Writing to music

Does anyone else like writing to music? What I mean is you write while listening to music.

I avoid listening to music with lyrics because lyrics tend to distract me and I'll be sitting there singing along instead of writing.

I especially like movie soundtracks because they're mostly filled with non-lyric songs. Often I'll find a song that I just like that really stirs something deep in me and I will imagine a whole scene based solely upon that song. The songs that usually move me the most to write are very dramatic sounding.

I've been a musician for years, and when I hear music, even without lyrics, my brain automatically starts examining the composition. Music is just as distracting as lyrics.

I know a lot of people who can really multi-task when it comes to sensory input. My girlfriend can be watching TV, listing in to a song, reading a book, and chatting online all at the same time. I have no idea how she does this.

When I write, I have a "white noise" like a fan. Otherwise, I'm completely alone, and usually have the lights off, so that the only thing in the universe is the words themselves.

Most times I write to music. Usually I try to pick something that fits the kind of mood or the kind of genre I'm in. For example, I have a soundtrack of sci-fi themes I listen to for some of my sci-fi writing, Wagner for the "sweeping epic, cast of thousands" scenes, and Celtic music for my current WIP (which has a Scotsman as a major character).

Sometimes I end up writing to the tune of The Wiggles or Songs from "Bear in the Big Blue House" or "Disney Playhouse 2". I had to get used to it...my son loves those! :rofl

No music. NPR on really low, so I can listen if I strain to hear, but it won't distract me if I'm concentrating.

My girlfriend can be watching TV, listing in to a song, reading a book, and chatting online all at the same time. I have no idea how she does this.

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Well you can have the tv on, be listening to a song, have a book open in front of you, and be chatting online. But I will say that the human brain is only capable of concentrating on one thing at a time.

And I really don't understand what "multi-tasking" means exactly. When I started my job that I'm at currently, my supervisor told me I would need to be able to multi-task. "Multi-task" seems to be the new fad phrase to say, I've even seen it mentioned in commercials. But I really don't know what it means because I'm looking at it from a logical perspective like I mentioned above and that no matter how many things you have going on at once, you can only do one thing at a time and your concentration can only be at one place at a time.

:shrug

Otherwise, I'm completely alone, and usually have the lights off, so that the only thing in the universe is the words themselves.

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I can't sit in the dark and stare at a computer screen, it hurts my eyes. I have to have the lights on. Now I can sit in the dark and watch a movie, but I'll probably fall asleep if I do that.

Sometimes I end up writing to the tune of The Wiggles or Songs from "Bear in the Big Blue House" or "Disney Playhouse 2".

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I was introduced to the Wiggles when I volunteered in my church's nursery. I walked into the room and they had a tv in there with the Wiggles playing, the little ones were all jumping around and the adults were doing whatever the Wiggle people were doing. They told me to join. Yeah, right. I found a quick exit instead.

For me, nothing beats silence and solitude for writing. In fact, if for some reason I don't get enough over a period of days, I get fairly bitchy and people tend to help me find some. LOL I must have some redeeming qualities, they keep coming back. Then I wonder if they just don't have a high tolerance for pain. They never answer me when I ask. Go figure.

Mari

I don't necessarily write to music; sometimes i listen to music while i write, and lyrics don't distract me, (once i'm really writing the lyrics just wash over me, not really absorbed.), but it's not a big thing.

i do, however, plot to music.

whenever i'm having trouble what should happen next, or how to create the mood for a scene, i go listen to music that stirs my imagination. in fact, music got me itno writing- i found that when listeing to some types of music, i would see people in my head. then of course i had to write them.

for me, the best music is folk rock, especially by Rennaisance.

I don't necessarily write to music; sometimes i listen to music while i write

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That's basically what I meant.

Mozart

I usually write to classical music, especially Mozart, Bach, Haydn, Beethoven, etc.

And although I love opera (and have sung in numerous productions) I find it difficult to write while I'm playing an opera because I find myself picking up on the lyrics and singing along with the baritone parts.

I can, and do, write under any circumstances: parties, riots, screaming kids, 90 mile an hour winds; but when they are not around the only sound you will hear is the tap tap tapping of my keyboard.

From the dedication of Douglas Adams' The Restaurant at the End of the Universe:

To the Paul Simon Album One Trick Pony which I played incessantly while writing this book. Five years is far too long

I really don't understand what "multi-tasking" means exactly

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Actually... I happen to know!

It's a computer term. primitive computers can only process things one command at a time, but an advanced machine with multiple processors can process several tasks simultaneously. This is known as "multi-tasking".

The human brain is capable of multi-tasking sensory stimili, though it is mostly a subconscious affair.

Five years is far too long

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Wow! if it really took him that long to write one book in the four part trilogy... I'll take heart in that! I've been on my current WIP for a year, and it's nowhere near done.

I sometimes listen to classical or Celtic music when writing, but far more often than not I listen to either talk radio or Old Time Radio. I listen to NPR, if there happens to be a program on that interests me as a writer. But 80% of the time, however, I listen to Old Time Radio.

I love the old radio programs such as Mystery Theater, Fibber McGee & Molly, The Life of Riley, The Whistler, The Shadow, Gunsmoke, etc.

I don't know about multi-tasking, but I find I have no problem concentrating on my writing while still paying attention to the radio programs.

