A sensory approach to making a killer playlist or soundtrack.

By Jane E. Werle

Create or Share a Mood

Have you ever had a very specific craving? Pork rinds, peanut butter pretzels, pimento cheese, pizza bagels, parmesan crisps, potato chips — whatever it is, that’s the only thing that will do. Because fulfilling what you are in the mood for can be greatly satisfying.

Setting the right mood for your event, film, or video, is critical to its success. So when creating your playlist or soundtrack, consider whether you are trying to express a mood that you are experiencing, or creating a mood you wish others to experience. Then think about food. Then think beyond snack food. Imagine your playlist is a dinner party menu.

Structure Your Playlist like a Menu

Your menu consists of the main course (pulled pork, mango-chickpea curry), an appetizer (Caprese bites, vegan seven-layer dip), side dishes (grilled asparagus, Chex mix, fresh bread), dessert (chocolate avocado raspberry pie, coconut chips), and a surprise or treat (sparkling wine, bacon-wrapped dates).

Your main course is your theme. It might not be your favorite food, but it appeals to (or can be eaten by) most of the folks in your dinner party, and it is both delicious and kitchen-tested.

Your appetizer is the first thing people get to taste, and plays well with your main dish, but has a different feel and level of accessibility. Whether you are facilitating an evening of good food your guests didn’t have to cook, or an experience they couldn’t have on their own, you want them to participate and to enjoy doing so. The appetizer is your opening play and sets you all out on a particular path. (Note that I am focusing on providing a desirable experience, but this idea could be extended in other emotional directions such as fear [SCOBY finger food] or self-examination [plain-flavored popsicles]).

Your side dishes either do something your main dish can’t, or expand on its effects in order to provide a more well-rounded menu. Dessert is for scratching that itch that nothing else yet has, and the surprise is for fun.

Pick Your Tracks

Enter into your planning with a sense of zest. There are so many possibilities, and you get to curate them for your pleasure and that of your friends/audience. What do you look forward to hearing? What songs are new to your “liked” list? Do you have a go-to artist or track? What track has a section that stirs you? What else sounds like that?

Once you have something in mind, you can think about what purpose it serves, or what vibe it encourages. Is this a main dish (thematically strong enough to carry the mood)? A juicy surprise (no one but you would have picked that song next!)? The way you want to start the evening (an appetizer that is a crowd hit)? The way you want to end it (a dessert to linger on the palate)?

Then consider the roles you have yet to fill, and how they relate to each other. When you think of (or hear) one element, what feels like it should come next? If someone were making or playing this for you, what would you expect to eat or hear after it?

If your mind remains blank and your planning is going nowhere, think about your friends (or audience) and what they like. If you were their short-order cook (or deejay), what would they request?

Perhaps you have the opposite problem, and your list of possibilities is too long. Try going back to where you started, that first thing you felt sure about, and examine your list for what fits the very best.

Enjoy!

The very best fit could be what is most exciting, or most challenging, or most familiar. Try things on-- listen to them together. Alternatively, you can look at what you’ve assembled and divide it into sections (part one is uptempo, part two is downtempo) of an ongoing series of amazement, designed by you. You decide, it’s your party.

You may find Jane E. Werle stomping in a rainstorm or starting a dance party, if she’s not writing and editing for nonprofits or advocating for kids. Colorado-based, Jane prefers naps to marathons but is happy to go backpacking or sit in a creek. Jane received her MFA from Naropa University and is a frequent contributor to Presenting Denver, a comprehensive resource for dance in Denver and along the Front Range.

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