In one of the operas this year there is a character (a lonely bird) who can only speak in riddles. We dug into the second and final riddle song today, and the focus the kids brought to the editing process was again very impressive. At the end of the day we talked about what we thought was challenging about creating lyrics as a team, and the group had some good insights:
- When you’re working on editing, it can be hard to tell a good idea from the right good idea
- Sometimes you have to go with ideas you don’t agree with
- It can be hard to not have your really good idea included, even if you know why
- One good idea can lead to another good idea and another and another and another
And because seeing is believing, here are the lyrics we finished with. In this song, the lonely riddle-speaking bird is warning the explorer not to fall for a raccoon’s deadly trick. As before:
First Draft Text = normal ; Removed text = crossed out; Added text = italicized
Do not follow moving objects that move straight
will pull you. It’s yummy, but don’t follow
it’s awful, but cute
Pulling your meal
Do not follow the black tiger’s tail trail
if you do, the beat stops
Do not touch the baby sun sweet pink
if you do, death will come to you
death awaits you
the boat of Charon waits awaits
Do not trust the masked bandit
his tongue knows many tongues
his stripes will strike you
he cannot nod
he can not say yes
December 11th, 2012
Various Writings by Erin Bregman 