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Hey everyone!
I’m curious to know if you all like to listen to music while writing and if so what kinds of music?
Coming from a large family there is almost always noise going on around me, so a long while back I got into the practice of drowning out the world, focusing on my writing, and listening to music!
My favorite genres for this are Jazz and a weird type of French music I’m not sure what category it would fall under (my favorite artist in this genre is Ingrid St-Pierre). I prefer music without words, though I’ve also got a short playlist of songs that I’ve listened to so many times it’s not distracting anymore.
I’m interested to hear if you guys do something similar!
-Gideon
Ah, this is a good topic! For myself, the most music I’ve ever listened to while writing was during NaNoWriMo (surviving November requires desperate measures). Looking back, I remember listening to a wide-ranging variety, from Mozart to fantasy/winter ambiance to Norwegian legends to contemporary Christian to Disney songs. But the most helpful and enjoyable music was the songs that were sung in other languages. Particularly in Russian. Seeing as how my WIP is set in a fictionally enhanced ancient Russia, Russian-voiced songs (though I didn’t understand most of what they said) helped a lot with aesthetics. Ever hear all the popular Disney songs sung in their native languages? It’s something else. I’m surprised I didn’t walk away from November multilingual.
But in any case, that’s my core experience with the writing and music combination. When I do combine them, I always try and match the mood/tone/or scene to the rhythm of the music I choose. Wordless or other language is good for minimizing distraction, but yes, there are some songs I’ve listened to so many times, they lose their distraction.
But in any and all cases, music is certainly a powerful tool.Great topic!! : ) For me, I’m a nut over music, so it’s definitely a major part of my day. While I’m writing, I mostly like to listen to instrumental, like gentle cello music, piano music, and occasionally some light chillstep. I find mostly all of my writing music on Youtube. It helps me to ‘zone in’ on my writing and not get terribly distracted by other things (which is a problem for me), so I find music to be incredibly beneficial to my writing.
Outside of writing, I sometimes enjoy listening to music that reminds me of my novel, or the characters, in some way. It’s given me so many ideas that I really can’t claim my own. To any writer, I’d highly recommend brainstorming about your story while listening to music.
Oh, and soundtracks! Either from video games or movies, soundtracks are brilliant for me. I like the Inception soundtrack for a touch of mystery, the Professor Layton music for a whimsical English vibe, and the Journey video game soundtrack for smooth violin. And also a combination of other things (like the soundtrack of Frozen II but instrumental… that reminds me of my book’s aesthetic the most)
If anybody needs any song recommendations (whether writing related or not), I’m your girl :3
- Rank: Eccentric Mentor
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Oh, yes, I LOVE listening to music!!! However, I’m usually writing at night or naptime for my siblings, so…you can see why I don’t listen to music as often as I like. Of course, I could use headphones or something, but ugh. I hate those things!
Unlike basically everyone else on here, I listen to music with lyrics! I have a couple of playlists on Spotify I listen to–all of my favorite songs (which is a really strange mix) and my WIP’s playlist, which is full of songs that fit my charries! I absolutely ADORE Lifehouse, so that’s what I listen to the most! (They’re a 2000s Christian rock band that nobody except for Smallville fans know of…)
I may get into instrumental one day, but I’m all lyrics for now!
@buildsbygideon Music is my second hobby, so naturally, I love to listen to music while I’m writing. Usually I either dig out songs I loved in middle school (instrumental/epic stuff) or I listen to stuff that I currently am listening to on my liked playlist, which varies from rock to piano. I usually, however, open up a chill mix on Youtube and listen to that. I do enjoy chill/trap mixes.
Lately, it's been on my brain
Would you mind letting me know
If hours don't turn into daysGood question! I usually avoid listening to music while writing because I find it too distracting, even without lyrics (probably because I just haven’t done it a lot). When I write I like to imagine the sounds of the scene I’m writing, and music can sometimes drown it out and overwhelm the atmosphere for me. However, if I’m trying to write in an environment with a lot of noise in the background (which is not often) I sometimes like to listen to instrumental music to drown that out.
