Monday, June 22, 2009

I Love Soundtracks

I like to listen to motion picture soundtrack recordings while I'm writing. I find it lends a motion pictury quality to what I'm doing, whether it's an actual screenplay or even a novel.

One big advantage that most soundtrack music has over other music for me is that there are no words. Lyrics mess up my writing, because my brain wants to listen to them instead of putting my own words onto the paper (or screen). In the same way, if the music requires some attention, like some jazz and most classical, it ruins my concentration on the words.

I do listen to other instrumental music while writing. Good old surf guitar music (e.g., Dick Dale or the Surfaris) is good for a pick-me-up, while still avoiding the whole lyric issue. And jazz. And some classical.

But what's playing right now is pretty typical, it's a Lalo Schifrin tune from the "Mission: Impossible" television show. Nope, now it's an instrumental version of "Thunderball". I've got Windows Media Player on random, so soon I'll be hearing something from a cowboy movie or maybe something more sci-fi.

It's interesting to see other writer's posting there writing music preferences. But most of them would never work for me, because they involve, again, words. See, now Shirley Bassey is singing "Diamonds Are Forever", so I'll have to retag that track to not play when I just want "Soundtrack" music.

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