Multitasking and Music

[Kalevala]

O.k., so a question for you all:  how do you really listen to music at work?  *Is it mostly background noise?  Or are you possibly not paying so much attention to your work?  Just trying to understand how people are listening.

*Breaks?  On the way to work? Lunchtime?  Just wondering.

K

[Florestan]

O.k., so a question for you all:  how do you really listen to music at work?  Is it mostly background noise?  Or are you possibly not paying so much attention to your work?  Just trying to understand how people are listening.

K

Background yes, noise not at all.

Look, I have developed the concept of inattentive listening. It goes like this: music playing in the background, me doing whatever else other than attentive listening: usually browsing GMG or reading. If there's anything interesting in the music, it'll eventually force me to turn to attentive listening. If there isn't, at least it will have provided me with a pleasant background.

I entertain no Romantic nonsense about music being a higher revelation than philosophy (pace Beethoven) and I fully subscribe to Kant's dictum that music is more entertainment than culture. You can play me the most philosophical and cultured music in the world --- if it doesn't move me, ie if it doesn't entertain my soul and mind, I have no use for it.

[Florestan]

Valid also for opera before the advent of the Wagnerian nonsense. Just ask Stravinsky.

[Kalevala]

Background yes, noise not at all.

Look, I have developed the concept of inattentive listening. It goes like this: music playing in the background, me doing whatever else other than attentive listening: usually browsing GMG or reading. If there's anything interesting in the music, it'll eventually force me to turn to attentive listening. If there isn't, at least it will have provided me with a pleasant background.

I entertain no Romantic nonsense about music being a higher revelation than philosophy (pace Beethoven) and I fully subscribe to Kant's dictum that music is more entertainment than culture. You can play me the most philosophical and cultured music in the world --- if it doesn't move me, ie if it doesn't entertain my soul and mind, I have no use for it.

So, if I'm understanding you correctly, you're not working at least in terms of a paid job?

K

[Florestan]

So, if I'm understanding you correctly, you're not working at least in terms of a paid job?

K

I've never listened to music when at work. Too many distractions.

[ritter]

Valid also for opera before the advent of the Wagnerian nonsense. Just ask Stravinsky.

O ciel, che noia!    

[foxandpeng]

O.k., so a question for you all:  how do you really listen to music at work?  *Is it mostly background noise?  Or are you possibly not paying so much attention to your work?  Just trying to understand how people are listening.

*Breaks?  On the way to work? Lunchtime?  Just wondering.

K

Both. Unless I am on calls, which to be fair can take up more than half of my day, I always have music on. I think better with music in my ears, whether it is as a background to my tasks or very much in the foreground. It does help that I work almost exclusively from home, so can type in time to the music or increase the volume beyond what would be acceptable to most people. My wife, who also works 99% of her time from home, has her study far enough away from mine for our music or calls to be unaffected by the other.

I do find active listening helpful rather than treating music as sonic wallpaper, and find that I am able to multitask fairly effectively. When reading, I find silence pretty oppressive unless what I am reading is particularly complex.

[VonStupp]

O.k., so a question for you all:  how do you really listen to music at work?  *Is it mostly background noise?  Or are you possibly not paying so much attention to your work?  Just trying to understand how people are listening.

*Breaks?  On the way to work? Lunchtime?  Just wondering.

K

Because my work revolves around listening to music, whatever breaks I might have are usually filled with gladsome silence, and my commutes consist of podcasts where spoken conversations are part and parcel of the program. Otherwise, a variety of music is usually always playing at home in some fashion or another.
VS

[Brian]

O.k., so a question for you all:  how do you really listen to music at work?  *Is it mostly background noise?  Or are you possibly not paying so much attention to your work?  Just trying to understand how people are listening.

*Breaks?  On the way to work? Lunchtime?  Just wondering.

