Songwriting during sleep

[Archer]

Man, I'm soooo envious of all you people.

I never dream about music. Tell me what you're eating before you go to bed, I wanna work while I sleep too.

 

The closest I've ever come is thinking of a good idea just as my head hits the pillow. Then I think, "I should write this down" but I was too tired to turn the light back on.

[Adama]

Hi Archer!

 

I believe that the just-before-u-sleep stage is one of the most enjoyable times for musical ideas, so Right On!!

 

I also fall right into a deep sleep and miss the music.

 

It may happen to you more as you are thinking about it more. So let me know if any more music comes to you whilst you drift off to sleep. Take care!

[I I mjrn]

Paul McCorny of the Beatles seemed to get a certain amount of his material from dreams (Yesterday; Let it Be)...

more relevantly, you might consult an older thread here called, IIRC, "the role of your subconscious in the writing process" (check the archive search function).

 

Here 'tis: the role...

[shniggens]

Adama,

 

Interesting thread, and I'm glad you brought it up!

 

I almost ALWAYS get song ideas (mostly the melodic aspect) when I am drifting off to sleep. The problem is, I never wanna get up and put them to realization because I am SOOOOO comfortable. I also don't have quite the ear to just write down what I hear in my head, I would have to get up and plink it out on the piano.

 

So what is the best way to capture these fleeting moments of genius? I'm sure that dead musicians are trying to use me as a host!

[shniggens]

Originally posted by Archer:

. Tell me what you're eating before you go to bed, I wanna work while I sleep too.

.

It's not what you eat - it's what you drink or smoke.

[cherri]

So what is the best way to capture these fleeting moments of genius?

Keep a hand held recorder next to the bed.

[Adama]

Originally posted by shniggens:

Adama,

 

Interesting thread, and I'm glad you brought it up!

 

I almost ALWAYS get song ideas (mostly the melodic aspect) when I am drifting off to sleep. The problem is, I never wanna get up and put them to realization because I am SOOOOO comfortable. I also don't have quite the ear to just write down what I hear in my head, I would have to get up and plink it out on the piano.

 

So what is the best way to capture these fleeting moments of genius? I'm sure that dead musicians are trying to use me as a host!

Hi! I know what you mean. I am SOOOO damn comfortable during those drifting moments that it is so hard to get up out of those warm and cosy covers to record something that comes by. You probably tallk yourself out of it even more because you would prefer to go to the piano, so you wouldn't want to lean over the edge of the bed and sing it into the tape recorder (as cherrie suggested very well). The way I talk myself out of it is by reasoning that the 'magic' gets lost from the experience when I get up. Also, I feel like hanging in there to see what else the music wants to evolve into and I'm never sure when to 'break the flow' so to speak.

 

I do think that the tape recorder is great. You don't even have to get down perfectly. The key is to 'tap' into it the next day, so anything that triggers the memory of the experience may do the trick. If you thought or felt something in particular, 'talk' that into the tape. It will get easier with each attempt to access the experience.

 

Happy drifting! Let me know how it goes.

[shniggens]

Resurrected this great thread for SELFMADESOUL.

 

I have forced myself many times lately to get out of bed and down to the studio to get these subconcious ideas on disk.

 

I avoid the tape recorder technique because I don't want to wake up my wife!

[P.G. Shadow]

Hey all ,very new to the forums here. I was just sniffing around and came upon this thread. Just wanted to say that in my dreams I remember the colors, and those colors translate to the key of a song or melody. For example the color blue=key of E/ a bluesy type of song. The color yellow=key of C/ sorta a sunshiny happy peice. I know it sounds kinda flaky,but it works for me. P.S. Adama thanks for starting a thread that dives deeper into something most of us know very about. P.G.Shadow

[ephlat]

Interesting thread. Glad someone brought it back to life. I wondered if it would get around to the idea of lucid dreaming, which i seem to do frequently, but rarely has it been a composition tool.

 

I read something recently of sleep studies that showed that people's time-perceptions of their dreams is basically accurate. I would assume that is also the case with lucid dreams.

 

On that note, the a couple months ago I did have a very involved lucid dream where I worked and reworked melody, lyrics and accompaniment to a song. When I awoke, I grabbed pen and paper from the nightstand... but it was completely gone just that fast.

