Thread: Text vs. Music in Dreams

I really want to try and write a song in a dream, but I also want to get some ideas for a book by reading it. I hope I can still read in a dream

I have one theory about this. Hearing things is simpler than seeing. Also when reading your mind would have to create all of those symbols into words before you even get to them. with music you only have the voice and a few instruments.

Music doesn't to be spelled correctly or have everything were it need to be. So music should be easy to create.

Originally Posted by Moonbeam

I've even "composed" what I thought was original music, with lyrics, in my dreams. Of course I have no way of playing it after I wake up.

It's pretty common for dream songs to seem like compositions of your mind, but they almost always turn out to not be original. There have been lawsuits over music that people heard in their dreams, wrote down, and passed off as their own, but which turned out to have been note-for-note copies of other people's music.

Didn't one of the classical composers like Mozart or Beethoven get all his music from his dreams?

Originally Posted by Stevehattan

It's pretty common for dream songs to seem like compositions of your mind, but they almost always turn out to not be original. There have been lawsuits over music that people heard in their dreams, wrote down, and passed off as their own, but which turned out to have been note-for-note copies of other people's music.

Note for note, eh? I'd have to wonder then if "I got it from a dream! srsly!" wasn't just a cover. You'd think that even if that were the case that somewhere between hearing it IRL, hearing it again in the dream, waking up and writing it down that at least some of it would be lost or altered in translation.

I actually was in a book store last night. I borrowed a book. I recall opening it but I didn't really read it, It was more like I was absorbing what the book was about. There seemed to be more pictures than words telling the story.

on another note; I've come across other random text in dreams and they used to come out gibberish. Then i told myself that I need to translate it, or that my mind needs to... Now text comes out pretty ledgible, however, the sentences are usually structured in an odd way that makes it hard to understand the meaning. So I usually just read over the text quickly and try to feel out what it was saying \ meaning. if that makes sense.

I think it may be a matter of perspective on how you look \ perceive these things instead of a direct functioning of right vs left mind. (just my opinion of course)

Very good explaination Rare. It makes total sense to me.

This is how I read in dreams too, don't look at the letters look at the meaning.

I would think that it would be a lot easier to remember songs and recreate them, than books you have read. I think the mind would have a much harder time putting thoughts into text, then into music, that you have probably heard before.

I actually remember one time that I was sitting in my room (in a dream) reading a really thick book. Have you noticed that when you watch TV or movies in dreams that you can get sucked into them, or they become more than just a show? It was kind of like that. I started seeing the story as an observer, and a couple times I got distracted. I kept coming back to the book and the second or third time I lost my place. I was flipping through the pages for the longest time, but I couldn't find where I had left off. It was kind of funny though, because I would be looking at random pages and there would be random bits of scenes and ideas. At one point I got really disappointed at something that happened further on in the story and closed the book.

Originally Posted by Stevehattan

It's pretty common for dream songs to seem like compositions of your mind, but they almost always turn out to not be original. There have been lawsuits over music that people heard in their dreams, wrote down, and passed off as their own, but which turned out to have been note-for-note copies of other people's music.

You'd think the person would recognize it once they woke up and played it. Maybe if they only heard it once they'd forget about it tho, and think that they made it up.

Originally Posted by ThiefDeath

Didn't one of the classical composers like Mozart or Beethoven get all his music from his dreams?

Yea I thought some composer did that too.

Originally Posted by nautilus

I actually remember one time that I was sitting in my room (in a dream) reading a really thick book.

Yea, I remember "reading" a big long contract in a non-lucid once; maybe non-lucids don't count because you do have that illusion that you are reading, and if you became lucid you would realize that the words don't make sense. Then again, it is a good dream sign when the words change, if you do happen to notice it.

It just seems to me like a few letters would be much simpler for the brain to make than music, especially my non-musical brain.

Yea, I remember "reading" a big long contract in a non-lucid once; maybe non-lucids don't count because you do have that illusion that you are reading, and if you became lucid you would realize that the words don't make sense. Then again, it is a good dream sign when the words change, if you do happen to notice it.

