Scoring Music That Complements Poetry

Previously, we talked with Nina Brewton about her poetry for the spoken word film, “America, You’re Beautiful.” Something else that goes into creating a spoken word film is the music score. We sat down with Scot Hanna-Weir, the composer for the film, to learn what goes into scoring music for a spoken word film. 

Take it from us, Scot is inspiring poets to connect with musicians and not just to put a track behind one of their poems but to actually get a composition behind it and create something that’s totally different. 

Let’s hear what Scot had to say about his experience scoring this spoken word film, shall we?

Poet Life Podcast: How did you get involved in the “America, You’re Beautiful” film?

Scot Hanna-Weir: Over the summer, during the protests after George Floyd was killed, Bridge did some thinking. I asked them, “Do you really want the white guy to be the composer for this?” 

They were telling me they wanted to work with a Black spoken word artist and give them a lot of freedom to say what they want to say, and Bridge would be the supportive voices for that. 

I was like, “Sign me up.”

It was such a gift to be able to have a role that is supportive and important but secondary to really center Nina’s voice and to make that the point.

Poet Life Podcast: What was your role in the spoken word film?

Scot Hanna-Weir: My role for the film was to create the music that the voices in Bridge ended up singing. That was the underscoring for bringing Nina’s words to life. 

I never scored poetry like that before. It’s not like I don’t work with words and poets, but usually someone who writes for choir will find a poem that’s already written. We don’t often get to collaborate with a poet to bring something to life that’s new. 

Beyond that, usually once the poet gives us the words, their part is done. We typically look at the poem and try to get in the head of the poet and figure out how we bring these words to life. This was totally different because Nina was right there, and we weren’t ever singing the words that she wrote.

With this, we weren’t trying to reinterpret the words. We were just trying to give it even more body and hit on more senses.

Poet Life Podcast: What was the process for scoring poetry?

Scot Hanna-Weir: Going through the process, Nina would record a bit and then I would go sketch out ideas. I was listening to her recording a bunch and looking at the words, trying to pull the pacing, emotion, content from what she was doing in terms of her delivery and the words. 

Then I was trying to make music that supported the calm and reflective moments as well as these more aggressive and in-your-face moments. Looking to see if there was a sadness in this or an anger in it. Then I would record what I wrote.

In the first meeting, Nina had a sketch and said she was really thinking about Ray Charles’ version of “America The Beautiful.” The first thing I went to was finding a way to sample that. 

But that wasn’t Bridge’s version of the music, and that’s an inspiration of Nina’s but she didn’t write another verse to it; it was a jumping off point. So I messed around with the theme and made it more of a riff on it, and that’s what Nina was doing in her poem. She has inflection points that are, “America, you’re beautiful.” 

So I tried to tie it back to the song in those moments. Then I just fill in the in between moments. 

It’s so much better to have that moment of creating together. I was writing the music for the previous section, and Nina would come back with a new section. We went back and forth in terms of how that evolved. 

Fundamentally, the poem inspired the music because that was the source of everything we were doing. But there was a flow of ideas and creativity, which was great.

Not all composers would be willing to work in the kind of situation where you don’t really know what the poem is going to be about before you start on the project, but how else are you going to get the real message? 

We were horrified by the events that have happened in this country, and we can’t fully imagine how you are feeling about it. We would like to hear what you have to say.

Poet Life Podcast: How often do you, as a composer, work with poets?

Scot Hanna-Weir: In choral music, we deal with poetry all the time. Almost all of our music is based on poems. Maybe more if it is based on Emily Dickinson than needs to be. 

We can have a broader base of poetry when we look at it. It’s one of the fundamental parts of our textbook. The focus is the music that we sing. 

I ask my students: “What does this poem mean? What does this poem make you feel? What do you think the author was trying to say? How do you think the composer brought that to life in the music?” 

They have so few skills usually to be able to have that kind of conversation. I don’t know if that’s because poetry can feel impenetrable.

But poetry deals with such topics that I think can sometimes be overwhelming, which is a part of the human experience. Poetry and music get at the core of that. 

Not everyone is taking the creative writing and literature classes. I don’t think poetry just has to be for the people who are English majors.

Poet Life Podcast: How do poetry and music mesh?

Scot Hanna-Weir: Music and poetry together is a one-two punch for people. It connects people with your emotions in a way that a lot of other forms of learning and expression don’t do in the same kind of way.

That’s the power of art: to not just go to the place where we feel the end result, but to give us a trajectory that lands you there. 

A poem and/or a piece of music can have an arc and takes you on a journey that a lot of other things can’t.Then when you add the film, it’s so much more immersive. 

Poet Life Podcast: What message would you want to leave with the people?

Scot Hanna-Weir: Don’t underestimate the platform you have as an artist. It’s not about reaching a certain number of people, but it can be about reaching that one person who needed to hear that. 

Definitely go listen to or watch the full episode with Scot. There’s so much more to his experience that we can all learn from.

Scot Hanna-Weir is an Assistant Professor of Music and Director of Choral Activities at Santa Clara University, and Artistic Director of the Santa Clara Chorale. He is recognized for his innovative programming, his fluency with technology in performance, and his engagement with issues of equity and social justice. In addition to regularly commissioning and premiering new works, he is also an active composer and arranger himself. Learn all about Scot at scothw.com