 

Sad...

[DC]

I've woke up a couple of times with a tune just done. Not much lyrics (had to fill in the blanks), but all the music; melody and arrangement. Had to work fast not to forget those which turned out to be a couple of my fav self penned songs. One has my fav lead solo I've ever wrote and I realized most of it in my dream.

 

I've heard that if you tell yourself you're gonna remember your dreams, right before you fall asleep, you will. Actually has worked for me, I just tend to forget to tell myself to pay attention.

 

If there is a way to harness this, I want to learn. I thought it was a happy accidental act of God or something.

[DoctorNo]

Actually there is a book that I own that talks about methods to harness your dreams so that you can use them in a creative and productive manner. I believe the book is "Write Away" or "Write Now" or something to that effect.

 

It is an interesting read, great ideas for use of your creative time, but the whole dream thing didn't help me much.

 

If I find the book -I have too many to keep track of- I will post the title and author for you.

 

Craig

[Scone Mason]

I've awakened from playing in a dream and been able to write down choruses, words and music, or lines from songs. I write tons of lyrics while dozing, so i keep a tablet next to the bed as well. I write fiction, too, and have come up with funny lines of dialogue or other lines while just drifing off. I'm good at awakening myself to write these down. This comes from going a long time trying to remember them and failing. whenever I dream about playing music I usually wake up and have something to use.

 

Another thing that has happened to me only once or twice is a song idea that was complete, in other words, it came into my head, and I sang the entire song, three verses, a chorus, and the melody directly into a mini-casette recorder. I have no memory of forming the song, it was a single idea that popped forth complete. That was a rare occurrence for sure, but my band still plays the song. The thing that triggered it was a newspaper headline I read that became the title. I repeated the headline and the whole song appeared. I must have had some ideas that were extremely ripe that day.

[shniggens]

Originally posted by Scone Mason:

Another thing that has happened to me only once or twice is a song idea that was complete, in other words, it came into my head, and I sang the entire song, three verses, a chorus, and the melody directly into a mini-casette recorder. I have no memory of forming the song, it was a single idea that popped forth complete.

Sounds like deceased musicians are composing through you from the Great Beyond!! Cool!

[Sean Eldon]

I personally have been fortunate enough to make a 5 song demo EP consisting strictly of songs that were thought up in my sleep. It's really just a bunch of freak-out-odd-time(SUPRISE!) with lots loud guitars. I'll put up an MP3 of one of the better songs.

[buss boy]

Originally posted by cherri:

I keep a notebook by the bed, in case I wake up with a good idea. My best tunes come to me just as I am drifting off, and if I don't write them down, they disappear and leave me frustrated and unfulfilled.

For some reason, I sometimes get good ideas at that phase also. The mind is sort of free-associating, sort of in neutral. The last thing I want to do is wake up and write it down, but that's what I have to do.

[Eric VB]

Long beat to death, and not much more to add ... sounds like a great opportunity.

 

As a teen I'd keep a guitar and tape recorder next to the bed. More often than not, I'd be messing around with the guitar just before going to sleep. I think this was really the key for me, to have my mind in a writing mode. The other factor was that as I lay there waiting for sleep, I'd still be turning musical ideas over in my head. Sometimes I'd wake with something new and record it with the guitar. No lyrics, just music.

 

As far as lucid dreams -- at least as much as I understand about them from reading this thread -- those tend to come at the opposite side of the sleeping cycle, just before I wake up. I've never been able to exert much control except for "rewinding" and making slight changes during the "playback". I don't get musical ideas at this point, but the "storyline" of whatever I'm experiencing can be remembered. So at this end I get "movies" and words, but no music.

 

When I was in college, sometimes I'd come across a difficult problem -- usually math -- that I just couldn't figure out. When I went to bed I'd concentrate on the problem and put it into my brain's "in box". More often than not, I'd have a better understanding (if not a solution) of the problem the next morning. So, as some have said, there's a bit of "programming" involved for me.

 

Sweet dreams everyone.

