Listening For Language

How Music Became My First Teacher

My relationship with literature and language stretches back to a date long before my recent ventures into the world of creative fiction. Such an affinity to the world is by no means revolutionary, however my propinquity throughout my youth was perpetuated by a consistent and measured immersion in music.

A daily school bus commute gave me an uninterrupted hour twice a day in which to transport myself to a world far beyond the confines of the 14-seater minibus. With nothing more than a humble MP3 player (that later turned into the early editions of an iPod), I found myself dissecting lyrical structures on songs that contained as many lyrics as you could find.

The power of language emanated from every 4-minute gift that allowed me to create a powerful image filled with emotion, passion and intrigue. My own form of imagery that I created would differ to that which another person might form on hearing the exact same song. The subjective differences with which we fill the void of imagery with our own contexts is what lured me into the power of the spoken and written word in a way that I couldn’t equate to other mediums.

The breakdown and flow of grammatical and phonetical structure resonated with me in a way that the classroom simply couldn’t.

Language spoke to me through sound.

I didn’t fall in love with words by reading them. In fact, I rarely read as a child. I learned them by feeling them; through rhythm, phonetics and entendre; long before I knew what syntax was.

The sound of meaning - Why lyrics mattered

So, I have a confession…

I never actually read the books we were studying for GCSE or A-level.

It wasn’t some sort of youthful rebellion against the patriarchy. I just didn’t enjoy or relate to the stories we were being made to study. There were some generalised concepts and primary arcs that we discussed in the general forum of the classroom, however the specificity that would accompany a cover-to-cover analysis was a prospect that filled me with apathy over excitement.

I found the classroom’s approach to literature to be too structured for my enjoyment. It was an objective breakdown of one of the purest forms of subjectivity.

Verbs, similes and grammatical analysis felt cold and removed from the passion with which these novels were created. The contrast to the emotions that accompanied music left me feeling even more detached from the temporal validity of the literature that felt dated by comparison.

Lyrics within music taught me all about metaphor, grammatical structure, phonetics, double entendre and emotional expression long before I had the ability to precisely convey the impact they had on me.

Every word for Curtain Call has been ingrained in my brain since the first week of listening to the album. The ability for Eminem to create a narrative and a story, without even a reference to his unparalleled ability to mould phonetics and double or triple entendre’s, had me hooked in a manner that I was otherwise unable to find.

More recent iterations in the form of NF, Ren and Dave provide a unique ability to immerse a listener deep within a story in a way that few others can achieve.

Songs taught me what teachers couldn’t; that meaning isn’t literal. A definitive, objective understanding cannot be provided to a subjective premise. I found that the deconstruction of a dated novel saw the classroom become a vessel to dissecting a simple premise to within an inch of its’ life. In many ways, it sucked the joy out of literature to the extent that I found other mediums to ignite my imagination in more diverse ways.

How music shapes my stories

Music, as a medium, helps for stories and emotions to resonate. It’s the reason some of the most famous scores in cinematic history evoke emotions that stretch far beyond the images they accompany on screen. For me, the premise stretches to that which is yet to be created.

I often utilise the stimulus of music in the background of my writing. The rhythm and flow can pace the mind in a way that can help to steer any plot line. To this end, the pacing and energy of any scene can often take precedent to me. Engaging in the tempo to this extent builds the track on which the story can run freely.

In my current manuscript, there is a scene involving a shootout in, and subsequent escape from, a bar in south London. Throughout the process of bringing this scene to life, the cadence and tempo were largely dictated by one particular song which I felt resonated with the emotion and drama of the moment. There’s no secret formula to this and no objective structure by which my writing is bound. There is an intuition that creates that connection and drawing inspiration from the music is as much dictated by my own subjective interpretations as it is from dissecting the lyrics themselves.

The imagery created from music provides the inspiration to a plethora of aspects within the context of a novel. One of the integral figures in my novel has been conceived from my interpretations of a song on my Spotify wrapped top 5.

As much as I would love to include some of these favourite lyrics from my favourite artists, the inspiration drawn from them provides as much value as the essence of their meaning.

In a number of instances, I find myself creating entire stories and ideas from a premise devised in a single song.

Inspiration comes from Hurt and Hunger

In many instances, the passion evoked within music doest not have to be my own. In truth, the majority of subject matter used in some of my favourite songs I simply cannot relate to. Music, and the lyrics within them, are vessels to convey a message or emotion.

Evidently, some can carry deeper meanings than others, however the principle remains. I still utilise the feelings portrayed even if they are not my own. Whilst the specifics may not be relatable, my interpretation of the passion imparted can bear fruit in black and white on the page before me.

In those moments, I merely view myself as a steward; attempting to guard the integrity of the core message of the song or lyrics I have in mind through its' contextual application into the scene or character I am currently writing.

I view music as having the ability to connect deeply to moments of intensity. The most profound songs that you can recall will most likely directly reference, or be born from, such moments.

Ambition, loss, identity, revelation.

All create a powerful evocation that bridge the gap from music to literature in a way that so little else can traverse.

Where language lives now

I view that bridge as being formed by the power of the same instinct. There’s a unification that encompasses the ability to write lyrics for music and creative fiction.

Lyrics open the door to the mind of an artist. It can deliver a multifaceted message that can resonate on a number of levels with a variety of listeners.

For me, literature provides the same level of imagery and subjective connection as the purest forms of lyricism. It allows a door to the mind of the author; delivered in the connotations and hidden details deep within the messages of their novel.

I have always carried an affinity to literature and language because of the subjective impact it has on everyone who engages with it. As a medium, it remains one step removed from that of visual media which is consumed on a far greater scale in the modern day.

Throughout visual media, everyone sees the same thing. Whilst art carries a subjective interpretation and understanding, it is formed from the same foundation; the image itself.

By contrast, two people can read the exact same piece of literature and form vastly different interpretations in their minds. Without the foundation that is provided in visual media, an individual’s ability to resonate with such an array of aspects within a chapter, scene or description can create a myriad of paths along which the imagery can flourish in their mind.

The power within literature to subsequently evoke such powerful emotions in so many people from all walks of life is what makes it so remarkable.

It will be an extremely rare occasion that I would sit down for a writing session without my headphones. There’s a calming neutrality that accompanies grounding myself with music. In my sporting career, the same is said for the power of music in escorting my mind to a level of focus and application that I wish to occupy before a game.

The difference now is that I find myself listening on a deeper level. A clever rhyme scheme or lyrical connection now comes second to the impact of ‘why’ and the subsequent meaning behind it on a plethora of different levels.

Whilst the page is silent, its’ implications are anything but.

Every line starts with a sound and every idea comes adorned with the music that inspired its’ inception.