K

Good question. As a pretty solitary profession (writer), I get to work from home 1.5-2 days a week and on those days, I have a stack of CDs I want to listen to soonish and will pull out about 4-5 hours of music per day to play in the background. I also dine out for 4ish meals a week and plan ahead what CDs have works long enough to get to the restaurant and back. (My car stereo is unusually good and was a major selling point.) My commute is 16-20 minutes so I keep a running stack of car CDs featuring lots of works in that time range, like early Haydn symphonies and quartets, piano recitals, some of the Martinu frescoes and chamber concertos, overtures, etc.

At the office, I have a good pair of headphones and will use those at my desk. Obviously, it's not an ideal arrangement. I know not to be doing headphones until about 9:30 a.m. since late-comers to the office will want to say hello. I plan around meetings - like, we have a meeting at 10:30 and it's 10:15, maybe find a short overture or piano piece so when it ends I know the time is up. And because I work in a newsroom with lots of well-connected reporters, the gossip is unusually good, so I will often pause to listen in on some strange story about who in Dallas is behaving oddly. The result is that most of my "serious" listening is at home and most of my "projects" (like the complete Kalevi Aho or Romantic Piano Concertos) are at work.

But I guess this may not even be a fully satisfying answer since you could also be asking about how my brain works! I don't really know how/why it is good for me to be listening to music while working, but this has always been the case from math homework in middle school with a Sony Walkman through CDs while writing graduate school papers to the present day. My partner's brain is wired differently, she cannot multitask to the point where she cannot read a book while music is playing. So, in part, I am just lucky!

[Mandryka]

Work is the curse of the drinking classes.

[Iota]

... I always have music on. I think better with music in my ears, whether it is as a background to my tasks or very much in the foreground. ... When reading, I find silence pretty oppressive unless what I am reading is particularly complex.

I know this comes up quite a bit here, but I'm still always struck at how people are able to listen to music while doing other things. I quote foxandpeng above because it's an almost perfect description of what I don't do. The less I think, the more I hear the music, and silence is my absolute ideal for reading, and even when there is noise I blot it out. Listening to music and reading at the same time is like having to two people talk to me at the same time, the sense of both is largely lost.
Occasionally I browse the internet with music on as background, but in no sense will I have 'listened' to the music, it performs a similar role to a sofa I sit on while watching the TV or something.

[prémont]

Work is the curse of the drinking classes.

Isn't this a wild quote?

[DavidW]

When my work doesn't require thinking, I can listen to music. I would say, in that case, the music is not wallpaper. It is really in the foreground. For anything else, even light reading... no music.

[Kalevala]

When my work doesn't require thinking, I can listen to music. I would say, in that case, the music is not wallpaper. It is really in the foreground. For anything else, even light reading... no music.

Might I suggest to the mods:  make this a different thread.  Title (suggested):  How do you listen to music while at work and maybe also while doing other things?

K

[foxandpeng]

I know this comes up quite a bit here, but I'm still always struck at how people are able to listen to music while doing other things. I quote foxandpeng above because it's an almost perfect description of what I don't do. The less I think, the more I hear the music, and silence is my absolute ideal for reading, and even when there is noise I blot it out. Listening to music and reading at the same time is like having to two people talk to me at the same time, the sense of both is largely lost.
Occasionally I browse the internet with music on as background, but in no sense will I have 'listened' to the music, it performs a similar role to a sofa I sit on while watching the TV or something.

It's funny, isn't it? I love how different people are. Pardon the dreadful grammar .. I love how people are so different.

I read with music on, and even watch TV with subtitles so that I can multitask by listening to music at the same time through headphones . Like you, I can't digest very complex material if I am listening to music because as I disappear into complexity my internal voice has to drown everything out. Sometimes I even have to read aloud to get the sense of a page of difficult government policy or the nuances of academic theology by writers who are seeking to express precise ideas or challenging trains of thought. Usually, however, I find that the comfort of the cadence and flow of music relaxes me sufficiently to stimulate my concentration. It does help if the music is familiar, of course. Coming back to established favourites at such times can be a real boost to thoughtfulness.

