Music for Concentration and Better Productivity
Researching the relationship between productivity and music, one of the wonders of human creativity, has a long history. Across decades and different environments, a variety of studies and surveys have proven that listening to music can help enhance your focus and reduce distractions. So music is an effective and enjoyable tool for you to use, like a catalyst to improve concentration, productivity, and creative thinking. However, best music for concentration isn’t just found within a single genre. What kind of music works best for you and the type of task you need to do varies for the individual, like taste in perfume or food. Yes, music can be very much like perfume, putting you in a different mood, making you feel more relaxed, confident or energized, or reminding you of people, places and special moments in your life.
Background and ambient music
If you prefer to work or study in silence, but have no quiet private space and often need to block out external noise, low-volume instrumental background music may help, as well as ambient music, “white noise” and sounds from the natural world — something with no loud, discordant sounds or lyrics. Noise generators mask the surrounding sounds, making them less annoying, intrusive or distracting. This kind of concentration aid slightly resembles the sounds of waves or a waterfall effect. Ambient is a type of instrumental music featuring electronics and inconsistent beat, which includes subtypes such as ambient space, ambient techno, and ambient trance. It can be meditative and relaxing, soft and flowing, creating a peaceful atmosphere or mood, combining different elements and cultural intermixes. According to the Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, both nature and ambient sounds are effective at screening out noise in order to create a more productive environment and enhance concentration.
Rhythmical and energizing music
For low-immersion, physical, routine and repetitive tasks, music with lyrics or a steady beat can be great to optimize the boring, habitual and non-enjoyable. Music that’s faster and more energetic is also likely to make such tasks seem less of a chore, helping you to complete them faster and feel less tired. That’s because our movement patterns synchronize to the rhythmic pulse or beat of the music, but it happens without conscious awareness and, therefore, you don’t feel like you’ve been working at this task forever. Many ancient chants and folk songs were meant to develop a work rhythm and get people through repetitive jobs faster. Energizing music is also good for workouts, walking or running, but finding the right tempo is important, based on how fast you run, cycle, walk or perform certain exercises. As the human body tends to react and move to a rhythmic beat naturally and unconsciously, rhythmical music can even be used to help people with neurological disorders that result in moving impairments.
Music for programming
Programming demands different levels of concentration and focus depending on the tasks, which may be easy, familiar and repetitive, or challenging and complicated. So the range of music types people find helpful for completing them more effectively is very broad — from instrumental, rock and jazz to video game soundtracks, house, techno, drum and bass, ambient, chillout and trance (melodic trance, progressive trance, psychedelic trance). The reason people often listen to trance music during coding is that it provides a stimulating background, keeping them alert and focused without distracting them or messing with their concentration. According to the research from the University of Windsor in Canada on work performance of software developers, without background music the quality of their work was lower, with more time spent on a task. With background music, it took them less time to complete their tasks and the positive change in mood enhanced creativity.
Classical music
Some studies still suggest that listening to randomly sorted classical music tracks temporarily increases the listener’s IQ and problem-solving abilities. “Temporarily” doesn’t seem like much, but sometimes that’s exactly what we need, right? Think about tests, exams, or urging yourself to finally start working on that difficult piece of homework. Classical music helps us to relax, creates a meditative mood, lowers blood pressure and stress levels and reduces tension and anxiety. This may be very useful for staying sane and healthy when studying intensively for exams, getting a better night’s sleep and feeling more confident. Besides, classical music has a well-organized and structured form, which may be one of the reasons it helps people focus and get organized. Instrumental music is often the best solution as it doesn’t have distracting vocals or lyrics. Classical music tracks paced at about 60 beats per minute and especially Baroque-period pieces are optimal, but if you don’t find them enjoyable, they are not likely to work for you. There are plenty of options if you’re looking for something slightly different than traditional classical work, though, including a variety of improvisations and covers of popular tunes.
Additional tips:
- There is a special music service Focus@will that was created for helping people concentrate and work productively. It allows you to create your own playlist from different tracks for certain purposes, moods and tasks.
- The ideal sound volume is an average one. This conclusion was made by scientists from four universities. Studies have proven that a moderate volume for music has positive effects on creative and abstract thinking.
- You can also visit these sites to explore a great variety of techno and ambient tracks: Soma Fm or Pandora.
- If you want to select or even create your own noise mix, these sites will help you: Rainy Cafe Machine, Coffitivity, Simply Noise and Zendesk.
