Best background music for reading physics

[Hepth]

Best background music for reading physics :)

I have about 5 hours worth of reading ahead of me of hep-ph papers and was wondering if anyone has any favourites/suggestions for non-distracting background music.

I have a couple of Beirut albums on this computer, and a best-of Chopin, but that's it, so it gets repetitive really quickly.

Suggestions!

 

[fss]

Seems like this would come down to personal preference more than anything else...?

 

[Hepth]

Well, I'm open to new music, and I'd prefer something new actually, but I (and I assume most people) find it difficult to focus on reading intense scientific articles and simultaneously doing calculations while listening to certain artists in each genre.

There's definitely a sub-genre of each that could be described as "Good background music" that's non-distracting right? I'm sure there are plenty of physicists/engineers/etc here that have found certain artists/albums/etc work really well, and there's no better way to find out if it works for me too than to try it.

 

[Ivan Seeking]

Ah, the greats.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P9dpTTpjymE

 

[fss]

I don't find Bach particularly distracting, mostly because I'm not a big Bach fan. YMMV, though. Anything between Beethoven and Stravinsky always causes me to lose focus, mostly because I'm too big of a classical music fan.

 

[Astronuc]

I have about 5 hours worth of reading ahead of me of hep-ph papers and was wondering if anyone has any favourites/suggestions for non-distracting background music.

I have a couple of Beirut albums on this computer, and a best-of Chopin, but that's it, so it gets repetitive really quickly.

Suggestions!

Probably adagios, pastorales and nocturnes would work. How about Haydn? Lizst? Camille Saint-Saens? Debussy? Bach?

(J. S. Bach: Cantata Nº 208, 'Sheep May Safely Graze', BWV 208)

I like Ralph Vaughn Williams and Samuel Barber, too.
Barber Adagio for Strings

The Lark Ascending - Ralph Vaughan Williams
(my favorite piece by Williams)

Avoid tunes with lyrics

Classical Music to Study To
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00006314K/?tag=pfamazon01-20

Of course, one could listen to the classic Moody Blues in the background.

 

[leroyjenkens]

Definitely The Used


Or Enya

 

[turbo]

If I try to learn stuff while listening to music with lyrics, it has to be tunes that I'm so familiar with that they are ingrained in my brain. New tunes with lyrics are too distracting.

Even non-lyrical stuff can be too much if the music is compelling, unless I have heard it a lot before, like the Firebird Suite, or Bach's Brandenburg Concertos.

 

[nismaratwork]

A little Sibelius, or maybe some Shostakovich, and not to be trite, but Mozart always works for me. Oh, and big band... don't ask me why because I do NOT know why.

...
...
...

And Tuvan overtone singing... yeah I know I'm odd, so sue me.

 

[Andre]

The genre of popular simple classics that Andre Rieu selects and his arrangements works great for me.

 

[jhae2.718]

Ah, the greats.

...

Thank you. That made my day.

On topic, I've always preferred to listen to classical while doing physics; I'll agree that lyrics are bad.

 

[diazona]

I generally prefer smooth jazz as background music. It's music without surprises, in a sense - exactly the kind of thing you want when you're trying to get other work done. And it's easily streamed over the internet.

Of course, most people would probably disagree...

 

[nismaratwork]

I generally prefer smooth jazz as background music. It's music without surprises, in a sense - exactly the kind of thing you want when you're trying to get other work done. And it's easily streamed over the internet.

Of course, most people would probably disagree...

I'll let this go after one question... when you say smooth jazz... do you mean Kenny G? Be honest now...

edit: Oh, and as an aside, I enjoy harpsichord music for a working environment... don't ask me why when I only play brass and woodwinds myself. *shrug* I guess we all have our eccentricities.

 

[lisab]

I generally prefer smooth jazz as background music. It's music without surprises, in a sense - exactly the kind of thing you want when you're trying to get other work done. And it's easily streamed over the internet.

