I listen to a great variety of music. I feel strongly that I can find something to enjoy in every genre and style. This is not because my tastes in music are shallow or watered down, but rather it is because I tend to find the right music for the right moment. The soundtrack of the hour. I endeavor to appreciate what makes music good, why it is popular, why others enjoy it. And sometimes, in the process, I learn to enjoy it myself.
I have been writing up a storm this week, which has been endless fun (and hopefully profitable in some future era). While writing, I find myself unable to listen to music with too many words or lyrics. The more I start paying attention to what the singer is saying, the less I pay attention to what I am saying. Or supposed to say. I love my punk and heavy metal while driving (though I am honestly a safe and patient driver), and I have my guilty pop pleasures. The last hour or two before going to bed are best set to dark, quiet, ambient soundscapes. But when I am in a creative, productive mood, it is time for the soundtracks, the electronica, the video game music.
The other day I wrote about writing about pirates. I was listening to the soundtrack to various Pirates of the Caribbean movies while doing so. One of my current creative endeavors was inspired by a recent rewatching of the anime series Puella Magic Madoka Magika, so I made sure to listen to the music of composer Yuki Kajiura while working on it. Another piece I’m working on is steam punk. Goodness, but I could write an entire diatribe just about steampunk music, but this time around it was the OST for another anime, Last Exile. And finishing off the trifecta of anime musical inspirations, my most epic of stories takes place in a fantasy setting, and is secretly tracked to songs from Sword Art Online (also Yuki Kajiura) and Record of Lodoss War.
I still haven’t figured out what to listen to while writing Victorian mysteries. So if anyone has any suggestions, I am very much open to hearing them.
Youtube has been amazing in these regards, as I can almost literally type “quiet forest music” while writing about a quiet forest, and end up with half a day’s mixes. Then again, Youtube makes it almost too easy, and too randomized. I listen to a lot of music for a lot of different reasons, but I typically know what I want, and have a very extensive catalog to turn to and find it. Unless I’m writing about Victorian mysteries, apparently.
Eventually, I can build such mental and emotional associations, just listening to the music will bring me back to that particular setting. This can be a bad thing if done poorly—remind me to talk about Ragnarok Online and the soundtrack to Amélie sometime—but it can also be a secret entrance around to the back side of writer’s block. There are few forces more inspiring in the world than a good song or soundtrack.
I wonder what I’ll be listening to tomorrow.
Posted While Listening to Caravan Palace’s Panic (2012)
The Artist and the Engineer 