What do you listen to when working/studying?

[Casey Tucker]

Hi ya'll,
I've been studying for a psychology test and have noticed that every time I study/work I tend to gravitate towards a certain type of music that is (for me) better to work/study with. My current study/work playlists are:

(CLASSICAL)
CSO--
-Scheherazade
-Tchaikovsky's 4th & 5th
-Ein Heldenleben

Montreal--
-The planets

London S.O.--
-Pictures at an Exhibition
-The occasional brass ensemble piece (typically fanfares)

(JAZZ/BLUEGRASS)
-Bela Fleck and the Flecktones/Victor Wooten (any)
-Joshua Redman, Elastic
-Chick Corea w/ Return to Forever
-Nickel Creek
-Pat Metheny
-Roy Hargrove, Earfood
-Jaco Pastorious
-Marcus Miller
-The Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra
-Jim Hall
-E,W,&F
-Coltrane
-Goodwin
-A TON more...

What do you listen to?

...aaaaaand GO!

-CT

[DavidJMills]

I listen to FolkAlley.com when I do the library portion of my gig here in Charlotte. When I practice I try to listen to myself but often think of that time in Aspen....

[bort]

Talk radio.

[SousaSaver]

NPR while I work. BUT here is something to think about. I caught this story a little over a month ago.

http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/news ... 01736.html" target="_blank

[PWtuba]

I've found that listening to any music while studying and doing homework is too distracting for me, so I do my studying in silence. Occasionally though, silence is just too agonizing and I have to listen to SOMETHING... in which case I look through my extensive iTunes library for a piece of classical music that A.) I've never heard/listened to before, and B.) would probably bore me to death if I was actively listening to it, such as J. Strauss or Haydn or, you know, Mahler or something boring like that.

[MartyNeilan]

Ditto what PWtuba said, I can't just listen without really digging into it. However, back in the day when I did, my favorite choices were Can Brass, Wynton's early classical discs, Solid Brass Christmas, and Bach Brandenburg Concerti.

[josh wagner]

When working i put my ipod on shuffle and go from there, it pretty much ranges from electronic to classical, and madrigals to heavy metal with everything in between. When studying i like to keep the music off. It distracts me especially when I am reading or trying to type things.

[iiipopes]

Nothing. Silence. Dead quiet. I find my brain tends to work overtime, and instead of working I'll find myself focused on what is playing in the background, even if it is in another office down the hall, analyzing the chord structure and form and analysis of what I'm listening to, or even subconsciously "air fingering" along, whether tuba or bass guitar. Too many years of being in all sorts of ensembles, groups, pick-ups and fill-ins, "Hey...listen to this...do you think we could play it...?" Silence is golden. Duct tape is silver.

[Rick Denney]

I do not listen to music when working. If it's good music, it distracts me. If it's not good enough to distract me, it annoys me.

Sometimes, when I'm doing handwork that requires a mental mood and general attentiveness rather than specific concentration, I might listen to something I like. Driving is an example. But at work I'm constantly having to think through ideas while reading and writing--similar to studying--and that's just not the time for music.

Rick "whose work looks a lot like college" Denney

[The Jackson]

I can get very easily distracted by music, too, so the music that I will listen to during work is music that I can very easily get "lost" in and stop paying attention to it. This includes a lot of Minimalist music, and one of my favorites is the "Train 1" section from Glass's "Einstein on the Beach". I also really like the Bach Brandenburg concerti, especially Wendy Carlos's renditions. I can just let the music be around me without me focusing on it.

[jonesbrass]

We're not allowed to play any music at work. I really have to break my listening habits into two groups: 1) "music as wallpaper," and 2) serious listening. For "music as wallpaper" I listen to classic rock, progressive rock or some metal, depending on my mood. It serves to energize me and keep me hopping along.
Serious listening, however, is real recreational listening for me, which generally includes anything I have not heard before or other "serious" music: classical, jazz, new rock tunes, bluegrass, etc.
Rock bands I prefer to listen to: Yes, Rush, Queen, Metallica, Van Halen, Led Zeppelin, etc.

