The newest ScribeTunes is here! American and Canadian powers combine in a collaborative project between me and Cassia Schaar to help writers have the best music for their writing. Have you ever spent half an hour or more trying to find the right mood music when you should be writing? Then this project is for you! Every other week we will be releasing playlists on Spotify and Apple Music that are themed for any writing scene you can think of!
This week we’re releasing a playlist of Romance. These are sweet pieces that make you feel warm and fuzzy inside, perhaps with a bit of melancholy for that love that can't be had or is being diligently pursued. But in general, these pieces give you butterflies in your stomach.
Give the playlists a follow because we're adding new tracks as we find them!
We also want to talk a little about why we chose some of these tracks. These and more are included in our ultimate playlist!
My Picks:
"Beijing Valentine" by James Horner (The Karate Kid)
This is a sweet and gentle piece of innocent love with clarinet, piano, and light strings. In the film, it's played when two young characters have their first kiss, but it's perfect for any tender moment between characters like holding hands on a rooftop or walking down a beach at sunset.
"Love Lost" by Yoko Shimomura (Final Fantasy XV)
This is such a warm and fuzzy piece with a sense of longing. The strings and piano can't help but bring out the feels. In the game, this is played when the main character recollects a tender time between him and his beloved. But this is perfect also for a date or a moment stolen at a window.
"Soul Mates" by Antonio Pinto (The Host)
I love the emotional tension in this song that lingers with a feeling of, "Are they going to kiss or not?" Then the piece blooms into soothing guitar with romantic bliss. This blend of synthetic tones and acoustic guitar is just bursting with warm fuzzies. I especially love the soft breathing as an instrument near the end. It makes me think of sitting with one's beloved and just enjoying feeling their chest rise and fall under your head.
"I Need You" by James Newton Howard (The Hunger Games: Catching Fire)
Though this piece starts with an air of apprehension and worry, the yearning violin sweeps you into tender romance that softens even further into guitar and then builds again into an orchestral full expression of love. At the end, it shifts into tension once again as the characters have to leave each other. This piece is perfect for stealing a bit of romance before a big battle to come.
"Forever In My Dreams" by Two Steps From Hell
This medley of synthetic, violins, and choir create a sweet romantic piece that is just pure happiness. It reminds me of a couple loving each other unabashedly during a picnic in a meadow or a romantic horseback ride through the woods.
Cassia Picks:
"Midnight in the Garden" by Alti Ovarsson (The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones)
This soft and gentle piano piece is dripping with an honesty that's needed from those romantic scenes you're writing. I can't help but feel a little sad and nostalgic while I listen to this song yet also trusting and hopeful. That makes this track perfect for a variety of love scenes--after all, they don't all have the same undertones.
"Seeing" by Sleeping At Last (Many Beautiful Things)
Sleeping At Last has been gaining some popularity lately, but even if you're familiar with his work, you might not know he worked on a documentary soundtrack back in 2015. This peaceful melody, in particular, could lull you to sleep and sometimes that's exactly what you want from a romance scene--that feeling that all is well and right in the world for that single moment in time.
Pro Tip: Documentary soundtracks are amazing to stick on loop because they don't have the same emotional fluctuation as regular movies! You won't even notice you've listened to the whole album five times in a row.
"Vision II" by M83 (You and the Night)
So ... I'm
"The Beach" by Alexander Desplat (Little Women)
I'll refrain from expressing my adoration for this movie and just gush about the soundtrack--it's magic in the form of soundwaves. I could have picked so many others but the titles are spoilers so here I present, "The Beach." It's whimsical, lighthearted, and full of possibility just like new love is. This one is great for those fun-loving scenes when your characters actually get to laugh a little. You do let them laugh...don't you?
"Stationary Cycle" by Theodore Shapiro and Mark Graham (The Secret Life of Walter Mitty)
"Stationary Cycle" is a gorgeous piece from a gorgeous movie. The love in this song is about so much more than that between two people. In my opinion, it also depicts the love someone can have for the world. While some pieces lull me to sleep, this one wakes me up! It's the start of something once the excitement has passed--it's those comfortable cool mornings with a cup of coffee and a new adventure ahead.
Contribute:
These playlists are collaborative! We’d love to have your suggestions for new pieces to grow these music archives. We just have a few guidelines:
- No lyrics! Scores only.
- The tones have to stay consistent. No music that starts in one tone but shifts to another.
- No jump scares! Nothing messes up writing flow like flinching.
Giveaway:
To thank you for helping grow this tool for writers and get the word out we’re doing a quarterly drawing for a three month Spotify or Apple Music subscription! Suggested tracks that are already in the playlist will not count as entries.
- New tracks accepted into the playlist earn one entry each.
- Follow Cassia and me on Instagram, this blog, and Spotify/Apple Music and comment that you did and that will earn you two entries each!
- Sharing this post with #ScribeTunesMusic on Instagram will earn you three entries!
Leave your suggestions in the comments! And come back on February 25th for the Tragedy playlist! Happy writing!
You may also like:
ScribeTunes: Soft Tension
ScribeTunes - Peaceful
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