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Having just finished a good book last night, I realised how used I had become to listening to music whilst reading.
Having sixty or so albums on my ipod, from Mozart to Fleet Foxes, Vaughn Williams to George Winston, I have fallen into another habit. I have become used to starting with the same two albums. The first is Music of the Spheres, Mike Oldfield’s first ‘classical’ album followed by a somewhat ‘guilty’ pleasure. This is Dave Pearce’s Trance Anthems 2009, which makes even this fugly old thing feel years younger.
So my question is quite simple.
Do others need to listen to music whilst reading and, have they fallen into a similar routine, or do you prefer silence. Perhaps some of the authors of this site, who do listen to music, would say whether what they listen to when reading is different to when they write.
Love
Anne G.
Comments
Music and reading vs. writing.
I listen to music whenever I write; sometimes inspired by what I've listened to, other times using what I've listened to as a counter piece to the fiction. I struggle with reading and listening to songs, but orchestrations and soundtracks are okay. The words from songs tend to distract me, and my comprehension isn't what it used to be. I can remember reading Dune and other books and putting music to the story in my head, almost like a soundtrack that only I could hear. I compose, so music comes naturally to me and is a welcome part of what I write. Thanks.
She was born for all the wrong reasons but grew up for all the right ones.
Possa Dio riccamente vi benedica, tutto il mio amore, Andrea
Love, Andrea Lena
Music
Music with words distracts me from writing, though I can read with music of almost any kind on.
For writing, I really prefer Bach or Haydn or one of the softer Romantics. Mozart, Beethoven and Chopin are too likely to suck me into the music. Instrumental rock is okay, too or jazz. Even bluegrass, just no words. Not instrumental versions of showtunes, though; my mind will fill in the words.
But mostly, I write in silence or with whatever ambient music is playing in a coffeeshop if I'm writing outside the house. Words to the music are okay there, I can't hear them well enough in the background noise for them to be a distraction.
I can't write with the TV on at all.
Hugs,
Erin
= Give everyone the benefit of the doubt because certainty is a fragile thing that can be shattered by one overlooked fact.
= Give everyone the benefit of the doubt because certainty is a fragile thing that can be shattered by one overlooked fact.
I prefer quiet
to read or write, unless I get really into something, then I could probably die and not notice. I watch very little television, and tend to listen to music/radio in the car. If I'm writing with music, it's usually film soundtracks - I particularly like John Williams, Hans Zimmer and John Barry. Otherwise it's mainly classical, Beethoven, Mendelssohn, Brahms and the other romantics. I also enjoy the English romantics, Elgar and Vaughan-Williams, Holst, Delius and so on.
Angharad
Angharad
Music is my...
...life's blood. I always have it on regardless of the situation. It's mostly instrumental from ancient (prior to 1000A.D.) through the modern period. I also love traditional music of Celt origin although I'm starting to enjoy tradtional Norde stuff as well.
Lil' Kelly
Oh yeah...I like Pink Floyd. :)
music is my drug of choice
Music with words doesn't bother me for either reading or writing, as long as it's something really familiar to me. A new band or a new album by a favorite artist I'll "break in" by drawing or doing housework to. I use music like a drug, a mood regulator, punk or fast bebop jazz when I'm full of energy, but later in the day it would be grating. Right now it's afternoon and I'm listening to WRONG WAY UP by John Cale and Brian Eno, rock but on the mellow side, melodic. For me anyway. I seldom listen to the same type of music for more than an hour at a stretch, but rotate categories. 30's western swing followed by 70's Miles Davis, then classic rock- something as comfortable & familiar as an old shoe like Quadrophenia, Dark Side of the Moon or Sgt. Pepper, followed by some Beethoven or maybe Prokofiev, then something edgy & discordanant from the 80's or 90's like The Pixies or the Cure, then some old Dave Tarras-era klezmer stuff or Balanese gamelan music. While writing TG fiction I tend to lean heavily on female artists (and male artists like Bowie with a female side, "glam rock" if you will...), but with the same rotation. Dolly Parton or Kasey Chambers followed by girl punk like X-Ray Spex or the Slits, then something fun and bubbly-girly like Gwen Stefani or the Go-Gos, then Billie Holiday or Lil "Why Don'tcha Do Right" Green, then some Patti Smith; Pretenders or Siouxee & the Banshees. About the only things I can't listen to when writing is music with non-singing lyrics, be it rap or Woody Guthrie-style talking blues or Ken Nordine's WORD JAZZ; The spoken word completely wipes out the words I'm trying to put together in my head. I also can't write at all while listening to Spike Jones. I only tried once but that was enough.
~~~hugs, Laika
We now return to our regular programming:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qTl00248Z48
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Me too Laika!!
I'm pretty much the same way. When I'm getting ready to read something I'm really looking forward to, I try and pick an appropriate soundtrack. Instrumental or words doesn't really matter as long it kinda goes together with the story. I do tend to lean towards classic Rockn' Roll, but almost everything but Rap has graced my speakers. When I'm writing, it's a bit different. Unless, the song has a strong emotional response, the words are very distracting. I have to know the words so well that I really don't have to listen. The composers John Williams, Hans Zimmer and other soundtracks are also very good stuff to write to, but classical works are good too such as Vaughn William's Fantasia on Greensleeves. I have been asked how do I convey such emotion into some of my stuff and I guess that is the secret. I listen to stuff that gives ME those feelings and so I'm able to transfer them over somehow. So no, I'm not an evil author manipulating my poor readers emotions. I cry just as much writing the fool things and perhaps even more. :)
Great Tropic!
Hugs!
Grover
listening to music
I always listen to music when I write -- but my drug of choice is classical; mostly Mozart, Bach, and Schubert.
Melissa
This might be lame but,
When I graduated from college, I took a year off before attempting grad school. I was investigating meditation and eastern religions, because I was always anxious under my facade of being the cool, hippie, jock, radical, college student. Like, finally people I didn't know thought I was cool (of course often that didn't last thru meeting me....). I had thought that was something I wanted and strived for, but it didn't do it for me.
I read some Hindu-yoga thought, Buddhism and Taoism and learned transcendental meditation(a bit of a racket, but it works)and Za Zen, Japanese Buddhist Meditation. Some of the underlining principles stuck with me; they may seem cliche'd or obvious, but I think they help me.
One is that the present is all that we can experience. The past already happened and the future is never here, by definition. One should be aware of the Now and try to experience it as fully as possible. The other, very simple principle is to do one thing at a time. If you want to do something, do it; do not be distracted. This may work for me because of my brain problems (or not), but these ideas are accepted as wisdom by many.
When you listen to music, listen to music. When you run or bicycle, be into the running or bicycling, don't be distracted by music. (also, you can't hear the traffic as well, it's not as safe) 8) . When I write, I write and I try to have it as quiet as possible. When I read, I read, under the same circumstances.
Hugs and Bright Blessings,
Renee
Hugs and Bright Blessings,
Renee
I don't listen to music
I don't listen to music while reading much anymore, but I used to a lot. In fact, some music became associated with certain books to the point that I couldn't read one of those books without thinking about that music, or hear that music without thinking about those books! I still think of Xanth every time I hear a song from The Lion King. ;)
I often listen to music while writing, though. Just about any kind of music is fine, but if it's a song I particularly like I'll end up singing along with it and that interrupts my writing. Also, as Erin said I can't write with the TV on, the blasted thing sucks me in every time!
Saless
"But it is also tradition that times *must* and always do change, my friend." - Eddie Murphy, Coming To America