In answer to your questions:

1) My method is incredibly lazy — in 6 sessions of my current campaign, last night’s game was the first time I’ve skipped a track because it was too jarring. I load stuff that isn’t distracting even if it doesn’t match the mood, and leave it at that.

2) Pacing by the music is an interesting idea — I’ve certainly never tried it.

1. How do you control pacing? What do you do if you’re not in a climactic scene and climactic music comes on (or is about to come on)? With a computer based MP3 player, you could have different tracks for different pacing. That would also work with a disc changer that could take MP3 discs.

2. Has anyone ever used the music to pace the game? When the climactic music comes on, pick up the pace and force a major conflict?

I guess my biggest hurdle is the pacing more than the logistics of actually picking music. Since I don’t do MP3s, I am at the mercy of the pacing within individual albums, and a 5-6 disc changer.

Frank

Rick Wakeman has a number of instrumental (or mostly instrumental) albums, many with a medieval sort of sound (Six Wives of Henry VII, Sea Airs, Country Airs, Night Airs, 2000 AD Into the Future (for an SF feel), Seven Wonders of the World (has commentary between tracks that should be skipped), Heritage Suite, The Myths and Legends of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table (some with lyrics, could be used to set the tone for a King Arthur game though)).

I listen to a lot of organ music and some of the following piecesare nice (not necessarily just on organ):
William Walton Crown Imperial (march written for King George VI’s corronation – similar to Pomp and Circumstance but less instantly recognized)
Richard Wagner Ride of the Valkyries
Elgar Pomp and Circumstance
Karg Elert March Triomphale

Other classical type:
Verdi’s Triumphal March from Aida
Harpsichord music (sounds more period than piano or symphony)
Classics go to the Movies I (a bunch of popular classical movie sound tracks, including Sprach Zarathustra from 2001)

Other artists
Sequentia (liturgical music sung in latin)
Jon Anderson (Olias of Sunhillow – has lyrics but brings a Lord of the Rings feel)
Hedingarna (1989-2003, The Heathens, traditional Swedish folk music)
Ian Anderson (Rupi’s Dance, Divinities: Twelve Dances with God – a bit of a non-Christian feel, flute [of course])
David Arkenstone (lots of cool themed new age albums)
Ayman (new age, some Arabic influence)
Solaris Nostradamus (Hungarian band, some latin)

Celtic/Gaelic Artists
Clannad, Enya, Mair Brennan (some w/lyrics, but often in Gaelic)
Steve McDonald (Sons of Somerled, Spinfield, Stone of Destiny – Scottish, lyrics)
Mary Jane Lammond (all lyrics in Gaelic)

I’ve listed a bunch with lyrics, but when the lyrics aren’t in English, they are much less distracting to me.

Certainly the size of my music collection makes it daunting, but the above are some things I would look to pretty quickly.

Frank

In one Fading Suns game I had an encounter planned out and the speech from the major villain *timed* to coincide with the track in question, so that as the music reached its crescendo the villain reached the “and I will take over the Known Worlds!” portion of her speech. I practiced in my car on the way to the game several times. It was nifty. =)

Most GMs tend to frown on music because it’s just another thing to keep track of. I view it as another tool in my arsenal. Yes, it’s one more thing to prep for, but the payoff is typically worth it.

Favorites not mentioned:
Icewind Dale Soundtrack
Indiana Jones
Legend
Hamlet
Aliens
Mulholland Drive
Sahara
Emperor of the Fading Suns (wow!)
The Last Samurai
Captive
The Game

and the two greatest soundtracks of all time

Backdraft
Dragonheart

To each their own — at least you know what works for you!

(Pedro) I’ve thought about using music, but haven’t yet. So, have you found it distracting at any points during your games.

Occasionally, getting up to start the next CD will be a bit distracting — but at most, a few moments out of a 4-6 hour session.

Catsclaw: Your setup sounds a lot like my second option — I’m glad it works for you. Thanks for the band and soundtrack recommendations!

(And welcome to TT, Catsclaw!)

Some interesting bands for a dark, forboding feel:

Arcana
Nox Arcana

Also the 13th Warrior and Conan soundtracks are good as well.

Thanks for the tips on possible sound tracks to use.

I have the LotR sound tracks, and I enjoy listening to them most of the time when I’m working because it’s background music that doesn’t really interrupt my flow of thought.

But that’s just me and my disorganization, and doesn’t negate the technique overall.

Probably what I need is an available PC with a game oriented cuing system (perhaps with a ton of music supplied with it [I don't go for file sharing services, I would want to use licensed music]). Then I set the genre as a program preference, and when I start the program, it launches off appropriate music. When a fight starts, I can click a button and it brings up a simple dialogue for me to choose from a few parameters and then it launches appropriate music. Oh, and it needs a button to say “this piece is not suitable for the selection I’ve made.”

It’s interesting to me that music reached a point of importance for me that I played it nearly all the time at home, work, and in the car, however, at home has now dropped out of the equation (but here’s another factor with at home – I’m much more mobile at home and I hate to miss the music, so if I leave the room, I want to either still be able to hear it, or pause it – when I upgraded to a 2 story apartment, it became impossible to still hear the music – plus my receiver was dead, and the CD changer dying). In my one bedroom apartment, before moving, I had started to use the music less and less because of the pain of getting up and changing the music (a 5 disk changer may not last a whole evening for me, and the way I listen to music, once it’s loaded in the changer, I generally want to hear it, so if one evening I got through 3.5 CDs, the next evening, I’m going to get 1-2 hours of music, and then I’m going to be interrupted), and especially as the apartment started to pile up with stuff.

But I’m just really weird with music…

Frank