There is an artistic exercise in a book that I found and I’m trying to track down again. It deals with how music plays a part in our creativity. I’ll find the information (I know I can!), but it’s been on my mind as I worked on a couple of articles yesterday.
I generally listen to Mozart when I’m writing. It works as white noise for me and, oddly, other composers don’t remain in the background enough for me. My architect husband, who has a more visual career, will listen to music with lyrics, which might vary from the Talking Heads to Krishna Das. Others I know work with pop music or techno in the background.
When my husband and I are working in the same space, I need to block his music out because the words in the songs start interfering with the words I’m trying to write. Often, if I’m in the library writing away from the chaos and crowd in our house, I have a difficult time writing without my music. Even in the relative calm and stillness of the library. (I get to sit in the adult section when I go by myself.) If it is not a non-fiction article, but more free flowing fiction, I’ll write listening to something that might convey the mood towards which I’m working.
Does music help or hinder your creativity? Does music translate from each of your creative projects or do you listen to the same type of music for each creation, regardless of the media?

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