A bit ago, when I asked for blog post suggestions from my readers, Amy mentioned music - most specifically, what sort of music inspires me to write, or what I listen to when I'm writing. Which led me to an interesting revelation:
I'm confused about music right now.
I grew up in a very music-oriented house. My mom jokes that the only instrument she plays well is the radio, but she loves music, and so she always had something playing in the house. My dad plays guitar very well, and in recent years has started to experiment with other stringed instruments as well (his favorite is the dulcimer), and he also grew up in a house constantly filled with music (eight kids, all of them who knew how to play at least one if not several instruments), and so when Mom didn't have her classical records or cassettes playing, Dad was either playing and singing himself, or listening to his John Denver and Emmylou Harris records.
("For Baby, (For Bobbie)" was the lullaby he sang to my sister and me when we were babies. I still sing it to my girls sometimes. Cue lump-in-the-throat.)
So yeah. Music. I love it. My sister and I both took piano lessons when we were younger (she was awesome, I was ... not so much); Dad taught both of us to play guitar (I'm still working on smooth chord changes. Slow learner); we also both took voice lessons for a few years (I love, love, loved that). Lis even tried her hand at violin for a couple months, though we were ALL relieved when that phase passed. I never even attempted that one. And the one time I tried to play a flute I spit right across the mouth hole. Not my finest moment.
Aside from making music myself, though, I love to have my house filled with music. The problem for me these days is WHAT. Aside from kids' music, of course (I had to tell the littles today that Mummy could not listen to their Wheels on the Bus CD ONE MORE TIME or she'd start screaming). Most pop music bores me. I like folk music, but hate country with a passion. And after a while, the folk music gets too repetitive. No rap. No hard rock. Not my thing.
I listen to classical a lot, but sometimes I want something with words, you know? And not necessarily Italian words. I can sing in Italian, but forget translating it. Before I learn Italian I want to learn Welsh, Russian, French, Latin - if I'm still alive at the end of all those, I'll think about adding Italian to my repertoire.
Anyway. I do have a variety of artists and styles that I enjoy on occasion, but none of them really are inspirational for writing, or are even something I want to have playing all the time. Owl City is fun, but after two or three songs, they all start sounding alike. Regina Spektor is awesome (perfect music for house-cleaning), but not good writing music, not for me, anyway. Patty Griffith, Emmylou Harris ... all those folk artists are great, but again, repetitive after a bit. I love Adele, but I can only listen to her albums so many times before I want to shake her and say "Just cheer up already and move past the dude, lady!" Which I'm sure gives you all sorts of interesting insights into my character.
I used to really love Michael Buble, Norah Jones, Diana Krall ... and I still like them well enough (well, I'm pretty sick of Buble, actually), but most of the time these days, I find their music boring. Same with all the Celtic artists I used to enjoy so well.
Soundtracks are fine for some things, but usually when I listen to them I'm visualizing the accompanying scenes from the movies, which is never good when I'm trying to visualize the scenes I'm writing at the same time.
So when I'm writing, it's usually just to classical music or Wheels on the Bus or, sadly, with the tv on in the background, which is terrible, even worse than listening to soundtracks while writing, but at least provides something of a backdrop. I need to break that habit, though, post-haste. I feel like there's got to be the perfect writing music for me out there, somewhere ... but I've yet to find it.
I hope it shows up soon, though, or so help me, the wheels on that darn bus are comin' off.
My all time favorite music to write to is Radiohead's In Rainbows Live From the Basement (King of Limbs From the Basement is also awesome). You can listen to it right now on youtube -- look for the full show that's around an hour long.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the tip - I'll check it out.
DeleteI love to listen to Thomas Tallis's Lamentations of Jeremiah when I write first drafts. The polyphony and minor tones really get my creative juices flowing.
ReplyDeleteI just listened to a little piece of that on Youtube - breathtaking. Carl loves Gregorian chants - maybe I should try to get my hands on some of those, give both of us something to enjoy while I'm writing.
DeleteI wanted to read and respond to this as soon as I saw it. Sadly, I'm just now getting a chance to do so. As to music, I have to say that my tastes vary with my mood, the weather, and just about anything else.
ReplyDeleteI love soundtracks, but haven't cared to listen to them much lately. In new music, I've actually enjoyed listening to Kelly Clarkson lately. Something about the song "Stronger" is just fun. I can always listen to a little Sarah Barellies also. If you want funky/folky, try She & Him. Of course, I'm the person who drove home from buying groceries tonight with the car stereo blaring "Breakfast At Tiffany's." I'm always in the mood to listen to stuff I loved in JR High and High School. I also always want something loud and lively when I'm in the car by myself, though I don't mind listening to Firecracker's (my new nickname for L) Elizabeth Mitchell songs.
The littles loved Elizabeth Mitchell when they were babies; they're insisting on more upbeat stuff these days. I made a deal with them today - one more typical "kids" CD, followed by one of Mummy's approved ones (Elizabeth Mitchell, Lisa Loeb, even Raffi). Gotta try my best to raise them with good taste in music!
DeleteMy mom always used the "I play the radio" line, too! My dad sings-- tenor in a community chorus, cantor at church, and random spontaneous songs throughout the day-- and plays piano-- I didn't realize until I was older, in college and hanging out with music majors all the time, maybe, that he's actually rather BAD at the piano, but I'm probably worse and I still love to play it, too! My sister and I both sang and played in the band, though I was the only one who took piano lessons; my brother frustrated us by apparently having perfect pitch but having NO interest in DOING anything with it except picking out the theme songs to his favorite cartoons on the piano.
ReplyDeleteI feel out of it in the music world-- I used to be such a geek, the one who'd share obscure things with other people, but lately it's everyone else who knows stuff and the extent of my knowledge about CURRENT music is what they play on the Adult Contemporary station, which is, as you say, boring (for the most part. At least the NEW songs they play are. At least, my radio station on the kitchen radio claims to play "everything," and they do have a fairly wide variety of popular music from the past 50 years, or at least 40 years, but the NEW songs they keep pushing are all the same really shallow adult contemporary or easy-listening pop. Or Adele). I am still a geek about 60s and 70s rock, though.
I AM a big rock fan (obviously) so I'm not with you there-- I love to write to Pink Floyd, which something tells me would not be your thing. Granted, I hated Pink Floyd for years, too, until they became my second-favorite band, so I really can't explain that. But I know exactly what you mean about loving folk but hating country, because I'm the same way, and it doesn't make sense when you try to explain it but it's TRUE. I'm actually a really big folk-ROCK fan-- the Byrds and CSN are some of my favorite artists-- and don't like country-rock so much, either.
Carl listened to a lot of rock/heavy metal in his depressed-teenager years, so anything that even resembles that sort of music is Not Played in this house - brings back too many bad, bad memories and unpleasant associations for him.
DeleteI did just create a Pandora station titled "Happy Music" - a lot of Jason Mraz, Jack Johnson, Ingrid Michaelson, that sort of thing. And right now I'm listening to a classical piano station on the radio - no words, but very peaceful.
Rock music was what got me THROUGH my depressed teenage years-- it's still a great catharsis for me, a familiar comfort rather than a reminder of painful things. I got really into psychedelic rock because it made my brain feel less crazy and alone and out there, that other people were this wacked out in the world. Of course, most of them were on drugs, so it's not the same thing at all, but I still love psychedelia on a creative level today!
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