…We are paid by those who learn by our mistakes. (Tears For Fears – “The Working Hour”, Songs From the Big Chair)
Bad moods, certain songs, and an internet connection could get one into a lot of trouble. But I will refrain from that and just ask you, my dear readers, are there certain songs, entire albums, musicians, etc. that just take you ‘there’? ‘There’ is that place where you connect with some small part of you that you forget you have most of the time. It’s the alive spot in you that can be released just by playing that certain disc or song.
Sometimes I can connect like that when I’m writing. Sometimes not. If I can get that perfect synergy between writing and playing music, then it’s insane. I used to achieve it by writing music. Writing music and playing music at the same time is counter-productive – and ridiculous – so I’ve only had this marriage of connection activities since I’ve become so invested in my writing.
Then there’s this other thing. The other thing is related to all of the crap I deal with on a daily basis. Sometimes writing can’t help that; sometimes it is absolutely necessary to help it. But there’s one thing I know for sure that always helps it: music. Certain music. I have a rather lengthy list of varying and sundry artists and songs, but I’m currently on a tangent. You know how that is; it’s when only one type of musical vibe will do. What’s your certain music? I bet you can get a feel of where my vibe is at by my certain tangent right now:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YOY_aqkUTxY
wrenandre 
Many times I need quiet when I write. No music, no TV, no nothing. When I’m fully concentrating it doesn’t matter anyway because I don’t “hear” anything. When my mind is fully engaged with my material, and there is a source of noise, I shut it out.
But there are times when music is helpful to enduce the state of mental flow. It’s ironic because for me the music is in the background, and at the moment I cease to hear it – it’s doing the job I need. I don’t know if that makes sense, but that’s how it works for me.
The iPod is a wonderful tool. I’ve built up play lists to use when I want music while I’m writing. I’ve noticed I tend to select high energy, upbeat music without breaks for “slower” songs. The playlist might go on for 45 minutes, or maybe an hour – and then if I’m still writing it goes off and I don’t notice.
My neighborhood can be noisy, and there is a new baby upstairs and he cries a lot and I hear it through the floor (that kid has some set of lungs!) Music can help me drown out those other noises too.
Now if I had to say what was in my playlist you’d have a random list of songs from a variety of artists from Nirvana to Buddy Guy to the Bee Gees and Steve Winwood. I base my selection on the actual song, and how it will fit in with the previous and next track I’ve selected for the playlist.
I can fully relate to this. So many songs put me in a different place and time. The first that comes to mind (since you bring up Tears for Fears) is “Mad World”. I love that band and that whole album puts me in a mood but that particular song has associations with it. OMD’s “If you leave” is another that comes to mind and yes, even the Bay City Rollers music reminds me of my childhood, ehem.. ok teen years too..
If I want to get out of a funk, I tend to play the music very loud so that it is almost like washing my head of all the thoughts I want to be rid of. It doesn’t even need to be rock music, I am notorious for blasting Mozart. I love classical music. The best thing for me is to blast the music, roll the windows down and do 65 or so down the main road…
I also have a thing for scents. I don’t particularly like perfume. As a matter of fact, most give me a raging headache. But, certain smells remind me of places and people. Dill, reminds me of my grandmother and her house, Grey Flannel reminds me of a particular boyfriend and Tabu makes me think of my sister (who used it by the gallon…talk about a headache).
Ahh yes…BCR. Those were the days girl! 😉