What kind of music helps you write?

I was driving around tonight and I had the score from Saving Private Ryan playing and it was really making me wish I was at my computer with no other noise around so I could keep on writing my WWII script. I watched the movie the other night to help me grasp a tone to use while I was writing. Now that I listen to the soundtrack, it puts me back in the zone and I'm ready to write.

What kind of stuff do you guys use to get in the zone?

Anything repetitive, that would sound good on a loop, that sort of fills itself out. Low-key pop songs with nice harmonies and layered instrumentation, like Beth Orton's "Concrete Sky" and the Cash Brothers' "Night Shift Guru" are both good for me, and sort of merge into a wall of sound when played on a loop. Also, Terry Riley's composition, "In C", which is basically a minimalist piece for a small group of instruments, they play different phrases over and over as they see fit, moving onto the next phrase whenever they feel like it. It's a very chaotic piece, but it's so FULL that there are no gaps in, no places for the outside world to drift in.

Alternately, "brown" noise, on a loop, with some modulation thrown in to make it waver in volume over the course of ten minutes or so, is great stuff, in my humble opinion.

I listen to a lot of Andrea Bocelli when I'm in serious writing mode.

Most classical music is enough to get my mind a little more active than normal, so that'd be what I'd use if I wanted to try and concentrate on my writing.

:thumbs Personally, I use many different kinds of music when I write. Rarely do I write in silence, and more often than not, the music I listen to while I'm working compounds the mood, and or, scene or chapter I'm writing.

At the moment, it's Peter Gabriel's brilliant composition for Scorsese's Last Temptation of Christ, entitled Passion. I can't recommend this CD enough. There have been many, many soundtracks that have attempted to emulate and downright copy this album, but none have come close.

I also have a tendency to listen to all different kinds of soundtracks, as well as the music to all three of the Myst video games: Myst, Riven, and Myst Exile. These are very good for some moody, ambient noise lightly floating in the background.

Live to write, write to live... Kevin :coffee

www.kevacho.com

either very low classical or nothing. The classical, btw, also calms the hyperactive beagle so she doesn't tug n my pantleg while typing

I hate writing without music. But which music I choose depends a lot on what I'm writing. I usually opt for something that appeals to my emotions. Maybe that helps me tap into those important parts of my brain, even if I'm not actively listening to the song. Eh, who knows?

Almost as important as the music, though, are my Glade rainshower votive candles! I bought one of these little guys five years ago or so and burned it whenever I was writing. Now I've got a sense memory thing working with them, and they immediately puts me in the mood to write. Plus they smell good, and they're a lot cheaper than Yankee candles. I've burned up many of them.