This Twitter poll I came across today got me to thinking. I know Kelly asked about podcasts here, but I have a lot of friends and colleagues who listen to music while working.
Here is my secret. I can’t.
Those of you who know me are probably saying “But you LOVE music! Heck, you played in several bands, you have a son who is a rising musician, you create and produce music on a regular basis, you tour the world to see bands and musicians in action regularly… How can you not listen to something that is so close to you while you work??”
The honest truth is that I love working in complete silence. Music and talking is a complete distraction for me when I am in a flow state.
I think it is probably the same reason that the poll responders above cannot listen to a podcast while working. To really get the most out of a podcast, you need to actually listen to the words and ideas being put forward by the speaker. It is of no use as just background noise. You might as well be working in a coffee shop if that is what you need (or use a background noise generator).
For me, listening to music is a bit like that. As a former keyboard player and guitarist in a band, I find that when listening to music, I go a bit deeper. I will generally isolate one particular instrument in the mix, even to the extent that I imagine playing that instrument in real time. My musician brain is constantly questioning note choices or picking out interesting chord changes or progressions. My producer brain is thinking about how everything is sitting ‘in the mix’ and listening for reverb and delay tails. There is a whole process of analysis that kicks off in my brain that means the music is a really interactive experience for me, and not just a soothing background lull.
For that reason, I cannot hold a complex programming concept in my brain or wind my way through complex logic problems while listening to music of any sort. It seems the synapses in my brain can only deal with one set of complex universal puzzles at a time.
All luck to those of you who can do both though. My own sons seems to traverse the world these days with earphones in and listening while interacting with other or carrying out day to day tasks. Sometimes I envy them. Often I don’t.