[SpookyKid]

Wow, Thanks for resurrecting this thread. I never realized how common sleep writing was. My singer/hubby wrote his entire solo album through his dreams. I was amazed how he would wake up and already have songs completed with lyric and melody. The dreams lasted about a year and he completed the album playing all instruments and called it "Between Light and the Silvery Moon". It was a big departure from what our band was playing at the time, but strangely it did change our direction for the better. I wonder if making such a radical change has anything to do with it. He has written two more albums since, but not from dreams. I find it fascinating that anyone can do this. I wish I could.

 

If anyone wants to hear clips from "Between Light and the Silvery Moon" they are at: http://cdbaby.com/cd/pmartini

[StillFightingIt]

Just stumbled upon this thread thought I'd just say, it's really cool to see other people having such inspiration in their dreams. I personally have gotten ideas for songs in my dreams, and on about 5 occassions written the entire song (lyrics, piano lines for both hands etc.) totally in my sleep, woke up the next morning, sat down at the piano, played and sung the full song. It was a very surreal feeling, it's great to read about others having similar experiences.

[Hellebender]

HEYAS! Just wanted to say....most definately wake up with melodies in my head...a good example is posted at www.download.com ... it's called "Chose To Run" by In The Works. If ya wanna check it out...here's the link. Click here! The lyrics were written by my best friend, but the music was written in a dream, we added his lyrics...worked out nicely.

[Tedster]

Originally posted by Adama:

Originally posted by Tedster:

Yep. I've had stuff in dreams that I've been fortunate enough to wake up and remember...

Tedster, is the music you dream anything unusual to the style/type of music you know and/or write?

Sorry, haven't checked this thread in awhile. I've had two songs that were the direct results of dreaming...I don't think I have the link to either online right at the moment...well, actually, little clips of them are contained in a rough montage of original stuff at

 

http://tedster.net/teddemo.mp3

 

One of the "dream songs" was the melody part of the one song in the clip that has the spooky surfy guitar over the busy bass line...I think it's the second clip in the montage (keep in mind it's just a rough sketch, hence the bad drum machine)...and the other one is the "Voices" tune ("I can hear voices..." my "schizo song" ). I woke up hearing both songs distinctly. For some dumb reason, when I had the "Voices" dream, I was dreaming that Rod Stewart was singing it. I have no idea why, but please don't tell me it's a Rod Stewart song...

[philbo_Tangent]

I have a constant flow of music just beneath the concious surface of my thoughts, whether awake or asleep. Sometimes this interferes with my perceptions of whats happenning around me in the real world, but mostly it's benign, and always very entertaining.

 

Once in a while, some musical hook will get embedded and will not 'let go' till I write a song around it. I'd estimate 60-70% of the songs I've written were from tapping this stream of ideas. (I've had a lot of people tell me my music has a dreamlike quality, maybe this is why...)

 

When I was young (teenager) I'd hear "guitar armies" playing heavy metal lead harmonies; now (in my fifties) I hear jazz/prog rock stuff, some of which I haven't yet figured out how to play.

 

One challenge is figuring out how to play the ideas without having the pure musical idea polluted by what I know how to play.

[Ernest Buckley]

I write music a lot while sleeping but I rarely wake up remembering it which pisses me off to no end because its in there. However, my attitude is that if I keep working on it, the music will eventually come out.

 

I also hear the entire production in my head when I dream. The whole song is written which is pretty amazing how our brains do work. Lately I`ve gotten smart (finally) and keep paper and pen by the bed.

 

One day people, I will capture it! Maybe tonight...

[Murakawa]

I often come up with songs while I'm sleeping, too. I'm lucky enough that I have a multi-track right by my bed... so when I wake up remembering a tune, I'll go over and record it (at least the melody, if I can't figure out a guitar accompaniment straight away.)

 

What I find a lot more frustrating is when I come up with a tune at work (this happens a lot) as I don't have the means to record it. It sounds crazy, but there are loads of times that I've actually called home in my lunch break and hummed a tune onto the answerphone! Maybe I should invest in a pocket tape recorder or something

 

I know what you mean, philbo, about the constant music that lies beneath one's consciousness. I feel this too. I hear music in everything - often, as you say, to the point that it interferes with my perceptions. I will often go into "dream states" at work where I've got this tune going on in my head. It sometimes takes me a while to snap out of it... people must think I'm crazy! Its really an awesome feeling when you finally learn to play these things... though, of course, often what you end up playing/recording isn't anything like what you originally had in your head.