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Surprise! No video to listen to...yet.
Par for my course, I'm shaking up the regular Tuesday Tunes format. I'd like to discuss music and writing, writers and readers. We've done a lot of talking about the music we listen to. Patriotic tunes. Uplifting tunes. Summer Tunes. Tunes we listen to while writing for teens: what inspires us, romance songs, etc. Well, it got me thinking... We listen to music while writing, or getting ready to. Do teens listen to music while reading?? Do they listen to anything remotely similar to what we listen while writing?
I asked a bunch of teens: Do you listen to music when you read? If you do...what? Is it random, on the radio, or do you listen to something specific to fit the books you read?
18 year old Lexie said: Well when i read, the music has to go along with the book. If the book is action i have to listen to rock/metal, if its more of a love story i listen to the slower songs that have strings and wood instruments in them. I'm kinda picky...
17 year old Austin said: I listen to music all the time when i read. Sometimes it depends on what mood I'm in, or what the book is. When I read Maximum Ride, I listened to a lot of Paramore. Mostly because the MC was a female and Paramore is very energetic. Instead of certain songs, I listen to albums. Some good albums are "Sea of Cowards" by The Dead Weathers. "Sci-Fi Crimes" by Chevelle. "Phobia" by Breaking Benjamin. and "Finding Beauty in Negative Spaces" by Seether.
16 year old Kyle said: i listen to Rise Against, Sick Puppies, Seether, Stone Sour, Avenged Sevenfold, Sevendust, Shinedown, Default, and Trust Company. and any of their songs except the really slow ones
15 year old Kathryn said: I have to agree with Lexie, the music I listen to has to go along with the genre and pacing of the book. If it's action, Sick puppies or Cage the Elephant, if it's a slow lovey dovey book, I listen to some Shinedown and bands like them...
16 3/4 year old Bradley said: I listen to classic rock, and like lexie it kinda has to go with the book, i also listen to just instrumental like acoustic guitars when i read
So, it seems the majority of the teens polled tailor their tunes to their reading. It also seems like the teens tend to listen to harder, edgier rock while reading than we do while writing for them. Makes me wonder...would our writing change if we listened to what they do? Would their reading experience change if they listened to what we did? To quote a song from C + C Music Factory, back in the 1990's...
Things that make you go, Hmmm...
Surprise! No video to listen to...yet.
Par for my course, I'm shaking up the regular Tuesday Tunes format. I'd like to discuss music and writing, writers and readers. We've done a lot of talking about the music we listen to. Patriotic tunes. Uplifting tunes. Summer Tunes. Tunes we listen to while writing for teens: what inspires us, romance songs, etc. Well, it got me thinking... We listen to music while writing, or getting ready to. Do teens listen to music while reading?? Do they listen to anything remotely similar to what we listen while writing?
I asked a bunch of teens: Do you listen to music when you read? If you do...what? Is it random, on the radio, or do you listen to something specific to fit the books you read?
18 year old Lexie said: Well when i read, the music has to go along with the book. If the book is action i have to listen to rock/metal, if its more of a love story i listen to the slower songs that have strings and wood instruments in them. I'm kinda picky...
17 year old Austin said: I listen to music all the time when i read. Sometimes it depends on what mood I'm in, or what the book is. When I read Maximum Ride, I listened to a lot of Paramore. Mostly because the MC was a female and Paramore is very energetic. Instead of certain songs, I listen to albums. Some good albums are "Sea of Cowards" by The Dead Weathers. "Sci-Fi Crimes" by Chevelle. "Phobia" by Breaking Benjamin. and "Finding Beauty in Negative Spaces" by Seether.
16 year old Kyle said: i listen to Rise Against, Sick Puppies, Seether, Stone Sour, Avenged Sevenfold, Sevendust, Shinedown, Default, and Trust Company. and any of their songs except the really slow ones
15 year old Kathryn said: I have to agree with Lexie, the music I listen to has to go along with the genre and pacing of the book. If it's action, Sick puppies or Cage the Elephant, if it's a slow lovey dovey book, I listen to some Shinedown and bands like them...
16 3/4 year old Bradley said: I listen to classic rock, and like lexie it kinda has to go with the book, i also listen to just instrumental like acoustic guitars when i read
So, it seems the majority of the teens polled tailor their tunes to their reading. It also seems like the teens tend to listen to harder, edgier rock while reading than we do while writing for them. Makes me wonder...would our writing change if we listened to what they do? Would their reading experience change if they listened to what we did? To quote a song from C + C Music Factory, back in the 1990's...
Things that make you go, Hmmm...
Great insight, AE! Thanks for the research.
ReplyDeleteI'm the only teen I've ever met/heard about that doesn't listen to music while I read. I need to be able to focus on what I'm reading. If I listen to something I end up singing along and getting distracted. I guess whatever works, works. (:
ReplyDeleteI'm with Cara - while I like to have music while I write, I never listen while reading. Odd?
ReplyDelete