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Post by aearwen on May 24, 2011 17:19:46 GMT -6
Am I the only one who can't focus well enough to write when I've got music playing? Especially music with words. I end up listening to it and not writing. I don't like vocal music very much to begin with (unless it's in a language I do not[/i] understand) much less to listen to while trying to write. I keep getting caught by the lyrics and lose the thread of what I was doing. Most of my music is instrumental - New Age, Classical or soundtracks. My favorite artists/composers to write to are: David Arkenstone (in any of his permutations) Mike Oldfield Michael Jones Hillary Stagg Andreas Vollenwieder Cast in Bronze Christoph Sachal James Horner Harry Gregson-Williams Johan de Meij - he wrote a "Lord of the Rings Symphony" I love and several others. Sometimes I will choose music that echoes the mood my writing needs to hit, and it seems to help the muse stay focussed. Sometimes a group of selections in my playlist will convince my muse to work on something other than what I want to work on (like IDD.) |
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Post by elfscribe on May 24, 2011 17:22:26 GMT -6
I'm also a Celtic music fan, rhyselle, so I quite like your choices here of McKinnett, Enya, Clannad, and Steeleye Span. I don't think I'm familiar with Albannach's Eye of the Storm and must look it up. However, on a completely different note, here's another piece called Eye of the Storm by Ben Lovett that you might enjoy. The video is stunning. Steampunk. I've watched this numerous time and would love to write a story to go along with this. When I wrote "Beating Down the Pain" (see my profile at Stories of Arda) for a Christmas Fic Exchange a year or two back, I had been listening to Albannach's "Eye of the Storm" album and got inspired to take the idea of drumming to express strong emotion into the LOTR ficverse. I did listen to some of the tracks while I wrote, but the drumming was in my head even before I put my fingers to the keyboard. Albannach is hard to categorize. Seriously awesome drumming, with some vocals and bagpipes. The music on "Eye of the Storm" is inspired by Scottish history (Wallace, Bruce, etc.). The band's tagline is "Outlawed tunes on outlawed pipes", and somehow my mind tied that into the Dunadain, who were treated as outcasts during so much of the Third Age. I have been listening to late 1930s/early 1940s big band music lately, tied in with some WWII re-enactment prep that I'm working on with my husband; but it hasn't really inspired my muse at all from a fic perspective. Loreena McKinnett, Enya, Clannad, Steeleye Span tend to be on my usual playlist, and I really seem to get into my interpretation of early Fourth Age Gondor when I listen to my copy of Sting playing the lute music of Dowland. I can't remember the name of the album off of the top of my head, but the Elizabethan music drags me into a vivid mental environment, and the muse likes that. |
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Post by surgicalsteel on May 25, 2011 9:57:12 GMT -6
Curiously, I listen to music at times (esp. when the Cubicle Jungle is raucous) with work-related writing. If I'm in full-on analytical mode, Mozart's Requiem in D Minor is perfect. But Rob Zombie? Not so much.  Funnily enough, I used to blast loud music when writing lab reports or papers I was trying to get into peer-reviewed journals. U2 and INXS were my favorites. OH, and I took a laparoscopic suturing course once - the guy who ran it called it a 'Top Gun' course and blasted that soundtrack while we were learning laparoscopic suturing techniques. His rationale was that a ton of surgeons play music in the OR - and that between that and the beeps from the anesthesia machine and the Bovie and the chatter of nurses in the background, the OR's often a noisy place, and so we should learn those skills in an environment which mimicked the environment in which we'd use them. Our orthopods are fond of classic rock, as is my partner - I'll listen to about anything other than rap or metal in the OR. Pleasant music actually helps me keep my focus when I'm trying to get a fugly gall bladder out. |
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Post by Elf of cave on May 25, 2011 13:05:00 GMT -6
However, on a completely different note, here's another piece called Eye of the Storm by Ben Lovett that you might enjoy. What an amazing video - I'm completely captivated by it!! |
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Post by erulisse on May 26, 2011 3:10:18 GMT -6
I love Eye of the Storm, Elf. One of my favorite videos of all time. So nice to watch it again.
- Erulisse (one L)
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Post by eldarinprincess on May 26, 2011 6:57:18 GMT -6
I do agree that sometimes I get caught up with lyrics, so I try to stick with soundtracks or songs in another language. Classical music really sets the Muses off.
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elfique
New Sneech 
Disco Supernova
Posts: 51
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Post by elfique on May 27, 2011 1:27:15 GMT -6
Forgot to add the soundtrack to House of Flying Daggers (and watching that film in general) never ceases to fill me with inspiration. Absolutely incredible.
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Post by eldarinprincess on Jul 8, 2011 19:23:03 GMT -6
I have recently discovered on Youtube Adrian Von Zeigler. His music is Celtic/Gothic in nature, some of it darker than others (which worked out conveniently for me because at time time I was working on a chapter where my characters go into Mandos). Anyway, here is the link, and I hope it inspires you as it has me: www.youtube.com/user/AdrianvonZiegler#p/u/2/XGQn_mD30W0 |
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Post by erulisse on Jul 8, 2011 20:50:04 GMT -6
I really loved this, as well as his girlfriend's artwork. I'll have to take another listen and see if there is anyway of moving this to my iPod's playlist.
- Erulisse (one L)
hopelessly inept when it comes to understanding my iPods, even though I have three of the darned things. But ask me about metal alloys, chemical etching, and melting glass and I can talk for hours....
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