Jan
2018
Poetry Friday: Ice Music
This week my attention has been captivated by Ice Music. A Norwegian musician, Terje Isungset. He creates instruments–horns keyboards, drums–out of ice and then records the music in a studio carved from the ice. The music is breathtaking and otherworldly. Click on the link to his website above or to this NPR story that includes a couple of recordings.
I have had the opportunity to listen to the musical dripping of melting ice as our temperatures seesaw back and forth. The different sounds combined in this poem.
Ice Music
The icicles dangling
from the eaves
creak and plink
as meltwater drips
through cracks.
Its rhythm
hints at the music
that could be
born of ice
if only one
could sculpt
an orchestra–
icehorns and icefons
that wail and burble,
pound and ring
an otherworldly melody
within a frozen studio.
Each Friday, I am excited to take part in Poetry Friday, where writers share their love of all things poetry. Jan has the Poetry Friday Roundup today at Bookseedstudio. She celebrates the life and memory of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. with a glimpse into a picture book that explores the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Drop by and see what poetry morsels are offered this week.
Irene Latham
January 18, 2018 at 8:53 pm (6 years ago)Oh I can hear the creak and plink in that frozen studio! Thank you so much for this music — and for hosting Poetry Friday. I’m in with a look at THE WATCHER by Nikki Grimes (a picture book that employs the Golden Shovel form). http://irenelatham.blogspot.com/2018/01/the-watcher-by-nikki-grimes.html
Mrs. McGriff
January 18, 2018 at 9:34 pm (6 years ago)Thanks, Irene! I was a little late getting up today’s PF post, but I added your link to it.
Bookseedstudio
January 18, 2018 at 5:40 pm (6 years ago)“creak and plink
as meltwater
drips . . .”
You’ve made a melodic word – meltwater – at least it’s new to me. I enjoy saying your poem out loud, the sounds are wonder, Kay.
Appreciations for bringing us one of the most intriguing of winter topics I’ve seen in ages.
Mrs. McGriff
January 18, 2018 at 6:28 pm (6 years ago)Thanks, Jan. I’m not sure if I made up the word or have heard it somewhere, but it just seemed to fit.
Amy Ludwig VanDerwater
January 18, 2018 at 4:01 pm (6 years ago)This is so beautiful and reminds me of how special winter’s sounds are. I think you would really enjoy this too – our friend Glenn went to “give voice to ice.” xxx
Mrs. McGriff
January 18, 2018 at 6:28 pm (6 years ago)Thank you, Amy. Oh wow! How cool that your friend went to make music with ice!
Keri Collins Lewis
January 16, 2018 at 4:12 pm (6 years ago)Wow! Here in MS, the ice music I hear today is dripping water from all of the faucets and shower heads we don’t want to freeze. Your poem is outstanding!
Mrs. McGriff
January 16, 2018 at 7:14 pm (6 years ago)Thanks, Keri! Stay warm!
Brenda
January 15, 2018 at 4:58 pm (6 years ago)Great poem about a cool (cold even) idea for music.
Mrs. McGriff
January 15, 2018 at 10:36 pm (6 years ago)Thanks, Brenda. It is such cool music.
Robyn Hood Black
January 14, 2018 at 3:20 pm (6 years ago)Amazing! I missed this on NPR and am delighted to discover. And your poem is delightful, too – “meltwater” – mmmmmmm. :0) To all of the above, I say the first “CAPTCHA” word below here, ‘hurrah’!
(PS – So glad the ‘secret earring project’ was a success.)
Mrs. McGriff
January 15, 2018 at 10:24 am (6 years ago)Thanks, Robyn. I’m glad to share his story. It’s incredible.
Heidi Mordhorst
January 14, 2018 at 1:19 pm (6 years ago)“wail and burble,
pound and ring”–
it’s almost a miracle what this musician is doing. I hope he doesn’t immigrate here–his genius might not survive the current meltdown.
Mrs. McGriff
January 15, 2018 at 10:23 am (6 years ago)Thanks, Heidi. Your comment gave me a laugh! It is amazing what he can do with these instruments.
Margaret Simon
January 13, 2018 at 6:57 pm (6 years ago)“If only one could sculpt an orchestra…” Ice fascinates me. We don’t have it often down here in the deep south. I love the simple flow of thought in your poem.
Mrs. McGriff
January 13, 2018 at 9:00 pm (6 years ago)Thanks, Margaret. We’re getting to experience ice this weekend. It is beautiful, and thankfully, it hasn’t been too dangerous on roads and power lines this time around.
Violet N.
