Re: Music and Focus

[Anonymous]

I was very musical as a child and early adult (dropped out of performance program in music at university, now I know ADHD was related to many problems in my life). As a teen I vacillated between classical music (which I was training in) and pop music (Beatles, etc). I could never really hear the lyrics, but I was strongly attracted to harmony & rhythm. I am extremely sensitive to noise, have to have the TV on when we eat so I don’t hear other people eating. Someone sitting next to me eating noisy chips or corn on the cob is torture.

I can’t listen to anything when reading or studying because I am strongly attracted to music. If I listen to music, I will wake up with a song in my head, it could be something I’ve heard weeks before and wasn’t thinking of.

I’m a work-at-home self-employed entrepeneur and I do use music to keep me focused and concentrated at times. Pop music like the Beatles, Paul McCartney, Leonard Cohen and Supertramp are upbeat and keep me motivated to stay on a boring task (the work I do is by hand, repetitive and doesn’t require me to think much). Classical music is good when my mind starts to run wild, but it needs to be music like Mozart, Haydn, Bach, or something of that genre. Sometimes I like to listen to jazz like Oscar Peterson and even Nat King Cole but more modern forms of jazz really screw my mind up and make it run wild.

If I were trying to study and had to pick some music, for me it would need to be music that is comforting to me and which can blend into the background. Mozart would be my first choice for that. Bach can be too busy as well.

When I was in my late teens, my grandfather passed away and my dad inherited all of the tvs (he had a tv and radio store) so I had my own tv in my room, with lousy antenna reception since it was just rabbit ears. But being the nighthawk that I am, I would turn it on to a late night movie which eventually turned to white noise and that was something I could sleep through! So somehow white noise appears to be helpful for me. I should probably record some and listen to it going to bed.

At the last job I worked at before I quit, I used an iPod-type player to help keep me focused since I worked in a very large open office (the low-rise cubicles in my department were arranged facing out in a square like a bullpen so very noisy). I especially used it when I worked late at night there and on weekends doing quarter-end and year-end work. But my boss finally made me stop using it (new company policy) and I couldn’t concentrate, probably what eventually led to my leaving the company although there were other stressors involved.

I recently bought a 5 disk CD changer (they are becoming extinct because of iPods and the likes) and put in a series of CDs so I can stay focused and not be running to change the CD every time it finishes. It really helps me to stay in the room rather than running out and checking email or getting a drink or seeing what my husband is doing that might be more interesting, etc.

Rambling post, I know. But I am a musician at heart and music can make or break me.

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