In this post I want to talk about something a
bit in general: Listening to music while you’re studying. I always work better
with music playing, but it all depends on a few factors that I’d like to tell
you about.
Firstly I should tell you a little bit about my
studies. The last couple of years I’ve studied Italian, which meant that a lot
of the texts I had to prepare or assignments I had to do were in Italian. Basically,
in all the courses I took there were three languages that were used in texts,
during classes and for essays and stuff: Dutch, English and foremost Italian.
There are within my studies a few, let’s say,
categories of things to do. Firstly there’s reading the texts to prepare you
for lectures, secondly there’s writing assignments and essay and last but not
least there’s studying for exams. In all these three contexts the music I
listen to has to meet some requirements. The only thing that is true for all
three is that when I’m reading or writing Italian I shouldn’t listen to Italian
music, unless it is something I know very, very well, ‘cause that’s too
distracting.
The most important reason that I listen to music is because it keeps me from being disctracted by all the other things around me, like screaming kids on the playground behind our house, trains and cars passing by and all the other sounds you wanna block out when you're reading!
The most important reason that I listen to music is because it keeps me from being disctracted by all the other things around me, like screaming kids on the playground behind our house, trains and cars passing by and all the other sounds you wanna block out when you're reading!
Preparing for lectures
When I’m preparing for lectures I received all
kinds of texts in the three languages I mentioned earlier (although I had to
read a German or a French (!) text too from time to time). With this task I don’t
have a lot of restrictions, except for the one I told you about above. Even what
I call “new” music will do, ‘cause you don’t have to read all the texts very
carefully to prepare yourself. New music for me are the artists I just
discovered and the artists whose music I already know from the top40 and now
want to get better. Most of the times I choose these “new” things, ‘cause I
like discovering new kinds of music. But I do have my favourite oldies of
course:
Destine – because the rockiness of their
music makes me read faster – Jessie J
– because her album is very divers and doesn’t get boring, never! – and Tiziano Ferro – because I know his music
so well, that it doesn’t “bother” me that it’s in Italian.
Doing assignments and
writing essays
With writing assignments it’s not a completely
different scenario, but it’s not very productive to be listening to new music. Mostly
because with the new artists I listen more intently to determine whether I want
to really keep a song or delete it, whether I want to put in on my I-pod. But I
don’t mind listening to English music when reading Italian or to Italian music
when reading a Dutch text, so basically all the music that’s already on my
laptop will do! Again, my favourites:
Raphael Gualazzi – nice balance between upbeat songs
and ballads, and pretty jazzy but accessible – Paramore – for the same reason as Destine, but I really, really
love Hayley Williams’ voice which makes it even more fun to listen to – and Amy Winehouse – all of whose songs I
like very much and are suitable for almost every kind of assignment.
Studying for a test
This is the only instance where I really have
more restrictions, ‘cause it entails a lot of concentration to really absorb all
the information you need. That’s why, when I’m studying for an exam, I almost
exclusively listen to those artists that I know very well. Most times I make a
playlist of a few artists which I randomize. I already mentioned a couple
earlier (Tiziano Ferro, Raphael Gualazzi, Destine, Jessie J, Amy Winehouse) but
there are a few more I’d like to mention:
Katy Perry – Especially her new album! I
almost know it by heart and I even catch myself singing along to the song while
studying – Lady Gaga – for the same
reason as Katy Perry – and Rihanna –
again, it’s like with Lady Gaga and Katy Perry. (For me these three are the
first ladies of the current pop music scene!)
So what are your
musical habits? Do you listen to music while you're studying?
