Saturday, April 13, 2013

Using Music As Inspiration For Writing


By Mike Ritchie(GuestWriter)

Using music as inspiration for your writing can be beneficial in many ways but is most important when it’s music you’re writing about. As a music journalist I travel to different venues in the area reviewing concerts by local, regional and national talent. I go to each show with a blank notebook and walk out with several pages of bare bones notes in my own special unreadable to anyone else style of scribble hieroglyphics. Writing rapidly in a crowd tight with people or mosh pit can be very difficult so I often use 1-3 word clues for something longer that I might forget about later. Sometimes I have to write at the speed of the music depending on how many ideas flood my head at once and how fast I can get them on paper.

I prefer heavier music but you can listen and review any style or genre you prefer. I love the energy, excitement and sense of danger at metal shows and I’ve had the ringing ears to prove it. I’ve always tried my best to capture the live concert experience on paper whether at a small bar, club or arena. When a band plays I watch how they perform and how the music moves them, what emotions it brings and what body language is used. I also watch how the crowd responds. Does a band play like they’re at Madison Square Garden even if they’re in a back roads bar with 20 people?

The mosh pit or ‘pit’ is a sign of respect that the crowd likes your music and thinks your mosh worthy. The heavier and faster you play often the crazier/nastier the pit depending on the type of metal you play. Sometimes singers call for a ‘circle pit’ or a ‘wall of death’ where a division line is formed then everyone runs into each other.

I often describe the sound of songs metaphorically like ‘the guitars squeezed and wrenched like barbed wire around the throat.’ Using colorful sometimes graphic adjectives can help the reader know the kind of metal the bands playing whether it’s speed, death, grind-core, black, thrash etc. It will also tell some readers they probably want nothing to do with it.

I’ve often tried to paint pictures and landscapes with words to put the reader in the audience whether they were there or not. If they were, they can say, yeah I remember that part or damn, that was a hell of a great show. It also doesn’t hurt to say nice things about a band when they play well and/or win the crowd over. Sometimes covering music can be tricky especially if you’re not familiar what the band or genre. When that happens I write down what I see and hear, what images does the music, words or singing conjure up in my mind? I’ve yet to meet a band that didn’t like good publicity no matter how basic or detailed you are.

 

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