S: I’m 22.
R: How long have you been a student at Kean University?
S: 4 years.
R: What’s your major?
S: My major is writing, English writing. Should I say my minor?
R: Sure.
S: My minor is health education.
R: Uhm, have you always been an English Major?
S: No.
R: What was your major prior?
S: Uhm, early education.
R: Alright. As an English major are you concentrating on a specific area?
S: Uhm, no.
R: No. So you’re not concentrating on, ah, creative writing, or composition studies, or
S: Oh, yeah. [laughing] What is it? Professional writing. That’s my concentration.
R: Do you have any musical training?
S: No.
R: You never played the harmonica? The flute?
S: No.
R: Guitar.
S: No.
R: Nothing. Sing. Singing?
S: I sung in a choir.
R: You did.
S: [laughing]
R: So you had somewhat of a
S: Yeah.
R: Alright. So how long have you been writing for?
S: Since I can write. Um. What do you mean? Like
R: I don’t...like when did you pick up a pen and like, or pencil, and wrote, ‘a dog ran.’
S: Are you talking about just writing? Or writing like, like enjoying writing.
R: Both.
S: Well, I started writing, I don’t know. When do you start writing? Like second grade?
R: I didn’t start writing till is was in, ah, middle school because I was...
S: You’re such a liar [laughing] . [serious tone] Second grade. But, I started keeping a diary when I was like in like [lady with a walker interrupts to say ‘excuse me'] when I was like 11. And I started writing in it all the time.
R: sounds interesting. Uhm. Have you taken any writing classes at Kean?
S: Yes.
R: Do you know what you took?
S: Yeah [laughing]. Uhm, all the major classes. Do you want me to name them?
R: Sure.
S: Okay. Rhetoric. Uhm, what’s this class called? Research in Language. I took...[laughing]...uhm...
R: Any creative writing classes? *255
S: No. Not yet. Oh, wait. Creative writing. I had to take creative writing. Yeah.
R: And writing for cyberspace?
S: Yeah.
R: Okay.
S: You see, I don’t know.
R: You don’t know? Have you taken any writing courses or seminars outside of Kean?
S: Uhm, did I? [whispering to self]. [serious tone]No. I was supposed to, but I didn’t do it.
R: Uhm. What type of writing do you do?
S: Well, basically right now I’m only doing journalism, but I’ve done other things.
R: You never dabbled in fiction? Likes short stories, poetry
S: Yes. I have.
R: Is there a specific place you like to write at?
S: Mmhmm. Do I have to say where it is[laughing]?
R: yeah, sure.
S: At my desk, in my room.
R: How long do you normally write for?
S: Depends on what kind of mood I’m in. Like if I wanna, what? Like if I have an idea, I can write until like I’m out of ideas but then sometimes I have really bad writer’s block and I don’t want to write at all [serious].
R: How do you normally writer? Like pen and pad. Computer?
S: I used to write on the computer but now I’m writing on a pen [serious], with a piece of paper and pen [laughing].
R: yeah.
S: and its better because I don’t edit as much. I found that out.
R: Do you listen to music?
S: Yes.
R: What genre of music do you listen to?
S: Like rock?
R: Rock.
S: Like alternative, like acoustic.
R: Acoustic. Nothing else. That’s it? You don’t like venture off into other other music genres?
S: No.
R: Like pop, or R&B?
S: like, basically, no.
R: No. Okay. How often do you listen to music?
S: When I am writing, or like in general?
R: In general.
S: All the time.
R: All the time.
S: Do you
R: Would you rather be listening to music now?
S: [laughing] we are listening to music now.
R: The ambient noise and background music is in effect right now. What other activities do you do while you are listening to music?
S: What do you mean? Like other things?
R: Yeah. Do you run
S: Work out. In the car. When I’m driving. Uhm...when I’m getting ready. When I’m in the shower [laughing].
R: Do you have headphones on?
S: No
R: Why? Why do you listen to music while you are running or working out?
S: Well, I don’t listen to the same music while I’m working out. But when I listen to music when I’m not working out [serious], it just makes me feel good [laughing].
R: What about when you’re doing homework? Do you listen to music?
