Try listening to this and tell me it doesn't imspire you. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5q6skxRLnsI I like listening to music while writing sometimes because the music helps to express thoughts and emotions. Of course, I also have times where I can't stand to listen to music because I can't find a song or instrumental to correctly convey what I want. Heck, even the sound of rain hitting the roof or windows can provide some inspiration or comfort.
A fairly successful author who ran a workshop i had attended said that it can introduce rhythms that wouldn't otherwise be intended...
i need the music to drown out the noises that become creepy sounding due to the heightened anxiety i experience because my subject matter spooks me....
Music is my life, but I prefer to keep things separate. I think music distracts me from writing. I'd keep thinking 'nice bass line, I wanna experiment with that...'
Yes I agree with this - I have certain songs that I have to use with certain stories, or the flow goes off. Can be annoying to have John Barrowman singing What About Us on a loop, I find if I want to churn out 800 words in 20 minutes I need certain songs for each projects or it is slow going. Did the author think it was a good or bad thing ?? I find it an exceptionally good thing and love the rhyhm and flow it gives my work.
I have never tried writing a story listening to music with it before, and never took the time of doing so. I didn't think it really worked. Maybe if I give it a try, it might. Does anyone sometimes stick with the same kind of song, since it is the "ultimate" song that rythms with your book? I alos think that it makes your rythem seem more real if the songs were instremental instead of having lyrics in them.
For my first book it is Someone Else's Dream by Michael Ball - Theme tune from Kiki's Delivery Service (think its called Soaring) - Butterflies Tone Damli - Satelite by Lena Meyer Landrut - Level 42 Running in the Family. I play them on a loop when writing it. My second book is What About Us and All Outta Love, by John Barrowman (yeah was glad to finish that book lol) Final scene We Are Golden by Mika My third book - What About Us, Fireflies, Arms of an Angel by John Barrowman, Your Raise me Up Lee Mead and Josh Groban. For the last scene Gethsemane the Michael Ball version. My current one I seem to have so far - You Can't Stop the Beat (London West End Cast), Land of Hope and Glory by Michael Ball, Man I feel Like a Woman John Barrowman, Katharine Jenkins Kiss To A Rose (or is it from a rose lol), Dolly Parton and Kenny Rogers Islands in the Stream, Mika Grace Kelly. - This one is being treaked and changed.
I guess the key would be unintended - intially it was in my case. I couldn't work out why I had to listen to the same four songs on a loop in order to write it took the first draft for penny to drop. Once you know its happening then i guess you can assess it. For me now it is entirely intended - I go with the rhythm I intend and will tweak the songs until I get the one I like.
way back when i was a senior....i wrote every essay to the bass line of wonderwall by Oasis..the shame...i still write with music...but mostly to keep me in an elevated state of inspiration...
i'll only put on music while writing, if i want to get into the 'mood' of a place, such as writing about greece to bazouki, or mexico to mariachis... i'd never put on songs, while writing, since the words would interfere with the ones i need to keep flowing from my mind... even just the instrumental versions would be intrusive, since i know the words to most songs and they'd be there, even if not sung aloud...
I might suggest soft new age, like William Ackerman or Michael Hedges, just to relax you. That works for me. Also some Classical Adagios. Nothing too extreme or loud or modern. No vocals. Wallpaper noise. Of course, there is nothing wrong with listening to a piece of music and being inspired to write based on what you hear. I had a transcendant moment once listening to a Phil Collins song while transcribing poetry. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. The rhythm of the song can be the rhythm of the writing, just be sure to reread the passage without the music to check the flow.
I like listening to instrumental music..lyrics get in the way, regardless of whether I'm familiar with the song or not. My favorite is the selected ambient works by Aphex Twin. I wish I had a reference point for selecting classical music, but I don't..if anyone can suggest some good classical music that has a steady, ambient vibe and not a lot of rising and falling crescendos (or whatever they're called, I need music that is more or less on one plain or it becomes an interference) or even better, can suggest other contemporary ambient music, that would be awesome.. Oh, I forgot about Mogwai, another good ambient band.
Sometimes music will inspire me, other times it'll distract me and I can't get anything done, and then at times I can just completely zone out from whatever music I have playing. It rather depends. I select some music specifically because it gets me in the right mood, or songs without lyrics so I don't get distracted but still have a melody in the background, and then I'll listen to childish, happy music to get in a childlike frame of mind. So yes, music sometimes pollutes creative writing but it can also strengthen it.
There are compilations of ambient classical music. Some of them are pretty good. Barber's Adagio for Strings, lots of Debussy (La Cathédrale Engloutie, Claire de Lune, La Fille aux Cheveux de Lin), some Ravel (Pavane pour une Infante Defunte), J S Bach's Schafe Können Sicher Weiden (Sheep may Safely Graze) in an instrumental version, the anonymous Romance for classical guitar, and so on. Most classical pieces are going to have significant crescendos and diminuendos unless they're played specifically for ambient listening, though.
Yes and No. Most of the time I listen to movie soundtracks. They can get very edgy and dramatic and I don't end up singing along as opposed to music you can sing to. A lot of the time music does inspire emotion I want to convey to my reader. It helps ground my mind in the POV of the characters I'm writing about and the reactions they'd naturally have. But at times - silence is golden. I can't listen to stressful, climatic tracks. It's hard to write and not get that sinking feeling in your stomach when listening to say, a track from Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World. It doesn't help me.
I would think this to be unique to the individual. Personally, Way back when, I did my home work watching tv. I found myself remembering scenes of the show, when answering the questions on the test. "Oh, yea. That was when the General Lee jumped the creek...the answer is..." Of course, most teachers thought it terrible that I did homework while watching tv. I guess they thought kids should be locked in a deep dungeon with a chair, desk and a light when doing homework. Forgot to answer about music. If alone I do put on my playlist, but if the kids are there, they usually have the tv on. Random music, I wonder if I tend to write more mellow relaxed scenes when slower music on, and exciting scenes when "rockin".
I didn't feel so. Music is the best medicine not a poison. They can inspire us. I like classical songs that would be help me for writing lot.........
I almost always listen to music while I'm writing. I think the rhythm helps everything flow more easily for me. Additionally, I listen using headphones because my writing corner is in our loft and it helps me zone out everything else. For instance, I was just writing (when I felt compelled to come back and respond to this post), and I had to turn my music up three times so that I couldn't hear my boyfriend's political conversation with his friend. Weirdly enough, I either listen to classical or rap, depending entirely on my mood. I don't get it, but it works.
I read in a book called "Accelerated Learning" that music affects our state of consciousness. Most pop music puts us in left brain mode or beta consciousnes which is logical, judgemental, critical. On the other hand, classical music, in particular baroque classical music helps us access our right brain or alpha consciousness which is creative, imaginative. So I play music depending on the type of writing I want to do.
