Best Background Music For Technical Writing
by Amanda Johnson, Employee Motivation Consultant for ClickHelp.com — professional technical writing tool
Music has a great influence on our mood. That’s why drummers were essential for armies during wars. Music inspires people and make them perform better. Fortunately, there are no wars going on nowadays but music do work as a driving force. Music helps us to overcome difficulties and has a positive impact on our lives.
According to the recent research background music increases your productivity. But not any music is going to work.
Let’s see what music is best for your working day and how it boosts your productivity from a scientific point of view. I also interviewed some technical writing specialists to learn what suits them best. So in this post, I’m going to share their stories and preferences.
Sounds of Nature
Majority of office workers listen to white noise to decrease volume of sounds like conversations or typing. But according to Researchers at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute nature sounds may do better. It turns out that sounds of nature improve your mood, optimize the ability to concentrate and enhance cognitive functioning.
Of course, if you want to boost your productivity and mood, you need to use these sounds correctly. It should be calm (no birdsongs or frogs) and not played too loudly.
David Castro, Earned a technical writing B.A. from SFSU in 1995:
“I work in an open environment, meaning not even cubicle walls. We also do a lot of our work over GVC (video chat), and some of my nearby colleagues take those calls at their desks. So, headphones are a must.
I’ve recently started listening to The Background Music Lab’s rain soundtracks. Nothing but rain and occasional thunder. It’s been working very well.”
Your Favorite Songs
Your favorite music makes you feel happier. Dr. Lesiuk, an assistant professor in the music therapy program at the University of Miami, says that personal choice in music is very important, particularly for moderately skilled workers. She carried out a study and it showed that those students who listened to music, completed tasks quicker and better came up with new ideas.
Dr. Leisuk explained this phenomenon: “When you’re stressed, you might make a decision more hastily; you have a very narrow focus of attention…When you’re in a positive mood, you’re able to take in more options.”
Noël Bishop, Bachelor of Arts History & Technical Writing, Utah State University (2018):
“I’m a massive multitasker, so I find it quite easy to listen to music and work at the same time. I can rarely sit in silence, so this is in my element.
I actually have a Youtube Red subscription so that I can listen to hours of musical ambience without any worry of being interrupted by commercials. I’ve put together playlists pertaining to certain moods I’m in, soundtracks, calm music, white noise, you name it.
My personal favorite is a two hour long video of the Bladerunner soundtrack. It’s surprisingly beautiful and helps during certain moods.”
Songs without lyrics
Music with lyrics has numerous benefits when you listen to it while you do physical tasks or walk. But for work that demands brainwork, lyrics negatively affect your ability to focus.
A series of studies show that words distract us more than any other noise. Speech is the most distracting element of noisy offices because we unconsciously refocus to speech to figure out what someone is saying. According to the study, about 48% of office workers are distracted by talking of their co-workers.
Therefore, for writing choose songs without lyrics. But technical writers don’t only write, but also deal with creative tasks such as developing visual aids, testing and many other. Music positively affects creativity when we listen to music without lyrics.
Peter Brandt, Senior Technical Writer and Trainer at Valiant TMS:
“I personally find music that doesn’t have lyrics. I tend to listen to the music and listen to the lyrics and this can sometimes get in the way of something I am working on.
Instrumental music of any kind…rock, country, classical are all great.”
Ira Sentesy, Senior Technical Writer at GE Digital:
“Jazz or Classical are perfect. No lyrics to distract you from your writing, and have even been shown to enhance focus & creativity!”
Some technical writers prefer to use no music at all during the writing.
Ugur Akinci, Sr. Technical Writer at Fortune 100 Companies (1998-present):
“I personally prefer NO music at all. I always write best in absolute silence when I can hear my thoughts more clearly. I love music so much that when a favorite tune is playing I just cannot concentrate on my writing. Music takes me hostage, so to speak :-)
I always envied people who wrote or read things when they are at the same time listening to music. With me, music takes over right away and I can’t do anything else.”
But what to do if you work in the office that is full of co-workers and you are not able to concentrate? Listen to familiar music. New music is surprising because you don’t know what to expect. For this reason, you are inclined to listen closely to see what comes next. When you listen to familiar music you know what to expect and it requires less focus.
You may listen to video-games music. Game composers know that the best background music shouldn’t distract the players and the same time it should inspire.
See for yourself! Here is an example:
Conclusion
According to most of the researches, music has many positive effects on our workflow, performance and creativity. Nevertheless, some technical writers prefer to use no music at all on their workplaces. You might want to use advices from technical writers and try listening to different genres of music to see how it affects you and your performance at work. Only you know what suits you best.
Do you listen to music during your workday? What music can you recommend?
Amanda Johnson,
Employee Motivation Consultant for ClickHelp.co — best online documentation tool for SaaS vendors
