Study music

[Vid Leskovar]

Hi guys! I have a question for you. Do you use music when you study? If yes, what kind of music? I could use some musical background atm (May 2014), especially since my sister needs to practice the cello 6 hours every day, which does not exactly do wonders for my concentration. Any suggestions?

[Emmi]

I use background music if I'm writing stuff down, doing homework, or working on a report, but not when I'm reading because then I can't focus. I have three main playlists that I listen to, depending on the mood. If I want background music that's not going to distract me, I put on a classic rock playlist with bands like The Beatles, The Eagles, Rush, Queen, and David Bowie on it. If I want music that's going to motivate me to work I put on a more alternative/popish/electronic playlist like this below or a metal playlist.

[Negotiation]

I get distracted really easily by music, but I sometimes listen to it, especially if I'm in a noisy environment.

For anything heavily "reading-based", like social sciences, I listen to ambient music, as it doesn't really distract. I'd recommend VLA: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ckNPGa1HEyU and this soundtrack: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q1uK0L6Vqx4

For experimental sciences I get less easily distracted, and general "good" music tends to motivate me for that, typically alternative rock.

[SeniorStatus14]

When I first started studying for these exams (I'm a May 2014 candidate too) I used a mix of encouraging music I put together like "The Final Countdown", "Eye of the Tiger", etc. But now it's gotten to the point where I'm playing Christian music and praying to pass Well, sometimes. Most of the time though I use my encouraging playlist.

[Captain Jeeves]

I actually listen to folk music pretty regularly. No, wait, hear me out. Usually they have good beats, there's no lyrics to distract you, and they're really quite energizing. I'm biased towards Celtic fiddle music as I play the viola [slightly bigger, slightly deeper violin], but recently I've been getting into Indian and Latin American stuff as well. Percussion, yo.

I once sat through a 16-minute Gregorian monk chant for the dead because it came up on Spotify and I am lazy. That was an experience.

[Sandwich]

I listen to folk music... but the bluegrass kind with the singing, not the irish kind with the fiddles and so on It's like softly reassuring background music - plug in your headphones and away you go. I find I can do loads of work like this. Jolie Holland, the Be Good Tanyas and Po' Girl are on my current playlist. I tried classical music, but it doesn't work. Alt rock and blues music does work... I have written many things to the older Black Keys albums!

For me, I think it's just music that I like and know. That's it! And it makes a massive difference to use headphones instead of the speakers on my laptop, headphones help me concentrate so much better. Something about blocking out all distractions really helps.