Whether you’re working or studying, there are ways you can use music to get the most out of your day.
Ask your colleagues about what music they listen to while they work and you’re likely to get mixed answers. Some will enjoy loud, high-energy tunes to push them along, others will prefer something mellow to help them focus, and a considerable number of your workmates will swear they can’t concentrate unless there is silence.
So when you’re choosing background music to help with productivity, is loud, soft, or none at all best?
Research fellow at the University of Melbourne’s Conservatory of Music Dr Amanda Krause says research into background music has yielded varying results. “The findings are very mixed. There are studies that say background music can assist you, and it might assist you in staying focused, staying on task or working at pace,” she says. “But there’s also research that says background music can be distracting, so that can be a hindrance to the work you’re doing.”
Dr Krause says the mixed findings are down to a number of personality variables and the makeup of music affecting how the listener receives it.
“A lot of research talks about whether or not the music has lyrics. It can sometimes be distracting if there’s somebody singing and your brain is trying to process the lyrics, music and whatever it is you’re working on at the same time,” says Dr Krause. “The way music is received can also be down to differences in personality. If you’re someone who is able to work in a busy cafe, then music is not going to distract you in the same way as somebody who is introverted and needs quiet space.”
On top of this, the technology you use to listen to music alters how it’s received and processed by your brain.
“You will have a different experience listening to music on a phone compared to hearing it at the shops, broadcasted through a speaker or on the radio,” says Dr Krause.
With so many variables influencing the way you absorb music, how do you know what genres will help you stay productive throughout the day? Dr Krause says it’s best to experiment yourself, despite the plethora of specialised study playlists available online.
“What works best for you isn’t necessarily going to be the same for me. If I’m choosing the music for you, it’s not going to be as good as if you choose it yourself,” says Dr Krause. “You can sift through playlists someone else has already made, but there is going to be a bit of trial and error for each individual.”
This idea also applies to circumstances beyond study and work.
“In a health setting, such as recovering after surgery, personal music choice is better than someone else choosing it for you,” says Dr Krause. “If you’re able to choose your own music, it helps distract you from pain more effectively than music a researcher picks for you.”
Dr Krause says parallels drawn between health and work settings help demonstrate the effectiveness of creating your own study playlists.
“If you’re trying to study, it might be better if you choose something that you think works for you, as opposed to having something provided for you,” she says. “You might go on Spotify and find heaps of study playlists, they might be instrumental, classical and medium tempo, but that’s not necessarily going to work for everyone.”
What about volume? Is it best to turn it up and let a good groove drive your work along, or let your music sit in the background and provide more gentle ambience to accompany your tasks? Dr Krause says the answer again depends on individual trial and error, as well as the complexity of a job.
“People listen to a lot of music while they’re driving, but in some heavy traffic situations, they’ll turn the radio or the music down because they need to concentrate – this applies to studying or working as well,” says Dr Krause. “For simple tasks such as checking emails, you can have the music turned up in the background. If it gets to something where you really need to focus, sometimes you’ll have to turn the music down or off.”
Dr Krause says the unprecedented level of access we have to music presents interesting challenges and implications for our wellbeing, but believes new technology provides massive scope for music to positively influence our lives.
“This isn’t the end of new music technology, we just don’t know what the next step is,” she says. “If we can understand how to harness the ability to listen to all this music, we can teach each other how to listen in a healthy way in order to shift our mood, be more positive and reach better consequences.”
