Recording Keats Poems and Letters

[Malia]

I'm absolutely at my wits end. I imported ipod software onto my computer and now I can't convert any of my iMovie audiofiles to MP3. Grrr. . .and I really wanted to add some more to Saturn's putfile collection. Talk about a downer. As Keats said, "You'd best put me in your cave of despair".




Oh well, life isn't over. I still have chocolate. . .

[Despondence]

Oh well, life isn't over. I still have chocolate. . .

Ah....the simple pleasures are often the sweetest (chocolate usually sets most things right with me)

Did you try that little application that I posted a link to on the previous page (called "switch")? It should take care of any type of audio conversion you can possibly wish for.

[Fortuna]

Did you send a new version to me Fortuna?

If so, it didn't reach me

Oh sorry about that, I don't know what happened. Perhaps my email is acting up. Here, this is another link to my mp3. Feel free to download it from there although the link might expire on me any day now (it's YouSentIt). If it expires before you get to it to upload on to the handy Putfile account, let me know and I'll upload it again.

[Saturn]

Got it Fortuna - it's on the site for all to hear

http://www.putfile.com/saturn1

[Malia]

Awesome job, Fortuna! You sound great--and your accent is lovely! Your reading actually inspired me to suggest that several of us (whoever is interested and able) take one stanza each of Ode to a Nightengale and record it. That way, we can hear the poem from people who love Keats from all over the world--it would be cool to hear one stanza from an Irish speaker and another from an American and a third from an Australian and so forth. I think it would add great color and depth to Keats's poetry and it would be fun to hear the different interpretations of the poem flowing through each stanza like its own music. (Do I make sense? I haven't had my latte yet today, I must warn you!) Each person would record one stanza and then Saturn could put each individual file up on the putfile site in the order the stanzas would go in the poem. Then the listener could open each file in order and thus hear the whole poem read by many different voices. It would be so cool. And I'd add my voice--once I figure out how to change iMovie to MP3--BTW, Despondence--THANKS for mentioning your translation file--I will DEFINITELY look at it this week and see if it can help me make MP3 files. Your suggestion is a ray of hope as I can't figure out any other way to make it work.

[Saturn]

Very interesting idea Malia

So who wishes to take the first stanza.

We could draw virtual straws or whoever wants to participate could exprerss their preference of which stanza they would like to read - I'm not too fussed so squabble amongst yourselves

[Fortuna]

That sounds lovely! I really look forward to hearing each of your stanzas. Ode to a Nightingale is my favourite poem. I was at a Christmas party about 8 years ago when I met a girl whom I bonded with instantly. We were deeply engaged in an discussion on literature when she quoted, "Darkling I listen...", leaving my heart caught in my throat. Tht was when I discovered Keats. Even to this day, my heart beats faster when I read the poem.

[Malia]

I'll take the first stanza, if that works for all of you. It will be good practice to read the poem again as I'm going to use Ode to a Nightingale for one of my Toastmasters presentations in the coming weeks. My project is to read a poem aloud--focusing on conveying the author's meaning (at least what I've analyzed that meaning to be!) through voice inflection, etc.

I thought I might use Neruda's Ode to an Onion--an exceptionally fine and interesting poem--but then I thought "here's my opportunity to introduce people to Keats!" and I really couldn't pass it up.

As a sidenote--in the Toastmasters Advanced Communication Manual (where the poem project is listed) they use a poem of Shelley's (Ozymandias) as an example of a poem that could be read aloud and just how to do it. So, our Romantic poets are popping up everywhere, it seems.

[Malia]

Thanks for all the advice about MP3--I figured out how to translate my movie files--again! So, I'll be sending a few files to Saturn for the putfile site before too long

Are we all still "on" with the shared poem (everyone takes a stanza)? If Ode to a Nightingale is too long--we could always do something like To Autumn which would only require 3 people if each person took a stanza.

[Saturn]

It's up to you guys really - I'm the facilitator in this proceeding, not the initiator.

[Fortuna]

Nightingale with 8 stanzas could do well with four readers with two each. We could order it as Malia (I and V), me (II and VI), Saturn (III and VII), and someone else (IV and VIII) if we felt like making it neat and simple.

Now that I have figured out how to convert AMR files, I can easily do recordings via my mobile phone and would be happy to be a part of To Autumn if we decide to do that too.

[Malia]

I'll be happy to take stanzas I and V, Fortuna. I won't have time to record until Sunday--but I should easily be able to record and send the MP3 files to Saturn then.

[Credo Buffa]

I'll gladly take the last bit of Nightingale if that's what's left; add another American voice to round it out, seeing as we're starting with Malia (though I could lay on a really thick Yooper to make things a bit more interesting. . . nah, I wouldn't do that to you all, that'd just be cruel ).

[Fortuna]

That's excellent Credo, now we can have the full poem. I can't wait to hear it all in one go with all our varied accents and all.

[Saturn]

Let the mayhem begin - I can maybe do my two tomorrow