Writing songs in your sleep

Subject: RE: Writing songs in your sleep
From: Beer
Date: 08 Jun 09 - 10:26 PM

When I hit my teens I recall that I would compose tunes on the piano in my dreams. Would get up in the morning and go to the piano and search for the melody. left it behind though, and today I just play the guitar and sing a bit.
Beer (adrien)

Subject: RE: Writing songs in your sleep
From: GUEST,.gargoyle
Date: 08 Jun 09 - 10:12 PM

How did this get changed from:
Dream music which was the subject posted by
our Artful Codger to Writing songs in your sleep
which is the current Thread Subject?

Yes - Tunes
Yes - Lyrics
Yes - Fiction
Yes - Film Scenes
Yes - Intense Complicated Philosophy

You CANNOT learn languages only listening to speech while you sleep (I have tried) - but you might conjugate vivid verbs in dreams - (I do).

Males most certainly experience a vivid conjugation in dreams without the exchange of genetic material. I do not beleive there is evidence of this phenomenon of fluidity in females.

Sincerely,
Gargoyle

Subject: RE: Writing songs in your sleep
From: GUEST,Lock and Key
Date: 08 Jun 09 - 09:24 PM

Who sleeps?

Subject: RE: Writing songs in your sleep
From: frogprince
Date: 08 Jun 09 - 09:20 PM

I haven't done it myself, but Dave Carter said he wrote "Gentle Soldier of My Soul" in his sleep. It's well up on my list of what I consider hauntingly beautiful songs.

Subject: RE: Writing songs in your sleep
From: Seamus Kennedy
Date: 08 Jun 09 - 08:48 PM

I keep a little digital recorder on the nightstand, and songs or jokes will come to me usually just before waking.

So I force myself to wake up and record it before I forget it.

Seamus

Subject: RE: Writing songs in your sleep
From: Betsy
Date: 08 Jun 09 - 08:03 PM

Dunnit - and also walking home from the pub half pissed - many a good song maybe went amiss - it's called "when the Muse visits you" - for one reason or another they tend to visit in the most in appropriate moments - catch 'em right and I am given to understand it's great - in my case they seem to like a few pints inside me before they visit - I'll have to get on of those Dictaphones or something ,and try to nail 'em down a bit .
Cheers
Betsy

Subject: RE: Writing songs in your sleep
From: The Awkward Recruit
Date: 08 Jun 09 - 07:05 PM

Benji Kirkpatrick wrote Unclothed Nocturnal Manuscript Crisis under such conditions - but it was manuscript paper that he couldn't find, rather than a pencil!

Subject: RE: Writing songs in your sleep
From: Dorothy Parshall
Date: 08 Jun 09 - 07:04 PM

Never, ever go to bed without writing implement and paper at hand. Pen with light in it is very useful. Don't even need to break the train of thought by turning on a light.

Subject: RE: Writing songs in your sleep
From: Liz the Squeak
Date: 08 Jun 09 - 06:29 PM

I have woken in the middle of the night and immediately written down some of the most wonderful lyrics ever to come from the end of a pen... trouble is, they never join up or go with anything. I have dreamt entire songs though, at least 2 of my collection are from dreams.

Finding a pencil in the dark is the hardest bit.

LTS

Subject: RE: Writing songs in your sleep
From: Stringsinger
Date: 08 Jun 09 - 06:28 PM

The songs I write that way turn out to be nightmares.

Subject: RE: Writing songs in your sleep
From: katlaughing
Date: 08 Jun 09 - 06:18 PM

I do it with actually writing, but don't remember doing it with music whilst asleep. May have to try! Sounds neat!

Subject: Dream music
From: Artful Codger
Date: 08 Jun 09 - 05:03 PM

I almost always wake up with some tune running through my head. In fact, I've trained myself to remember my last dream when I wake up, and find that these tunes are usually carry-overs from my dreams, though the internal music may switch gears shortly after waking. The title of the recognized music may be meaningful, and with songs there will often be a line that stands out as significant.

Sometimes I end up with tunes that I've never heard before, ones that apparently I've composed in my sleep. Most are derivative dreck, but some are interesting enough that I've written down what I can remember, and a few I've even used for actual songs.

This morning, for instance, I woke up dream-singing a trio with my brother and his wife. They were reading their parts from sheet music, and I jumped in with an improvised bass line that added some jauntiness and levity. I remember all three lines of the chorus and about half the words. And it has potential.

So I was wondering: What are your experiences with dream music backgrounds and with composing music or lyrics in your sleep? Have you tried "sleep-tasking": achieving specific goals while you sleep, like brainstorming a problem, writing a tune or fixing a problem line?