Just about everyone’s heard of the Mozart Myth. The one where moms-to-be listen to Mozart’s music so her package from the stork will be delivered with a higher IQ? According to a bunch of brainiacs in Vienna, home of the prodigious classical composer Amadeus himself, it’s a wives tale as old as the one about swallowed chewing gum remaining in your belly for seven years. Massively, mythical.
Beyond the womb, music has been proven to increase endurance[1] in athletes, reduce anxiety[2] levels in mental patients, and speed up post operative healing[3]. There’s even evidence that singing can assist in the learning of foreign languages[4]. Mental, emotional, physical, social, cognitive – the list of ways music improves our lives grows every time we hear our favorite songs. So… does music bestow or enhance creativity?
In a world presenting us with more complex and daunting challenges, an active imagination can be leveraged for everything from solving complex social problems to negotiating in business to devising a marketing campaign that hawks healthy dog food. Regardless of the profession, acts of creativity improve performance on-the-job every day. Creativity demands that we see the world from a different perspective. You might find yourself inspired in unexpected ways that translate to creative success. The fact is: anyone can become more creative by keeping an open mind and eschewing banality in favor of new experiences that alter their perceptions.
As a fiction and non-fiction writer, I’m always on the lookout for new ways to breathe life into my words, for ideas that challenge me to think differently, for new stories that provide fresh insights to the world. As a college student, I was discouraged from listening to music while I wrote, lest it influence my story. But after college, when I went to work in an ad agency, everyone in the creative department jammed with headphones.
The Experiment
I decided to put my theory to the test: that music can improve creativity, even relieve artists from the mad emotional maelstrom of creative block. The experiment: I will simultaneously write a short story and an article determining what effect, if any, music has on my imagination. The short story is intended to be a smart, light-hearted comedy. The working title is “Observations from an Alien Anthropologist at Starbucks.” I’ll toggle between the article and the story, changing the genre of music every few hours and noting my findings.
The Caveats
Please note that I didn’t include every musical genre here due to the insane amount of time it would take to listen to thousands of albums that would require. Instead, I hypothesized what sort of music might make me the most creative and hope that will be a good start for your own creative mix. Finally, you can hear the specific mixes – along with musician names, bands, and album names discussed below – on Apple Music. They’re also on Spotify, Amazon Music, and BandCamp.com. You don’t have to like everything you hear – just set aside the songs you like for your future creative mix.
Just as there’s no explaining people’s tastes or how they acquired them, creativity is equally subjective to the whims of the creator’s mind as the reader’s experiences in the world. In other words, my opinions won’t be yours. You must be brave and read on, for you never know what these words will incite in your head and what music you might discover. Only new experiences have the power to unlock the neurons in your brain waiting their promotion to the creative department. You might uncover new music that open a door in your mind that leads to profound insight. You might find that music is a distraction. Only you can be the judge. When it comes to the music you jam to while being creative, I recommend this article as a good start. Once you find a genre or musician that waves your flag, dig deeper! Find similar artists to pluck your strings. Apple Music offers mixes called “Inspired By” and “Influences” to help.
Mozart
We begin listening to Mozart, whose prodigious genius has inspired millions to the soaring heights of human imagination and ingenuity. Specifically, the Sonata in G Major for 2 pianos. (I read somewhere that piano music elicits the greatest range of thought.) The mischievousness notes of this piece are, in fact, playing out of my speakers as I write these very lines. Unlike my usual morning struggle to get the creative juices flowing, I managed to turn my thoughts into words on the computer screen without perseverating over every little adjective. Has Mozart relaxed me into an even flow of prose? Was I someplace new where I wouldn’t succumb to my standard deluge of insecure rewrites that often spoiled the story?
Depression Era Jazz and Blues
Billie Holiday
As the legend is told down through the generations, during the Great Depression, Robert Johnson sold his soul to the devil to make him the greatest guitar player in the world. I can attest to the urge but have found Beelzebub unresponsive to my queries for fame and fortune. Michigan State University advertising professor, David Regan, knows a thing about creativity. He prefers “Music from the 1920s to the 1950s. Specifically, depression-era blues, jazz, and blue grass. It’s some hopping and jumping good stuff. Check out the movie “O, Brother Where Art Thou?” for some good examples and a lot of laughs.
