As I write this I’m gearing up for the end of year concert with the community orchestra I play for. I’ll be posting the day afterwards.

So I figured as I’m having fun with earworms of “The Blue Danube” and the “Nutcracker Suite”, I’ll blog about music for this month. The title of the post comes from a song “Can I Have This Dance”…. so it always makes me think about writing and reading romance. You can listen to it here.

I always have music playing in the background while I write. Sometimes it’s just music that isn’t necessarily part of a story soundtrack, other times the music I’m listening to reminds me of a story or a character—or two. I know some people can’t write with music playing unless it doesn’t have lyrics. I’ve never had that issue, and often find myself zoning in and out, and coming back to the awareness that ‘oh, it’s that song playing’. One thing I do find myself doing with classical music is honing in on the violin parts—I guess it’s because that’s the instrument I play.

Many of my characters are musicians and/or music plays a part in the story. In some stories, it’s more subtle, such as Simon—from Shades of Sepia—being a pianist, although that doesn’t play a big part in the story. Kristopher in my WWII Echoes Rising series is a violinist, but it’s more his musical knowledge that impacts the storyline, especially in Winter Duet. However, the promise Michel—who plays the flute—that one day they will play a duet, is a thread that goes through the entire series.

In other stories, the music is very the focus of the story, or at least plays a huge part of it. In Prelude to Love, Joel is a high school music teacher. I loved writing that story as, with the musical element, and it being set in the Hutt Valley, I didn’t have to do a lot of research. I’m familiar with—or have played—all of the music mentioned in the book!

Coming into the Christmas season, plus the fact it was recently the anniversary of Armistice Day, my mind always goes back to Aiden and Jochen from On Wings of Song. Aidan is a musician, and the loss of his ability to sing because of his experiences in WWI drives a lot of the book.

So why do I feature music in my books? Apart from the fact I’m a musician and can’t imagine life without music, there’s a quote in On Wings of Song which I think speaks to why I think music and prose—and poetry—often go hand in hand.

“I like poetry.” Aiden shrugged, the fire in his eyes fading a little as he retreated back into himself. “It reminds me of music, I guess.”

“Music without the notes.” Aiden sounded thoughtful. “I like that.” He smiled, and his expression softened. Did he realize how breathtaking he was when he smiled? “Yes, I am a musician. I’ve loved music for as long as I remember.”