Music For the Soul

I love music.

I love that when I listen to a song it can take me back twenty years to when I was a geeky, braces-wearing, freckle-faced teenage girl. I can envision myself laying on my blue and white coverlet listening to my boom box or reading a book on a hot summer day while the world sweats outside.

Then I hear another song and it reminds me of my first boyfriend, or my first dance, or sometimes my first kiss. There are some songs with memories attached that I don't want to be reminded of, then there are others that I want to put on repeat and play for hours.

It's interesting though. As much as I love music and music is a part of my life, I came to a surprising realization as I sat down to write this post. My husband and I don't have "a song." Sure, we have a song we danced to at our wedding, but it was never "our song". It was just a song I picked because I liked the words and thought they were appropriate for how I was feeling towards my soon-to-be husband. But alas, there is no such thing as "our song". Kind of makes me sad, especially since I have "a song" for every other boy I've ever dated. I think I'll have to remedy that!

One thing I've found as a writer is the incredible impact music has on the scene I'm writing. Therefore, I choose songs to listen to that will mirror my characters thoughts and feelings. As I wrote my first novel Letting Go, I had a playlist I listened to repeatedly. There was one song in particular that seemed to mirror Giselle's pain at the loss of her husband. Even now when I hear this song, it has the power to give me chills and bring tears to my eyes. Any of you who have been one of my beta readers will know why.

About a year ago, my love for music reached new heights when I discovered that I had a knack for composing songs. I've always played the piano, and in the past I'd written lyrics to songs that were more like poems to me. In my mind, that's all a song really is, poetry set to music. But one day, I took one of these "songs" I had written and I sat down at the piano, curious to see what would happen if I tried to put it to music. I was shocked to find my fingers fly over the ivory keys, and they were actually making music! Some parts came easier than others, and afraid I'd forget, I began recording what I would play on the Voice Memo part of my phone. Somehow that seemed to work for me. I wrote that first song in a day and have since written several others. Unfortunately, right now they are all in my head (or on my Voice Memos) but I hope someday to put them on paper.

There is nothing more fulfilling than to sit at the piano and play a piece you've written. The music resonates long after the last note has been played. But then again, that is the way with music, your soul still hears it and recalls the memories associated with it no matter the passage of time.

Do you love music as much as I do? What is your favorite song? If you're a writer, do you write to music, and if so, what's your playlist like?