Thread: Tell me...Does music make you visualize, or "see" a storyline in your head?

Absolutely! Some of them can get rather lengthy, and some I haven't finished typing out because I haven't filled in every little detail. It's almost like a "mental exercise" for me as well as something I can occasionally use in my stories.

Yes! I experience this all the time. It seems some songs are more evocative than others. The Mariner's Revenge Song, by The Decemberists, is good, as is World of Make Believe, by Within Temptation. In fact, this has likely improved my visualization skills.

With some songs, rather than seeing in my mind's eye its own story, I instead imagine it in a movie soundtrack, and can perfectly picture what sort of scene it would play during.

I think I have a crappy imagination.... I don't get visualizations very often, although I do really enjoy it when I do, I only seem to get them when I'm totally zoned out and listening to music, like on the verge of being half-awake and half-asleep. I wish I could get them more often, because its really cool when it does happen.

Thats what songs are supposed to do, bring out emotion in people, make them see certain images the writer wants them to see. Whether it be about peace, love, war, sex, drugs, booty, family, etc.
When im upset, I listen to my music. It usually brings me out of my bad mood. Which, i should probably be doing right now....

I see images sometimes. Other times there's just pretty colours. I like those colours. They have a bit of correlation to the type of song. Loud stuff like Cygnus...Vismund Cygnus is orangey-red. Poppy stuff can be yellow, or green. There are exceptions though.

I associate songs with little snippets of my life. Like flashbacks with music. Usually when I listen to a song for the first time I get chills (if I like it).

I see colors and moving patterns a lot of the time. I can't listen to music the same way i used to though.
Once you start making music yourself, you listen to the process of the music, and the technical shit. well, at leat me anyway. sometimes im able to let my mind drift anyway, though. i dont enjoy music any less than i use to, just hear it differently.

Ill think of myself playing them on a stage, but no I don't typically get a mental story going.

Originally Posted by CoLd BlooDed

I associate songs with little snippets of my life. Like flashbacks with music. Usually when I listen to a song for the first time I get chills (if I like it).

I get these chills to. They are great.

I also visualize things when listening to music. I don't see much with my eyes open, just images, but nothing moving. And if I think about what I'm seeing, it will sort of go away. I just have to not think about it and go with the flow. If I close my eyes though, It's basically like watching a short movie. This is one of the reasons music is great.

Every song I listen to is associated with a vivid fantasy. Sometimes, the music and my imagination harmonize so well that it's almost like dreaming. I'm drawn to evocative, immersive music for this reason. It makes me very picky about lyric-driven songs.

I didn't know other people did this. The best stories I get in my mind are ones by Queen. They don't make any sense by being connected to the song, only extremely loosely.

Not unless the story is told in the lyrics like Rush's "Red Barchetta".

Originally Posted by DeadDollKitty

Thats what songs are supposed to do, bring out emotion in people, make them see certain images the writer wants them to see.

I'm with DDK. actually, that is kind of..."duh".

I see colors and moving patterns a lot of the time. I can't listen to music the same way i used to though.

that's awesome. you know that's something called synesthesia right?

I see images sometimes. Other times there's just pretty colours. I like those colours. They have a bit of correlation to the type of song. Loud stuff like Cygnus...Vismund Cygnus is orangey-red. Poppy stuff can be yellow, or green. There are exceptions though.

seems like you have it too. I have grapheme - colour synesthesia, but lately I've noticed I really do see colours for different sounds. I thought I only saw colours in songs because of track numbers, as that was the case most of the time. but, paying closer attention, I noticed I see colours for the sounds themselves. the one colour of the track number just overshadows it, so I didn't notice at first.

I'm not surprised...since music and numbers are intimately related.

I don't see much with my eyes open, just images, but nothing moving. And if I think about what I'm seeing, it will sort of go away. I just have to not think about it and go with the flow. If I close my eyes though, It's basically like watching a short movie. This is one of the reasons music is great.

oh my god, that seriously sucks. I couldn't imagine. I've always had a vivid imagination, and I love it. do you think that people can work on their imaginations and make them stronger? I think they can...

Another thing, when I first started playing guitar I was really fascinated by how some people can play the guitar so well. So whenever I'd listen to a Metallica song and Kirk would start busting out a solo, I'd vividly see his fingers moving up and down the fretboard going nuts. That's just an example, I'd imagine the guitarist actually playing the guitar.

