I have mentioned listening to music as an aid to creativity in some of my previous articles on how to be more creative and prolific in art. In sum, I think it can help.
I do not know much about music academically. I want to confess that right off. I was a very bad drummer and do not read music. I read voraciously and have read about what music is and what rhythm is and counterpoint is, etc. But I confess that I consciously forget most of it. This is not true of many other areas of learning. The reason is I think that it is the only area I just let myself enjoy without knowing too much about it. I don’t even know whole group members names other than The Beatles — my favorite group on a good day. I do, however, listen to music of many different kinds half of every day and enjoy many different kinds of music.
So why listen to me on music and art? Because even though I don’t know much about music, I listen to it and use it for inspiration both for enjoyment and to create visual art ... lot’s of visual art.
What about silence? It’s great; it’s even “golden,” as they say, but I don’t think it will help you create very prolifically after, say, a few hours. If you’ve already worked intensively over an hour and a half on a project, then you’re tired. More than three or four hours, and you’re really tired.
Taking a nap can help, but how many people go back to work afterwards? I have worked at least four hours every day on visual art, with a few exceptions, for almost seven years. Some days I have worked 10, 14, 14, 16 hours even on visual art, creating tens of thousands of very fast artworks in a single year.
To do that amount of work — and adapt that to yourself, of course — and your way of working, and what types of work you do — music can really help!
I start out with slow and relaxing music and build up to faster and more intense music and then usually reach a crescendo; after that it’s like having sex a second time! Maybe a really cool song will get me going, but another nap is sure to follow soon after! I believe in naps as well as music, by the way.
You have your own style in music of course, so take what you can from this and leave the rest. But at least try some of my ideas regarding music and art. I do know that lots of artists listen to music.
I especially love music that builds in power or plays off opposites — counterpoint — or has a continuous theme to it and blends one song to the next. I mean specifically for this purpose in creating lots and lots of visual art. But this works well for writing as well, though writing while listening to more words, though it can be done, is of limited use I think. I also try to use music to time myself and as a prod to very quick creation. I mean can I do a whole rough painting to the Rolling Stones’ “Paint it Black” or “Sympathy for the Devil.”
So laugh if you want to, as I probably date myself with some of this music ( but I still listen to Lil Wayne and Garth Brooks and Willie Nelson, too!), but I would at least try some of these albums. Amazon.com can help you find them, and maybe you can download them even in ways somehow beyond my 56-year-old comprehension. All of these albums are great, but some are great for starting out, and some are great for really kicking it to the wall — usually the ones that have fantastic repetitive variations. Some of the best are movie soundtracks, but they are super, and you should see the movies, too!
Here’s my suggested list of albums to listen to while creating visual —or in some cases non-visual — art, in no order of importance
1. “Run Lola Run” soundtrack: Absolutely fantastic. A creative feat. Same with “Pi”!
2. “Pi” soundtrack
3. “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band,” The Beatles: One of my favorite albums, but not as good as “Paint it Black” for explosive and risky creativity, I think.
4. “Switched on Bach,” Wendy Carlos: Wendy started out as Walter Carlos at her birth and developed the Moog synthesizer with Robert Moog. “Switched on Bach” was the best-selling classical album of all time for may years — maybe it still is. Wendy is a genius.
5. “Dookie,” Green Day: Fantastic energy (my second or third midlife crisis!). It’s so good I just had to go put it on! “Welcome to Paradise” is one of my top 10 songs for kicking it in gear creatively. My wife didn’t get it until she had like five cups of good coffee one day and then admitted years ago that the band was great after all.
6. “The Fat of the Land,” The Prodigy: It might be what they have to listen to in Purgatory, but it’s fantastic for creating like madmen/women once in a while.
7. “Symphony # 9,” Beethoven: The Leonard Bernstein version is great, possibly the greatest work of music ever made! I can say these things and even get paid for it, but it’s possibly true. Mozart’s “Jupiter Symphony” is almost as good, but not for maximum creativity. It always makes me want to cry — broke, ridiculed, deaf, he was singing praises to God!
8. “Pollock ”soundtrack: Perfect for the movie and to make you want to be creative. Jackson Pollock was incredible when sober, and probably OK when tipsy. Feel like I know him!
9. “Nevermind,” Nirvana: Just incredible power! Warning: I half wrecked my architectural office throwing paint around while listening to it!
10. “Prelude,” Deodato: One of my favorite albums of all time.
And also: “Tea for the Tillerman,” Cat Stevens; Organ Preludes, “Buxtehude’s”; “Aqualung,” “Thick as a Brick,” Jethro Tull; “Blue,” Joni Mitchell; “Voices of Light,” Richard Einhorn.
Music is great, huh? Art too? Creativity is great, too. Rock/paint on!
It is my 35th anniversary of meeting my muse this week — Jan. 25. Happy anniversary, Julie!
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