Comment by lmkg
16 years ago
I found I can listen to music so long as it doesn't have lyrics (non-lyrical vocals are OK). When I was in college, I had a special playlist of wordless electronica I would use for writing essays.
Someone once told me that there was a study showing that most music tends to decrease work effectiveness, but classic music actually increases it (I do not have a link). Sadly, I'm an uncultured boor and while classical music sounds pleasant it's not my favorite by a long shot. I compromised by including some techno remixes of classical compositions in my essay-writing playlist.
Even classical music is rather suspect, although I've lost the original article: http://www.overcomingbias.com/2009/02/thoughtful-music.html#...
Classical music is more suspect because it's attention grabbing. Rhythmic music is better.
I've been trying background noise instead of music. At first it can be a little annoying, but it falls into the background is actually quite nice
http://simplynoise.com - I prefer the brown noise, myself.
I know this is off topic, but techno remixes of classics sounds interesting. Any recommendations?