(Btw, welcome to KP! I’m Ella, nice to meet you.) I listen to pretty much every genre depending on my mood. Some of my favorite music to listen to while writing is trailer music, contemporary/pop, rock, lo-fi, rap, etc. Whatever I feel like. I’m really good at concentrating because of my little brother… lol. 😆 So ya, that’s all I got.
what we do in life echoes in eternity
-gladiator, 2000@buildsbygideon Hello! I don’t believe we’ve met–I’m Elizabeth.
What an interesting topic! I’ve really enjoyed reading over everyone’s responses. As for me, it depends. The way my brain processes sound is a little odd, so sometimes music helps me focus, but sometimes it’s really really distracting. When I do listen to it, I tend to repeat the same song or two over and over as I write, or listen to a specific artist/album that I like. Similarly to @gracie-j, I do like listening to songs with lyrics (Tenth Avenue North is a particular favorite), but I do love me a good soundtrack. Ori and the Blind Forest is one I’ve listened to quite a bit, for instance.
“Seven seconds till the end. Time enough for you. Perhaps. But what will you do with it?”
@abigail-m – Wow that’s awesome! I haven’t heard many songs in Russian, that sounds fascinating! I love how to tie the music to the mood and setting of the story, I’m sure it gets built in there if not consciously then subconsciously!
@writerlexi1216 – ooo, do you have full playlists for each kind of setting/mood you want to get into or do you find new ones each time?@gracie-j – Christian rock with lyrics! Interesting choice of music for writing! I’m curious, if you have a wide range of songs in your playlist, do you find writing faster/slow/deeper depending on the music playing?
@devastate-lasting – Yes! I’m the same way, there are certain playlists from years agone that are super familiar and work really well even with lyrics for concentrating! Plus it brings back a ton of old memories! I assume you listen to a lot of Lofi hip-hop on youtube?
@nova21 – Hey Ella! Super nice to meet you too! 🙂 Haha, it’s weird how loud siblings are an amazing way of building focus! Blessing in disguise I suppose
@lewilliams – Hello Elizabeth! Pleased to make your aquaintence! 🙂 Interesting! I’ve never heard of Tenth Avenue North before, I’m quite enjoying it! The Ori and the Blind Forest is really good too! Thanks for sharing 😀@buildsbygideon I do have a lot of lofi hip-hop mixes saved to my writing playlist (which contains too many videos now to count) but most of the time I just find myself gravitating towards what’s fastest for me to find. Sometimes it’s lofi, most of the time, it’s chill stuff.
The music you like sounds really interesting! I’m quite partial to electro-swing, and most of the stuff I listen to are all in foreign languages, so I would love any recommendations you might have!
Lately, it's been on my brain
Would you mind letting me know
If hours don't turn into days<p style=”text-align: left;”>@devastate-lasting haha gotcha! Yes electro swing is amazing! I burnt myself out though and have to let it cool for a while before going back again.</p>
Me too! I love songs in foreign languages! If you like opera, Andrea Bocelli is really good, and Ingrid St-Peirre is amazing, pandora has a neat way of finding new artists by the stations around those artists I really like.
What are some of your favorite foreign music artists? I’m always looking for new people too!
@buildsbygideon Thanks for the reccs! Ah, most of the foreign stuff I listen to is rock; I really enjoy TK from Ling tosite sigure; his voice is quite unique and his lyrics are very emotional. N. Flying is a pretty good Korean band.
Lately, it's been on my brain
Would you mind letting me know
If hours don't turn into daysI normally find new music every time. I’ll type in a few keywords on Youtube and see what I can find, mostly. But you just gave me an incredible idea, in fact! I’ll look into making a playlist… I can’t believe I haven’t thought of that before! I also have separate playlists for my characters as well 🙂
- Rank: Eccentric Mentor
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@buildsbygideon Haha! Yeah, it is different! Hmm…I’m not sure. I do think I focus better on other tasks when listening to faster, more upbeat music–whereas slower, more emotional songs make me want to cry. XD But I do my best writing in total silence, since I’ve adapted to writing late at night.
Songs sung in Russian are pretty fascinating. Especially ones that would go with Russian soldier dance or even random traditional songs.
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