It just seems to me like a few letters would be much simpler for the brain to make than music, especially my non-musical brain.

Ah, that gives me an idea...In dreams not much is stable, everythings always changing; the words can be looked at several times and will usually be different each time, and this seems odd because words are supposed to remain stationary. With music, the notes are changing, and this is perfectly normal because they are supposed to change. Although when we wake up the notes are hard to remember...Hmm, this is an interesting topic By the way, now that I think about it, I've had some difficulty reading music in (non-lucid) dreams. I'll be playing violin, sight-reading some piece I don't know, and I'll be doing just fine until I think about the notes I'm seeing on the page and get confused.

Originally Posted by nautilus

Ah, that gives me an idea...In dreams not much is stable, everythings always changing; the words can be looked at several times and will usually be different each time, and this seems odd because words are supposed to remain stationary. With music, the notes are changing, and this is perfectly normal because they are supposed to change.

Good point.

Originally Posted by nautilus

Although when we wake up the notes are hard to remember...Hmm, this is an interesting topic By the way, now that I think about it, I've had some difficulty reading music in (non-lucid) dreams. I'll be playing violin, sight-reading some piece I don't know, and I'll be doing just fine until I think about the notes I'm seeing on the page and get confused.

Maybe you're onto something there. That's weird that you are "reading" something you don't know--maybe because you can read music, you are actually composing something, but dreaming that you are reading it. Cool. In my case (if I actually did ever compose something) I would never dream about reading it, since I can't read music--it just plays in the background, like music always does for me.

Music I hear in my dreams is so much more emotionally captivating than any music I hear in real life. I've been moved to dream-tears over dream-music!

In normal life, I feel like I'm struggling to find melodies or whatever. But it just comes so naturally in dreams. I really wish I could just find a way to sit back and listen to any music that my subconscious might create.

Most of it is probably unoriginal. Music has been my biggest lucid dream sign so far. I listen to kinda obscure artists and everything, so when everyone is singing along to a song, I can usually pick out if it is realistic or not.

One time a dream-band was playing a song I actually wrote! It was cool to hear, but a dead giveaway that it was just a dream. And once I know it's a dream, I can't just sit back and listen to music, cuz there's so much else to do! I get overexcited.

Hmm, I can't really recall much music from my dreams, offhand, but I have, in lucid dreams, read text from signs without trouble. It didn't make sense in context, but it was a meaningful sentence. That is, it wasn't something you'd expect to find on a sign, but it made perect sense. I even purposefully looked away and back several times, and the text never changed. Though I wasn't quite as lucid as I thought I was in the dream, seeing as I used the pen I always carry in my pocket to write the message on the sign down on the palm of my hand so that I could read it when I woke up.

I'll have to pay more attention to music in my dreams, though.

Text is usually just gibberish to me as well. Music, on the other hand, is generally awesome! As for the music not being original, i guess that would happen on most occasions. However, i'm able to compose music in my head (as in right now i can just make up a guitar part, or mess around with up to three melodies), it's something i like to do when i'm bored on the train to uni. The music i make becomes much more vivid when i'm half asleep and in dreams it's got a massive sound - but that music is created by my subconscious, and can be rather difficult to remember properly in the morning.

Ps. i've played guitar for five years, so most of the stuff i'm messing around with is actually original

Originally Posted by adam has a dream

However, i'm able to compose music in my head (as in right now i can just make up a guitar part, or mess around with up to three melodies), it's something i like to do when i'm bored on the train to uni.

I'm not surprised that you could do it, if you are able to compose music while you are awake too; or even just able to play music. I was surprised that I could do it, having no musical ability.

I had another thought about this later. I'm not an painter and I create incredibly detailed beautiful visuals in dreams, in full color, and moving realistically. Maybe the music is just the auditory equivalent, and it's really not that surprising.

