I don't envy you; especially if the instrumental piece moves you. Words will feel inadequate and the effort to do it justice might give rise to pretentious twaddle - as it often does in the efforts of the pros mammamia bids you consult. Not so much nowadays, perhaps, but the NME and Pitchfork used to be the most brilliant emetics. Lotsa luck!
Having researched this discovered there is a reason it isn't done very often in story form. It is very difficult even if you are a musician to do. Without it becoming boring.
Eyes closed, my head swayed slow and rhythmatically to the low harmonious sound of violins. In my minds eye I could picture the orchestra and suddenly I was transported back to another time, another place. I was nineteen and all was right in my world as I waltzed around the floor in the arms of my first love. Then came the accompanying sounds of... Not being familiar with musical instruments that's as far as I can go without doing research. Not quite what you asked for but, it's the best I can come up with for now. Best of luck.
Yeah, examples I remember reading pretty much mentioned a few quick mechanics of what was happening, then moved quickly into emotional reactions for however long the description lasted.
Thanks for the input. I really appreciate it. This assignment is a lot tougher than I'd thought it would be. Below is what I came up with in the attempt to describe the devil's instrumental music, without making it too long and boring. It still doesn't quite feel like what I wanted to say (well...it actually does say what I wanted to say, just not the way I wanted to say it...if that makes any sense). Tendrils of sulphurous smoke wafts up from the soil beneath the devil's cloven hooves, as he straightens his ornate colonial top coat and a sinister grin spreads across the face of his goat-like head. The Prince of Lies steps forward, placing one of his hooves on an old hickory stump and leans forward, resting his elbow atop his knee. "Boy let me tell you what. I bet you didn't know it, but I'm a fiddle player too and if you'd care to take a dare, I'll make a bet with you." the Devil offers with an infernal smile that is both charming and just a little alarming. "Now you play a pretty good fiddle, boy, but give the devil his due. I bet a fiddle of gold against your soul, because I think I'm better than you." challenges Satan, with a sharkish gleam in his eyes. "My name's Johnny and it might be a sin, but I'll take your bet. Your gonna regret it 'cos I'm the best that's ever been." answers the country boy with his straight forward manner. "I'll start this show" announces the devil, as his ancient, yet powerful hands, open his case, revealing an ornately decorated fiddle, forged of pure gold in the fiery depths of hell. Fire flies from his fingertips as he rosins up his bow and nestles the violin under his chin. He pulls the bow across the strings and it makes an evil hiss. With an infernal smile, the devil launches into whirlwind of motion, sawing on his fiddle with great vigor and precise machine-like skill. The Georgia air fills with devil's music and in an obvious attempt at cheating, a band of unseen demons joins in building the devil's music into a pleasant and charming melody. The devil's tune was good, damn good, as the rockin' music rose up and down the scales, building into complex crescendo...and yet, there was something awry about it. The devil's music was hollow...empty...like a reproduced echo of the efforts of great musicians of the past, with no depth of feeling...no spark...no joy. The devil's tune was mechanically correct art, without the flame of passion.
I personally don't believe that writing can do justice in the great emotional waves that music does upon one. Tolkien tried to do it with small stanzas of poetry and concerning elves but it didn't capture my imagination of what the music was. However you can leave it ambiguous and give the most basic primal emotions that generate from it and leave the reader there to decide on what the music depicted is in his/her own imagination.
To Lothgar: I think the problem you're running into is incorporating the dialog. Your tone is very serious, so it's hard to incorporate rhyming dialog. Try it with new dialog that doesn't rhyme and I think you'll feel better about it. Additionally, your added band of demons seems a little out of place, but maybe that's just me. To Anathemic One: Well, it's hard to translate exactly what you hear to writing, but if you do it right, it can be interesting. In any case, writing can't really explain the emotions or vividness evoked in the visual field either, or the field of taste, or smell. Yet imagery is a pretty important component of writing, isn't it? As for LOTR, are you sure that your perception isn't influenced by the fact that Tolkein says straight out that he can't capture the music in words? Anyway, you might not want to hear this, but perhaps Tolkein never had a tune in mind at all when he wrote the lyrics, and that's why he was unable to capture it.
No my perception wasn't influence in any way according to what you said, in fact I've no knowledge that he couldn't so my bad. Imagery is a big component in writing, but music isn't imagery, you can picture themes that music is related to but the pure aspect of music really has no image to it.
Music is part of imagery, because it's the aural sense; unless I'm misremembering my high school English classes, imagery is usually defined as language that appeals to the five senses, which would include hearing. But my point was that writing actually can't capture anything at all, strictly speaking. If you want to see something exactly as it looks, a photograph, painting, or even a film would be much more helpful; yet we choose to write down what something looks like. Writing is actually a imprecise, and the challenge of imagery is working with the ambiguity to produce the correct effect. So no, writing can't capture music exactly as it sounds, but I don't think we should just assume that you can't write about music effectively. It just takes practice, like writing about how something appears. I thought I remembered that Tolkein directly says in The Hobbit he is unable to capture the music, but I haven't read the book since I was about 11, so I might not be remembering it correctly. If he does say he couldn't capture the music, you might have taken the words to heart even if you don't remember him saying that; I find that happens to me a lot. Anyway, I thought Cold Mountain wrote about Appalachian fiddle music fairly successfully, so I think it can be done. It's a good challenge anyway, so I wouldn't just dismiss it immediately by saying it can't be done.
