The Writer's Music

I've been at Disneyland the last few days, going crazy over the rides and the Disney characters at every turn. It's got me thinking about how important to each of Disney's films the soundtracks are. What would The Lion King be without Hakuna Matata?! What about Aladdin without A Whole New World? And then of course there's the other movies that rely on the music to set the scene and create the mood of each part of the story.

Why is it that many of us listen to music when we write? Is it because it helps create imagery in your mind and provides inspiration or does it help you concentrate or is it just because you don't like writing in silence?  What do you listen to when you write?

For me, I think I listen to music because it really helps me set the scene of what I'm writing about. It provides inspiration and helps me to imagine the world that my book is set. For me, music really helps fuel and push a story forward.

I've listened to a few writing soundtracks of other authors and noticed that a lot of the music others listen to is filled with lyrics. That's the first rule I make. No lyrical songs. Not because I don't love them but because I latch on to songs that I like, then I play them over, and over and over until people tell me to stop (at which time I put headphones on and continue listening to it over and over).... and then I know the words, so my brain focuses on the song, and the lyrics, rather than it becoming background noise.

I also do love classical pieces, and my FH is a pianist who used to fill the house with music before he sold him piano to buy his plane ticket to America (sob). So I went around the internet (oh how I love the Internet) and searched for instrumental musicians I loved to add to my playlist.

The first I found was Ludovico Einaudi, an Italian pianist who's music I love. I find his music really great for writing scenes about the setting or quiet, slow paced scenes. Check out his stuff here

When I want a change of pace I get stuck into the feisty Lindsey Stirling. She's an amazing young and rocking violinist. I've been super impressed with her stuff. I've never seen someone make violin playing look as cool as she does, and it's some great music to listen to when I'm really trying to get in the feisty writing zone! You can find her here

For some great scene setting music to really get me in the right frame of mind, I listen to a YouTube channel called Essenceuy. There's such a range of music, for all the occasions you could possibly imagine in your novel! It's great! Check it here

And finally, a band I actually discovered at the Tall Ships Festival in Montreal was Beltaine, a Polish folk band with some entrancing folk style music which may make you feel like you're in Ireland or Scotland, and of course Poland. They're really great and I listen to them a lot when I'm imagining the world of my current WIP. Find them here.

Aside from that I listen to the classic Mozart and Beethoven songs, just to mix it up a bit!

Now, they're the ones I listen to most regularly, but I'm always on the lookout for more, so if you know any great instrumental bands or instrumental music please do let me know! I'd be curious to know if you listen to music when you write, and if so, what kind?

RTW: My Summer Soundtrack!

Road Trip Wednesday is a blog hop hosted by YA Highway!

This week's question...

What music has been your summer soundtrack?

My summer soundtrack has been a very strange mix of songs. 

 

I started by compiling a YouTube playlist of somewhat ‘teeny bopper pop’ songs, I should be ashamed to admit it…. But I’m really not..!

I started with Carly Rae Jepson’s hit song ‘Call Me Maybe’ and followed it by Justin Bieber’s ‘Boyfriend’ (okay, we all have to admit, he’s getting older, and so are his songs. Come on now!)

I also love One Direction – I have a group of 16 year olds I know from my hometown on my Facebook and Twitter pages… now they obsess over 1D. They are the type that repeatedly tweet the band members, they photoshop themselves into pictures of Harry… some of them have even changed their last name on Facebook to ‘Styles’ – a little creepy, right?!

Anyway, once their obsessing took over my timeline, I checked them out and really love ‘What Makes You Beautiful’ and ‘One Thing’. Sticking with the teeny bopper theme – Demi Lovato’s ‘Give Your Heart a Break’ and Selena Gomez’s ‘Hit the Lights’.

There's a few songs that I've loved for almost a year now and don't show any signs of dropping off my playlist - Christina Perri's 'Jar of Hearts', LP's 'Into the Wild' (Made famous by Citibank's commercial!), and Jessica Mauboy's 'The Scariest Part'. All great songs!

This could easily be me....

I've also been introduced to Lana Del Ray by my roommate who has impeccable taste in music. I love her songs 'Diet Mountain Dew' and 'Video Games'. It took me a long time to come around to actually listening to her, but I really love her music. I think she's going to speed up my list of favourite artists in no time.

My roommate also introduced me to Sufjan Stevens, and I'm totally in love with his song 'Chicago'. He has a lot of talent. Beautiful music, great for writing to.

Aside from those song you all quite likely know, there’s a few songs that have come out of New Zealand recently that you may not have heard before. Some of them are truly great, summer feel good songs.

The first one I want to introduce you to is called ‘Everything’s going to be alright’ by The Babysitters Circus. It’s very much a summer feel good song that just makes everything seem light-hearted, happy and bouncy. The music video was filmed as flash mob on the waterfront in Auckland, New Zealand.

The other song I love is called ‘Love, Oh Love’ by the band Paper Plane. The lead singer, Nathan King, was once in a famous New Zealand band called Zed. A few of his songs from both his solo career and Zed are also in my playlist. Paper Plane is his new venture, and this song is simply such a great happy summer song that I could truly play on repeat!

On the opposite end of the spectrum I’ve also been playing a lot of Ludovico Einaudi’s music this summer. His stuff really helps get my creative juices flowing. I can’t write to songs that I know the words to – it’s like the music pushing on into my mind and screams until I sing-along. Vivaldi’s Four Seasons and Beethoven’s Moonlight Sonata are favourites to write to as well. 

Finally, I went to an off-Broadway show recently and in the weeks before seeing the show I was playing the soundtrack a lot. The show is called Songs for a New World. It was basically a musical performance and the songs were so beautiful. The melodies and lyrics really stuck in my brain and actually helped significantly inspire my latest WIP. My FH is in the film industry (or trying to be) and also said the music helped inspire some storylines for his screenplay.

Here is the link to my playlist. I tried to make it on playlist.com but I failed, so YouTube it is!  I tend to mash all these songs together and play them as much as I can - when I bike around Brooklyn, when I'm at the gym, when I'm writing, working, making food... it's great!

So that’s my summer soundtrack – what’s yours?