Creative Writing Exercises - Leicestershire County Council

Schoenberg 12 tone poem
(using a picture or object)
(This is based on the composer Schoenberg’s 12 tone technique,
a method of musical composition.)
You will need:
What to do:
• Write down 12 words about an object or painting.
Section C
Longer
Exercises
It is advisable that some of the words are little words like ‘and’ or ‘in’. It also helps if
there are a few concrete nouns, and some adjectives, rather than abstract nouns like
‘beauty’ or ‘truth’. You can dictate this to any degree you like by identifying parts of
speech (a good way of reminding participants what these are) and asking, for example,
for 3 nouns, 3 adjectives, 3 conjunctions, and 3 other words of their choice.
• Swap your list of words with the person to your left.
• Produce a poem from the 12 words only.
Each word can be used more than once, but no extra words may be included.
Exercise given by John Gallas
129
WORDS
THINGS&
workshops