Does anyone here listen to music when you’re working on a task that requires strenuous mental effort—concentration, creativity, etc.?
If so, what do you listen to? Do certain characteristics of music assist or hinder your work?
If I’m trying to concentrate and produce something difficult at the office, I often put on generic classical music—generic in the sense that I’d prefer to put on something I don’t recognize immediately—or other music without vocals.
I would love to listen to my favorite music, but I often find it too distracting.
When I need to think up a solution at work, I get up and take a walk.
A boss back in the early 90’s said “I was going to say something about you walking around looking angry all of the time. Then I realized that’s how you solve problems. You get up and take a walk.”
Because I work in a typical modern, focus destroying open plan office I sometimes like to listen to something to drown out the general noise. I mostly listen to jazz or classical music to aid focus because stuff with lyrics just gets me listening to the song.
I recently subscribed to brain.fm which boasts, " Music designed for the brain to enhance focus, relaxation, meditation, naps and sleep within 10 - 15 minutes of use." I am quite happy with it, although I have no idea whether the apparent results are merely the placebo effect.
In situations like that, I need to listen to something I’ve heard a million times. That way, it is familiar enough to be soothing, but not unfamiliar enough to be interesting. Fortunately, I have lots of options. ELO, Elvis Costello, Moody Blues, and The Smiths are favorites. I queue up all the albums I have by one of those acts and play them on shuffle.
ETA: Not that I’m claiming those artists are uninteresting. It’s just that I can enjoy them in the background if necessary.
I can see a case for familiar pop and rock, but I think it’s improvisational music that is best. I can remember doing homework to High Falls by the Allman brothers for instance. Jazz would be best. I always put jazz on the radio on if I can.
When I’m driving more than say, an hour, I have to listen to loud rocking music. I love it anyway, and I find it actually keeps me focused on driving conditions. Without music, I find myself getting bored and distracted… and even sleepy.
Thumb drive set to random play, and I’m good for many hours.
Soothing classical music can help drown out outside noise. Songs with lyrics are distracting, as are instrumentals that are too “busy,” although I enjoy both when I’m not working my brain.
I really like Hawaiian slack key guitar music when I’m working. I love the album Kohala by the group of the same name, I put a link to their website below (I have no affiliation, just a fan).
I absolutely do better brain work while listening to (familiar) music, and I tend to latch onto particular bits of music for short periods of time. So lately it’s been LCD Soundsystem, but other times it’s been pure electronica, or classic rock, or Elvis Costello, or whatever my brain is in the mood for.
In the past, I have been mostly unable to concentrate enough to get work done if music is playing. More recently, I have found some music playing not too loudly still allows me to concentrate enough. I like familiar tunes, but in unfamiliar versions. And when certain parts of certain musical pieces play – like a totally bitchin’ guitar solo or something - and I need to rock out, I can do that without losing any “momentum” I’ve built applied to work. I am not sure if something has changed in me as I’ve aged, or if I just never listened to the right music before.
Needless to say, I work at home.
FTR, I am finding Derek and the Dominos’ live performances to be perfect work accompaniment as they are mostly filled with long, not too harsh jams. It’s too bad there are not very many of them. Hendrix and Cream are a little harsher, and hence, not as good for me. Early Fleetwood Mac is also quite good…which reminds me of this sorry news I read today:
I’m a musician, too, but my bread and butter is graphic design. If I have a tricky design problem to solve I can’t listen to music. It takes over my attention. That’s not to say there can’t be something playing in the background, but I can’t listen to chosen music at a normal listening volume if I’m trying to concentrate. If I have anything on it’s a baseball game. The murmur of the crowd and the pace of the game are somehow calming to me.
I play a lot of dub mixes or lo-fi instrumental hip-hop when I need to write: that’s my default driving music, too, because it helps me achieve exactly the right kind of relaxed concentration.
