tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5502671101756463249.post939964129605176143..comments2024-03-23T12:38:46.260+00:00Comments on The History Girls: MUSIC WHILE YOU WORK, by Leslie WilsonMary Hoffmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06241989732624913706noreply@blogger.comBlogger7125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5502671101756463249.post-912791443517854892015-03-24T10:54:51.200+00:002015-03-24T10:54:51.200+00:00Yes, driving is really a key time, because you don...Yes, driving is really a key time, because you don't think about the music, but it gets into your subconscious. Really interesting, using music to show how a character walks. I wonder if we unconsciously select music to like that mirrors our own inner rhythms?Leslie Wilsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15105465949970430998noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5502671101756463249.post-5954491614109318032015-03-24T06:05:18.540+00:002015-03-24T06:05:18.540+00:00From my early drama school days, we were taught to...From my early drama school days, we were taught to use music to help build a character: how she walked, moved, to discover the inner rhythms of the person. All that you describe in your post is not so different, is it? I cannot listen to music while I am working. I cannot really bare any noise at all, but afterwards, particularly while driving. I will play the same CDs over and over again if I feel they help me create a scene, build the emotional paceā¦ also, the more obvious question: what does this character like to listen to? Carol Drinkwaterhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05837854482139736944noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5502671101756463249.post-76209487965716528492015-03-23T15:48:24.522+00:002015-03-23T15:48:24.522+00:00A really interesting post, Leslie - I agree that m...A really interesting post, Leslie - I agree that music is terribly important when one's trying to get an atmosphere 'right'. I've used music - both popular and otherwise - in all my books, and very much enjoy this aspect of researching a story. From my first novel, set in 1977, in which two of the characters attend a punk concert, to my latest, set in the 1920s, which has a 'jazz' soundtrack, mixed with popular songs of the era, I don't think there's been a novel which hasn't had a musical 'score'... I also liked Elizabeth's method of using music to create a particular mood, regardless of whether the music itself 'belongs''to any given historical period. Must give that a try! Christina Koninghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10275312730534980490noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5502671101756463249.post-8114701549367813332015-03-23T11:17:40.956+00:002015-03-23T11:17:40.956+00:00Elizabeth - I guess it's what releases your fe...Elizabeth - I guess it's what releases your feelings, to write the book, isn't it? But I also am fascinated that modern popular music would do it for a medieval book! I only normally listen while writing, if I am specifically using a particular song/piece in the text, and need to hear it.Water from an ancient well was an exception, I don't know why. Normally having music actually while writing is a distraction, so perhaps the title of the blog was misleading! But then, we work while away from our desks, don't we? Thoughts pop up, revisions suggest themselves, bits of the story open up..Issuing a book with a cd is a fascinating idea - a bit too late for the reissue of Last Train, I fear.<br />My mother never listened to Music While You Work, Ann and I'm afraid she tut-tutted snobbishly about it (and Mrs Dale's Diary), but then, she had a job, and my grandmother did the housework. She'd have listened to Catholic religious programmes if they'd been available in German, which they weren't..Me, I listen to audio books in the evening, while I'm cooking, but in the morning, before I start work, and when I take a break from work to expedite bread on its various stages from sourdough starter to finished loaf, it has to be music. I can't read or listen to fiction till my day's writing is done.Leslie Wilsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15105465949970430998noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5502671101756463249.post-40636152054994565642015-03-23T10:18:31.220+00:002015-03-23T10:18:31.220+00:00Your title Music While You Work took me straight b...Your title Music While You Work took me straight back to our 1950s kitchen with my mum doing the housework with the radio on - the wash tub, the wringer, the steam, the floral wrap-around pinny... Ann Turnbullhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06484265041343702129noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5502671101756463249.post-22975679253662798472015-03-23T10:07:20.944+00:002015-03-23T10:07:20.944+00:00When I was writing Mary Ann and Miss Mozart I had ...When I was writing Mary Ann and Miss Mozart I had a CD of Acis and Galatea that I played over and over. I chose one of the songs from it for Mary Ann to sing and practised it myself. The music was so important in that story that to me it felt incomplete without it and I felt as if the book should be issued with a CD! I had rather the same feeling reading your post, Leslie - that I had missed a whole aspect of Saving Rafael. Elizabeth, your method is interesting because you are obviously not just playing medieval music for atmosphere, but choosing songs that capture an emotion. I have never actually played music while writing but have just this weekend set things up so that I can try it. I have a feeling that the technology involved might come between me and my pencil and paper, but we shall see.Ann Turnbullhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06484265041343702129noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5502671101756463249.post-64394718908290702332015-03-23T09:36:41.776+00:002015-03-23T09:36:41.776+00:00So many authors seem to use music for inspiration ...So many authors seem to use music for inspiration in their different ways. Fascinating to read yours Leslie. I have always used music for inspiration but always away from the my writing. I listen to tracks while doing mundane things in the house or at the gym. If song is right for my novel though, I get a huge resonance in my solar plexus and I listen to the song over and over again until it locks in place ready to be used when writing a scene or a character in my novel. The music is wide ranging but frequently heavy metal and rock. The one going on in my solar plexus at the moment is a song for a battle scene and it's called Angels by All Good Things.Elizabeth Chadwickhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16911841862257909703noreply@blogger.com