Part IX: Music

By Remy Benoit

What is the role of music in our lives?

What is the role of music in your life, in your character's?

What comes to mind when you hear Wagner once you have seen Apocalypse Now? What comes into your mind when you have lived it and hear that music? Take that one easy; one note at a time, with a friend if possible. Try to make that possible.

What music enthralls you, enraptures you, soothes you, irritates you?

There is a great deal of research being done on the role of music in our lives.

Think back to your teenager years. What special songs come to mind? Make a list of words of the feelings, emotions that surface when you hear that music. What place do you remember? Who was with you in that place, at that time? Where were you going; what were you doing? What scents come to mind? What is the overwhelming feeling that comes from the memory of a particular piece of music? What words best describe that feeling

Write a word picture to share of that moment in time with someone dear to you now. Perhaps you could share it with your mate, your child, or your grandchild.

There have been studies done that show when older people are placed in environments, total environments from their more youthful day, that their health improves. This artificial environment included furniture, media, clothes, newspapers, books, music, etc. What does this perhaps indicate to us about the role of our minds and its relationship to our aging and health? There seems to be much to ponder there.

What is your relationship with contemporary music? Do you listen to it at all? Does it speak to you, or do you prefer the music of your youthful time? How do you use music in writing? Does your character express her tastes in dinner music, concert going, radio listening in her car? Does she had a deep familiarity with musicians and pieces from a particular time period?

You might want to try a simple music/writing exercise. Select a variety of music from country through classical. Over a period of days, select a quiet time with lights dimmed and listen to a part of what you have selected. Note your bodily reactions to the music, the words, feelings, emotions that come to mind and write them down for future reference when writing a scene. Note while you are doing this the frame of mind that you brought to the music. You might note what music seems to soothe you when you are agitated; what kind of music brings you up when you are feeling low. Not only can you use that information for yourself, you can apply it to your writing.

What does Rap say to you, or do to you?

How do you feel when you hear a choir of children's voices raised in song? Does it transport you, elevate you?

How do you react to the chanting of religious verses?

When you lie in the grass on a warm summer's day, can you hear the hum of the universe at life around you?

Or do you prefer the music of tidal waters?

Can you or your character still yourself enough to hear the wind in a blade grass swaying softly next to your ear?

Can you find the words to describe the sound of snowfall in a pine wood?

How many words can you list to describe the sound of the wind blowing?

What kind of music does the fire in the fire place play?

What is the music of hot soup simmering on your stove?

It is all music.

Do you play an instrument? Does your character play an instrument? What is the role of this instrument in you/his life? What instrument do you/he not play that you wish you did?

How do you define your relationship to music?

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