January 13, 2018 at 6:42 pm (6 years ago)What a wonderfully wintry post! The ice music is, as you say, otherworldly and the instruments beautifully crafted. Making music with ice pieces (or poems) is the perfect way to not only tolerate winter but enter into it.
Mrs. McGriff
January 13, 2018 at 8:59 pm (6 years ago)Thank you, Violet. I enjoy winter and would love to enter into more, especially visiting the ice music festival!
Mary Lee Hahn
January 13, 2018 at 11:10 am (6 years ago)Fascinating! Thanks for a unique morning concert as I look out on a world full of future musical instruments!
Mrs. McGriff
January 13, 2018 at 11:36 am (6 years ago)Thanks, Mary Lee. I’ve been eyeing some of that ice/potential instruments here this morning, too.
Molly Hogan
January 13, 2018 at 9:08 am (6 years ago)This is gorgeous! I love your words–clink, burble,wail–and I so enjoyed listening to the haunting ice music. Although the cold temperatures and winter mess can be depressing, there’s much beauty to be found. Thanks for highlighting some of it.
Mrs. McGriff
January 13, 2018 at 11:35 am (6 years ago)Thanks, Molly. I’m enjoying quite a bit of winter/icy beauty here this morning.
Linda Mitchell
January 13, 2018 at 6:52 am (6 years ago)Good Morning, Kay. Such a lovely poem and I love that we get the backstory to it. I love all the visual words for the ice with the sound words. You put us there listening to the dripping eaves but hearing an orchestra. Well done.
Mrs. McGriff
January 13, 2018 at 11:35 am (6 years ago)Thanks, Linda. It’s a fascinating story. I want to learn more about this musician and his ice instruments.
Linda Baie
January 13, 2018 at 12:54 am (6 years ago)How fabulous, Kay. I love hearing about this person who creates that marvelous music, and your own creative poem, “if only one/could sculpt/an orchestra–”. There is an ice palace carved each year in one of our ski towns, quite a wonderful place to visit. Thanks for this “new” thing you shared.
Mrs. McGriff
January 13, 2018 at 11:34 am (6 years ago)Thanks, Linda. I’d love to visit an ice palace–or even stay in one of the ice hotels that I’ve read about. We don’t stay cold enough for long enough to create such wonders here.
Michelle Kogan
January 13, 2018 at 12:16 am (6 years ago)“as meltwater drips,” I can picture this and “an otherworldly melody
within a frozen studio.” Lovely –from that great, vast frozen tundra. What a cool recording too, especially the second one, thanks Kay!
Mrs. McGriff
January 13, 2018 at 11:33 am (6 years ago)Thanks, Michelle. The second recording is my favorite, too.
Sally Murphy
January 12, 2018 at 10:15 pm (6 years ago)Lovely poem Kay – I can hear it! And that music, so haunting and other-wordly.
Mrs. McGriff
January 13, 2018 at 11:33 am (6 years ago)Thanks, Sally. Isn’t that music just breathtaking?
Myra from GatheringBooks
January 12, 2018 at 9:44 pm (6 years ago)I’ve had the privilege of having conversations with an ice sculptor once for a research I conducted a few years back – your post reminded me of that. Thank you for sharing this.
Mrs. McGriff
January 13, 2018 at 11:32 am (6 years ago)Myra, how interesting. Ice sculptures are beautiful–and so fleeting.
Books4Learning
January 12, 2018 at 8:47 pm (6 years ago)Very creative and vivid. Love how you have captured something fresh and unexpected.
Mrs. McGriff
January 12, 2018 at 9:32 pm (6 years ago)Thank you!
Jane @ Raincity Librarian
January 12, 2018 at 4:20 pm (6 years ago)WHAT?!? Wow, I’d never heard of this before, and it’s incredible – otherworldly, I would say!
Mrs. McGriff
January 12, 2018 at 5:31 pm (6 years ago)Isn’t it incredible? I just had to share it so others could hear it, too.
Tabatha
January 12, 2018 at 2:36 pm (6 years ago)Great verbs, Kay! “Burble” is a special favorite 🙂
I love the Norwegian ice music festival.
Mrs. McGriff
January 12, 2018 at 5:31 pm (6 years ago)Thanks, Tabatha. One day I wold love to go in person!
Laura Shovan
January 11, 2018 at 10:47 pm (6 years ago)What a gorgeous poem, Kay. The opening sentence caught my ear. I’m going to go check out the links you shared.
Mrs. McGriff
January 12, 2018 at 9:19 am (6 years ago)Thanks, Laura. The music is unbelievable. I suspect I may come back to it in my writing. I don’t feel I have begun to grasp it yet.