In our research on HanGuang Vocal Band, besides learning about a cappella, we have also come across many beautiful poems in HanGuang’s songs. Through analyzing the poems, we were able to get a feel of the messages that those authors were trying to deliver, and we also got ourselves into the poems through HanGuang’s song arrangement and vocal interpretation.
The Beautiful Voices came up with an idea. Like HanGuang, we would like to fuse a cappella with poetries. We would like to see if we our literacy in classical Chinese has improved after some serious studying. Therefore, we took a song arranged by HanGuang and then combined it with our own poem. We hope to learn the way HanGuang sings a cappella, as well as how poets express themselves through poems.
Little Poets’ Creation
Poem selection Which poem should we choose as our reference? Why not choose from the ones we have analyzed!
What about the theme of the poem? Which type of poem should we choose?
After discussion, we decided on ‘reading’ as our theme, something that we can all relate to. Since this is our first attempt, we picked a poem that follows the traditional structure of poems. Finally, we decided unanimously to choose Joy of Studying in Four Seasons by Weng Sen of the Yuan Dynasty as our reference.
Studying of poem structures After a reference is selected, we came up with a few main points for writing our poems:
1.There will be one poem for each season.
2.There are eight verses in one poem, seven words in each verse.
3.The poem must carry a rhyme.
4.Describe the setting of the poem, and then the reader’s feeling or enjoyment.
After we got the gist of it, everyone is assigned with a season to write on. And just like the original poem, there will be eight verses in each poem, and seven words in each verse. We are to describe the seasonal scenery and depict reader’s feeling or enjoyment. Rhyming is still a bit difficult for us, so our teacher lifted the restriction on rhyming words.
Writing the poem After the rules were set, everyone started choosing the season he or she wants to work on.
Spring：Andrea, Nicole
Summer：Henry, Ryan
Autumn：Jessica, Vanilla
Winter：Samantha, Winnie
After the seasons are chosen, we started looking for ideas to spark our creativity. Some looked up articles on the Internet, while some searched for pictures. Everyone was looking for something that one might expect to see in that particular season. However, our teacher reminded us that we need to find something that is quite current and fits our personal depiction of learning in that particular season. We need to write based on our personal feelings.
Drawing the setting After the poems are completed, we wrote the poem and drew its setting on a whiteboard and worksheet. Everyone was able to see our poem and drawing to understand our train of thoughts for this poem.
Combining our creativity
After each team is done with the poem, teacher asked us to write it on the whiteboard for discussion. Everyone raised some excellent points. For example, green leaves in spring is good, the buzzing of cicada should be in summer, sounds of student reciting coming from the classroom, where can one expect to see ‘withered trees in desolation?’ Winnie answered, ‘That was only a setting for my poem.’ We brainstormed and the end result was astounding. Finally, ‘Joy of Studying in Four Seasons’ by the Beautiful Voices was finished happily.
‘Joy of Studying in Four Seasons’ by the Beautiful Voices
【Spring】
Green leaves growing on trees, grassing budding out of the ground.
Sitting by the window listening to bug buzzing, what a wonderful time for studying.
Garden filled with the smell of flowers and grass, classrooms filled with sounds of children reading.
What’s the joy of reading like, it’s like spring wind dancing in the green.
【Summer】
Cicada buzzing in summer, grass, trees, and flowers all blooming.
Birds flying round the tree, cicada buzzing on the tree.
Bugs crying all around, only studying is the most fun.
Reading brings endless pleasure, why not forget the rest and start reading.
【Autumn】
Red leaves falling in the garden, covering the ground in redness.
It is fun to study in front of the desk, reading is fun with books accompanying.
The sight of autumn all around, sunset glow on the winding path.
Light breeze carrying the scent of autumn, what a great time to hit the books.
【Winter】
Withered trees in desolation, get indoors and sit in front of the desk.
Yellow, orange, and green showing signs of winter, studying gets rid of the coldness.
Plum blossom blooming tenaciously, reading and appreciating the moon is lots of fun.
Walls of books awaiting for me, traveling through the seasons and enjoy reading.
Source: the Beautiful Voices | Photo: the Beautiful Voices │ Video: the Beautiful Voices
Which poem should we choose as our reference? Why not choose from the ones we have analyzed!
What about the theme of the poem? Which type of poem should we choose?
After discussion, we decided on ‘reading’ as our theme, something that we can all relate to. Since this is our first attempt, we picked a poem that follows the traditional structure of poems. Finally, we decided unanimously to choose Joy of Studying in Four Seasons by Weng Sen of the Yuan Dynasty as our reference.
After a reference is selected, we came up with a few main points for writing our poems:
After the rules were set, everyone started choosing the season he or she wants to work on.
After the poems are completed, we wrote the poem and drew its setting on a whiteboard and worksheet. Everyone was able to see our poem and drawing to understand our train of thoughts for this poem.
