Ancient cultures looked to dreams to inspire their music and ritual songs. Indeed, many dreamers of today hear songs in their dreams, and some find it quite revealing to uncover the message their lyrics contain. Pop musicians such as Paul McCartney, Billy Joel, and Stevie Nicks have all looked to dreams to add a creative dimension to their work. Classical musicians, too, have drawn from their dream music to create musical masterpieces. Richard Wagner attributed the opera
Tristan und Isolde
to a dream.
The Messiah
, a breathtaking holiday favorite, is based in part on music composer George Frideric Handel first "heard" in a dream. And in 1954, Steve Allen dreamed some of the lyrics of what was to become "This Could Be the Start of Something Big," which was one of his greatest successes.
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Dream-Inspired Scientific Discovery
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To the uninitiated, science might seem to be anything but a creative endeavor. But consider: In science, as in art, a person gathers information, materials, or facts and then responds to them in a new way, taking what is known and making something new from it, which is the essence of creativity. Like artists, scientists go to sleep at night with thoughts and ideas swirling in their heads, awaiting the inspiration that will make sense from seeming nonsense. Indeed, many inventions and discoveries have come from the stuff of dreams.
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Inventor Elias Howe toiled unsuccessfully for years before a scary dream led to the invention of the sewing machine in the midnineteenth century. The problem was the needle. The solution? In his dream, Howe was captured by savages whose leader commanded him to complete his invention. As he looked around
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