Thread: Can you summon music?

I imagine so, but have never even thought to try it. I am a musician, so I've got music bouncing around in my head all of the time. Will give it a try.

Yeah i should try that. Regarding music, you can also set music to play quietly in a REM period and it will come through into your dream, which is cool. I've had that happen by accident it was really interesting.

in a non lucid i pulled out my ipod, played a weird song and i was confused since i never heard of that song, let alone bought it, suprising i didnt get lucid. anyway if you do summon music in a dream or maybe an ipod just put it on shuffle and see what you get, it might be cool to hear what your mind comes up with.

you mean sorta like the background music in a videogame? i've thought about that, but never remembered to do it in a dream. if i ever do, i'll let you know. just about anything can be done in a lucid. Alter, a member of DV, can clone himself and be aware of everything he and his clones are experiencing simaltaneously, so why wouldn't one be able to listen to their tunes?

Originally Posted by Wristblade56

so why wouldn't one be able to listen to their tunes?

I'm guessing, when you dream about physical objects that you've seen in real life, they're very realistic, but unless you have a photographic memory the object won't be exactly like the real life object. Some irrelevant details will be diferent. With music, many details would need to be remembered, every detail is relevant, for the song to sound the same, and your mind would have to be able to reproduce all the details. So it wouldn't surprise me if this actually weren't possible.

I'm wondering if our minds actually remember enough subconsciously about songs to be able to reconstruct every note, every instrument involved, in the dream. I'm guessing that at best, the song wouldn't be exactly like it is in real life, but maybe a good approximation. I'm really curious to hear whether people succeed or not. It would be incredible if it were possible, and the music sounded exactly like it does in real life.

ive never managed or tried even, to summon it on commad but its amazing when you hear tunes that actually exist in a dream. when they do they tend to become my favourites for a while at least. once though i was actually sat down in a dream, producing a track with a couple of mates. would love to remember it because it ws pretty funky.

i heard this once when at a fairground in a dream, i didnt even realise how much i liked it until i heard it in the dream!

Originally Posted by siuol

in a non lucid i pulled out my ipod, played a weird song and i was confused since i never heard of that song, let alone bought it, suprising i didnt get lucid. anyway if you do summon music in a dream or maybe an ipod just put it on shuffle and see what you get, it might be cool to hear what your mind comes up with.

It'll probably be hard to just summon music out of thin air, especially if you are new to LDing or dream control. The best way, imo, would be to take advantage of an existing archetype, like something in the quote above. You already have the association that music can come from something like an iPod or CD player, and by putting it on "shuffle", you are going to add the association of unpredictability and randomness. By doing this, you are going to be taking advantage of the power of your subconscious to help create new music that you may not have ever actually heard before. This will get you more success than just trying to consciously will new music to appear...since that is not how it works in waking life, and your mind is programmed to think that way.

If I had a song playing, I reckon it would be "It's a wonderful feeling"

Yup, and from my experience, it sounds better than in real life. There's always a small difference though between the real song and what I'm hearing in my dreams but it's more of an improvement than anything else. The music is kinda tweaked to suit my preferences (and to fill in parts I can't remember). I've only been able to "summon" it out of the blue once; every other time I heard some random background music, became lucid, and then willed the song to change.

Originally Posted by GavinGill

Yup, and from my experience, it sounds better than in real life. There's always a small difference though between the real song and what I'm hearing in my dreams but it's more of an improvement than anything else. The music is kinda tweaked to suit my preferences (and to fill in parts I can't remember). I've only been able to "summon" it out of the blue once; every other time I heard some random background music, became lucid, and then willed the song to change.

And let's not forget unlimited volume with no adverse hearing effects.

Originally Posted by mattbrox

And let's not forget unlimited volume with no adverse hearing effects.

Well, you wouldn't go deaf, but unless you're really good at dream control then you would probrobly still feel pain in your ears.

Usually I summon a band if I need music. I second the iPod thing, though, I had a non-lucid recently with an iPod and this definitely had interesting effects on shuffle.

As far as song recall, we do recall songs tremendously well. In my case I can vouch for a hearing a few songs in the background of dreams (bands in bars, playing over speakers, etc) that were real songs. Often they're ones I know and like, but I've had a few cases where after a long search I find that they're real songs that I must have heard once a long time ago and somehow brought to mind, with incredible fidelity. The only part that's reliably inaccurate is the lyrics. The interesting thing is that the lyrics fit in terms of meter, despite obviously being made on the fly by my subconscious. Some songs are mostly the same with only the most minor changes, while some have more substantial changes (Jimi Hendrix's version of "All Along The Watchtower" gets a biblical makeover, but the lyrics are obviously derived from the real thing; "Head Like A Hole" is cast in a musical version of '1984' with Winston and O'Brien yelling at each other) and some get complete retoolings ("Enter Sandman" becomes an ad jingle selling candy). I've also had completely instrumental songs get lyrics (usually very, very strange lyrics).

