The Tunes That Do It

Gotta prepare myself here, because I know with certainty that others before me and many after will write something along these lines better than I will now. I'm no great creator or curator of music. I've fumbled my way through several different instruments, all with no amount of discipline. I had a decent ear and could replicate a song roughly on the clarinet at the peak of my practice. Today I could tell you the keys of a piano, prod out Heart and Soul, wet the reed of the clarinet and squawk through the main Star Wars theme, maybe even mimic some chords on the guitar - it's not much.

I am a big consumer of music, though. And there are definitely people who are more avid than I in that regard as well. I don't follow any regular blogs or news sites that leak and advertise albums, new projects and concerts, or exciting starts for emerging artists. I don't listen to the radio if I can avoid it - too repetitive and I have no guarantee I'll hear something I like. Most music I discover fairly passively, or through the artists I've already established a liking for that I follow on social media. Even that act of following I don't do as thoroughly as I could. It's entirely more likely I have albums and artists recommended to me through other people who've heard what I listen to, and know the general sounds I lean towards.

That's where I get off most easily, I think. I may not listen deeply, but I do listen widely. The span of genres and languages found in my music library, I think, is pretty impressive. Or maybe that's mostly because some of my longer-time friends are even more secluded in their musical adventures than I am, in general. It opens me up to a lot more music, when I do go looking for it. It appeals to wider spans of taste, even if just for a few songs. I tend to be a listener to particular songs rather than artists or albums. ANYWAY!

Music is integral in my writing process. It's how I form worlds and characters in my head. When I start establishing an adventure or a person, I go through my music library and build a playlist. That playlist can have a core of about 50 songs that often grows and changes as I write. The mood shifts, the character develops, and the music reflects that. I'll have two separate types of songs within the playlist - the songs this character listens to, and the songs this character embodies. 

It's fun for me to look at. Certain types of characters will have overlaps in their list of songs. Maybe a particular song doesn't inherently give off the feeling I get from it, but I so strongly associate it with a memory or person in my life that it's lodged in my mind, evoking those emotions. That goes in the playlist with those thoughts taken into consideration. 

By having these established playlists, I can run the story, the characters, the scenarios through my head like a low-resolution movie. The scenes ticker through with a loosely assembled soundtrack, guiding the words I put on the page. To describe something in full is to feel it entirely, I think. I can let it all play out in my mind's eye. As each moment is transcribed, I slow the reel down, going frame by frame with an intense scrutiny for the way things are and the way they should be in the story. 

Even as a casual listener, I want to expand my musical catalogue, but it is even more so for my writings' sake that I want to do this. I love music. I love how it builds moments and bolsters spirits. It helps me create worlds. It's an irreplaceable resource for me.