In Love with Music

I guess by now most people know I love to dance and love music, and I can't think of any better way to celebrate love and romance than with songs dedicated to these blissful ideas.

Do you remember the first song you fell in love to? I do. For me it was Dancing Queen by ABBA, and I fell madly in love with teen heartthrob Shaun Cassidy. Do not ask me why except he was cute and sweet and could sing Da Do Ron Ron with a straight face and such earnest resolve that I thought he truly meant it, whatever it was. What can I say? I was young and passionate and hormonal, whereas now I'm old and passionate and hormonal. Besides, who can resist a guy who can pull off feathered hair AND a tennis sweater around his shoulders?

SWOOOOOON!

Aah, those were the days, weren't they? Then we all have to grow up and love gets more complicated and strange and wonderful and, well, lovelier. I don't know about you, but I think I have a song for every relationship I've ever had, good or bad. Ever hear a song on the radio and have it trigger a memory of a paramour from the past? Music and love--they go together like ice cream and cake, like wine and cheese, like pizza and beer. You get the idea. :)

Below are some songs about love, plus Dancing Queen and Da Do Ron Ron (Shaun, call me!). Feel free to share your own favorite love songs. What songs did you fall in love to?

Musical Marketing Muse

By guest blogger: Sara Taney Humphreys

Soundtracks for movies and television shows are standard. In fact, a really great movie or show is often instantly associated with kick ass music. Well thanks to my old college buddy and DJ John Campbell...I found the soundtrack for Book 2 in my shifter series.

Actually, I had been in a major writing rut. Completely blocked. Book 2, Amoveo Heart was not coming to me as easily as the first book did. At any rate, John wanted to interview me on his weekly radio show and had gotten some musicians who were willing to let me use their music as an intro for the interview. He sent me the links and the second song I listened to stopped me dead in my tracks. I couldn't believe it. It was as though this song was written just for the heroine in Book 2. Amazing! The combination of the lyrics and her hauntingly beautiful voice were absolute perfection. I immediately contacted the artist and asked if I could use her song for Amoveo Heart's book trailer. Gratefully both she and her record label said yes!

Then I had an idea to take it a step further. Luckily, she is located not far from me and as a new musician is looking for new opportunities for exposure. Why not have her play at my book launch/signing? Gratefully she agreed. Amy played at a couple of my book signing events and it really brought a great bit of texture to the signings.

The song that sparked my creative juices and woke up my muse is called "Honey on the Skin". You can find Amy Petty and her spectacular music on her website http://www.amypetty.com/

John connected me with another awesome musical muse. The Strike Nineteens. TSN are a band of adorable guys from Scotland. Ladies...think William Wallace/Braveheart accent....yummy. Their music is gritty and intense. These darlings actually wrote me two songs! One of which will be on their new album "Screams for Denver" which will be released this Spring. I look forward to checking them out LIVE when they come to the USA later this year.

You can check out their music at http://www.myspace.com/thestrikenineteens

Cross marketing with music is fun and a little outside the box...just the way I like it.

Please visit Sara Taney Humphreys website at:
http://sarataneyhumphreys.com/

Inspiration works differently in all of us

by Kristin Daniels

Isn't it funny how the same thing can inspire people differently?

So, I was in my car the other day, just driving along, minding my own business, when a song comes on the radio. It's a newer song, and I'd heard it before. But until that day, I guess I'd never really listened to the words (or maybe it was because I was alone in the car and could actually hear them this time!). I immediately saw this song in my head. I know you all know what I mean... It was as if the song became a movie in my mind. And right then, I was inspired.

I saw a woman sitting alone, and at that moment, very lonely. She wanted to call her man, an ex I'm assuming. She's tired of missing him, tired of being by herself. It's late, and she wants company. She wants his company. Throughout the song, you feel the history between these two. She wants to call him, he wants to call her, but they both feel that if they do, it would be like losing a battle, losing control. But that doesn't matter to either of them, because you see, they need each other.

A story began to form in my head. Their background, what led them to the point where they're both wanting so desperately to call the other. What led them to needing each other for comfort (or some really hot... never mind. That's the erotic writer in me, LOL). What-if's started firing in my head. And words starting flowing on the page. I love it when that happens.

Later that day, I went online and looked up the band. I wanted to see the video for the song, just to see if what was in my head was anything close. And for the most part, it was (which just inspired me even more). Until the end. The end was completely different than what I had in my head. The song obviously inspired the director differently than it did me. Cool, I thought.

A day or two after that, I was chatting with our very own Esme (Hi, Esme!). I told her about the song, which I promptly bought from iTunes after that first day, and how I couldn't stop listening to it. She knew the one I meant. I told her I started writing a book inspired by it. She said she'd been inspired as well and had her own plot line swirling in her mind, and wasn't it amazing how different our ideas were. Again, I thought that was very cool. It just goes to show that there are no original story ideas any more, but the way an author shows the movie running inside their own head, well that can be very, very different.