As I wrote down, the dream version of All Along The Watchtower:

"There must be some way out of here," to the shepherd said the thief
"There is no more justice, and I have no relief
Pharisees, they drink my wine, soldiers steal my earth
My life is not my own to give, and none can offer its worth"

"No reason to get dismayed" the shepherd kindly spoke
"Too many here among us feel their lives are without hope
I tell you now not to worry, for death is not our fate
So let us not talk falsely now, the hour is growing late"

All along the watchtower, disciples kept their view
While the women came and went, down to the shepherd's tomb
Outside in the distance, a bell began to toll
The third day was dawning, and the stone began to roll...

(It was around Easter, so I guess my subconscious took its cue! I wrote it down as an example of it mostly keeping meter with the original! Notice how closely it mostly sticks to the original)

Originally Posted by mattbrox

And let's not forget unlimited volume with no adverse hearing effects.

I never thought of that. Gonna try it next chance I get. =D

i played a whistle/flute thing last night. was good fun even though i was still rubbish at it

Almost all the music I've heard in dreams has been music unfamiliar to me in waking life. In one semi-lucid I decided to "compose" on the spot a classical masterpiece. It's very hard to explain, but I literally thought about what I wanted the music to do (faster! more dramatic! orchestra!) and I heard it play in real-time. Try it!

A couple times when falling asleep to music, I dreamt I was at a concert which was awesome!
Also, one time during SP (usually I hear voices whispering) I started hearing this insane music, it was like a synths doing arpeggios and layering on top of each other, fluttering up and down and I remember thinking I should really try to write this stuff.

There's something I've always wondered about that isn't exactly related to the original post. I sometimes get songs stuck in my head for days. I'll fall asleep with the song stuck in my head, in the back of my mind, and I'll wake up with it still in my mind. I guess the song was in the back of my mind throughout the whole sleep procoess. Sometimes I seem to get a song in my mind while I'm sleeping. I'll wake up with some song in my mind I haven't heard in months or years, and it will be stuck in my head for the whole day.

Originally Posted by Wristblade56

you mean sorta like the background music in a videogame? i've thought about that, but never remembered to do it in a dream. if i ever do, i'll let you know. just about anything can be done in a lucid. Alter, a member of DV, can clone himself and be aware of everything he and his clones are experiencing simaltaneously, so why wouldn't one be able to listen to their tunes?

That is actually possible? I was thinking about trying such a thing when I start having lucids again.

Originally Posted by Dianeva

There's something I've always wondered about that isn't exactly related to the original post. I sometimes get songs stuck in my head for days. I'll fall asleep with the song stuck in my head, in the back of my mind, and I'll wake up with it still in my mind. I guess the song was in the back of my mind throughout the whole sleep procoess. Sometimes I seem to get a song in my mind while I'm sleeping. I'll wake up with some song in my mind I haven't heard in months or years, and it will be stuck in my head for the whole day.

There's a bunch of Eastern spiritual traditions that maintain that one can learn to develop awareness of non-REM mental states; in effect, you can remain aware that you're asleep for the full 8 or 9 or however many hours you take each night. Needless to say this level of achievement would be pretty conducive for lucid dreaming, but it's also supposedly super difficult and takes some serious training. Anyway I mention this because I recently had the experience of remaining aware while in the state of sleep just below REM. It was a pretty weird experience, and my awareness was only very dim (it was like a non-lucid dream, except there was no dream to speak of, just a stream of ideas and mental activity).

This experience further reinforces my belief that there really is quite a bit of mental activity in other non-REM states of sleep. And it seems to explain to me why you might wake up from dreamless sleep and find a song stuck in your head.

On a related note, Tibetan Dream Yoga teaches that the type of mental activity you carry into sleep at night will often seem to re-manifest upon waking in the morning. So not only does going to bed in a frenzied state lead to poor lucidity during dreaming, but it might also lead to a frenzied or drained feeling in the morning. It's a bit of a digression from your point, but I thought it worth noting!

Yes I have and sometimes it seems to have a mind of its own. I was in that dark state before a dream and got a good song going perfectly, then a dream started. The music stayed in the dream even though no one else heard it and it got me a little annoyed because I could hardly concentrate and ppl were talking to me.

I love how dream music sounds it seems so pure.

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What's A Dream Guide?

Originally Posted by DJZ

What's A Dream Guide?

Any character in your dream that assists you in understanding and exploring the dream world. This can be a character that your mind made up, another dreamer, or any other character.