Music for studying?

[mtr]

IMO, songs with lyrics are distracting when studying. If you want to listen to anything, (and I recommend that you don't) try something with few lyrics or a very sparse, mathematical beat (so no crazy metal guitar solos).

 

[Deschain]

as Jackal suggested, post-rock can be good background music for studying/reading.

the only problem is, when they really get going, those bands can be pretty distracting as well.

try Brian Eno: Ambient I: Music For Airports and see if that does you right. if so, i can recommend a bunch of stuff in the same vein.

 

[gene]

ambient rules for this type of thing. try gas.

 

[Exarius]

I find it hardest to concentrate when you get songs you want to sing along to. Therefore, if I'm listening to music while I'm studying, I want to listen to something without lyrics and hopefully something I don't know. I started listening to classical music because of it but I find myself anticipating the melody/thinking about how it pulls on heart strings now lol so that's no longer a great option.

Funny, I am the exact opposite O_o I try to avoid anything I don't know, because then I concentrate on listening to it, which then is counter-productive. I do agree on the lyric-part however, though it depends on what I am doing. If it's writing something, I don't care if it's lyrics or not. Reading, no lyrics or no music, the talking distracts too much, etc etc.

 

[Tortferngatr]

I occasionally listen to videogame music to focus sometimes. Mostly Sonic music for some reason.

 

[RaRe555]

I do homework with music on whenever I can, it actually helps me concentrate a lot more on stuff like Math and Physics exercises, but while studying? Never. I once tried it and it ended up as a waste of time because I couldn't remember a thing of what I had read. All I did was sing the last song the laptop had played and it was so distracting lol. Also, I don't read with music either. I know I might get to tune out the music at some point, but it's just too complicated, and if I just lost any small bit of focus I'd go back to singing along with the lyrics :P. Even making semi-elaborate posts in here requires some effort if I got iTunes going in the background, since I have to reread what I write a lot to retain the idea and get the post to make sense!

 

[Minwu]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=37XWcqw-PNY

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v58mf-PB8as

Yanni and Mozart apparently make you smarter

lol i like this thread

 

[Siegrin]

Quick, instrumental songs are the things that get me rolling, after all, after 5 minutes of PURE listening (not doing anything else) I'm in the rhythm. Then I just do everything as quick as that rhythm without missing out on anything, and get things done in half the time.

 

[TAY]

I can't listen to music with lyrics while I study; it slows me down too much for some reason =( If I want to listen I'll usually go on pandora and set the station to beats antique or explosions in the sky or something else with no lyrics!

 

[katejonsson]

And for guidance of the kind of music i like:

-Arctic monkeys
-Arcade fire
-Strokes
-Yeah Yeah Yeahs
-Hot Hot Heat
-The Killers

we have basically the same taste in music.

 

[Truthi]

as Jackal suggested, post-rock can be good background music for studying/reading.

the only problem is, when they really get going, those bands can be pretty distracting as well.

try Brian Eno: Ambient I: Music For Airports and see if that does you right. if so, i can recommend a bunch of stuff in the same vein.

yeah I'm going to go along with that side again and suggest Stars of the Lid. And then I'm going to take my advice and try it since I'm still trying to work through one of their albums.

 

[cayr]

i loved explosion in the sky. Anything like it that you could tell me about?
i barely even checked the books so i'll give it another listen, and yanni was pretty good i actually listen to Mozart every once in a while as douchebaggy as it may sound

oh and also in regards to videogame music i loved the hole nes zelda soundtrack so anything like that?
nothing too fast or upbeat

 

[Zacchaeus]

So am I the only person who will be doing homework while listening to some new age orchestral music and out of nowhere I will switch it to metalcore or trance and it won't interfere with my schoolwork?

 

[Miscellaneous]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=37XWcqw-PNY

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v58mf-PB8as

Yanni and Mozart apparently make you smarter

lol i like this thread

The "mozart music makes you smarter" fallacy is not true. There is not evidence for it. The only reason a paper remotely similar was allowed to be published was on the logic that music wakes children up, so woken up children pay more attention to learning. Music has not yet had any real scientific merit outside of personal preference.

Having said that, I find advanced mathematics considerably easier when I'm listening to music. But I think that mostly comes down to the fact that doing maths on its own without anything else is my idea of hell when it comes to bordem.

What is a better theory is that music stimulates a greater number of areas of the brain, the more areas you involve, the better your neurons function and connect. So using that theory, listening to music should help your learning at least. However, some people obviously find music too distracting. Again "personal preference", although if you are the sort of person who; can have a conversation whilst writing a paper; or someone who finds work and studying easy - i.e. above average intelligence, I'd recommend listening to music. If nothing else, it at least makes the prospect of study slightly better, you can also listen to music, I'm sure no-one likes the idea of sitting in silence and working. Anything that brightens up studying should be encouraged, not just music.