See for yourself. Watch the video. Listen to the words. What do you think is going on between these two? I'd love to hear your ideas.

Music and Monogamy: "Baby, every song is our song…"

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Every couple is supposed to have an “our song,” that one melody of significance that characterizes the strength, depth and resilience of their relationship. That one tune that will be played at the wedding and every anniversary thereafter, even if the kids complain about it making their ears bleed and forcing their blood glucose levels through the roof as they watch mom and dad sneak some much needed kisses. It’s hard to believe that a simple melody can represent the complexities of eternal devotion and love. Or is it?

How important is a song to a relationship? I’ve noted that I haven’t seen the “love song” as a part of many stories lately. Actually, I can’t remember reading a story recently that includes one, or any kind of music connection really (except, of course, unless it’s a main plot point).

Have you ever used music in your romances or erotica? Can music, the rhythm of life wrapped in melody and harmony, be erotic or romantic within the written word? Being a social dancer, I love all kinds of music and it’s natural to think about it when I’m writing. Almost all my stories have a song that I have connected to them, even if it doesn’t appear anywhere in the final product.

For example, I always liked John Denver’s You Fill Up My Senses, which is a bunch of similes chained together by a fast 1-2-3 waltz beat, and when I wrote Second Nature, in which Wis, the hero, duly fills up his mate’s senses beyond her wildest dreams, I had that song in my mind. In Snow Job, the hero, Aleksi, chooses his favorite Russian waltz—based on one of my favorites—as the song his intended, but not intentional, bride will walk up the aisle to. It’s vibrant, joyful, and captures the passionate spirit of their union--scarves, wooden stakes, and all.

For shy cowboy Randy Stide and his lady love, literature professor Rumani Gladstone, in Ride 'Em, Girlfriend!, Forever by Vince Gill seemed to suit, and I also couldn’t resist a scene where he introduces her to the rumba and the tango while they're naked. I mean, how often does THAT opportunity knock?

While writing Pleasure 2035, a campy futuristic paranormal, I must have listened to Disturbia by Rhiannon a million times, and even have Mayflower, the beleaguered heroine, perform her own cover of it, among other, um, musical performances she gives throughout the book, in an effort to distract the villain (if you count shouting during sex scenes music...lol).

What about you? How does music play a role, if any, in your stories or your writing process? Do your couples have a song that characterizes them to you as you write, or have you ever given your couples an “our song”? Do you and your significant other have a favorite song?

I guess I’ve never used an “our song” element per se in a story, at least not so it would be noticeable to the reader, but I do find I like to incorporate some kind of musical element. Maybe it’s because my husband and I have never really had an “our song.” Early on, we sort of did, but it kept changing, from the Everly Brothers’ Dream to Aerosmith’s Don’t Want to Miss a Thing to our favorite ballroom tune at the time. So finally, being the ever-logical, sexy cad he is, my husband said, “Baby, every song is our song.” And I believe him. :)

Bagpipes - What you always wanted to know but were afraid to ask

Hi, everyone, Today our kilt-wearing friend Shawn is back to talk about playing bagpipes. If you remember from last week, playing bagpipes was why he started wearing a kilt to begin with. Personally, I love listening to bagpipes. That is the quintessential Scottish sound.

Welcome back, Shawn! What can you tell us about playing bagpipes? Is it difficult to learn? Take a huge lung capacity? Are they loud in your ear? :)

The Great Highland Bagpipes are another Scottish invention that hasn't changed much over the years. It's a very... organic instrument. You need to blow them up pretty much every day to keep them playable. The joints are sealed with hemp string that will shrink and leak air if left to dry out. The hide bag needs to be sealed and conditioned to stay air tight. There are synthetic bags now, but hide bags are still more popular. The traditional sealer is a mixture of lanolin and sheep fat that you have to heat up, pour into the bag, knead and then hang up to let it drip out. Fortunately, I have a bag that doesn't require that. I use a synthetic sealer and conditioner.

The pipes that rest on your shoulder are called drones. Each one plays a single 'A' note. The two shorter drones play the same 'A' note and the longer drone, closest to the piper's head, plays an 'A' note one octave below that. The pipe that you hold in your hands is called a chanter. The lowest 'A' on the chanter is an octave above the tenor drones.

When I first started I thought 'How hard can this be? There's only nine notes!' There's always a catch. :)

The bagpipes are a difficult instrument to learn. As a beginner, you start off with a practice chanter which allows you to learn the fingering without the bag or drones. It looks a little like a recorder. Bagpipes never stop playing so there are no rests. To make up for this, grace notes are used. Grace notes are written as 32nd notes. Some grace notes are a single note and others are a combination of up to about six 32nd notes in a row. This is the first hurdle as even the beginner tunes have at least a few of these lighting fast combinations in them.