Got me there on imagery need to stop being ignorant on my part, anyways I do not suggest to not to describe music, I'm just expressing my opinion that any word or combination of words in any language does not do justice in describing the effect of music, but hey does not mean that one can't try right? As for the Hobbit quote I don't remember Tolkien stating as such, was it in the actual story or in a reference in the book?
Try describing music as you would describe emotions. describe the way the music makes the protagonist feel in very colorful language while including carefully placed lines of text from the piece of music throughout the description. Also, the atmosphere of the location where the music is being performed will set a tone on the entire piece of music. Keep that in mind. That would probably work. Probably. I hope I adressed the point.
I have tried a couple of times to write while listening to music and I honestly find it taints any given scene I might be working on... I'll give you an example, I came across this piece of music: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=25i56AWtFqk I happened to be attempting to write at the same time as listening to it, and the scene I came up with was awful, I won't give you any details on it. But let's just say it wasn't anything to be proud of. The emotion of a song seems to creep into the creative process for me and literally pollute my writing. What about you guys, do you find it helpful listening to music? If so what music? Do you listen to music to help inspire the emotion you are trying to convey in a scene? Or do you find silence preferable?
I'm pretty good at blanking out whatever I'm listening to - I tend to stick to songs I know backwards and can type fast to... if I'm listening to new stuff and try writing I'll blank it out too, but I will occasionally pause and listen to it. A good writing day is when I have my music on all day and I can't tell you a single song that played. I guess in background it might be "polluting" my writing, but I pay so little attention to it, it's mostly just an energy boost. It blocks out other noises that might actually be distracting (I've lived in some pretty noisy places), as once I have a playlist going, I expect to hear everything on it, rather than, you know, if I was writing in silence and there was a massive crash from downstairs, or the guy in the room across the hall had a massive break up with his girlfriend or whatever.
I see, so do you find it easier to use music as background noise? I mean hypothetically say your in a building on your own there's no noise. Would you play music then just to sort of hum in the background? What genre of music by the way?
I need to listen to music while I write. It inspires me. Mostly, it's soundtracks from my favourite games or movies. Usually instrumentals, but I can still write to music with lyrics too.
I think a lot of people use music as background noise to not get distracted by other noises. But then if there happens to be silence, you're so used to having music on, you kind of need it. That's how it is for me and a few friends of mine anyway. Music without lyrics, like classical, are the best to work with imo (the song you linked to was beautiful, but perhaps not right for the scene you were writing?). Music sometimes need to fit the scene as well.
Nah, when I was a kid I rarely listened to music, but I wrote all the time - I'm used to sitting in silence - as long as I'm working I don't hear that either. Even now I'm conditioned to listening to loud rock music (ha! fitted it neatly into another answer ) as I write, if you stick me on a train, bus, plane, car, classroom, shopping centre, park bench, etc etc I will be able to write just as well... At home in my room though, the music is a nice perk and gives me some extra motivation. I'm pretty easily distracted, but it's not like I get annoyed if I look up to people watch for a few minutes between chapters or something.
I've just discovered that listening to music really inspires me to write. Without it, I can't focus. It's good, for me, to have a beat I can write to and have something that is pulling a certain emotion out of me. Usually I listen to concert band music; it's deep, emotional, inspirational. The key is choosing a piece of music that has the same feeling as what you're writing. Don't listen to a slow, methodical piece if you're writing a fast paced action scene. Try and find something quick that will get your fingers moving. Whatever works for you is best. Try out a lot of different songs, genres, volumes, etc.
Some people find music helpful, while others don't. I listen to music while I am planning my stories but not while I'm doing the actual writing. As Holden said, it's helpful to find a piece of music that matches the mood of the scene you're writing. I find that music is usually too much of a distraction when I'm writing, as opposed to planning. Also, I'm inclined to browse through my music, which is another excuse for me to fritter away time when I don't feel like writing...as I've been doing for the last half hour.
If you'd rather sift through your media library all afternoon, clearly you aren't very interested in your project.
Well...I love my project, but I have off days where I can be easily distracted. Particularly since I'm on the third draft and so many things still seem to be going wrong with it, but...that's a topic for another thread!
I can't simultaneously listen to music and write. It's too distracting. So, while writing it I need silence. But good music does help me with creative ideas specially when I am writing something romantic. I don't mind emotions of the songs creeping in, my scenes are better because of it.
Sounds like the majority of people like a bit of music as background noise. I guess it's the music I listen to, I mean I just find sad music makes me write sad things if you know what I mean. Can anyone link the music they listen to? as background noise? One of you guys said classical, can you refer me to any good pieces?
Same thing goes for me. I particularly like Beethoven and Rachmaninov, though faster-paced music is better for action scenes.
I use songs to build characters, plots, the emotion I feel when listening I channel into the writing. I spend time finding just the right song - before beginning a new project I will listen and find music I may need, put together scrapbooks of images, find actors to represent the main characters etc. It's fun and gives my characters. locations and situations a 3D feeling helps a huge amount with what I write. I find songs a useful resource - story songs (Little Andy, Jessie. Angie Baby, Willow etc) - are all great examples of how to condense and concerntrate feeling and emotion. They also show how to characterise quickly. When writing my teen love scenes I listened to Tone Damli's Butterflies. I used Gethsemane from Jesus Christ Superstar to frame an 'atonement' type scene in one of my books, the inspiration gave me the idea of turning my needed soliloquy into a prayer. You're Nothing Without Me from City of Angels is a wonderful story of a writer talking to his character. Maybe its the songs and music I listen too I love a good story wherever it comes from.
