What sort of music do you listen to while you’re writing?
If you need absolute silence to write that all-important inciting incident, then concentration is definitely key. But as for me, I absolutely love listening to fitting music as I outline, write, revise…there is no such thing as a bad time for writing music!
Today, I’ll be sharing some artists from my playlist who have given me the inspiration for many of my favorite written scenes.
If you happen to write fantasy (like I do, for the most part), this is the channel for you. Two Steps from Hell creates amazingly epic music that sounds like a soundtrack. My personal favorite piece is Strength of a Thousand Men, which is a fantastic song to listen to if you want to get yourself hyped up for a big battle scene.
Not to mention, the comments for their videos are pure gold…
A trio of string instruments come together to form some of the best instrumental music and covers out there (in my oh-so-humble opinion). Glen McDaniel, Nick Villalobos, and Zack Clark use the cello, violin, and bass to create dance-worthy music that is both charming and engaging. My favorite cover of theirs, Wake Me Up (Avicii), directly inspired one of my favorite dance scenes in my WIP, and I still listen to it after about five years!
A violinist with a knack for performance and dance, Lindsey Stirling creates entire music videos with her unique music and enthralling presence. She’s extremely expressive in her performance, not to mention her music is downright gorgeous. My favorite is Roundtable Rival, which I find extremely inspiring for chase scenes.
Ohhhhh, I cannot make a music list without mentioning my favorite band of all time! NEEDTOBREATHE is a folksy rock band from South Carolina. Brothers Bear and Bo Rinehart, Seth Bolt, and Josh Lovelace come together to make catchy, emotional, and toe-tapping music that will capture your heart. I’ve matched many of their songs with many of my characters’ situations, and they’ve helped to bring out the strongest of emotions. It’s hard to pick just one favorite song, but one popular one (and one of my all-time favorites) is Brother. This particular song is central to my current work in progress.
These guys truly are amazing. They are a group of musicians who simply love to create and combine different styles of music to form something new and beautiful. Don’t let the name fool you: they’ve got a cello too! In fact, my favorite song from The Piano Guys is Let It Go/Vivaldi’s Winter, which combines the uber-popular Disney pop song from Frozen with the Baroque wonder that is Antonio Vivaldi’s Four Seasons. This piece works so well for creating new and whimsical worlds full of wonder.
If your taste does run in the more popular direction but you also love the gorgeous sound of the cello, 2CELLOS are the guys for you! Much like The Piano Guys, they have fun with their classical instruments and play with your expectations with instrumental covers like Thunderstruck. I’ve yet to create a scene using this piece as a framework, but that’s just because the music video that goes along with it is just too good not to watch!
And of course, if you like to write your own songs, I highly encourage you to write a piece or two for your own story. You’d be surprised just how many ideas can flood into your mind just by expressing the story through music.
Give these artists a listen and let the inspiration flow!
Photo by Marius Masalar on Unsplash
Rachel Sandell 