Thread: Music in a Lucid Dream

Originally Posted by anotherdreamer

I did this intentionally in a dream a couple months ago.

^ I love that you made music play from the heavens for us!

You guys might be interested in reading Raven Knight's DJ:
Lucid Dreaming - Dream Views - New Dream Adventures of Raven Knight - Dream Journals
She uses music heavily in her LDs, with specific songs unlocking different dream powers.

I hear music playing in the background of my lucid and non-lucid dreams quite often, both real songs and original music.
I occasionally take note, but it's not usually something I pay particular attention to. Perhaps I will in future.
I've tried playing existing songs on various instruments in LDs with varying levels of success. I seem to perform way better with instruments I don't play IWL, whereas I struggle with instruments I do. I don't have a very nice singing voice in dreams either, which is a shame, because I've heard about people (CanisLucidus comes to mind) who have amazing dream-voices!

As for existing songs that I'd like to hear in a future LD...
The first thing that comes to mind is any MIDI sequence from a game, and then I'd try to shift the pitch to see if it would play correctly in another key, or change instruments halfway through the song.

EDIT: I remembered something else I've done in a few dreams!
I used to work as a freelance filmmaker IWL, and some of my early work was making music videos.
I've made a few films in dreams before (lucid and non,) including music videos and films with soundtracks. The most recent one was a semi-lucid dream where I made a music video for Rihanna. She's not an artist I'm a huge fan of IWL, but it was an original song with her voice/style, and I used some cool dream powers to make shapes with electricity to match the sound of her music, like cubic Tesla coils.

Originally Posted by anotherdreamer

I asked her, “Did I scare you?” She turned away, nodded, and said, “Yes, the sister thing…” I interrupted her, “I didn’t mean it like that, it wasn’t even the whole truth”.

Once I started the music playing, it kept playing for the entire duration of the dream.

They're completely original songs as well, I think it's really neat.

This first quote has me so insanely curious!? If it's WL stuff, then I don't want to pry, but if it's referencing another dream then I'd love to read it. It seems like an interesting story.
The fact that the music kept playing is really awesome. Did it keep changing so that it was just a really long song played once, or was it like a shorter song on repeat?
I think it's awesome that you can write original songs in your dreams and remember them. You should definitely record them!

Originally Posted by ~ Dreamer ~

I love that you made music play from the heavens for us!

You guys might be interested in reading Raven Knight's DJ. She uses music heavily in her LDs, with specific songs unlocking different dream powers.

I seem to perform way better with instruments I don't play IWL. I don't have a very nice singing voice in dreams either.

As for existing songs that I'd like to hear in a future LD...
The first thing that comes to mind is any MIDI sequence from a game, and then I'd try to shift the pitch to see if it would play correctly in another key, or change instruments halfway through the song.

I used some cool dream powers to make shapes with electricity to match the sound of her music, like cubic Tesla coils.

Awww... now I'm singing "Dream Lover" in my head.
That sounds like an interesting read, I will definitely have to do that!
I've heard you can improve your playing skills by practicing in a dream though. That's probably why it's harder; because you actually know what you are doing and you are really practicing. Also, do you sing in WL?
Hmmm... I'm not a gamer, but I can see how if you are this would be interesting.
I hate Rihanna, but that sounds like a really cool dream video anyway!

Originally Posted by EamonWill

Awww... now I'm singing "Dream Lover" in my head.
That sounds like an interesting read, I will definitely have to do that!
I've heard you can improve your playing skills by practicing in a dream though. That's probably why it's harder; because you actually know what you are doing and you are really practicing. Also, do you sing in WL?
Hmmm... I'm not a gamer, but I can see how if you are this would be interesting.
I hate Rihanna, but that sounds like a really cool dream video anyway!

Heee, cute theme song for us dream-lovebirds!

Yeah, I think you're right about the instruments. I know when I'm hitting the wrong keys on a dream-piano, whereas I am like a rock star on dream-guitar, probably because I know nothing about playing guitar IWL so I can't go wrong!

Do I sing? Haha... if anotherdreamer wasn't in this thread, I could get away with saying I have a terrible singing voice and leaving it at that, but he'll waggle his finger at me for that.
I very rarely sing IWL, I'm super shy about it, but I've been coming out of my shell a bit more lately. I wonder if my dream-voice will improve as a result, that will be interesting to see. Maybe I'll try singing in my next lucid dream.

I actually haven't been much of a gamer at all for the past few years, but I think the music used in some older style games is really cool.
It's more the music format I'm interested in though, not the game soundtracks. I'd want to try thinking of the music like a MIDI sequence, which is like digital sheet music that gets played by virtual instruments.
I've been creating some MIDI files in waking life recently, and transposing them into different keys to help people learn easier versions of songs on Synthesia, a piano tutorial program. I'd like to see how well my dreaming mind can edit a song on the fly, like changing the key, tempo, and the sound of individual instruments. Perhaps I could visualise some kind of interface in the dream to mimic a digital music editor.
I can separate music into layers in my head IWL, so I'd be interested to see how much of this crosses over into my dreams!
I'll try to remember to report back if/when I try these things.

Here's a video about MIDI editing since I probably did a bad job of explaining it...

Originally Posted by EamonWill

This first quote has me so insanely curious!? If it's WL stuff, then I don't want to pry, but if it's referencing another dream then I'd love to read it. It seems like an interesting story.
The fact that the music kept playing is really awesome. Did it keep changing so that it was just a really long song played once, or was it like a shorter song on repeat?
I think it's awesome that you can write original songs in your dreams and remember them. You should definitely record them!

We were just having a conversation the day before about how similar we are and I think I mentioned something about us being like spiritual siblings. Like she was my twin sister that I never knew I had.

It was like one long, continuous song that kept evolving with the emotion and the layout of the scene.

Originally Posted by ~ Dreamer ~

I very rarely sing IWL, I'm super shy about it, but I've been coming out of my shell a bit more lately. I wonder if my dream-voice will improve as a result, that will be interesting to see. Maybe I'll try singing in my next lucid dream.
It's more the music format I'm interested in though, not the game soundtracks. I'd want to try thinking of the music like a MIDI sequence, which is like digital sheet music that gets played by virtual instruments.

I think it's great that you are opening up and coming out of your shell, especially if you have a talent. You should never hide something that might bring you or another joy!
I'm glad you shared that video too! I looked up what MIDI was when you made your first post and still didn't really get it. Once I saw the video I realized I have actually seen someone making MIDI songs before. I mentioned them earlier in this thread. His stage name is The Ventriloquist Mute. I've sat around watching him and another guy jamming out and then later him editing the sounds on his computer. Very cool!

Originally Posted by anotherdreamer

We were just having a conversation the day before about how similar we are.

It was like one long, continuous song that kept evolving with the emotion and the layout of the scene.

Oh, I see. That's really awesome that you guys found each other! Thank you for sharing!
It must have been awesome to hear such complex music in your dream!



Well, I have yet to induce a song consciously, however, I have had two songs play in dreams recently. One was non-lucid and the whole dream was just a music video. It was the dumbest freakin' song you've ever heard. Some really, really, really bad pop song. But I was interested because the girls were hot, lol.
The other was in a lucid dream from last night. I was standing on a bridge and staring out at a city when all of a sudden this really beautiful classical/symphonic piece started playing. It was a really gorgeous song. Unfortunately, I was too excited to pay much attention. I only actively listened to it for about 30 seconds. But I know if I could hear it again it would be an instant favorite of mine. I think this happened because I've been listening to so much classical and symphonic music lately in WL. I'm definitely going to have to do this more! In fact... cue Pandora now!