[bort]

I agree with the "distraction" of music as well. Same reason I can't fall asleep to a lot of music, it gets me worked up instead of wound down. But hey, I live in Manhattan, if I want background noise, I just open the window.

Being a city-dweller all my life, I'm the sort to say "wow, it's so quiet" in a remote location, instead of "wow, it's so loud" in a city. I actually find it much harder to sleep/work/study in silence than with some form of music/talk/noise in the background. I tune it out all the same, but the sounds of activity are a bit comforting.

[chronolith]

Well it sounds like some of you are too easily distracted, but to be fair I can understand where it is coming from.

I do like to listen to music when I work but it boils down to two things: A. The kind of work I am doing, and B. The kind of music to match the work.

Let's face it, not all of the work that is required of us these days really demands much of our brains. In fact some of the work damn near REQUIRES some kind of extra stimulus (say, music or talk) just to get through it. Sometimes the music can really enhance the process of the work or activity you are doing, but it really depends on the work.

If it requires lots of concentration or is something I am not used to generally (studying is a great example) I go without the music but sometimes I will go with well structured music, Bach and contemporaries in just about any form works well. If it is specialized work but something I know very well how to do, once I am in the swing of it I like to bring out film scores, not too melodic and generally just setting an atmosphere. If it is totally monotonous and soul crushing work, I bring out the good stuff: Favorite classical pieces, pop music, stuff you can sing or hum along to, and maybe even throw in a few dance steps.

If I am working on anything musical in nature however (composing/arranging/analysis) obviously the stereo is off.

So that's me then. If we are going to talk about distraction and music choices, I wonder what people listen to when they are DRIVING.

[Rick Denney]

So that's me then. If we are going to talk about distraction and music choices, I wonder what people listen to when they are DRIVING.

Driving is a skill. Like carpentry. Or pushing dents out of a tuba. It requires situational awareness, and experience in responding to situations as they occur. It does not require juggling complex mental ideas, creating a new conceptual construct, or comprehending complex material being read for the first time.

Driving is mostly entirely routine, but can become exciting in a hurry. One has to be prepared for the excitement. Studying requires full-time concentration.

One problem people have with studying is that they think it's like reading a novel, where you just plow through. Scholarly reading requires interaction--you take notes, work problems, try to reproduce what the authors have demonstrated, try to write down a summary of what the material says--these are things that require 100% interaction. Doing them is the difference between really understanding material and just knowing about something. Much of the work that I do is reviewing documents or writing documents, both of which require knowing 10 things for every one thing read or written. Driving is not as demanding for those who have been doing it for a few decades.

Rick "whose attention level can be high without much real concentration" Denney

[Mark Horne]

Like several of the other posters, I tend to focus on the music even if it's for background purposes. However, after the last few years of working in an "open" office environment (read "cubicle"), I find it much more distracting to listen to keyboard clicking or the occasional loud conversation.

I've resorted to bringing in my iPod and have looked for music that provides a nice background setting without being overly dynamic.

I've discovered a number of good pieces by Delius that invoke pleasing pastoral images without being overly melodic or "too loud" - definitely not too distracting. I'll have to make an effort to find more music of this type.

[LARSONTUBA]

really fast heavy metal. Slayer, Nasum, Napalm Death, Employer-Employee, Catharsis, old Zao, Deicide, that sort of thing.

I block it out and thus create a quiet space in my brain that can't be interrupted by outside noise. Probably the only one who sees it that way, but that's what works for me. Plus, sub-consiously I think it helps my subdivision.

\m/

Andy Tuba

[k001k47]

"Progressive" hippie stuff

[sloan]

While *working* or *studying*?

Absolute silence.

[The Jackson]

silence

[Wyvern]

I also do not listen to music while working as I find it distracting - unless it is a task which is really boring and requires little attention (rare).

Driving I will mostly listen to classical music on radio, or CD which will vary from day to day.