Maybe music is something you'd rather think about when you're cooking dinner or when you're getting ready to go to work (if you still do that) or when you're outside watering the roses and zinnias and petunias. It doesn't get much better than listening to your favorite tunes while you spritz the flower garden and look up at the blue sky (if you live in the country) and watch clouds scudding by.
But what if you're sitting at your computer, writing?
I think (and remember, I'm saying I think) whether listening to music benefits your work or detracts from it depends if you're right or left brained (or maybe you're one of those fortunate people who uses both left and right sides equally ... one who is ambidextrous brain-wise).
If your muse dwells in the left side of your brain, chances are you prefer to leave the radio and the iPod turned off while you're writing. Any outside noise probably distracts you and keeps you from concentrating. Chances are, if you listen to music, you wind up playing computer Solitaire or reading your Facebook page (or even submitting a brief post).
If your muse dwells in the right side of your brain, chance are you work more efficiently if your efforts are accompanied by music. The more familiar the music is, whether rock or classic, the more efficient your work; music you've not heard before might interfere, but only slightly. You're not likely to take your hands from the keyboard, put them in your lap while you sing-along, or wave them in the air if the music is Bizet's Carmen Suite No. 1 with Leonard Bernstein conducting.
But the best possible scenario is if you use the left and right sides of your brain equally. If that's the case, then turn on the boom-box as loud as it will go. Your writing is going to be Pulitzer Prize stuff if your fingers move on the keyboard to the beat of Elton John or Luiz Miguel or, better yet, Francis Albert Sinatra singing a duet with Antonio Carlos Jobim.
And that's my take on the subject.
I'm definitely left brain. I can't have any sound distractions when I'm concentrating. After thinking about this, I believe it's because my brain (mind) wants to concentrate on the distraction and can't share concentration between the two. The key word is "concentration." I can tolerate competing sounds so long as none of them demand my complete concentration. For instance, I can't read while the TV is on in the same room. The competing information from the TV pulls my attention away from my reading, especially when there is important information being played. So, consider me as a person who "truly" listens when you have something important to tell me. :)
ReplyDeletephread
Thanks phread for your comments. It's good to understand ourselves and our "listening" needs. I've been thinking that besides the left-right brain aspect of listening to music as we write, for those who do turn on the radio or iPod, I wonder if the brain's involvement (left or right) is different with Rock or Classical.
ReplyDelete