A Spoonful of Music Helps the Literature Go Down

P.S. (Pre-script) Did you know teens sit farther back from the screen? Today's larger font is dedicated to this article.

Alrighty -- real quick -- time for two of my favorite pairings between music and literature:

1. Songs Inspired By Literature (from the Artists for Literacy Project)

Two fantastic CDs so far. There's some great educational tools on the website. NPR did a story on the editor, with a conversation archived for streaming audio. "Last Temptation of Odysseus" = my favorite song of all time! It's what the repeat button was made for. It would also make a FANT-abu-LASTIC pairing with the "pulp covers for classic books" feature that Slate did a few months ago. Hehehehehe. I'm a dork.

2. Hip Hop Reader

Newly discovered as of today -- so I haven't had the chance to explore it completely. But the site interface starts with a bang. Love it. Also love the mission:

"WWW.HipHopReader.com is an interactive website created to increas and enhance the reading habits, Internet usage, and civic engagement of urban high school students."

Anybody know any history on this project? I found it through a del.i.cious account -- so thanks goes out to "vhuang."

This next one doesn't get a number because it's not concerned with literature, per say. I'll give it a tilde.

~ The Turnaround Game

"The Turnaround Game (www.theturnaroundgame.com) asks the players to develop a winning proposal to save an ailing record company called BigNoizz. The interactive game introduces students not only to the music industry, but also to the wider experience of the business world - specifically, that of the CPA." (Free registration required.)

This site = VIDEO GAMES + MUSIC BIZ. Woot.
Very snarky. Very Flash. Very fun. Not that I played it at work. Much.

I found it through an article in Ebsco Regional Business, actually. (Librarians repreSENT.) It would take paragraphs to cite it properly, since I emailed the article to myself from a different library's database. (No wonder those students complain.) But here's the short version:

Journal Record Staff. "American Institute of Certified Public Accountants produces new
online game." Daily Record, The (Kansas City, MO); 01/10/2006