S: Yeah, but I can’t listen to like upbeat music when I’m doing homework. Cuz then I just start like, I can’t concentrate [serious throughout].
R: Yeah, does it help you study better or help you do your homework better?
S: Uhm, I don’t study when, I don’t listen to music when I study. But I listen to music when I like write things or when I’m doing something else [serious throughout].
R: How do you listen to it? Do you listen to it over like headphones
S: Usually, I have it playing on my computer [serious].
R: Do you listen to music while you write?
S: [laugh]Yeah. I do.
R: and its
S: yeah, but not all the time.
R: What genre? The same thing?
S: Mmhmm.
R: Rock and
S: Yeah. John Mayer.
R: John Mayer? Why John Mayer?
S: I don’t know. His voice is so soothing [laughing].
R: Uhm, same question. Do you listen with headphones on or over the speakers?
S: When I’m writing?
R: Yeah. You listen to John Mayer serenade you
S: Speaker. Usually I have it playing over the speakers. My itunes is open.
R: Is there a specific playlist or anything you have?
S: Yeah. Yeah there is actually.
R: What songs? Are they sad or
S: They are all John Mayer songs. Like 16 songs and they play over and over and over again.
R: He’s a sad singer though?
S: Kind of. Well some things are like not. But sometimes I play the same song over and over again. It depends on what mood I’m in [laughing at end].
R: Mood your in? Or what mood you’re trying to get in?
S: Mood I’m in.
R: Do you remember when you started listening to music when you were writing or you always done that?
S: Uhm, no I didn’t always do that. I think once I started college. I don’t think I wrote a lot in like high school. I stopped [serious throughout].
R: So, when you listen to music now, you listen over the speakers of the computer while you are on a notepad?
S: Yeah. I have it like open next to me.
R: There’s no tv on or nothing else.
S: Mmhmm
R: Do you think music can evoke emotions?
S: Yeah, but sometimes, its hard. Yeah but sometimes I end up listening to the lyrics too much and then it like messes up my writing [serious throughout].
R: So tell me story about a time you wrote while listening to music?
S: Oh, I wrote this story about how. Actually I wrote it on the train about my journey into the city. Uhm, and I had, actually, I was listening to my headphones. I wasn’t listening to my computer when I wrote that [serious throughout].
R: And you were really into it?
S: Mmhmm. And I was on the train. And then i was, cuz I was in a bad mood. I was writing about how going into the city sucked. And it was like a little short story. And it was kinda funny. I liked it [serious throughout].
R: What were you listening to? Do you remember? John Mayer again?
S: Uhm, no I think I just had it on shuffle [serious].
R: Uhm, how do you think it effected your writing? Were you more creative? Do you think it affected you at all while you were writing?
S: Well, yeah. I like, well it helps me like zone, zone out from everyone else, I guess. And, uhm, I think actually, wow this is making me think, actually I think its better if I don’t listen to the same songs over and over again. Cuz like each song kind like, cuz each song makes you think like a kind a way [serious throughout].
R: So, but you try not to listen to the lyrics? Just the beat?
S: Mmhmm.
R: Or the rhythm?
S: Yeah. but sometimes, uhm, I am listening to a song and then I get an idea.
R: Okay. What do you mean by that? You get an idea?
S: Like I’ll be in a train and I’ve been listening to a lot more music now because I commute so much and I like don’t like conversing with people. So, I’ll like listen to music and then I’ll be listening to music, then I always have like my teen vogue pad with me [serious tone until she mentions the teen vogue] and then I’ll like write, cuz I listen to a certain song [serious tone].
R: Do you think that music affects your brainstorming and drafting and revising, like have you ever listened to a different set of music when your brainstorming to when you’re actually writing, to where your revision process and your actually draft. Do you listen to different music then also? *1300
S: Uhm, I guess its different because when i’m brainstorming or coming up with ideas its like just random songs that like make me think. And I guess when I already have an idea and I’m writing, I’ll like listen to something more like John Mayer. Something that I’m used to [serious].
R: Is it because its something soothing?
S: Yeah. I think so.
R: That’s what it sounds like to me.
