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Reading Mary Ann's post kicking off the series on Monday, I could definitely relate to what she said about writing with music playing in the background. At this moment, Pachelbel's Canon in D Major is playing on my computer. I first started writing with music years ago to drown out the television and other sounds coming from my family. When I'm actively writing, the music has to be instrumental--lyrics distract me from the words forming in my head. I used to load my CD player with a collection of classical albums that included Music for the Mozart Effect and Vivaldi's Four Seasons. Nowadays, I play the music directly on my computer via the "radio stations" I've set up at Pandora.com. (Pandora is a convenient way to create a quick playlist that "matches" a specific song or type of music.) Like Mary Ann, when working on historical fiction, I listen to music from the era in which my story is set. That means that lately I've been hearing lots of 17th and 18th century pieces featuring the harpsichord and violins. Such music is especially appropriate as the main character of my young adult novel-in-progress plays the harpsichord and her love interest is a violinist.
I've noticed that some authors are now sharing their personal playlists with their readers. For example, on Kathryn Erskine's website, you can click on the titles of the songs she listened to while writing Mockingbird, winner of the 2010 National Book Award for Young People's Literature. Young adult author Rachel Cohn has even created iMixes of her playlists on the iTunes Music Store. These playlists can be a great way to connect with young readers, especially teens. Teen (and adult) readers can also find playlists on sites like Novel Novice, which often includes playlists for the young adult novels highlighted there, such as Elizabeth Eulberg's Prom and Prejudice.
I know that l
2 Comments on Music and Writing: Does Your Story Have a Soundtrack?, last added: 3/12/2011
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I have created a few playlists both on my computer and Pandora, not all of classical or music-only scores. I love Symphonie Fantastique, by Berlioz, as well as movie scores for Michael Nyman, Craigh Armstrong, Danny Elfman, etc. In fact, I have one Pandora playlist that plays music from all of these composers. But for certain emotional stories and/or scenes, I listen to groups from my teens and twenties, like the Cure. Then, one in a while, some good traditional Irish music fits pefectly.
I also play some of these in my fourth-grade classroom.
Thanks for the great article!
Thanks for sharing the music selections, Bruce. It never occurred to me to create a Pandora station of movie scores. I have one now!