Musicians include the likes of Duke Ellington, Benny Goodman, Count Basie, Bing Crosby, Billie Holiday, and Woody Guthrie.
Bach
Already knowing Amadeus couldn’t impart genius upon me, I turned to Bach the baroque, Toccata and Fuge in F the Requiem Mass in D Minor to be specific. Getting deeper into my short story, I find myself unwilling or unable to pause the flow of words coming out of me. I’m building worlds, shoehorning in every little detail. I worked through breakfast and lunch, eating neither. I also found myself adding new plot lines where none were needed. New characters appeared as if out of nowhere in the middle of the second act, suffered, and vanished from the page before the story ended. Listening to the baroque organ, my hands were tickling the ivory keys rather than on my slowly perishing Mac. I had included many unnecessary elements that needed to be edited out later. I blamed Bach, but who am I to judge?
After all, The Beatles were Bach fans. Especially Paul, who said during a 1993 interview, “Bach was always one of our favorite composers.” He noted that early Beatles songwriting, including the inspiration for “Blackbird,” stemmed from trying to play Bach pieces. “We felt we had a lot in common with him.”
Sixties Psychedelic mix
Even on good days, I’m easily distracted. I begin researching one subject and somehow end up on Facebook searching people who picked on me in high school. I’ve also been an incorrigible fan of The Doors. As a wee one, I had borrowed the L.A. Woman album from a local record store without getting caught. Or such was my memory. The Sixties Mix felt like the right place to start. People remember it as a turbulence time, but it was really a big coming out party for creativity. Anything could be an instrument. Poetry was on the tip of everyone’s tongues. Art was what you made of it and lauded for originality. Dancing was interpretative and spoke volumes to The Man, who couldn’t stop their good time without starting Vietnam.
I realized that I had begun to mix the story and the article together. I was having difficulty writing a sci fi com story (science fiction comedy) and a non-fiction feature article about music and creativity simultaneously. When I switched to the creativity article, I saw that my writing styles were blending. Nobody who read a short story cared if it adhered to the Chicago Manual of Style, but it needed to be readable. At least.
If I had writer’s block, I’d begin editing the story from the beginning to see if it would lead anywhere more interesting. Then, my discipline flagging, I decided to alternate days I worked on the article and the story.
When I did return to the scene of my writer’s block, I played The Doors Essentials mix on repeat. My mind ready to receive wisdom bountiful from the music, I added two extra music categories before realizing that I was far over my word count. This would be an editing day.
Check out: The Beatles, The Doors, Cream, Pink Floyd, Jimi Hendrix, and The Grateful Dead.
Spatial Audio mix (As heard on a MacBook Pro)
Years too late on the spatial audio craze, I decided that, since I would get paid for listening, now was the time to check out Apple Music’s Spatial Audio mix. Please note that I was listening on the speakers built into my MacBook Pro, which is going on ten years old. After numerous trips and my own clumsiness, you could probably get better sound from an Atari 2600. Suffice it say, upgrading your speakers to play spatial audio should be a no-brainer.
The difference between spatial and normal audio is like the difference between high-definition TV and whatever the hell we watched before. Spatial audio makes me feel like I’m listening in an empty theater where the band is warming up on stage. I feel privileged to hear this blend of personality and unmixed music. I expected to feel like a rubber band bouncing around the room, following the audio like a moth tracks a flame, but mercifully, my vestibular system kept my feet on the ground.
The more creative and intricate the music, the more you can appreciate the quality spatial audio – turn it up so you feel the music everywhere on your body like a sonic shower.[5] I imagine that for musicians and auditory artists, the canvas of the world today suddenly felt much bigger. The sound comforts me, like ethereal beings wrapping me in warm robes and hugging me. They imparted warmth and gratitude, as if the music, artist and listeners now shared something unique – their symbiotic relationship remained true in the context of a spatial audio mix.
