The moment I turn on Enya my body lets go and knows it’s time to be creative. Her ethereal voice tells me, “Hello there girlfriend, it’s time.” Music choice in my studio is very important to me and I try to fit it to the mood; slow to calm my nerves and rapid & loud to invigorate. I prefer not to shuffle the songs but listen to an entire album all in sequence. Otherwise when music shifts to another artist it jars my concentration and takes me out of the zone. Sometimes if I need energizing, I turn the music up loud and float or boogie around to a song or two before I start to create.
Other times I prefer not to play music at all, just listen to the quiet and feel my heartbeat. This is particularly true when writing. I need to be able to hear my character’s voices so I rarely play music when I write.
Some people listen to tv or talk radio while they create, for me though that would take away from the pleasure of having all my senses focused on art-making. I like to lose myself in the act of creation. It is one of my life’s greatest pleasures.
My Favorite Studio Music
To calm nerves:
- Enya
- Carlos Nakai
To invigorate:
- Talking Heads
- Madonna
- Gipsy Kings
To swing back & forth:
- Classical – Beethoven, Vivaldi, Mozart
- Trisha Yearwood
What do you listen to in your studio?
Mostly I’m a writer and I can’t listen to music while I write; I get distracted. But my novel is about a singer, 1957-58, so before I begin writing I often listen to jazz vocalists in the style of Peggy Lee, Chris Connor, Anita O’Day who my character kind of sounds like. Definitely Ella Fitzgerald, Carmen MacRae, Billie Holiday and other great jazz/blues vocalists whom she wished she sounded like.
Through out my creative career I have always listened to music while designing/painting. My first “studio” space was my bedroom. I would spend hours painting & sketching while listening to Simon & Garfunkle, James Taylor, & the Beatles. As I got older classical music was my creative muse of choice which lasted until just recently when I discovered Pandora internet radio. Sometimes it is Opera or Pink Martini and lately I have been seen doing the Tango while painting fabric and listening to Tango Argentino… Ole!