Music to Write By

 Annamaria Leaving Soon for Tucson

Lots to do this weekend to be ready to fly to Left Coast Crime early on Wednesday. At the conference I will be hawking the new edition of Invisible Country.

As with all my books, before I even began the first draft of the story, I put together a playlist of the music that would keep my brain functioning while I worked.  I am one of those people who cannot think straight unless there is music playing.  For each of my stories I choose many genres of music: orchestral, chamber music, movie scores, and lots of jazz.  Almost none are songs with words in English.  I can't write in English while I am listening to someone sing, for example lyrics of  Cole Porter.  I leave out works to which I know the lyrics.  Otherwise I "hear" the words, even if no one is singing them.  But otherwise, I find jazz piano especially helpful.  Once I get into the groove, I sometimes find my fingers typing along with the rhythm what players, George Shearing or Art Tatum for instance, are playing.

But I always put in a few "ringers" - mostly classic rock or swing songs with vocalists. When they come on, it's a signal for me to take a break, to stand up and walk around.  Or dance if I am so inclined.

Each playlist also has music that has an individual relationship to the story I am telling.  When writing Invisible Country, I had chose Ennio Morricone's brilliant score for the splendid flick "The Mission."  Its story is, after all, part of the history of Paraguay's Guarani people, who are legendary for their musicality.  Here's a gorgeous taste the film and the music:

If you don't know the film or the music, I HIGHLY recommend them

My other favorite from the Invisible Country playlist is the cononical music of Ariel Ramirez, all of it surpassingly beautiful.  There is even a scene in the book where my wounded war veteran, Salvador gets down his dusty guitar and sings a haunting hymn, in my imagination "Navidad in Verano: from Ramirez's Christmas Oratorio:

Just in case you're curious, while writing this blog, I have been listening to Mozart's clarinet quintet, which John Barry used to such great effect in score for Out of Africa.  It shows up in almost all my playlists.