S: And then, uhm, and then, actually when i revise, I like read out loud a lot to myself. So, I don’t think I listen to music when I do that. Cuz I think I read the same over and and over and over again, like out loud. And people might think, I’m [serious throughout]
R: Crazy?
S: And my mom walks by and she’s like ‘what are you doing?’
R: Have you ever listen to music that you were unfamiliar with while you wrote? Like if you write to this [the overhead music at Barnes and Nobles] how would you feel then?
S: I probably wouldn’t pay attention to it.
R: You wouldn’t pay attention to the music. You’d zone out?
S: Mmhmm
R: Wouldn’t that affect your writing then?
S: By zoning out?
R: By trying to zone out with this music in the background. Like would it throw you off even though you’re trying to like separate yourself from
S: Yeah cuz like sometimes in Starbucks when they are playing like certain kind of music its like what the f**k is that [serious]
R: Yeah, like what the f is that
S: Yeah.
R: Like why are they playing this jazz on here. I like John Mayer. Why aren’t they playing that?
S: [laughing] yeah.
R: Have you ever written lyrics into your paper? Like you’re listening to one of your John Mayer songs
S: Sometimes, actually when I can’t write, I actually did this the other day. I, uhm, write down the lyrics of like the lyrics that I like and I write them in my phone and then like sometimes I’ll look back at that then I’ll just remember how I felt. And then I’ll like like go off of that [serious throughout].
R: So
S: Like certain lyrics
R: So it wasn’t necessarily the song, but it was the lyrics in the song.
S: Mmhmm
R: And your like my emotions, blah blah.
S: Yeah.
R: How about tell me a story about a time when you wrote without music. Was it any different than writing with music?
S: Uhm, well I wrote a paper like on Tuesday without music. And it was like kinda like. I didn’t like what I was writing. It was boring. I don’t know. I have to be comfortable when I’m writing. And like at least like when I can zone out, but like if I’m like comfortable or not like in my usual. I can’t do it [serious throughout].
R: So you need the music to put you in that smooth zone?
S: [laughing]Yeah.
R: Do you remember the grade you got on that?
S: I didn’t get it back yet.
R: Do you remember any other time when you had write like in class, for in-class essays.
S: Oh, I hate them. Yeah, I don’t like them. I can’t concentrate [serious throughout].
R: Why is that? The pressure of the teacher but is there anything else?
S: Uhm, well, yeah, cuz in class essays are hard but I guess cuz you have no other stimulation. You’re just kinda like there. I don’t know. There’s nothing to look at. There’s nothing to like like listen to [serious throughout].
R: Have you ever listened to music before you went to the class?
S: Yeah.
R: Like say you have an in-class essay
S: Yeah. I never did that, but its a good idea.
R: Have you ever stopped writing to change the music or change the playlist or whatever?
S: Yeah, in the train all the time. Like if a song comes on and I’m not feeling it. I’ll change it [serious throughout].
R: This is while you’re writing?
S: Yeah.
R: Yeah. So how does it, does it affect your writing. Doe it throw off anything?
S: No. It doesn’t. I don’t think so.
R: But its still the same genre?
S: It depends on what kind of mood I’m in. What I’m writing about or what I’m thinking at that moment [serious throughout].
R: So its not necessarily the song? Its what you’re thinking?
S: Well, there’s two different things. Its either I’m listening to a song and I get an idea and then I’ll write it down. Like listening to the song and the lyrics or while I’m writing and I’m in the zone and I’m like writing with the music playing in the background its more of like like how I’m feeling. I’m writing something sad. You know what I mean [serious throughout].
R: What if, say, suppose you are listening to hard rock or something you are not used to would you write differently? Do you think you would write differently?
S: I don’t think I’ll be able to write, if I was listening to hard rock.
R: No.
S: Now that I think about it, I don’t really like...like loud and like upbeat when I write.
R: So, do you write poetry?
S: No. Not really. I hate it.
R: You hate poetry but not really writing? So you do write a little bit?
S: Mmhmm
R: Do you listen to hip-hop when you write poetry?
S: No. I don’t. Is that a real question?
R: No. I was just wondering. Because there’s a lot of ties to hip-hop and poetry.
S: I wish I could listen to hip hop and have ideas to write poetry, but I can’t [serious].