Take this evening, though. I have been listening to Joan Tower's Red Maple - Music for Bassoon and Strings, while writing a pretty complicated piece of work that I am delivering as a 40 minute keynote presentation to a large group of people. The music has really focused my mind, even though at times I have stopped writing so I can sit back in my chair to more greatly appreciate some of the best bits. Without the music, engaging in a similar task feels like really hard going. I guess the music slows me down sufficiently to feel that my words are chosen more carefully, my reflections are more precise, and my creative juices flow more easily. Perhaps the music relaxes my attention? Don't know.

Mind you, I do choose music appropriate to my mood. Hard deadlines work better with Pettersson and Tabakov, while Hovhaness and Rautavaara's later music engage more effectively with writing creative pieces that demand less urgency.

Long may our differences improve our individual productivity and attention!

[hopefullytrusting]

Might I suggest to the mods:  make this a different thread.  Title (suggested):  How do you listen to music while at work and maybe also while doing other things?

K

When my work doesn't require thinking, I can listen to music. I would say, in that case, the music is not wallpaper. It is really in the foreground. For anything else, even light reading... no music.

I am almost diametric to @DavidW when it comes to this, as I cannot imagine doing much of anything in silence.

In fact, I, at times, will loop a single song for hours if I in a groove.

Like the music sparks me.

[Iota]

It's funny, isn't it? I love how different people are. Pardon the dreadful grammar .. I love how people are so different.

I read with music on, and even watch TV with subtitles so that I can multitask by listening to music at the same time through headphones . Like you, I can't digest very complex material if I am listening to music because as I disappear into complexity my internal voice has to drown everything out. Sometimes I even have to read aloud to get the sense of a page of difficult government policy or the nuances of academic theology by writers who are seeking to express precise ideas or challenging trains of thought. Usually, however, I find that the comfort of the cadence and flow of music relaxes me sufficiently to stimulate my concentration. It does help if the music is familiar, of course. Coming back to established favourites at such times can be a real boost to thoughtfulness.

Take this evening, though. I have been listening to Joan Tower's Red Maple - Music for Bassoon and Strings, while writing a pretty complicated piece of work that I am delivering as a 40 minute keynote presentation to a large group of people. The music has really focused my mind, even though at times I have stopped writing so I can sit back in my chair to more greatly appreciate some of the best bits. Without the music, engaging in a similar task feels like really hard going. I guess the music slows me down sufficiently to feel that my words are chosen more carefully, my reflections are more precise, and my creative juices flow more easily. Perhaps the music relaxes my attention? Don't know.

Mind you, I do choose music appropriate to my mood. Hard deadlines work better with Pettersson and Tabakov, while Hovhaness and Rautavaara's later music engage more effectively with writing creative pieces that demand less urgency.

Long may our differences improve our individual productivity and attention!

That's a fascinating reply, @foxandpeng. It's the first time I've had a clear idea of how the process works for people who listen (rather than just hear) while doing other things. And your method of selecting music sounds a really engaging and fun business, as well as clearly very productive. It all makes a lot of sense, and the way you present it makes it seem a very positive thing. I'm kind of sorry I don't have that option up my sleeve, but it's pretty clear that for me focussing on one thing brings me the greatest clarity and pleasure/understanding, and that doesn't seem like it will change anytime soon. Thanks a lot for such a great and illuminating reply.   

[foxandpeng]

That's a fascinating reply, @foxandpeng. It's the first time I've had a clear idea of how the process works for people who listen (rather than just hear) while doing other things. And your method of selecting music sounds a really engaging and fun business, as well as clearly very productive. It all makes a lot of sense, and the way you present it makes it seem a very positive thing. I'm kind of sorry I don't have that option up my sleeve, but it's pretty clear that for me focussing on one thing brings me the greatest clarity and pleasure/understanding, and that doesn't seem like it will change anytime soon. Thanks a lot for such a great and illuminating reply.   

Cheers, my friend 😁

What matters is that we love what we do when and how we do it!

(Particularly when we do it as we return to established favourites... to keep relevant to the thread title 🙃😇)