I still don't know why I can't read more than a couple words at the most, and even those will change. That would be such a useful way to learn in the short time we have in lucids (well not really "learn", more like "remember") if you could conjure a book. Non-lucids don't count for that, because I just dream I'm reading, I know--I'm sure if I become lucid, the text would disintegrate into gibberish.

Maybe with enough practice and enough years to learn to do it, maybe somebody could. Or maybe it is just impossible for some reason.

Somehow I have usually no problem reading stuff in LDs and I even remember most of it afterwards! I have read many magazines, for example a review of a review of Radeon 9800 video card: the text was very clear, no warping or weird characters at all. The review was written in a non-professional style though. The newest example of reading in dreams I had a couple of nights ago. There was a sign on a building which said "Vi Enna Oy". I have never heard of such before but I was able to recall it.

Last night I listened to music in a dream but it wasn't composed by me completely. I was at a concert of college students and one guy was playing Mike Portnoy's drum solo from Ytse Jam (Dream Theater). He was very poor but I could of course recognice the parts of the song. He also had some improvised bits and they were logical. Composing drum solos though must be easier than making whole songs (in a dream). I can make songs in my head at least when I'm awake: I like to improvise a lot and sometimes I accidentally make really catchy melodies just by improvising in my head. I don't think I have used this ability in my dreams yet but I think I should try it. Maybe I can remember the song when I wake up and write it down.

I guess some people can read better than others in dreams. You should incubate reading about something in particular, maybe something you know about, and see how that works and if it makes sense. Then you could progress to things that you think you should know, but can't remember, and see if you can get anything. Or incubate a problem or idea, let your SC work on it for a while, then read the solution in a dream. You could conjure up a book with the title of the subject you want to read about. You might really come up with a creative way to figure out things.

I wish I could do it, but I don't think I can. (Defeatist, I know. I guess I could try.)

That's funny that the guy playing the drums was playing badly.

Actually. Moon. Why do you think, you cant compose music?

The reason why I believe music sounds so beautiful in dreams is because you feel enveloped by it, its all around you, you feel it. I get the same feeling as I used to when I would get high and listen.

maybe it's different for others

I have no trouble reading a book in my LD's. =] I wonder why you do.

Originally Posted by ThiefDeath

Didn't one of the classical composers like Mozart or Beethoven get all his music from his dreams?

pretty sure it was the rolling stones on "satisfaction". i'll look it up right now

Aha!

Keith Richards states that he came up with the guitar riff for the song in his sleep, waking up in the middle of the night, recording the riff and the words "I can't get no satisfaction" on a cassette recorder and promptly falling back to sleep.

I've found that text is at least complete gibberish, or at most somewhat coherent with extremely bad grammar and spelling mistakes. This is just for me personally.

In NLD text is actually surprisingly legible for me. Not sure about LD's, I haven't tried yet

music and color is much apart of the human being than text. think about it. people were painting and creating music long before written text. written text required us to think a little different, to take the abstract and make it mean something exact.

with music however it remains abstract. and abstract is sorta how the mind works. were not computers, we don't think in zeros and ones.

I HAVE been able to read text in a dream and its made sense. And I was able to look away and read it again. It changed and lost sense on the third time. But that was very rare.

I think dreams in this case give us a very good insight in how the subconscious mind collects memories. Think about it. Our memories are more emotional than exact. We don't remember text unless we really drill it into our memories. What we do remember is the meaning. And the meaning of something shows itself easier in abstracted forms in dreams rather than a blob of text.

I do remember that on that rare occasion when I was able to read the text, I wasn't trying so hard to focus. It was more like I looked at the page and understood what it was saying, word for word. It's not only until I give this undo attention to the letters, the words and the sentence structure that things start to fall apart.

Maybe we give too much attention in having the text be absolutely logical, rather than understanding that text is an abstract form of language. And language itself an abstract form of meaning.

Maybe in dreams, we take things apart and detach the given meaning to text and we can see it for what text really is. Abstract symbols with no inherent meaning.