I have always enjoyed having music on while I write but as I get older I find that lyrics are too distracting, so I go for instrumental stuff.
I was thinking about this because of something I discovered this week on Freegal --
A word of explanation (or explanation of a word.) Freegal is a free legal (hence the name) music streaming service which is available through some libraries.
It's a mixed bag; clearly some companies are not cooperating with it so you may find all the works of a performer and none of another, or an odd assortment based on what shows up on, say, a compilation album from some minor company. And before you ask, I don't know how much the artists are paid per stream. I know at least one librarian is trying to find out.
Back to our story. While searching for something else I found Nathan Barr's soundtrack album for Carnival Row, a fantasy TV series I had never heard of. And, boy, it just worked for me. I tend to like soundtracks as background for writing, I guess because they are dramatic, emotional, and mercurial.
I sent a link to my sister, Diane Chamberlain, who also writes with soundtracks and she approved, so it is good to have my opinion confirmed by a New York Times bestselling author.
Other soundtracks I like? Danny Elfman's brooding, hypnotic work for the Batman movies.
Also the Star Trek themes by many composers.
But there's more to life than soundtracks. I am not a big fan of classical music, preferring early music. One group I love is Hesperion XXI, which focuses on 16th-18th centuries, especially Spanish and Sephardic music.
Don't confuse them with the equally excellent Hesperus which performs early American music.
I also enjoy the Belgian cafe jazz of Jacques Brel. You may say that' isn't instrumental, to which I would reply: If you don't speak French it is.
So, writers, what do you listen to when you are creating your masterpieces?
And just for funsies, here is my favorite recording of a Jacques Brel song (not sung by him), complete with subtitles.
I will listen to the same song over and over as I write. There is one by Queen, one by Pink, one by Joe Jackson, and others I'm not thinking of right now. Sometimes I write without music. It all depends on my mood.
ReplyDeleteBarb, I do the same thing, listening to the same song over and over, usually hard-charging rock songs. Great topic, Robert.
DeleteBarb, if you don't mind: which Queen and Jackson songs? I've been rediscovering Jackson on Freegal lately.
DeleteThanks, Ed.
Delete"Under Pressure" by Queen and ”Is She Really Going Out With Him" by Jackson.
DeleteLove the Jackson song.
DeleteOn YouTube, the Buddha's Flute Channel, Dmitry Soul's Duduk / Sufi music, West African music, etc., and I have stacks of CDs by Anonymous 4, Coyote Oldman, Sastro, Arvo Part, and 13-15th century music. I also have a ton of jazz, especially Miles Davis. A mixed bag. The main thing is it has to be instrumental or in a language I don't understand.
ReplyDeleteWow, nice variety.
ReplyDeleteI forgot Peter and Wendy, the late great Johnny Cunningham's score for a puppet version of Peter Pan. And, weirdly enough, Jethro Tull's Christmas album. Several gorgeous original instrumentals.
ReplyDeleteCafé jazz? Huh? Heresy! Jacques Brel is one of the great French-language chansonniers (yes, yes, Belgian, like Hercule Poirot). Even the highly successful English-language versions (I remember Ellie Stone at Carnegie Hall in a bright emerald satin gown, and so did she when I met her many years later) didn't do the lyrics justice. To ignore Brel's words is like saying to watch Shakespeare for the spectacle. Moi, I crave complete silence when I write. Always did, even when I was young enough to multi-task easily.
ReplyDelete