R: When you stop writing to change the music or whatever, the song, does it give you a break, like creatively, to think of like a different topic. Say another song came on, where you able to think of something else to write about?
S: Uhm, I guess sometimes, like when I stop, I’ll look up and like, like I’m thinking about when I’m in the train. I does this all the time on the train. I’ll look up and like look around and like sometimes, I’ll like come up with something else, but sometimes if I’m really into it, I’ll just like change the song and like not even pay attention that I am changing the song. Sometimes I don’t even like, I just like click the button and know where it is [serious throughout]
R: Then you go right back to writing?
S: Yeah.
R: Something creative.
S: Yeah.
R: Something that you were writing before?
S: Mmhmm
R: Yeah. Uhm, have you ever turned off the music while you were writing?
S: Hmm...have I? I feel like I have. Oh, yeah, I did. Just recently. What was I writing? I think I was writing my, uhm, an article that was due in like an hour. And like all these bad songs just kept coming on in my itunes and I was getting annoyed. So, I just shut it off. It was like not my songs. And I was over John Mayer that day. I listened to him too much [serious].
R: So if you had John Mayer, it would have helped you? Or actually, you listened to him too much. If you had something else to listen to, would it help you? Something
S: Like nothing was like hitting the spot.
R: How do you think your essay came out, or your paper?
S: It sucked.
R: It sucked?
S: Yeah, like really bad.
R: No creative influence?
S: no
R: Typical template. All right, So, have you ever written at Starbucks? I think I asked that before.
S: Yes
R: How was that?
S: Uhm, well yeah, It depends. The reason I didn’t like writing at Starbucks the other day and without music is because I didn’t have my headphones to listen but then if I had my headphones to listen, I wouldn’t have a problem- sped up her talk during this part [serious throughout].
R: So, if you were to write at Starbucks and you didn’t have your headphones and you were listening to the music
S: There? Like the music playing
R: Yeah. The jazz or blues
S: I wouldn’t pay attention to it. I mean I’ll hear it, but its in the background. I feel like its just like right now the music is playing but I’m not really listening to it, but I know its there.
R: Do you think that affects you at all? This like background music.
S: Now no.
R: If you were writing right not.
S: Probably. Probably, but I wouldn’t pay attention.
R: Okay. Frank Sinatra is singing right now, would it put you in the mood to write?
S: Yeah, cuz its soothing. Yeah. That other stuff that was playing was just crazy.
R: How is writing without music different, or is it different? Like do you feel a difference when you’re writing with music or without. How does it affect you?
S: Well, do you want my like personal opinion on this?
R: Yeah, what’s your personal opinion?
S: Uhm, well I think it actually has to do with the person. Cuz I know some people that, uhm, can’t write with music and some people who can only write with music. I think I’m just odd because I can, I can’t really do both. I can like. Mine’s more about my mood or how I am feeling. Or like what I’m doing. Usually I use music for either inspiration or to just like make me feel comfortable while I’m writing. Cuz I have to be like really comfortable when I’m writing something or feel it at least. Even if I am in a public area [serious throughout].
R: Have you ever written like a bio paper or
S: Like a lab report
R: Something non-creative.
S: Like a lab report or something.
R:Yeah. Did you have music on then?
S: It was so long ago. Uhm,
R: Well, I know that when I was majoring in Bio, I couldn’t listen to music. But now that I’m the creative writer, I’m like let me turn this song on and write.
S: Yeah, that’s more like technical. You have to like get things right. With writing, creative writing, its creative, like you can write whatever you want [serious throughout].
R: When writing to music do you think you write more? Do you use different verbs or you’re more fluent with your writing, like you don’t stop as often?
S: Yeah, I’m definetly more fluent when I’m writing and I don’t stop to like look around or like [serious throughout]
R: Because you have the stimulus of the music.
S: Yeah. And also because music has a lot of repetition and like, I don’t know. If it’s like a sad song like John Mayer and he says like [laughing] the same thing over and over again, its kinda like makes you think. The lyrics make you think about things over and over again. It’s kinda imbedded in your brain [serious until John Mayer reference].
R: Do you have anything else you’d like to say?
S: No.
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