Music for muses: The soundtrack to my creative life

Anna Fielbal

Daphnée Magazine

11 août 2024

Music for muses

The soundtrack to my creative life

As I sat in my favorite corner café, sipping my daily café and searching for something inspiring to talk about, my favorite musics going through my ears for setting the mood as always, I couldn't help but wonder: Is music the secret muse behind every great piece of art? Sure, I’ve always known music has the power to move us—who hasn't found themselves lost in a melody that perfectly captures their mood? But what if it’s more than that? What if music is the invisible hand guiding our creativity, the background score to our most inspired moments?

They say the Muses were goddesses who whispered inspiration into the ears of poets and artists. But what if our modern muse is something we can plug into and play on repeat? It got me thinking about the moments in my own life when music wasn’t just background noise.

And I realized I found myself getting more creative and able to do something when the right music was playing in the background.

Worse, I found myself getting carried away in my thoughts and giving up more easily in the silence of a room. For a while I thought I was just romanticizing my life but if so why would I need certain musics related to what I’m currently doing? A certain playlist for school work, another one for drawing, one for reading, one for work out and many more…

Like that time I was trying to write a column about heartbreak. My mind was a blank page, and every time I tried to fill it, the words felt flat, uninspired. Then, out of sheer desperation, I put on my playlist for super sad days on shuffle. Suddenly, the words poured out of me like tears I didn’t know I had. It wasn’t just the lyrics—it was the emotion in the voices, the way the music seemed to cradle my feelings and give them a place to land. Music, I realized, wasn’t just a muse—it was a partner in my creative process.

In a life that constantly moves, where inspiration can be as fleeting as the passage of a subway, I’ve learned to let music be my guide. Whether it’s the denouncing tones of Alec Benjamin that set the mood for a story that is always full of meaning, or the upbeat rhythms of Dominic Fike lifting my spirits on a deadline, music has become the muse I turn to again and again.

And it’s not just me. Look around any creative space and you’ll see it—painters with headphones on, writers tapping away at their keyboards with earbuds in, dancers moving to the beat of a song only they can hear. Music isn’t just inspiring us; it’s driving us, pushing us to create something beautiful, something lasting.

But here’s the thing: The music that inspires us is as unique as the art we create. What moves one person to tears might make another want to dance. What sparks a writer’s imagination might help a painter find their color palette. We all have our own soundtrack to life, the songs that speak to us in ways words alone never could.

So, as I sit here with the rain outside and the music in my ears, I can’t help but think that maybe, just maybe, the Muses aren’t gone after all. They’ve just traded their lyres and lutes for guitars and pianos, their ancient hymns for jazz standards and indie ballads. And if we listen closely, we might just hear them whispering in our ears, guiding us to our next great idea.

After all, isn’t life better with a soundtrack?