Punk – Ramones Essentials, Classic Punk iTunes mix
Whether I feel creative or not, punk has been my genre of choice since I could drive. Yet, I found myself struggling to tune out the music instead of allowing the songs to influence my writing. However, even though my creativity wasn’t enhanced, I noted typing conspicuously faster with significantly more errors than without The Ramones influence.
Important Note: not all punk sounds like The Ramones. They may be miscredited with founding the punk movement, but what they really did was bring punk into the mainstream. New bands iterated from there. Also, just because punk was funk on my creativity, doesn’t mean it will spoil yours. New perspectives are everything in creativity and yours might benefit from punk.
Bands include: The Ramones, The Jam, The Sex Pistols, The Clash, New York Dolls, and The Velvet Underground.
A-List Pop mix
Listening to this mix, I found myself very distracted. Possibly because I haven’t been a pop music listener since George Michael died and Madonna turned seventy-five. I didn’t even know who Taylor Swift was until she started dating Travis Kelce. Consequently, I was hearing most of these tunes for the first time. I did find myself swaying in my chair as I attempted to come up with a few good observations on the human condition for the Alien Anthropologist story. The music in this mix has a way of sounding familiar fast. As it progressed, I found myself doing much less writing and more doomscrolling. Perhaps this was the music telling me it was time to press pause and regroup.
Musicians include Bad Bunny, Taylor Swift, Billy Ellish, Ariana Grande, Cardi B, and Robyn among many, many other artists.
Indies Essentials
According to Apple Music, Indie music encompasses multiple genres including Goth, Dark Wave, Jazz-Rock, Dance-Punk, Dance, Ambience, Acid House, Chicago House, Synth Pop, Industrial, Down Tempo…in other words, every musical genre has an independent side. Many stars launched their careers on independent labels.
Jazz Rock Essentials mix
There are so many divergent artists considered “jazz rock” musicians that it’s nigh impossible to wrap them into a tidy package. The musicians in this mix feel like they should fall into three mixes: jazz, rock, and jazz-rock as I didn’t hear much crossover between genres. For example, Joni Mitchell and Steely Dan (rock) created lyrical music, many of their songs are stories unto themselves. Then there’s your jazz rock featuring lengthier songs and mind-blowing riffs. Miles Davis (jazz) launched the beginning of Jazz Rock, and today his musical legacy is maintained today by bands like Morphine (jazz rock).
This mix made me daydream. I can see how people would enjoy this non-threatening listening environment by blending stories of lore with the grim realities of the street. The artists supplied the music, the listeners jammed and jumped-up lyrics in their own heads. Most did not rhyme.
Musicians include Jeff Beck, Chicago, Joni Mitchel, Morphine, Miles Davis, Snarky Puppy, Kamasi Washington, Ginger Baker’s Air Force, and Steely Dan among many, many others.
Cool Jazz Essentials mix
Stan Getz
Just for comparison, the Cool Jazz Essentials mix lacks lyrics and made jazz one of my favorite genres of music for cranking out my own words on paper. Great jazz has an edge, something important to say, yet there’s something comical, playful, and morose about it, like it was apologizing for how it had come into existence. The mix is serious enough to chase the depression away. (Note: everyone has mental problems. Artists and writers just get the interesting stories.) On the contrary, other songs – with lyrics – took me away from the story I was writing and transported me to picture perfect places, like that beach where the Girl from Ipanema went walking. I never wanted to leave that beach.
Creatively, I admit to eventually finding my flow. I seemed to have taken on a more relaxed attitude since my earlier difficulties. I was thinking beyond the action. Showing, not telling. My characters defined, their motivations believable. The plot was big enough to be novel sized, but I kept my head and pruned while I worked.
Musicians include Stan Goetz, Dave Brubeck, Miles Davis, Charley Parker, and June Christy among many others.
Dance/Electronica Recommendation: Stéphane Pompougnac
If it can get you sweating on the dance floor, creating dance music can keep the party going in your art work. The steady beats demanded by electronica works like a metronome in my brain, my writing keeping to a steady beat and flow of adjectives and insights. Per Detroit-based art director Darlene Smith, “When I’m designing, Stéphane Pompougnac’s (French DJ) Hôtel Costes soundtracks are on repeat — smooth, indulgent, impossible to rush, and pure creative cashmere for the mind.”
