lucifer_sam

I've been wondering about this for a while. I'll notice every now and then that i enjoy an album at a particular time, but not so much at others. Not like i go from hating it to loving it but that it'll grab me at some times but not others, just based on the situations that i'm in.

I've got an idea that this has something to do with mediating a secondary level of consciousness (i know that might sound like bs but it isn't). What i mean is that when you're actively devoting yourself to a task that requires little attention (i.e. driving, walking, cutting the grass, exercising, etc), your mind is free to wander. I feel like the injection of music into these situations draws your meandering brain into the music.

Conversely, i feel like music interferes with my ability to perform a task that requires a primary level of consciousness (i.e. studying, reading a book, drawing). It seems like every time i have music on i find it hard to concentrate on something i'm reading, my brain won't follow my eyes and i'll end up reading the same sentence over and over.

I don't know, maybe it's just my perception of it, but i feel like there's actually something concrete to this observation. I kinda wish there was a way to measure this empirically but i'm sure any kind of case study would require multiple impracticalities.

I'm not trying to break pedantic wind over anyone but this is just something i've been curious about for a while. Anybody else notice this?

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first.am

Surell

Yeah, I sure can't work well with music (or any noise really) on. I try but like you said, I'll end up reading the same sentence over and over or won't remember what to write.

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SATCHMO

I'm like that to a certain extent too. I can't read and listen to music, because I get distracted by the words. I've gotten to the point where I know what style of music is conducive to the task at hand. Hip hop/hard rock/metal for motivation classical for reading or other sit down and focus activities, jazz for creativity, etc. I don't really consciously think about it like that, its just kinda' automatic.

Zarko

Well I can't read with ANY noise going on, without severely reducing how quickly I read... Music is just something I chuck on, but I can work with it on, if not a little slower... Studying is useless with music simply because my mind is in two different places, meaning I forget half the stuff I am trying to study.

I don't find it difficult to listen to specific things at specific times, but I find it really difficult to get in the 'mood' to write a review or something... I get some mental block or something if I am listening to the music at most times and trying to review it... Pretty weird

Kamikazi Kat

I feel the same way too. When I'm listening to music, I tend to get more into it if I'm doing some sort of simple activity that requires very little thought. I like to walk while listening to music. I tend to walk in rhythm to the music, not really strictly on time, but somehow matching it without thinking (one time I realized that I have been walking so I would hit the first beat of every measure every 3 steps). I'll do this when the music I'm listening to has a heavy groove to it, like Meshuggah. I tend to just walk without anything matching up when listening to something fast like Lightning Bolt. For some reason I was more visual when listening to the faster and crazier stuff like Lightning Bolt, my eyes would look around more. While with the more rhthymic stuff my mind was more focused on walking, rather then looking around.

I know all of these details because I was doing a fair amount of walking and music listening today because I had to walk from my house to my school to play the drums in the school musical.

Also, It seems that when I'm listening to really noisy and chaotic music like An Albatross or Naked city, I tend to switch songs and bands really often. The longer I am in this mood to listen to crazy music, the more I seem to switch and the more crazy songs I tend to switch to. Like instead of just listening to an album, I'll just switch to the songs that are the fastest and most crazy, and as soon as the part that I seem to have a random urge for is over, I switch again. I seem to do this more often when I have less time to listen to music, or when I generally feel hyper. I only seem to do this when there is nothing else to distract me. Whatever activity I seem to do is fast and usually inconsistant.

RoemerMW

I pretty much only listen when I walk, I can't seem to concentrate fully on an album unless I'm walking around. I walk a lot to and from work, school, etc. so that's my music listening time. I also listen to music sometimes before I sleep, that seems to help me actually listen to it. If I'm just sitting there listening to music while not doing anything else I usually end up switching songs frequently and not really getting anything out of the music, my mind wanders to much and by the time an album is over I barely even noticed it.

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My Music Collection

Schredds

Oh for sure, I find I can 'get into' whatever I am listening to if I am doing something at the same time I am listening ie; walking, working out, and for me especially driving, I find I can get lost in music while driving and really 'conect' with what Im listening to. Performing task like reading or writing and things like that are damn near impossible to do for me while Im listeing to music I get distracted like you said and end up reading the same sentance over and over and by the time I get to the end of the page I have no idea what I just read.

Bulldog

It's the same here as well. I can only properly get into an album if I'm doing something which doesn't require all that much concentration to do at the same time, like talking crap over MSN to some unlucky soul, playing online tetris, going for a walk or whatever.

The Unfan

I find that I actually work (as in doing something active) better with non-complex music at a low volume. The less focus I have to put into the task the more complex the music can be without effecting what I'm doing. On the other hand absolute silence drives me nuts so I almost always have to have some form of sound happening. Usually music though.

The Music Watchtower

Me thinks that if music is good it will get a pulse going in your body. That is why you get screaming girls, or is it?