What do you listen to?

[DreamWoven]

What do you listen to when you are creating?

I work so much better when listening to music.

Currently i listen to alot of internet radio because i like the variances in types of music. I find myself particularly drawn to a new age/world music type station in poland... lots of loreena mckinnitt, clannad, enya, andreas vollemweider, cusco, etc. its good working music for me. other times i rock out... with 60's music and nothing sets the mood for like some good ole Doors.

i cant seem to work tho if i am listening to an audio book, tho i can do some mindless 'knitting' type of stuff while watching movies.

i think i like the music because it shuts my brain off and makes it focus (either on the music or on the piece i am working on) so there isnt alot of my own brain chatter.

what do you listen to?

[Rayela Art]

I like some of the ones you mentioned, but not if they get too airy. I prefer gritty vocals with acoustics- Tom Waits, Ry Cooder, lots of International stuff (of course the Brazilian list is pretty long). My favorite instruments are the accordion, harmonica and fiddle, so much of what I listen to has those in it. I put some YouTube videos on the right hand side of my blog are all very different from each other, but all have interesting vocals and they are all musicians that I like.

But, mostly I listen to books on tape. The library here has an excellent selection and I've worked my way through everything that I knew about and now started checking out unknowns starting at A. Apparently, they are going to go to the download system and won't be buying new books which I think is a really bad idea and discriminates against people who are not computer savvy. My mom, for example, might listen to a cd, but she has no interest in computers and barely knows how to move the mouse. Plus, it's wasteful, both in time and in resources. Anyway, I usually have something on unless I have to really focus. I also listen to a lot of news on NPR.

[Alissa Sorenson]

From 9-3 on M-F, I usually listen to our local public radio station, WCBE. They have two excellent music programs called Ante Meridiem and Global Village. (You can listen live at wcbe.org.) They are a mix of world, alternative, country, bluegrass, jazz, reggae, etc. I like it eclectic.

I also like radioparadise.com, which is a nice eclectic mix, too, and radionigel.com when I'm in the mood for the 80's.

[DreamWoven]

i like radioparadise as well..... and there are a couple of 'trance' stations also. i am across the board with music, personally. it just seems whenever i am in the studio working......... i zone out with the world/alternative stuff.

and Rachel (with a cap R) .. i love Tom Waits!

[Rayela Art]

I'll try to load Tom Waits on to my music thingy (which then goes to the front page) but I'm not sure if I know how to do it. I imagine you save a song to your hard drive and then load it from there...

[Alissa Sorenson]

DreamWoven said:

i like radioparadise as well..... and there are a couple of 'trance' stations also. i am across the board with music, personally. it just seems whenever i am in the studio working......... i zone out with the world/alternative stuff.

and Rachel (with a cap R) .. i love Tom Waits!

I love Tom Waits, too! But I can't work to him. He makes me too sad to work. He makes good pondering music, though.

[Sarah Zambiasi Art]

Laurie Anderson- 'Bright Red' is a beautiful cd to listen to when creating.She takes you throught a journey. She's like a shaman, a poet telling you a story. I never want the cd to end, I've listened to it so many times, & everytime I listen to it, I hear something new that I didnt pick up on previously. Its 'quiet' music, easy to listen to. I highly recommend it.

[Karen Davis]

I listen to music depending on what I'm doing. My tastes are all over the place, blues, jazz, European classical, traditional abd contemporary African music, gospel, etc. When I'm sewing at the machine though its only background chatter that I tune out...its when I'm working on a piece of cloth on the print table that I'm dancing and prancing to the music!

I was gifted with an iPod recently and although I didn't see the need for it because my thinking was that music should fill a space and be shared and iPod was too "selfish" of a way to listen to music...but now that I have one I think I think I'll enjoy listening to books on tape on it. I never could follow audio books on cassettes or cds, but listening on the iPod mimics the intimacy of holding an actual book.

Is it possible to download music from the internet radios? I took the internet off of my computer at my workshop because it was too much of a distraction.

[Connie Volkman]

i love Izibian Blu music such as Conversions by K & D or Tosca by Suzki, just to name two selections. They really get me into the zone. I also play these various selections during a gallery opening for background music. It just seems to fit with the art.

Connie V