Here are nine candidate musical prompts for the Shorts in July activity. The prompt is supposed to inspire the piece that you write. It might be the music, the lyrics, or maybe even a memory involving the song that inspires you. Your piece should include a note that tells us which song is your inspiration but not necessarily reveal what that inspiration is. Note: do NOT use the song as the title of your short–we need to be able to tell the stories apart by title when they are read.
The nine candidates are:
- Light My Fire, by the Doors
- Summer in the City, by Lovin Spoonful
- The Heat Is on, by Glenn Frey
- Smoke on the Water, by Deep Purple
- Heat Wave, by Martha and the Vandellas
- Great Balls of Fire, by Jerry Lee Lewis
- Magic Fire Music, from Die Walküre by Richard Wagner
- Ritual Fire Dance, Manuel de la Falla
- Firebird, finale from the ballet by Igor Stravinsky
If you have additional candidates you’d like us to consider, drop me a note. I think almost all of the above are familiar, or least recognizable when you play the YouTube link below. I’d like to settle on three for the actual exercise. Most likely we’ll settle on three from the first six, but I’m kind of rooting for at least one from the last three.
We’ll discuss this at our meeting on Friday, April 9.