# Off-Topic Discussion > The Lounge > Ask/Tell Me About >  >  Tell me...Does music make you visualize, or "see" a storyline in your head?

## bro

Hi there folks...

I'v recently been taking comfort in much of my music collection, seems to get me through hard times.

My question is this : *When listening to a song, any song really, does it evoke imagery, along with emotion? 

*_I've noticed that depending on the type, my brain will conjure up an appropriate, almost, well- movie sequence I guess...sometimes sad, other times enjoyable, and then of course the adrenaline pumping image of redlining your vehicle on the highway when listening to "exciting" music.

An example for me is right now. I'm listening to "Teenage Wasteland" by The Who and picturing myself cruising down a wide open highway, cornfields for miles all around...pondering life...
_
I could go on and on because almost every song does this for me, but I'd like to hear what your reactions are to music, visual or other...

Thoughts?

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## Amethyst Star

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.

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## Man of Steel

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.

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## Bayside

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.

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## DeadDollKitty

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....  :smiley:

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## Lseadragon

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.

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## 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).

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## awoke

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.

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## Pastro

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

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## Michael

> 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.  :tongue2: 

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.

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## R.D.735

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.

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## Grod

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.

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## 27

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

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## nerve

> 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...

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## CoLd BlooDed

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.

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## Kromoh

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?
-

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## Man of Steel

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


_Goes off to listen to_ Hand of Sorrow.

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## Kromoh

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

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## Adrenaline Junkie

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.

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## Man of Steel

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



I'm not even close yet, but I'm trying.  :wink2:  25-26 songs so far.

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## ClouD

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.

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## bro

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

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## Mrs. Jones

imagery-all songs. emotion-most.

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## CryoDragoon

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?"  ::barf::  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

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## CymekSniper

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.

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## suttsman

Yeah, all the time! Like right now I'm listening to Sweet Home Alabama, and visualizing this one guy going to Alabama on those "Big wheels". Or in Smoke on the Water, where I visualize some guy setting fire to some building with a flare gun, causing "Smooooooke on the waaater"

Emotion, sometimes. Example: Carry on Wayward Son by Kansas. Makes me feel real happy and hopeful.

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## Howie

This is the beautiful thing about the fine arts. You can be in a position to analyze, such as a curator for art, or a composer for music.  Otherwise, you do not have to fragment the work. We can afford to just let the art take us where it may. :bravo:

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## DancenSweetie8

Well i think about dance like 24/7 so when i listen to music i make up a dance in my head and visualize it.

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## arby

I don't really like visuals in my songs when I'm wanting to visualize =). I purposefully look for songs without vocals. I don't want to have to see what the artist paints, I wanna see the picture the artist's song paints. I've accumulated quite a nice collection of such song. Its mainly comprised of freelance "classical" artists and soundtracks.

heres a nice example. Close your eyes and give that a listen.

then heres his audio page

I can sometimes get this sort of stuff stuck in my head through the day and even to bed time and I think that helps visualization =P

EDIT: Of course, theres some good stuff with vocals too.

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## Kromoh

omg arby that's totally uber man

really nice OMG I feel in a battle

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## GestaltAlteration

I used to be the same way arby. I'm warming up to vocals now though.

    I find myself visualizing with music. A lot of times I'll take control of those visualizations (or, say, a character in them) and play around with it in my mind. Weired, huh?

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## Kromoh

arby... I owe you my life and underwear for showing me that website. I feel passion burning from within  ::D:

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## bro

Good site arby, thanks. I understand what you mean...the music itself, pure and not tainted with vocals. Allows you to "see better", whatever it might mean to you.

Thanks for all the responses...very nice, lots of profound ideas.

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