I don't know if the brain is capable of concentrating on more than one thing at a time or not, but if it isn't it can still switch back and forth at a remarkable rate. I have no problem at all paying attention to everythng that's happening in the radio programs I listen to while still keeping a continuous stream of writing going. If I couldn't do this, I'd never get any writing done.

I'm not one who needs silence when writing. I have two phones, a TV, a radio, and a CD player in my office, and at one time or another I use them all while still writing.

LOL, Eowyn :b

My hubby thinks the Wiggles are loony and doesn't understand their appeal either. I keep telling them "Remember their audience. It's the 2-5 year old set." How else can 4 grown Austrailian guys act like kids and get away with it?
I actually end up writing silly stuff when I listen to them. :rollin

Mr. Mistook, that's OK if you've been working on your WIP for a year and not done with it yet. I've been working on and off with my novel trilogy for the past 6 years and I'm not done yet.

I've been working on and off with my novel trilogy for the past 6 years and I'm not done yet.

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lol - I know how you feel. I keep thinking ahead to the second or even third book, and it's only recently that I managed to come up with the meat and potatoes that hold the first book together.

There's something paradoxical in having to bring order and discipline into our travels within our own fantasy world

Hi,

I usually listen to music when I write. If I don't, it's simply because I got into a vibe or a mood I fear, at that moment, to break.

Try anything by Peter Gabriel, most especially his sound track to "The Last Temptation of Christ", called "Passion". Also, Dead Can Dance is always very good, very dramatic. For ambient music without words, you could try the soundtracks to the Myst games: Myst, Riven, Myst- Exile. I have all three, and they're great for getting my head in the right place.

Kevin
www.kevacho.com

"Don't forget the joe." :coffee

Flawed Creation wrote:

for me, the best music is folk rock, especially by Rennaisance.

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Renaissance! Didn't know anyone else remembered that group from the '70's. Loved their music...I have to look them up on Amazon and get their CD's.

Now, when I write, it can't have lyrics, or I'll be typing in the words to the song rather than the words I should be typing in my novel. Someone, on some writer's board somewhere, mentioned a CD called "Inward Harmony" by Marcey Hamm. It's unbelievable. Everyone seems to react differently to it; I find it soothing and helps my imagination go at full strength. Many say it has healing qualities. Don't know about that, but, hey, you never know....

*puff* *puff*

"Turn it up, man."

If one picks particular artists with lyrical abilities and matching philosophies, it can be a great inspiration to write with lyrics. Then again, there is also reverse interaction with some artists as they expound lyrically and through music the ideas of some other writer outside the musical sphere. Who doesn't like a good concept album?

"Hey man, pass me a brownie, dude."

Then again, if I start writing -I can't go for that- because I'm blastin' out some Hall & Oates on vinyl, well, no can do.

I'm writing this and my internet music provider of choice is whippin' out Floyd's Welcome to the Machine. I don't think it really affected the outcome of this post anymore than making me whack out if I start thinking about it too much.

I'd say writing to music is pleasuable but there is something also to be said for sounds of nature, dead silence, screaming babies, public restroom foul and fowl like noises, even I'm sure Peabo Bryson for somebody.

I love to write in silence, or the closest to silence I can get, being my own thoughts (always good when writing), and sounds of the outside world.

If I decide to have music on while writing it will most likely be classical or new age stuff with waves and birds etc. Lyrics seem to distract me, but can be useful if I'm having trouble thinking of something to write about.

But the more writing I want to get done, silence seems to work.

I almost always listen to music if I'm not talking to someone else or in class/at work. Like many here have said, music really helps motivate me and stir my creativity, esp when I'm hitting some major roadblocks in the story, or need to spice up a scene.

Of course, this is probably where most of the similiarities end. While I *can* tolerate any kind of music short of ones with excessive swearing in it, the kind of music that really motivates me is movie soundtracks (minus songs with lyrics in them) and, oddly enough (for most people anyway), video game music. I'm not talking about old school Nintendo/Mario music, I prefer 16-bit era and up (my favorites being Final Fantasy soundtracks, esp. the one from 6 and 10).

The reason I listen to it is because I grew up playing these games, and the music often matched the mood that we should be feeling in the game, whether fear, revenge, excitement or happiness. And since most of my ideas would probably be better in a game than a book anyway, I figure I might as well listen to it and let it help me create a story worth telling. I suppose we'll find out in a few years if this "craziness" worked or not hehe.

Traditional folk, classical, and requiems are my preferred listening.

Oh, yeah, and for a heavy deadline, Pharaoh by Richard Thompson, played by The House Band, in infinite repeat.

I need silence to write. I can cope with white noise like the air-con, or a fan, but anything like music or conversation, and my brain starts to wander.

I think I have a non-multi-tasking brain.

Jazz, turned down low, so that I can't hear lyrics (when there are any) or the announcer. I am most productive in the wee hours, when the station my radio is permanently tuned to plays nothing but jazz classics. During the day, I can manage editing but when "All Things Considered" and other NPR and PRI programs are on, I come here and browse. :grin

The three sounds I loathe the most are yappy little dogs that won't shut up, lawnmowers, and those weed trimmer thingies. My neighbours have the yappy little dog from hell, and since they have Downs syndrome, there's really nothing I can do about it except crank up the music.

Consequently, I do everything to the accompaniment of loud trance/dance/techno music