 

[gorgie]

You will focus in and out of it, and you sometimes wont even remember it is on until it hits a huge forte and you are just like fuck yeah this is awesome.

This. (i mean jackal is rly fat)

The genre/style of music I listen to while studying/working varies with the subject I'm dealing with. For example if I'm programming, I'd prefer to have some ambient/post-rock/"jazz rap"/trip-hop on as it helps to initiate and maintain my focus. If i'm reading technical documents/literary works I'd more lean towards classical/downtempo stuff. However, if I'm doing shit that I generally find trivial and/or boring as shit I'd throw on some upbeat hip-hop/rap and bop the fuck out as i slave away.

As for instrumentals, i second the Ratatat and Sigur Ros mentions above.

In addition, a few suggestions of my own:

- Nujabes
- Zero 7
- The American Dollar
- Emancipator
- Eluvium

**Pardon my non-youtube links my financial institution is noob and bans youtube access here.

 

[norulz]

william basinski is my ambient artist of choice, his music is very relaxing

melancholia / the disintegration loops

ok so maybe disinteration loops aren't as relaxing as melancholia but it really doesn't get much better for me, low volume basinski is awesome

 

[Elentiya]

I personally think that songs with lyrics are distracting while studying. So, I usually listen to techno/trance instead.

Here's an excellent song that was made for listening while studying: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BQ3zzWRo5bM

It's called Elements of Life, and it's by DJ Tiesto. Not sure if you'll like it or not, but give it a try. It really calms you down.

 

[Ericcc]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3NGSv3ubeIM

Don't listen to music while studying. But if you have to, there you go

 

[McNUTTY]

When i'm Studying i enjoy my more Slow tunes. I'm Really surprised no one has mentioned Pink Floyd, as they are my favorite for listening to while studying, Nice and slow a lot of instrumentals and all round great songs, look in to songs like "Shine on You Crazy Diamond" and "Us and Them". Other Artists i find pleasing to listen to while studying is Gorillaz and Devin Townsend's Acoustic album "Ki".

Devin Townsend
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u81zmQrib9g&feature=related
Gorillaz
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NxziFMyRwDg
Pink Floyd
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vcG47Cp

 

[reyscarface]

Brandon Flowers relaxes me and removes most stress for some reason, idk why but when I hear him I feel that I learn more, may just be shenanigans though.

 

[Nevermore]

Dunno if you'll like it but Jesu's Silver EP is something I find rather nice to put on.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gBs-cZs9m8U

 

[TEA_DEMON]

I listen to music while I do anything, so naturally I do when if I study. Generally speaking though I think I listen to my more mellow music, usually stuff like Pink Floyd, Camel, Gentle Giant, etc.

 

[cayr]

well so far i've tried a bunch of the music you told me about and my toughts are:

-Post-rock: how did i not hear about this?, this is great and so... i don't know, i've never really liked instrumental music but this stuff is great, Explosions in the sky, mogwai, godspeed you! black emperor. This is going to become easily a part of my regular music.

-Video-game: well, it's too upbeat so it's a little distracting, maybe something a little more calm?

-Ambient: i really don't know if anybody can tell me something about it or about a musician but the things i found were pretty meh.

And also Mcnutty i freaking love gorillaz and pink floyd

 

[Don Honchkrorleone]

I love to listen to music while studying, but for me the music depends on the subject:

- Languages (Portuguese, English, etc): Good Pink Floyd (in particular Another Brick in the Wall) and Guns 'N Roses.

- Subjects that have numbers (Math, Physics, Chemistry, etc): Slow musics, in particular classic music from Vivaldi and Tchaikovsky. Also Frank Sinatra.

- The rest (History, Geography, Biology, etc): Mostly MBP (Música popular brasileira, or Brazilian popular music). Good ones are Ana Carolina, Reginaldo Rossi and Fábio Jr.

I don't know why, but the musics interfere in my study process.

 

[BlueCookies]

I usually listen to music while working; that or a podcast. Lyrics don't really affect me, but I'd recommend slower, more spaced out songs. I'd say something like post-BSSM RHCP, songs such as Californication, Road Trippin' or Death of a Martian.

If you're looking for instrumentals, I'd go with Rush (following Jackal's advice on post-rock). Things like YYZ, La Villa Strangiato and Leave That Thing Alone, or maybe (non-instrumental) the 20:33 epic 2112.

great advice!