A friend of mine and I like to play this game in the car when we’re on road trips where you listen to a song and then have to describe the scene. His only rule is, the scene you describe can’t already exist. So, for example, if you’re playing a popular theme song or a tune that’s played during the closing credits of a movie, you can’t describe that scene. It has to be original, completely made up, and totally inspired by wherever you lose yourself to in the melody.
The game creates a wonderful brief short scene that is a terrific exercise of creativity. The point of the game is to convince the other person that the scene you’re describing fits well with the song. If you’ve convinced them, you succeed. If you don’t, then they have the chance to describe a better scene.
It can go on for song after song. A prime long-distance car ride venture if you’re looking to kill time. You lose yourself in the music for a brief few moments and create something.
Of course, I can’t claim ownership to the game, I just thought it would be fun to take you through a few exercises I’ve decided to do tonight to kick-off this post.
Thus, here are three examples. Before you read each, take a quick listen to the song and let me know what you think. Each is hyperlinked as well. (To Spotify by the way, sorry if you're an Apple Music fan)
You see a girl on roller skates cruising down the Venice boardwalk. It’s almost right after sunset. You see the streetlights starting to blink above her and the hanging lights from bars and restaurants twinkling as she swiftly moves by. Her movement is smooth but swift, and you never really lose focus of the back of her. Her hair is flowing in the wind, and you sort of see her dancing to the beat of the song. You continuously follow her as she moves down the path going by street performers, families, people drinking at the bars, and more. The scene closes as the sun completely sets and you lose focus as she skates farther and farther away.
End scene.
I picture a guy sitting at his desk. Big noise-canceling headphones in. Wide-angle in a basically empty room. White walls, white floors, and no art on the walls. Cut to his girlfriend sitting on a blue velvet couch across from him doing various things that change in rapid sequence.
At first, you see her talking on the phone with someone else staring at him making frustrated faces. Next, you see her half draped over the couch clearly irritated at him complaining about something, flailing a book in her left hand. Then you see her sitting on the floor, legs crossed with an assortment of paper spread out around her. Her dying laptop sitting on the couch while she looks up at him clearly annoyed and looking for an explanation for something unknown.
In the next flash you see her trying on random pairs of clothing, the rest of the discarded pieces thrown all over the floor and couch. She’s peeved that he won’t pay attention to her outfit choices. In another moment you see her drinking a glass of wine, finishing the glass and turning to pour the rest of the wine from the bottle only to discover it’s empty. She frowns, dramatically sighs and gets up to leave the room.
All the while all you see is the bottom of his hands on the keyboard typing while nothing she does creates a reaction, as you see.. He’s perfectly busy and fine.
End scene.
You picture a man, close on his face while he’s wearing reflective glasses. Wide-angle so you can see the fast-moving scenes around him. The lights are moody with neon flashes every once in a while. The scenes you see are around him and reflected in his glasses. There is a woman dancing in a bar, then the same woman dragging him down the street towards a cab. Next, they’re back in a club and she’s twisting and dancing in front of him and with the people around them. You see brief flashes where they catch eyes and she tries to draw him in, but never seems to get close enough.
End Scene.
They’re all fairly short, but you get the point.
Now, the entire reason I’m writing about this is to describe how music influences behavior and why I think it’s an incredible creative outlet.
It’s a pretty known sentiment that music is a version of storytelling. As Plato once said, "Music gives a soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination and life to everything.”
For myself and many others, music is a way to briefly lose yourself, yet also find yourself.
Any time I'm stressed, I turn on my Euphoria playlist, and after a few songs it mellows me out. When I’m sad, I listen to my Melancholy playlist. It’s quite the depressing compilation of songs, but oddly listening to sad things kind of cheers me up from time to time. When I’m feeling the feels, I listen to my Intoxicated playlist. I’ll give you one guess where that puts me.
If I’m writing, I hit shuffle on my Liked Songs and just let the tunes play. I skip the ones I don’t want to hear, and usually land on ones that are a bit more up-beat or in the mood for what I’m writing about. Currently, I’m listening to Grapefruit by Yuno. The beat is therapeutic almost, just fast and up-beat enough that it keeps me writing and in the zone.
I find it absolutely incredible how a song can completely transport your headspace into an entirely different universe. Music can inspire you, help you focus, or get you out of a really awkward funk.
The same thing can be said about an activity that eases your mind.
Sometimes, a simple walk outside can completely change your mood. Taking a quick moment to call your cheerful and hilarious grandmother to talk about what she did that day at bridge club could oddly turn your shitty day around. For some people, as unpopular as it might be, having a cigarette outside on a cold awful day will completely change their mood and drive for the afternoon. (Now, let’s not ignore the fact that their nicotine addiction is likely feeding this…)
When you’re in those low moments, the funks of your workweek, try to take a moment to do that thing to actively change your mood. By simply getting up to do something, big or small, it can change the pace of your mind and refocus your intentions.
In fact, to prove this further, many sources (read: my 2 am google searches when I can’t sleep) say that if you have trouble falling asleep at night you should try getting up to reset your mind. By standing up, getting out of bed, or going to grab a glass of water to then ease back into bed you almost reset your mind to re-prepare for sleep. Now, I can’t speak on behalf of the insomnia you may experience, and I'm no expert here, but I’ve found that when I do this I tend to finally be able to fall asleep.
You see, a change of scene (or tune) can literally spark change, and sometimes even inspiration.
Mine, as you’ve likely realized, will always and forever be music.
Music is a huge part of my life, it always has been. My father is an incredible musician, producer, friend, advisor, and of course dad. His music career started with piano, and he quickly learned many other instruments over the years. To top it all off, the man has an incredible voice and range. He’s been playing his entire life and has accomplished more than most could ever dream of.
I grew up with him playing the church van mini-piano that sat in our living room at any random moment. Always singing the lyrics to “I Love a Parade” by Peter Gennaro or some other random tune he made up spur of the moment as he made us pancakes in the morning.
I know for him music is a way for him to truly lose but also find himself. He gets lost in the lyrics, each and every chord strung on the guitar or bass, the beat of the drums or simply the mix itself. I remember going into his studio as a child and watching him with his headphones in just completely entranced in the latest demo he was working on. It's his passion. His vice. Nowadays, he's no longer an active musician, but I have an odd theory that he still finds the time to dabble on the mini-piano that now sits in his home office in between meetings.
He is my biggest inspiration, and I don’t think I thank him enough for all that he’s done to inspire my life… especially through passing down his love for music.
Through watching him love music so much, it made me love music that much more. I developed the same insane habit of any time we listen to a song, we can't help but pick out a certain instrument to focus on for the majority of the song. It’s one of the reasons why I play songs over and over, just so I can fully ingest the song and authentically hear every element. And to me, doing this is so… soothing. This therapeutic sensation entrances me and inspires me.
So, if you’ve made it this far past the creative song exercise and into my long-winded way of describing something that helps reset my mind, thank you for bearing with me.
I write all this in hopes that you also find that thing that you lose yourself in. It may not be your passion, hell it could be a cigarette (although I hope not for your health) for all I know, but I hope you have that thing that helps you lose yourself, but find yourself at the same time.
And, if you don’t already have that thing, you’re welcome to try my method and check out my Weird Jammin’ Spotify playlist, cause it’s a banger. In fact, I’m actually listening to Honeybody by Kishi Bashi right now. But hey, it may not be that thing, so whatever it is that you do, I applaud you and I hope it brings you something great, big or small.
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