Unlocking Imagination: How Deep Listening to Music Fuels Creativity: Meghan O'Connor
Throughout the semester so far we have explored many artists who paint stories with their music, for example, Zach Bryan and Taylor Swift. Music serves as a unique medium for imagination and how different musical elements or genres shape people's mental visuals and emotional experiences. Looking at how music can expand people’s imagination is a topic I find extremely interesting, as well as relevant to our class.
When you use music as a creative tool instead of just background noise, it can stimulate mental storytelling, create emotional and visual experiences, and even expand your creative horizons. Susan Douglas’ “Listening In” can help us to further understand this concept. As explained by Douglas, radio fostered creativity by making listeners rely solely on auditory signals to fill in visual information (Douglas, 2004). In order to develop a special, intimate bond with the stories and voices, listeners would visualize the settings, people, and events being told (Douglas, 2004). As they created their own versions of the radio stories, listeners were able to feel deeply engaged thanks to this act of imaginative engagement (Douglas, 2004). Although we now as listeners have resources such as music videos to help us visualize the story being told, I believe it is more interesting to create your own story based on your own imagination and connection to the song. For example, a song that discusses not speaking to someone in your life anymore could be interpreted as a romantic interest, a friend, a family member etc., leading the song to impact each individual listener differently and more effectively. Taking advantage of this imaginative process also allows for our listening to be more intentional, and allows us to unlock the imaginative potential with each song we listen to.
What genre of music influences the way you imagine the story or emotions of songs? Is there a specific artist who particularly enhances your imagination?
Douglas, S. J. (2004). The Zen of Listening. Listening in : radio and the American imagination /.
(1st ed. pp. 22-39). University of Minnesota Press. https://mylearningspace.wlu.ca/d2l/le/content/550682/viewContent/3828078/View
Great job with your post! You make some really great points. I find this topic very interesting as well. Personally, the genre of music that influences the way I imagine the story or emotions of songs is country music. One artist in specific who does this is Luke Combs. Specifically, his song "Front Door Famous" is one of my personal favourites to create my own imaginary music video to. I think the stories that he tells, especially in his most recent album, really hit close to home and make me think very deeply about his music. Another artist that enhances my imagination is Ella Langley. I love creating stories in my mind that go along with her music.
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