Melodious music.

Thank you, Dr Michael Uebel and Dr Devinder Pal Singh

Interesting choices.

Electric, deep-house music

Thank you for this, Dr Anosh Nadeem Butt

I wasn't sure what this was like, so I paused what I had on YouTube and am listening to what you have suggested! Again, an interesting choice.

They have all been different.

urban soundscape

Thank you for this; I looked at your RG page. You are very knowledgeable about such things. It is quiet where I live, down a one way street and our favourite sitting room is at the back, so I don't hear much, apart from the seagulls!

They can be noisy at night as well as the day, but don't keep me awake.

In the attic, they walk on the roof of the dormer window and can have loud footsteps!

I think this depends on circumstances, as follows: Although (or perhaps because) I'm a musician and musicologist by training, I prefer silence when I'm working. This preference stems from my early training in music analysis, which means 'my musical brain' is prone to unconsciously analysing the constituent elements that make the music sound as it does. However, this doesn't prevent me from engaging with music (or sound, in its broader sense) in less rigorous ways as the occasion allows. That is, actually enjoying music for its own sake. Thanks for the question. I think you've neatly summed it up by saying 'unless I am concentrating on something that takes my whole attention.'

music too

Thanks for your responses. I have had silence while I have been constructing an answer to a RG message asking for my help, as I have been concentrating while I read and listed articles that might be helpful to her.

But now will put some music on :-), as I'm busy with the housework.

Selected liked list played in random from good mp3 player in hi-fi: pop, jazz, classic, ethnic, ambient, italian song, international orchestral repertoire,

Giancarlo Bianconcini

You have a wide choice of listening. I'm impressed!

When you mentioned Italian song, it made me think of some of the traditional English folk music that regained popularity in the early 1970s. I'm sure we have some on vinyl. I will have to ask my husband to select something next time he puts his record player on, and surprise him! It's not what I usually listen to!

If I play guitar or keyboard, it's usually something different again; ragtime or blues.

Sometimes, while working, I listen to calm, subdued, instrumental, symphonic music or listen to the news radio.

Best regards,

Dariusz Prokopowicz

I have no affinity with music within my environment. I either occasionally work in silence, listening to the symphonic sound of my thoughts, or often with TV programmes as background noise.

While I admire those here who are deeply engaged with music, and know one form from another, it is a cultural participation I do not have or engage in.

16 March MMXXI

Mozart...

because he is so very superficial at times.

Cordially...

ASJ

Mozart is dark chocolate for frustrated housewives.

www.wqxr.org

Cordially...

ASJ

Country music and gospel music.

Generally silence, thanks to latest generation of Bose headphones, sometimes classical music (no words to grab at me). When designing for spacecraft sometimes Rocket Man, Ground Control to Major Tom, or Fly Me to the Moon.

Thank you for all the varied responses; I never thought there could be so many different things to listen to.

In my last response, I mentioned that I was going to listen to one of my husband's vinyl records with English folk music replicating the traditional English folk music. I did this and it was as good as I had remembered it to be and I really enjoyed it. But I would not want to listen to it every day, unlike my normal YouTube choice of tracks.

Handel flute sonatas. It helps me getting flow when I am writing.

Thank you, Dr Mikko Ketovuori

I remember when I was a teenager living at home and my mother (a teacher) was marking exercise books. I realise that the type of music is completely different to what you mentioned, but she used to put fast pieces by Bach on because it made her 'get a move on'.

And you also have a reason for what type of music you choose to have playing while you are writing. At the moment, I have YouTube playing to me 'G.F. Handel Flute Sonatas'. I can see how it helps you.

I like to listen to a bit of music on youtube sometimes.

Dr Chuck A Arize

So do I! Quite often; in fact, I am doing now.

Mary

I enjoy music for its own sake and therefore generally find it distracting when doing scholarly work. A barely audible zephyr-like sound recording would be acceptable, but I make no special effort since buildings often already have a soft hissing or buzzing sound1 instead of complete silence.