Another thing I visualize is, usually when I'm listening to the song through headphones or something, is the band inside a recording studio all doing their parts. It depends on the song, though.

I definitely come up with some nice epic scenarios when I listen to music, but it depends on the song of course. Since I find symphonic/gothic metal delightful, I can say any song I like brings imagery, and lots of feeling. It's like every song was a book, a chronicle, a story, a comic, a game.

Hand of Sorrow
Within Temptation
The child without a name grew up to be the hand
To watch you, to shield you, or kill on demand
The choice he'd made, he could not comprehend
His blood, a grim secret they had to command

He's torn between his honour and the true love of his life
He prayed for both but was denied

-
So many dreams were broken and so much was sacrificed
Was it worth the ones we loved and had to leave behind?
So many years have passed, who are the noble and the wise?
Will all our sins be justified?
-

The curse of his powers tormented his life
Obbeying the crown was a sinister price
His sou lwas tortured by love and by pain
He surely would flee but the oath made him stay

He's torn between his honour and the true love of his life
He prayed for both but was denied

-
So many dreams were broken and so much was sacrificed
Was it worth the ones we loved and had to leave behind?
So many years have passed, who are the noble and the wise?
Will all our sins be justified?
-

Please forgive me for sorrow, for leaving you in fear
For the dreams we had to silence, that's all they'll ever be
Still I'll be the hand that serves you
Though you won't see that it is me

-
So many dreams were broken and so much was sacrificed
Was it worth the ones we loved and had to leave behind?
So many years have passed, who are the noble and the wise?
Will all our sins be justified?
-

Oh, wow, a Within Temptation song I haven't heard! I must hear it...


Goes off to listen to Hand of Sorrow.

lol just for the thought, I have each and every song of theirs.

Music is wonderful, especially if you listen to a nice orchestral piece, its like being in your own movie and watching it as it goes on. The music somehow just fits, i've had these sort of visualizations before because of listening to music, i have them most the time in fact lol. Its cool though, i may try it tonight for the sake of a remote chance i may have lucid dream.

Originally Posted by Kromoh

lol just for the thought, I have each and every song of theirs.

I'm not even close yet, but I'm trying. 25-26 songs so far.

I listen to music about 18/7.

The other hours being showers, meditation and eating.

Mp3 player, computer, sleep headphones.

Sometimes i'll listen to the same song for a few days...

I get strong feelings whilst listening to music, though i don't think i've ever really visualised anything from it.

Indeed. I'm starting to almost listen to music as a ritual before bed...it really does influence my visual mind so very much... exactly as it should...iwth very strong emotions.

As for dreams- (I almost always have music playing next to my bed as I sleep) Many a time I've heard the exact song playing next to my bed in the dream...the action parts of the dream corresponding to the high tempo parts of the song, etc... no joke...powerful effects

imagery-all songs. emotion-most.

I do not "see" music.

I do, however, associate certain musical pieces with situations or images (the all famous grass flower plains). I, for example, listened to a song once ("Misato" from the Neon Genesis Evangelion Soundtrack), and simply thought that it might as well serve as the theme song of our SCHOOL!!! The "attitude" of the music seems almost perfectly akin to the same kind of relaxed attitude of our school. It just felt so familliar.

Yes, and I get that often. I either "feel" the mood, attitude or the "situation" of the music, and therefore associate it with situations in my own life (often insignificant ones from my daily life), or I try to visualise a story MYSELF (i.e. The music doesn't show ME a story ("passively"), No... I make up my own to fit with the music ("actively")).

This mostly happens with instrumental pieces.

For the rest: I AM affected by some kinds of music though. I don't know why, but I sometimes feel like the main character of a naturalistic literate piece: I'm quite easily affected by music (especially in a context such as a movie, or one of my own "connections/attachments"). Michael Buble's "Everything" makes me happy, for example. Honestly, it FORCES a smile on my face, whereas the song "don't cha" gets my blood boiling with irritative rage (you know the song: "Don't you wish your g/f was hot like me?" how in god's name could you make a song THAT egocentrical and arrogant???). I have something against that song.

And... that's about it ^^

So: Cheers, Peace, and much love!

~CD

I don't really visualize a story, but I do visualize something related to the song.

For example
The song "Fuel" by Metallica is pretty much about adrenaline junkies who like to go fast in automobiles. As it plays I basically imagine somebody hitting the gas as they cruise through the streets going faster and faster. When the song hits the verse "Natural drug will paint me dead!" I imagine the driver crashing.