Recently, I was having a difficult time with a short story I wanted to write. I had visualized how it was going to begin, how it was going to end, and even had played out several scenes in my mind. But when I’d sit down to actually do the writing, the words just wouldn’t come. I tried all of my usual “tricks” for overcoming writer’s block: attempting to write the first draft out in longhand instead of at the computer; free-writing to get the creative juices flowing; even focusing on the story during my morning sitting meditation. Nothing seemed to work and I spent too much of my precious writing time staring at a blank page.
After one particularly frustrating attempt to get the story going, I gave up and decided to spend the last hour or so of my planned writing time instead listening to a collection of classical music that I’d downloaded the night before onto my iPod. As I lay on the couch in my study, headphones on and eyes closed, listening to the likes of Mozart, Bach, Beethoven, and Vivaldi, an amazing phenomenon occurred. Suddenly the words to the story I’d abandoned a short time before began bursting into my conscious mind… driving me back to my desk. There, the words finally began to flow onto the page. The “Mozart Effect” had released the story that had been trapped within my subconscious mind.
You’ve likely already heard about the “Mozart Effect”. That’s the theory, backed by some fairly impressive research results, that listening to classical music stimulates the brain’s alpha waves which are associated with feelings of calm and relaxation. These feelings allow us to enter into a peak state of intelligence, focus, and increased creativity. The state is much like that experienced while meditating – alert, but our mind uncluttered by the thoughts and images that rush through our normal waking hours – allowing us to tap into the creative force of our subconscious while still awake.
The “Mozart Effect” got its name from study results, published in the journal Nature in 1993, that suggested that listening to Mozart temporarily boosted students’ IQ by 8 to 9 points, and was popularized by author Don Campbell in his 1997 book, The Mozart Effect: Tapping the Power of Music to Heal the Body, Strengthen the Mind, and Unlock the Creative Spirit.
The “Mozart Effect” is also my go-to antidote for writer’s block these days.
I've since heard the Mozart Effect has been dismissed.
ReplyDeleteThat being said, I still believe in the Beethoven Effect for writers. Beethoven caught me up in his clutches often when I, too, seemed to floating nowhere. Since then, other musicians have joined the ranks. I've found that music only does it for me, though. If lyrics are involved, they must be of another language or I'm distracted...or end up writing something like what Dylan warned - "Tell your ma, tell your pa/ Our love's gonna grow - ooowah, oowah"