Words and Music

I really wanted to get the damn pics up from the Navajo rug auction & band, but blogger just isn't cooperating. Which means I'll just be blathering instead. Not all that different than usual, I guess.

I've been thinking about music and writing - probably because a friend asked for music suggestions along a theme/mood. I know writers have varying ideas about what works for them - some people only write to music w/o words, others prefer silence and some have specific bands/songs they listen to when they're working. Some like it really loud, others go for a quieter approach.

I tend to use songs that go with the mood or sense of place of the piece I'm working on, and I like to keep the volume fairly low. I also use (don't laugh, dammit!) 2 CD's by Dr. Jeffrey Thompson - "Awakened Mind" and "Creative Mind System 2.0." I call the Thompson CD's my "lingling" music because they sounds kinda sleepy/meditative. I don't know that his "brain science" approach does jack to "awaken" my "creative mind," but the tracks don't have words, and the long open sounds don't get in the way when my brain is in leap-frog mode. I've got them loaded into iTunes & just put them on loop for a couple hours of droning sound.

The novel I'm working on has pretty much been written to Lucinda Williams (all her albums, played consecutively) with occasional bouts of Ryan Adams, Fat Boy Slim or Digweed. I know, I know. What on earth do "alternative" country/Americana artists have to do with the dj rave/dance mixes? Umm. I dunno, but that's what's been working for me. Weird, but true.

Another strange one is that I work just fine with music with words - as long as I know the songs very, very well. I actually catch myself singing along as I'm writing. Odd to be singing "Concrete and Barbed Wire" (Lucinda Williams) while writing about a eating dinner at the park. Absolutely no connection to the scene, but that's what makes it work. The mood of the scene works with the tone of the album, so it makes creative sense (at least to me!). On the other hand, I can't listen to new music and write at the same time. It's just too distracting.

So there it is. I know everyone has their own way of working and choosing the music for their work. It's fascinating to me how writers pull from all the arts to create their process. Music, art, observation, intuition, empathy all come into play in the written word. I think that's pretty damn cool.