudice will be able to see many of the connections between the songs chosen and the story itself. I think listening to this playlist will definitely help my students to engage with the story Pride and Prejudice and will also serve as a good model for students to emulate in the spring when then do their own novel soundtracks.
One weakness is the lack of diversity in genres. It’s very “pop” and “top 40s” heavy. I didn’t dig very deep into the world of lesser-known music the way I was able to for, say, the Looking For Alaska book trailer. There are a few reasons why the project ended up this way. First, Pride and Prejudice is essentially a teen drama. On the About page, I make the statement that this story could be set in a high school today and it would look very similar to a lot of the popular teen dramas on TV now. As such, the story seemed to lend itself more to the “Top 40” type of music. Secondly, I wanted my students to be able to relate to this playlist, so I chose songs I thought they might know or have heard of before. Even the Pat Benatar song, though recorded well before any of my students were born, has seen a resurgence in recognition due to its inclusion on the video game Guitar Hero.
All in all, I enjoyed working on this project. We’ve discussed in class the importance of work “flow” in a student’s process, and I definitely hit that flow with this project. I even forgot to eat lunch a couple of days while working on it only to look up and realize that it was already 5 p.m.! I hope that you enjoyed listening to this playlist and reading about how it connects to Pride and Prejudice. It’s a book that means a lot to me, and the playlist was put together with a lot of thought and consideration. I only hope that I have done it justice!
Click here for a rubric for this project.
Click here for a reference list.
So, it should come as no real shock that when looking at the options for projects, the soundtrack option immediately jumped out at me. Often, when watching a movie or TV show with a good soundtrack, I’ll think about how awesome it must be to get paid to select music that accompanies a show. There is so much emotion in music, and if you get just the right song, it can add so much to your message. I do the same thing when reading a good book. I’ll be in the middle of a book and then a song will start playing and it will click that the song I’m listening to reminds me of the book I’m reading. I remember in middle school I was reading some book while listening to the new Matchbox 20 album, Yourself or Someone Like You (1996). I remember feeling like every single song on that album went perfectly with the book. I don’t even remember what the book was called, but I remember listening to that CD on repeat until I finished the book. To this day, I could sing every single song on that album by heart.
When I originally decided on this project, I was going to do it for The Fault In Our Stars, by John Green. I figured it’d be a good book to dig through some of my indie and alternative rock albums (and maybe even bust out some Swedish techno music). But as it happens, I was reading Pride and Prejudice on our drive up to Pennsylvania for Thanksgiving. I kept hearing songs on the radio that tied in perfectly with what I was reading in the book, such as the song “Mercy” by Shawn Mendes. The more I started thinking about it, the more I wanted to do it for Pride and Prejudice. How cool to set a classic novel to contemporary music! The teaching applications aside (I mention those in my introduction on the About page), I kept picturing Pride and Prejudice as a TV-series, me being the one who gets to chose the music for the show, and thinking about how cool the contrast would be between the contemporary music playing while actors walk around in period dress. I knew I had to do this book.
In terms of process, I mention this a bit on the introduction of the About page, but essentially I picture Elizabeth Bennett as a real trail-blazer feminist in her time period. She speaks her mind and makes no apologies for it. So, on the playlist, I wanted to include some female artists that have a similar character. Gwen Stefani jumped out at me first. Since she hit the scene in the ‘90s with the band No Doubt, I’ve been a fan. She was and is just SO COOL. She doesn’t care what people think about her, and she tells it like it is. She even wrote a song about it, which I chose for the first song on the playlist. Pat Benatar, Taylor Swift, Beyonce, Katy Perry, and Meghan Trainor have all made headlines for telling it like it is, and as such it’s no coincidence that they had also written songs that resembled many of the things Elizabeth Bennett goes through. If the playlist seems laden with unapologetic, strong-willed women, that’s intentional. These women each remind me of Elizabeth Bennett in their own way. Whether they do it through pop, hip hop, or all out rock, they are speaking their minds and making no apologies for it.
However, Elizabeth has a softer side as well. She loves with her whole heart and wants to be loved in return. Everyone wants to love and to be loved, strong women just need to be loved by someone who can handle them. Elizabeth knows this and waits until she finds a man worthy of her love. Hence, she finally falls for Mr. Darcy. To show this softer side of Elizabeth, love songs have also been included on the playlist. After all, Pride and Prejudice is a love story. But, in typical fashion, Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy’s love is not an easy one to come to. They have to go through their fair share of struggles, so most of the “love” songs included on this album reflect the fact that there has been some sort of struggle that took place.
I’m proud of this playlist. I think the songs relate really well to the storyline and to Elizabeth Bennett. It also provides a sampling of music from the ‘80s, ‘90s, early 2000s, and today (I sound like a radio tagline, but it’s true). The format of the website should help readers to easily identify which songs should accompany certain parts of the book, and I think readers of Pride and Prejudice will be able to see many of the connections between the songs chosen and the story itself. I think listening to this playlist will definitely help my students to engage with the story Pride and Prejudice and will also serve as a good model for students to emulate in the spring when then do their own novel soundtracks.
One weakness is the lack of diversity in genres. It’s very “pop” and “top 40s” heavy. I didn’t dig very deep into the world of lesser-known music the way I was able to for, say, the Looking For Alaska book trailer. There are a few reasons why the project ended up this way. First, Pride and Prejudice is essentially a teen drama. On the About page, I make the statement that this story could be set in a high school today and it would look very similar to a lot of the popular teen dramas on TV now. As such, the story seemed to lend itself more to the “Top 40” type of music. Secondly, I wanted my students to be able to relate to this playlist, so I chose songs I thought they might know or have heard of before. Even the Pat Benatar song, though recorded well before any of my students were born, has seen a resurgence in recognition due to its inclusion on the video game Guitar Hero.
All in all, I enjoyed working on this project. We’ve discussed in class the importance of work “flow” in a student’s process, and I definitely hit that flow with this project. I even forgot to eat lunch a couple of days while working on it only to look up and realize that it was already 5 p.m.! I hope that you enjoyed listening to this playlist and reading about how it connects to Pride and Prejudice. It’s a book that means a lot to me, and the playlist was put together with a lot of thought and consideration. I only hope that I have done it justice!
Click here for a rubric for this project.
Click here for a reference list.