____________

1 No, I don't have tinnitus 🔔👂🏻LOL. It's typically caused by a fan, magnetostriction, or distant traffic.

Thank you, Prof Karl Pfeifer

I looked up zephyr and found the definition described it of the sound of a wind. Your mention of the sound of distant traffic reminded me - and I don't remember where - that I was standing looking down onto a city. It might have been Bath, where I did a course in the late 1980s. I could hear the sounds of the city in the distance. That was lovely on a warm evening. I'm not sure if you could call it the 'city ambience'; the sounds and the glow.

Mary C R Wilson A zephyr is a soft gentle breeze, to be precise, and it's more likely that one would hear its effects, like a faint rustling of leaves, than the breeze itself. Yes, city ambience has its charms and mayhap also an element of mystery:

https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2019/mar/13/what-is-the-mysterious-gl-hum-and-is-it-simply-noise-pollution

Music

Thank you, Prof Driss Benattabou

Music means a lot to me, so it is interesting to see how other researchers respond.

Music is a ringing joy that makes human life more beautiful, more sublime, more passionate, more meaningful. I like to listen relaxing Christmas jazz music when I am busy...

Happy International Jazz Day, everyone!

JAZZ: a universal language of freedom and creativity!!

JAZZ reduces tensions between individuals, groups, and communities!!!

I was brought up doing homework with my siblings under the tune of classical music. During the many years as traveling professor I will listen to radio while driving, anything from music to discussions to avoid falling asleep. My favourite music would be what accompanies some UFO videos, which is very dramatic, almost out of this world!

Anton Vrdoljak and Michael Issigonis

Thank you very much for your responses.

Everyone has their own choice of music and that is how it should be. It would be really monotonous if everyone liked exactly the same type. Those who play instruments or sing also have their own particular 'nook' in music; I do.

Our vicar at the church is very keen on jazz, and this morning (Sunday today), while accompanying a song, played a jazz accompaniment during one verse, and we all continued to sing the actual tune. It sounded great.

I was brought up with classical music being favoured by my mother, but changed my taste quite early on (I went to boarding school, so had other influences). But my mother was a teacher and had a lot of marking; she used to put a fast piece of music by Bach on, if she had a lot to do, to help her to work quickly!

I used to put music on when I was driving miles, before I had clinics, to see those on my (nursing) caseload. Sometimes I finished my visits miles away from home, and very tired, so like you, Michael Issigonis, I kept my attention levels up with the sort of music you couldn't go to sleep to!

I have just spoken to the father who is moving his daughter's belongings into a flat 2 doors away from our house. I told him our names, he told me his daughter's name, and I commented that he, and his daughter must have a similar musical taste to us, judging by the tee-shirts they are wearing!

I've never actively listened to anything when working but have always been used to background noise. Growing up in a lively household, there would always be a television or radio on, my mother telling someone off or insisting that a chore be done instantly, someone practicing a musical instrument, or generally just a hive of activity throughout the house. Now I have my own place, for all intents and purposes the house is silent, although there is always the whirr of the washing machine, the cat snoring or having a mad game running around and the such like. If I am in the university there is always passing chatter, doors closing, etc. But noise doesn't bother me. I am lucky enough that if I want to listen to it, I can, and if not then I am able to block it out and ignore it.

Thank you Glynis Freeman for your interesting response. Background noise that is recognisable within your own house is - to me - what makes a house a home.

I was just listening as I write this; I can hear two different clocks ticking because the doors are all open on the ground floor. I live in a terraced house, and can hear what is happening in the side where the front doors are next to each other but not from the side where our back yards are side by side. The man next door has just gone up the stairs! If there was NO sound, I think I'd find it very eerie.

Mary C R Wilson Yes, it would be very eerie to have no sound at all.

I always listen to my inner voice as a background sound. I said this due to the fact that I always make decisions as per my inner voice though there are usually external voices as an obstruction.

Did You Know…

…that the earliest recorded music instruments are about 42,000 years old? Found in a cave in Germany, these flutes were made of bird bones and mammoth ivory.