Football (by which I mean American football) and soccer (by which I mean everyone else's football) use popular songs and team anthems to fire up the audience.
In movies, a playlist can make all the difference in the viewer's perception of the movie. Guardians of the Galaxy's well-chosen vintage soundtrack may well have been some of the reason for its success. For an example of how a soundtrack manipulation can influence our perception of a movie, watch this trailer.
Back to writers -- yesterday, I read a Facebook post from one of my favorite romance authors, Robin D. Owens. The discussion centered around soundtracks as motivation, and I was reminded of all the pitfalls we writers have when trying to put together playlists:
- Unlike James Gunn, who could afford the time and money to go through thousands of songs to complete the Guardians soundtrack, writers rely on what they have in their MP3 collection, songs they can recall, and suggestions from their friends.
- A song with words might have the right words but wrong musical feel, or vice versa. Here is a sad song about child abuse whose tune doesn't fit its words:
- A song you thought was suitable doesn't flow with the rest of the playlist. I wanted the playlist for Prodigy (Grace, the main character, likes that one) to incorporate a lot of classical, because that's what she would be listening to. I, of course, wanted the pieces I picked to fit the mood of the segments of the book, which include a lot of running and a counter-attack on the protagonists' part. I put the playlist together, and realized that one of the classical pieces sounded like the background music to a 1930's Superman movie.
- iTunes Store has little talent for this type of search. Type "eerie" and you get songs called "eerie" in their title and albums called "eerie". Most of these will be death metal (not eerie), rap (not eerie), or Halloween music (NOT EERIE, ironically enough.) No theremin music (they can even make "Over the Rainbow" sound a little scary.)
- Almost nobody can make your playlist for you because they can't get into your head, which is the only place your characters and plot live when you need a playlist. Perhaps a playlist goddess can. Or the person who listens to you prattle about your book daily -- my husband has gotten pretty good at playlists.
Try a playlist -- not just for writing, but for motivation. For working out, for running, for housework, for getting up in the morning. I had a partner for a presentation back in college who walked into the room where I was putting together my poster, said, "excuse me", and dropped the needle on "Also Sprach Zarathrustra. He then breathed, "I'm prepared now." It turned out that this was his ritual to get through public speaking, as he was an introvert.
Just understand that it's a work in progress. Like you are.
I understand that listening to music can resurrect memories that lie dormat until you hear that song that was playing in the back ground...when you had a memorable experience...first kiss, loss of a loved one, the hit summer song that played 10x a day when you went on the family vacation from hell. Music can summon those feelings when you had that experience for the first time that you will never forget. Music can capture a feeling and keep you suspended in that space until the song ends or the play list ends.
ReplyDeleteHaving music playing is not a necessity for me.
When i am in the mood I will listen to a CD but it is not to motivate is simply for the purpose to listen and enjoy the artist I decided on for the time. At times I may want to hear something to clear my head-remembering song lyrics will distract me from what I don't want to think about for the moment, or I want something that is calming and peaceful to again distract me from a problem that has plagued me. I also have that condition when you hear that constant ringing in my ears. I have always had it since i was a child. So that may be why I don't have a need to have music playing. John is quite the opposite. He has some kind of music playing nearly 80% of the day.
I think that it is good to have a playlist for your life if is what helps you accomplish goals each day or to work on projects. This is Lanetta.
Playlist for my life? I love it. I actually have one that helps me to connect to the best parts of me.
ReplyDeleteI also have tinnitus, which goes along with my high-frequency hearing loss I was born with. As a result, I don't need background music unless I'm working on something. Although Richard's classical music can add a lot to coffee time (if it's the right kind of classical -- the 1812 Overture doesn't do much for me.