Music while you work?
So I was working on an essay for one of my many journalism classes with my music playing loudly when one of my roommates tells me that my music is keeping him from concentrating on his work. This caused no drama at all as I simply put on headphones, but it led to me asking myself a very interesting question. Do more people get distracted by music while they work? I personally find that good music allows me to drown out any outside distractions letting me focus better than without it.
All this to simply ask, does music benefit or annoy you during work or studies? Which kind is best/worst?
I love having music playing when I am stuck on a problem or doing work but when I am learning something new I want silence. If I am writing a paper music is absolutely needed for me to get any for done.
I find that for tasks involving actual brainwork, some good, fast drum 'n' bass is the best for me.
When Operating heavy machinery I find it's best to have abit of indie rock on, Keeps the brain going.
I usually like music while I work on something that doesn't require intense pondering, but sometimes the uptempo stuff I listen to has the effect of stressing me out further. So for those days I prefer to listen to white noise... a recent addition.
I almost always have music of some sort playing. I find a rhythm helps me work.
Interesting...I was honestly expecting more people to be like my roommate. (oh well guess I'm not special XD)
best music for me has to be Jazz, worst...Rap of any kind (just not a fan)
I either need no music on or music that I like, but don't love so that I can effectively tune it out.
If it's music I love, I start listening to the music more than concentrating on my work and if it's music I hate, it wriggles into my brain and I can't concentrate on what I'm doing.
I don't mind that the radio is on at work (and I can even bear to hear the same song (that is insanely popular for most people but my tastes are very much different so I usually don't like it kind of song) 3 or 4 times on a day. The only times it bothers me is when it's too loud. I have much trouble understanding people with background noise and I can't hear myself think anymore if it's too loud.
When I'm alone at work I usually don't turn on the radio, when I'm at home doing development (not related to work) I listen to the sound of my winamp not playing after I paused it and forgot to resume, or listen to OC Remixes which I find pretty good as background music.
No vocal jazz, lounge, or classical-style tracks work best for me. Piano solos are especially great.
Hmm... When I'm at work and just doing regular stuff I like to stream radio to my computer. Since I'm a School computer guy, they have a caching box which should stop streaming, however I set my proxy settings to go around it and I can stream away. All works fine until a class is in the computer room and a teacher yells "who's playing that music?!" then I usually turn it down.
As for university work, I do a lot of good work when I've had a scotch or 2 (to get the words flowing) and I've got some good music behind me. Not sure whether what I write would go well to the tune of the music I'm playing, but if anybody's reading this, read it to the tune of Starlight by The Superman Lovers and see if it syncs up at all.
I always enjoy listening to a few tunes while I work. I really think it helps me concentrate, even though I'm not exactly listening to Mozart. I sometimes even like to download ringtones (http://www.motime.com/ringtones/) to my phone so I have some music on me wherever I go!
I'm probably a bit odd here... But I like listening to chiptunes. I don't know why, I never even grew up in that generation, my first TV console was SNES and I got that was when I was like 12, the first family computer was a 286. I'm pretty sure we had a 2400 baud connection but didn't use it cause it was expensive and stuff then we switched to 56K and had that for a while until DSL was fairly firmly established and then switched over.
Anyways.... to the topic of other music, I also like listening to soft piano (ie. Vienna Teng), "jazzy" instrumentals (Nujabes, Nomak, etc.), and that kind of soft stuff (ie. Vudoo Soul, Kina Grannis, Alfa Garcia, etc.) while working. While gaming on the other hand it will be hip-hop and more modern pop music.
I feel that it kind of puts me at an intellectual midset sometimes and gives me a bit of confidence in the work I'm actually doing.
I listen to some chiptune stuff too, and these days there are a bunch of chiptunes (like the keygen jukebox), and some bands that make synthpop/gamewave stuff (like Slagsmalsklubben, and recently I've been listening to George and Jonathan's album "The Best Music").
I also have some very ambient music from the game Yume Nikki that I listen to (the music is kind of depressing almost), and I listen to some Venetian Snares as well.
Most of the music I listen to doesn't have lyrics, and I do admit that the songs with lyrics can be more distracting than those without when working. But when I really start to work and focus on what I'm doing I actually sort of forget that I'm listening to music and it fades out (which is odd when your mp3 player is on shuffle, and then if you take a break from the work you're suddenly aware of what you're listening to and you're like "...what the hell am I listening to?" sometimes).
The Cave Singers, or something else that's hypnotizing and maybe without words.