Today’s Chill Electronic Music mix
Easy to write to. Slow drums and bass monitor my pacing while I build up to my flow. Two hours and ten pages of jamming (edited down from twenty-seven) later, the tips of my fingers were raw from hitting the keys too hard. Deep down, I know I have some anger issues but I’m not sure what made them present just then, but just then I was loathe to write another word or hear another musical note.
I was supposed to be writing about how music makes people more creative and telling a story about an alien anthropologist simultaneously. I wasn’t sure if I was doing either justice. My wife calls this “imposter syndrome” and reminds me of everything I’ve written and published since we’ve known each other. But she doesn’t know how much editing I do at night. By now, I had deleted twice as many pages than I’d written. There was one potentially usable paragraph. Getting into a good flow is one thing, making it comprehensible quite another.
Musicians include Henry Green, Shrimpnose, Noe Solange, Snazzy, Of the Trees,
Glasstempo, The Smiths, and Zimmer90 among many, many others on this Apple Music mix and elsewhere in the world.
Nina Simone
Krautrock Essentials Mix
Borrowed from the indigenous “sauerkraut” (😂), Krautrock is the post-WWII German hippie response to their country’s not-so-distant past by “forging the sound of the future.” Or, to borrow from the Apple Music author, “Krautrock reflected the wild guitar jams of Amon Düül II—but it swiftly diverged from the Woodstock era’s back-to-nature ethos to embrace technological experimentation.”
I found myself wrapped in a warm, cuddly blanket by German indie. But I like repetition, feedback, unique chord combinations, and guitar licks spun from trippy acid sojourns that tell an understory of their own. The music took access to my emotions. Creatively, they played seamlessly into my writing. Of the Indie subcategories, Krautrock became my fave. And not just because it’s fun to say. Tempos and harmonies seemed to match my story as I was writing it. Soon, I was in a true creative flow and had a ten-page first draft of “Observations of an Alien Anthropologist in a Starbucks.”
Musicians include Harmonia, Can, Tangerine Dream, Faust, Kraftwerk, Brainticket, Brian Eno, Agitation Free, Popol Vuh and Neu!
Drew’s Writing Mix
Thanks to the rewrites and major edits to this article and the Alien Anthropologist short story – both became unrecognizable. I was doing neither justice. Rather than continue my journey of musical discovery, I saved every song that I believed enhanced my creativity into a six hour “Writer’s Mix.” Meanwhile, I consolidated my notes and typed up the article you’re about to finish.
Want to make your own creative mix? These musicians and jams are guaranteed not to derail my thought process or throw me to wolves of writer’s block. These were the artists who got me. This was my personal creative mix…and it grows whenever I discover a new favorite song.
Musicians include The Velvet Underground, The Doors, Yo La Tengo, Jimi Hendrix, The Stone Roses, The Pogues, Eric Clapton, Miles Davis, The Clash, Elton John, Billy Joel, The Beatles, Bob Marley, Nina Simone, Stan Getz, Madness, Pearl Jam, REM, David Bowie, U2, Oasis, Stevie Ray Vaughn, The Grateful Dead, The Boomtown Rats, John Lee Hooker, Social Distortion, Eminem, Dropkick Murphy’s, Blur, Radiohead, Jane’s Addiction, Stevie Wonder, Portishead, The Charlatans,…and, yes, Mozart.
Who’s going to play in your creative mix?
See the “Observations of an Alien Anthropologist in a Starbucks,” upcoming post
- Karageorghis, C. I., & Priest, D. L. (2012). “Music in the exercise domain: A review and synthesis.” International Review of Sport and Exercise Psychology. ↑
- Mindlab International (2011). Study led by Dr. David Lewis-Hodgson. ↑
- Ibid, Hole, J., et al. (2015 edition) ↑
- Ludke, K. M., Ferreira, F., & Overy, K. (2013). “Singing can facilitate foreign language learning.” Memory & Cognition. ↑
- Originally from Star Trek. Not sure what series or episodes ↑