After a few months on the practice chanter, you can move on to the full set of pipes. Playing tunes on a full set of pipes is a little like patting your head and rubbing your belly. The tune has a rhythm, of course, but so does the bag itself. You have to alternate blowing into the bag and squeezing it with your arm at regular intervals or the pressure in the bag will drop and the pipes will go out of tune or worse, stop sounding. A piper spends about 90% of the time blowing and 10% squeezing the bag while breathing in.

Tuning a bagpipe is another trick you need to learn. Bagpipes pre-date German notation and standardized note values. The standard frequency of A above middle-C is 440 Hz (cycles per second). The frequency that pipers tune low A is between 470 and 480 Hz which means that the pipes don't play well with other instruments in general. You first have to tune the chanter to itself so that the low A and the high A are an octave apart. Whatever frequency that is, that's what your pipes 'think' A is, even though it's almost certainly not a real A. That frequency is a product of what material the chanter is made out of, who made the chanter, the chanter reed as well as the temperature and humidity of the air. Members of a pipe band will all use the same type of chanter made by the same maker and will all use the same reeds so that they can all be in tune. After the chanter is tuned, you need to tune the drones to match the chanter by sliding the joint in the middle of the drone up or down.

As a side note, the Queen's Piper has to play outside the Queen's bedroom window every morning starting at 9:00 AM. He (it's always been a man and I think it might be a requirement since the Queen's Piper is also required to be Her Majesty's escort when other member's of the Royal Family are not able to be present.) plays one seven minute set of tunes, pauses for a minute and then plays a second seven minute set. If it begins to rain or snow during the first set, he must be able to get his pipes back in tune during the one minute break in silence, which takes a lot of skill.

Huge lung capacity helps but what's more important is a strong diaphragm. Your diaphragm has to match the pressure inside the bag (which takes strength) as well as keep that pressure steady (which requires accuracy). After practicing, I usually feel like I've been doing sit-ups or crunches... it's a workout.

Highland bagpipes are loud. A chainsaw is 105db, a set of pipes is 110db and 120db is considered painfully loud. Today most pipers wear earplugs if they are playing for more than a few minutes. When pipers get older and start losing their hearing, they just play without the earplugs. In the past, infantry commanders took advantage of how loud bagpipes are to give orders to their soldiers. There would be a set of tunes and each one would mean something different... advance forward... advance rearward... flank... retreat... etc. This lead to the bagpipes being the only musical instrument that was banned as a weapon of war. The Scots Guards standard set of pipe tunes still specify tunes that require action.

In case you're interested, my pipes are made by David Naill, model DN4a.
http://www.naill-bagpipes.com/bagpipes.htm

Fantastic info, Shawn! Thanks for being our guest again today and sharing your knowledge! Does anyone have any additional questions?

What Gets You In The Mood?

by Kristin Daniels

So far this week, we’ve discussed several different areas of writing. Openings, point of view, conferences and plotting. But what I’d like to know is what you do to gear yourself up to sit down in that chair at your cluttered desk (or curl up on the couch with a pad and a pen, or drive you and your laptop to the local Starbucks) so you can begin writing for the day.

We recently had this discussion at my local RWA chapter meeting. The varied answers crossed the board. One author told us she had to play several hands of solitaire on the computer before she could put word one on the page (her husband would see that and comment, “Ah, I guess you’re going to write today.”). Others would check the news, or go back to read what they had already written. Me? I do two things. One, I check my blogs. I have a lot of writer and editor blogs that I follow and I love reading those before I settle down to work. The second is listen to music. Music was a big factor for most of the authors at the meeting.

Some authors have what they call a ‘soundtrack’ for the book they’re writing. They’ll make a CD, or create a playlist on their iPod and that’s all they listen to while they work. For whatever reason, I can’t listen to music while I write. It always distracts me. But I can listen before I begin, like setting the mood in a way. It’s usually only one or two songs, but it’s enough to get those juices flowing.

My favorites? Well, currently I have a few. As an erotic romance writer, I deal with sexual situations, so the songs I listen to before I write any sort of sexual tension or the actual sex scenes lean that way. For starters (and yes, this is the edited version, LOL):

Then, of course, there’s always this one:

Those never fail to get me going. But what about other types of scenes (I do have some that don’t include sex!). If I’m going to put my characters through some angst that day I might listen to this one:

Okay, so I like the harder stuff, but you get the point. All those songs set the tone for what I’m writing. What about you? What works for you? What is it that gets you in the mood?