Welcome and thanks for reading!

Today’s Writing Tip Topic: Music!

Necessary disclaimer. I am not a musician and I’m pretty much tone deaf. That being said, there’s still a lot of things you can build with music even if you don’t know all that much about it in the first place.

The first thing, I always think about with music is what types of music are there. What I mean by this is who is creating the music? Is it religious music written by monks in monasteries? Is it folk music written by bards for people to sing while they tend to the sheep or around the fire or in taverns? Is it a more “classical music” type style or court style music written by specifically selected and trained musicians for the pleasure of the upper crust? Chances are you are gonna to have a number of different types of music, written by a number of different kinds of people for several different audiences.

The next thing I think about is what instruments does each genre typically use? For example, is the folk music, only voices, or do people typically have drums in their homes that they sing along to? Or guitars? Or lyres? How about the upper crust’s classical music – do people sing with it? Is it all violins and pianos? Or are there older instruments that are more traditional for the pieces.

If you aren’t familiar with the instruments you are picking for the genre, get on youtube, find a video and take a listen to what it sounds like. This will help you describe it as you write, but it will also give you a sense of what type of music it makes sense for the instrument to play along to.

Feel free to research its history. Did it take a lot of effort to make? Was it an expensive instrument in the past? For example, Chinese zithers (also called, Guzheng) were often used by the upper class of the Qin dynasty because the materials it was made out of – silk strings, jade embellishments (among other types of embellishments), and ivory picks – were materials that could be afforded by the upper class, but not so much by the lower classes. By the Qing dynasty (1644-1912), there was a change to brass strings, though a change to other metal wires may have occurred earlier than that and more people started to be able to afford them (This is not a complete history of the guzheng and there were a lot of different social statuses attached to playing this instrument throughout its history. This is just a brief example to get the point across about materials). Think through what your instruments are made of and who can reasonably afford them.

Lastly, consider the general sound and feeling of the music. This is a lot easier if you’re not tone deaf and practically music illiterate, but trust me, even if you are, it can still be done!

Consider whether the music is more melodic or more choppy (staccato, for those of you, who had a music theory in high school and walked out of it actually knowing something). Consider the energy levels – is soft and peaceful or loud and boisterous? Consider the tone of it – Is it harsh or shrill? Dark or muddy? Light or pure? Clean or vibrant? Consider the tempo or the speed at which the notes are played – is it light and quick or sluggish and slow. Consider the notes you are hearing – is everyone singing one note or are there harmonies? Is it a simple harmony or a complex harmony? Is there dissonance? If you’re really into music, you can ask yourself is it major or minor chords? How about the mood? Is it happy or sad? Uplifting? Catchy? Really consider how the music makes people feel. Is it soothing? Empowering? Exhilarating? Saddening?

And those are the three steps, I take when building out the genres of music in my worlds. Take as much time or as little time as you want with each step and really have fun exploring your world and researching what’s right for you. If you’re really brave, try inventing an instrument for your world!

Good luck!

As always, remember, in writing there’s no such thing as absolute advise. Enjoy your story and have fun writing!