What's Your Muse-ic?

What is the "spirit, or source of inspiration" to an author, or an artist?

I am a classically-trained violinist and I love classical music and know it's good for developing brains, so my boys grew up with classical music playing on the radio every day. I remember keeping my twins entertained while I was nursing the baby by putting on Peter and the Wolf or Carnival of the Animals and telling them what the music represented. They would dance and run around and imitate animals and make up their own stories to the music—usually violent ones—all inspired by the music they were hearing.

One of my boys, at age 3-4, seemed to NEED to listen to Holst's Mars on a daily basis, and it became a nightly ritual for him to pull on the oversized boxing gloves we had in the house, turn on Mars full blast, and run around the room, leaping onto couch cushions spread all over the carpet and bouncing on the couch until the springs (literally) burst out of it, all the time with a fierce scowl on his face and a gleam in his eyes—truly, a god of war himself.

As my boys have grown up, they have naturally turned to other types of music, and, since classical music was connected to their (often enforced) piano and violin practice sessions, they tended to not want to listen to that type of music any other time of the day. I still insisted on a "daily dose" of classical, as they called it, likening it to the taking of vitamins, I suppose, for some sort of nourishment, however distasteful. However, I counted it a victory when, the other day, my teenager asked me to create a Classical Playlist on iTunes. Perhaps they've come full circle!

So what is it about music that inspires us? I'm discovering, when I write (not often enough), or when I'm thinking about what I'm going to write (more often), that there are certain songs that bring me more ideas than others. Here are some of my latest favourites, although I can't explain why they just seem to work for me. I'd love to hear some of yours!

The music from North and South inspires me because I LOVE THIS MOVIE, but especially the final scene. I watch it on repeat. Frequently. This interview with the two leads tells you why this scene is so amazing. But the music! It's the very best. It makes the best soundtrack to any romantic scene.

For some reason Iron and Wine's music gets my mind's motors going for romantic scenes as well as planning out action scenes, even though it has nothing to do with my topic. Can't explain it! Coldplay's Everyday Life album has some neat songs that make me kind of melancholy, and get my mind going on sadder scenes. I really love Sunrise and Daddy

Whatever it is that inspires you, whether it is the background music in a movie, or beautiful scenery, search for it, and notice when it is there. You never know what might become your muse!

Rachael