Choose Your Own Adventure Playlist

As a kid, I always loved the promise that came with a new book. The added bonus of choosing my own adventure gave me a feeling of power over the narrative. Now as a writer, every story I craft is my own little adventure. I decide the tone and the feel of every scene and I rarely know where it’s going to take me. With this playlist method I’ve crafted, I can visualize the scene I want to write and handpick a soundscape to match. When I finally come out of the scene and take a look around me, it suddenly occurs to me that I had left my body and been transported directly into the story. I become so engrossed that I can easily be frightened by someone just walking into the room because it creates such a sudden shift in my reality.

If you would like to play along, I have a few recommendations. Like all great adventures, you’ll need to come equipped with some basic necessities.

Headphones? Check. Decent headphones or a high quality sound system are a must. Sound is a powerful ally when trying to focus your attention and drown out any outside interference.

Computer? Check. We’re going to be opening quite a few internet tabs at once, so this won’t work very well on your phone.

Adblock? Check. Youtube is easily the best resource for cruising along your own digital zen superhighway, but if you’re being interrupted with advertisements for deodorant, insurance, and cars you can’t afford every three minutes it will severely impact your bliss. Feel free to turn the adblock off when you aren’t practicing this exercise.

Lastly, just remember you can always adjust the volumes of the videos seperately to get the right ambience.

Now the key is to get a good tonal base going. I start with a thunderstorm setting because it’s my favorite kind of weather. With that playing, I add in some tibetan singing bowls. The slow delta frequencies produced from this lovely instrument help activate the portions of your brain related to relaxation and concentration. From there, it’s all about where I want to go.

I could head down by the coast and listen to the waves crash on the rocks as seagulls screech overhead. I follow the lighthouse keeper as he oils the machinery that powers the ominous fog horn that warns ships of approaching land.

I could be in a cave where bats quietly gossip and the chirp of crickets echoes heavily off the cavern walls.

The open desert is always welcoming with it’s open spaces and big sky. The rhythmic tapping and chanting of a peyote ceremony lulls me nearly to sleep, when I hear a lone coyote call in the distance.

Finding percussion that fits is difficult because so often it’s too abrasive. This performance, originally orchestrated by the great, Eitetsu Hayashi, transports me to feudal Japan on the eve of battle. In the distance, a blacksmith's hammer rings out as another sword is added to the armory. The soldiers run drills and the deep, ominous boom of the taiko drums reminds them all that these are no longer just exercises. My breathing increases with excitement and I feel my heartbeat matching the feverish speed and intensity of the drummers.

The same way the wrong percussion can ruin the mood, I personally find voices and talking to generally be a distraction but there is something about the soothing low tones and insights of John Butler that I find incredibly soothing.

If none of this has inspired you to take your own auditory journey, I might also suggest searching for street performers. You’ll find beauty in the simplicity of five-gallon buckets or pvc pipes mimicking a low-fi drum set. If you continue down that rabbit hole you’ll come across all manner of everyday objects being used to produce sweet melodies. A young woman in New York conjuring a lonely tune with a violin bow and a handsaw or a man on the streets of Prague performing symphonies with a cheap set of wine glasses.

Chanting monks, zikar dancing, african village drum circles, all of these can provide some peacefully repetitive elements that can tap you into a higher level of consciousness without ever leaving your couch.

Lay back and listen or try writing a short story based on the auditory world you’ve created. Either way, always remember, it’s your trip, you choose the destination.