MUSICAL FINGERPAINTING: Do other people do this? A very strange thing started after I first began listening to (slightly) more classical/orchestral/I don’t really know the right term but you probably know the kind of thing I mean, the line of musical tradition that goes through the baroques and the romantics and whatnot, then gets all weird with Stravinsky, Messaien, Mussorgsky and other non-rock-like music–ANYWAY, so I started listening to more of that. And then the strange thing started happening: Before I fell asleep, as I was sinking into sleep, I’d “hear” music. And I’d get to play around with it, influencing it, shaping the sounds. Note that this is weird because I have exactly no musical talent, can’t carry a tune in a bucket, etc. But as I was falling asleep I’d get to “compose.” Mostly this music is instrumental, orchestra-like, which is also odd since I have a much harder time understanding and enjoying music without a human voice. (Which is why I didn’t listen to Beethoven and the rest for such a long time.) Last night, it was a neat-o saxophone line–no other instruments, no voices, just this sax that I could “play.” Kind of Lora Logic-y. And Tuesday night it was definitely the oddest so far: 80s pop. Not New Wave, which I love, but straight-up “Q107 Washington’s Top 40, with Kasey Kasem!” stuff, “Careless Whispers“-type stuff.* Synth-o-rama. It was so much fun. I find it odd that I have basically no control over whether this cool mental trick occurs, and what kind of music I’ll get to play with; but hey, the brain is a bizarre thing. So I’m basically wondering if other people–especially other non-musical people–have similar experiences.

*The place I found that link: The NIH. Yes. The National Institutes of Health. Their “kids’ pages.” What’n, Ah say what’n???