a question for the interwebs

[sadcypress]

I am lately returned from the wild of central Louisiana, but must turn to the internets for advice.

Thursday, I am taking the day to stand as a Music Workshop Leader for my friend's production of Twelfth Night at a local Shakespeare camp. Her students are all in middle school and will be performing a heavily cut version of the text. My friend

Comments

[flyakate]

To deal with your * first, yes, I do believe this is the case! I also found validation on the INTERWEB, so it must be true! (http://www.britannica.com/shakespeare/article-248489)

As someone who put "(I Would Walk) 500 Miles" as the song for the Act V dance at the end of Comedy of Errors, I fully support modern songs to help cement the point, especially for kidlets.

You will be awesome! Have fun being musical and Shakespearean with the middle schoolers!

[tempestsarekind]

Hmm. I know that when I was in middle school, we sang some ridiculously cheerful version of "Come Away, Death," but I can't even read music, so I don't know how to help you!

For the comment with the asterisk, I'd go to Shakespeare's Songbook by Ross Duffin (which has a CD as well). I just read an essay by him, actually, in an exhibition catalog from the Folger ("Noyses, sounds, and sweet aires" : Music in Early Modern England, Jessie Ann Owens, ed., 2006), and it was all about the fact that the early modern stage was full of allusions to familiar ballads and such. I don't know if you might be able to get your hands on the catalog, but here's the link to the Folger's gift shop page for it:
http://www.folger.edu/store/sd4/product/noyses-sounds-and-sweet-aires-1291.cfm