A big idea

[T.C. Elliott]

Maybe a song per chapter (much like a song per painting in the Picasso Project.) Or possibly a song per character... possibly both?   You could include song songs in between chapters and instrumental music under the narration. Volunteers to read a chapter or a volunteer to narrate the entire book. It's a huge undertaking to do it properly, though. Most of us have decent recording setups so we are a step ahead, but any noise in the narration (reverb included) is typically not great.

BTW, if it's a royalty free book and everyone signs off, you could sell the project as an audio book... if you wanted. Might make more sense to just put in a tag for songcrafters.org at every chapter or at the beginning and end or something and make it free to work as an advertisement for the sight.

Also, if you do songs then I'd be happy to help. The Picasso Project was fun and ended up being awesome, imo.

[64Guitars]

So - this is how I would think this would work - but open to suggestions.
We'd need to choose a story to do. Mrs B (as a Librarian) has suggested a number of novels on Project Gothenburg, which are royalty free - and include many classic novels. One suggestion was Journey to the Centre of the Earth - but open to suggestions.

Journey to the Centre of the Earth was done by Rick Wakeman in 1974. I think anything we did might pale in comparison with Wakeman's work which is pretty awesome. It's worth listening to Wakeman's recording as it provides a good example of how narration and lyrics can be combined to retell a story.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AIhtEkN9aeE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xkU6IK47dnQ

How about "A Christmas Carol" by Charles Dickens? It's a story that everyone's familiar with, which might be a good thing for both the songwriters/storytellers and the listeners to the finished work. And it seems a fitting theme for this time of year. Naturally, we'd never complete it by this Christmas, but everyone could start reading the book now and finish reading it by Christmas. Then the work could begin on the storyboarding and songwriting.

I should say that I probably won't have any time to get involved in this, other than creating the jukebox. So if you don't like my idea of A Christmas Carol, feel free to suggest something else. I just thought it seemed like an ideal story to work with since everyone knows it and, hopefully, everyone's in the Christmas spirit now, so it will be fun to do (well, at least to get started on it) during the holidays.

[Ferryman]

Ferryman - would you wish to re-engergise your project?

It's been my goal ever since I retired.... But it is an ongoing project for me and I don't think others would be that interested as the book is a bit of an acquired taste.

If we did a book, I personally would rather have the music/songs paint the pictures rather than rely on lots of narration. That way we don't make it too onerous or complex. A Christmas Carol doesn't do it for me, but how about Alice's Adventures in Wonderland? It's pretty loose in its structure so people could choose characters, scenes or sections of the book. It wouldn't need to follow too much of a formal structure.

[Hilary]

How about "A Christmas Carol" by Charles Dickens? It's a story that everyone's familiar with, which might be a good thing for both the songwriters/storytellers and the listeners to the finished work. And it seems a fitting theme for this time of year. Naturally, we'd never complete it by this Christmas, but everyone could start reading the book now and finish reading it by Christmas. Then the work could begin on the storyboarding and songwriting.

The Muppets have done A Christmas Carol

[bruno]

I like the idea of A Christmas Carol. Dickens has some strong characters and there is plenty of scope for songs. Let me have a think on this one....
B

[cuthbert]

I like all the proposed ideas so far. I can't guarantee that I would contribute (very busy with work these days), but I'd like to do so (if possible), and I'd certainly enjoy listening to the group effort regardless of which work gets chosen.

[IanR]

Hi Folks,

Its been a while since I was here. I have been tremendously busy and also focused on getting healthy this year.

I love the idea of a concept album.  I also love the idea of writing a musical.

A story that would lend itself to a musical is the story of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde. Anyone who has read the original novella would agree. It is a masterpiece. I think that we would need about 12-15 songs to tell the whole story.

I'd be happy to provide some structure. We could also borrow from Wikipedia

Ian

[Ferryman]

Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is a great idea. I couldn't contribute to a musical though I'm afraid, musicals are not my thing at all (sorry bout that....).

[Mike_S]

I am into a lot of these ideas... the Jekell and Hyde one too. I don't think any idea we take would have to follow the traditional musical feel... be great to modernise an old story with some of the great styles of music we hear regularly on songcrafters like I can imagine telling some part of Jekell and Hyde in a dirty old blues kinda way.

Do we need some kind of a vote (if we feel there are enough on board) on the book (or film!) that we use?

[Hilary]

Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde has already been done as a musical but I suppose that shouldn't put us off!