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Does Music Help You Think?

Written by: Donna Ann Peck 986 views

Do you use music to put yourself in a productive mood? It is widely accepted that music increases productivity. Executives and creative professionals who listen to music say it reduces stress and maximizes their energy and focus.

Music also changes your mood. You can use music to keep up your morale and productivity in difficult circumstances. It’s not easy to maintain a positive outlook at work these days with heavy workloads and widespread layoffs. Stay upbeat despite the stress and breeze through the workday.

Music not only lifts you out of negativity, it creates a bubble of sanity in which you can perform at your peak.

Make your 9 to 5 more tuneful

I like to pair music to my energy level and the task at hand. In the morning, I’m reviewing my projects and deciding what I want to accomplish. I like a quiet environment and keep the music sweet and slow. I listen to instrumental arrangements with bells that send part of my mind to the backstreets of Kyoto. The music clears my mind of distractions before I settle into working on a project.

When I’m at my computer, I hardly notice the music, but I’m receptive to the mood it conveys. When I’m jamming under a deadline, I like traditional Celtic music with lots of fiddles. I instantly feel happy and unstoppable, like I’ve had a double shot of espresso. Sometimes I’m in the mood for Sigur Ros, which is Pico Iyer’s favorite band.

In the afternoon—when I’m planning, scheduling and processing email—I switch to Rimsky-Korsakov, Philip Glass or music embellished with arias like Bach’s St. Matthew Passion.

Don’t push the panic button, push the play button

A recent study of radiologists found that Baroque classical music produced the greatest positive effects with regard to mood and work satisfaction. “Other studies correlate Baroque classical music with improved spatial reasoning, attentiveness and concentration,” said lead researcher Dr. Lakhani. “Personally, I have found that listening to music aids my concentration and interpretative abilities.”

Other research indicates that a person’s ability to recognize visual images, including letters and numbers, is faster when either rock or classical music is playing in the background. Researchers have discovered that music with an upbeat rhythm can reduce stress hormone levels by as much as 41 percent.

Listen to Baroque classical music

The type of music you listen to matters. Well-publicized studies have centered on the so-called Mozart Effect from a study in which college students solved mathematical problems faster when listening to classical music.

If your goal is to increase your concentration then choose music with a constant, easy beat and light melodies. Anything by Mozart will impact your productivity. Baroque music is also conducive to alert, relaxed thinking, especially the works of Vivaldi, Bach and Handel, the most popular Baroque composers.  Jazz and Baroque share many similarities, so include a few jazz greats on your playlist.

Put together a playlist

Browse Amazon for CDs. The Arcangelos Chamber Ensemble produces a CD of productivity-inducing tunes. Amazon also has free downloads. If you like Philip Glass, you can download The Orange Mountain Music Sampler.  “The Music Box” and “Escape” are good tracks for getting clear at the start of a workday. It has “The Grid” from Koyaanisquatsi which I listen to when working on deadline; I call it my stay-calm-but-hurry-up playlist.

Some of my colleagues are addicted to internet radio, such as Last.fm and Pandora. Pandora is a streaming music site that creates personal radio stations, or playlists, from your music preferences. I typed in Vitamin String Quartet and got an instant playlist of similar bands. The playlist focuses on string quartets that play pop tunes without distracting lyrics. Similar songs and artists show up on the playlist because Pandora’s music licenses don’t allow them to play a specific song or band on demand.

Musopen Radio is a public domain search site with a great selection of baroque music which is available for download. After you create an account, you can browse their music library by artist and instrument. I downloaded three songs of classical composer Erik Satie. I clicked on View Profile and then More Info to get to the download page.

Have you created a soundtrack for your workspace? What tunes do you have on your productivity playlist? Leave a comment and share what works for you.

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