Of course, most people would probably disagree...

I prefer classic jazz when I work. But studying...nothing, any sound is just a distraction.

 

[diazona]

I'll let this go after one question... when you say smooth jazz... do you mean Kenny G? Be honest now...

Kenny G is a smooth jazz artist, whatever you make of that...

 

[nismaratwork]

Kenny G is a smooth jazz artist, whatever you make of that...

Oh Diazona... aiya.

 

[diazona]

well for all I knew you could have been asking about exact equivalence of the sets "songs performed by Kenny G" and "smooth jazz songs" and I wasn't about to let you get away with that

 

[nismaratwork]

well for all I knew you could have been asking about exact equivalence of the sets "songs performed by Kenny G" and "smooth jazz songs" and I wasn't about to let you get away with that

Heh, maaaaaybe... but putting that aside, I wouldn't put all of smooth jazz into the "Kenny G" pile.

 

[diazona]

Oh, of course not. There's a lot more to it than just Kenny G. I actually prefer some of the funkier stuff a lot of the time.

 

[Max™]

Jonathon Coulton
Nine Inch Nails
Tool
A Perfect Circle
The White Stripes
Pink Floyd

 

[Astronuc]

Probably adagios, pastorales and nocturnes would work. How about Haydn? Lizst? Camille Saint-Saens? Debussy? Bach?

(J. S. Bach: Cantata Nº 208, 'Sheep May Safely Graze', BWV 208)

I like Ralph Vaughn Williams and Samuel Barber, too.
Barber Adagio for Strings

The Lark Ascending - Ralph Vaughan Williams
(my favorite piece by Williams)

Avoid tunes with lyrics

Classical Music to Study To
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00006314K/?tag=pfamazon01-20

Of course, one could listen to the classic Moody Blues in the background.

I finally remember the CD of a collection Classical Music.

Classical Dreams - https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00005Q467/?tag=pfamazon01-20

This CD has the best version of Rachmaninoff's Vocalise

Disc: 1 (tracks with conductor)
1. Antiphon: Ecce Annuntio Vobis - Dominique Vellard
2. Symphony No. 5: Adagietto - Jukka-Pekka Saraste
3. Gymnopedie No. 1 - Paul Tortelier
4. Pavane - Paul Tortelier
5. The Planets: Venus - Sir Charles Mackerras
6. Old And Lost Rivers - Christoph Eschenbach
7. Prld To The Afternoon Of A Faun - Dmitri Kitaenko
8. Summer Pastorale - Jesus Lopez-Cobos
9. Masques Et Bergamasques: Pastorale - Jean-Bernard Pommier
10. Summa - Bournemouth Sinfonietta
11. Pictures At An Exhibition: The Old Castle - Sir Charles Mackerras
12. The Wounded Heart - Jonathan Rees
13. Ser in e: Larghetto - Andrew Litton

Disc: 2
1. Apollon Musagete: The Birth Of Apollo - Jukka-Pekka Saraste
2. Adagio for Strings - City Of London Sinfonia
3. The Swan Of Tuonela - Paavo Jarvi
4. Enigma Vars: Nimrod - RPO/Andrew Litton
5. Petite Ste: En Bateau (Orch. Busser) - Jean-Bernard Pommier
6. Holberg Ste: Air - Jonathan Rees
7. Fantasia On 'Greensleeves' - Christopher Warren-Green
8. Gymnopedie No. 3 - Paul Tortelier
9. Pavane Pour Une Infante Defunte - Jukka-Pekka Saraste
10. The Last Spring - Jonathan Rees
11. Thais: Meditation (From Thais) - Paul Tortelier
12. Vocalise - Andrew Litton
13. Mother Goose: The Fairy Garden - Dmitri Kitaenko
14. Antiphon: Ecce Annuntio Vobis - Dominique Vellard

Another enhanced set - Ultimate Classical Dreams
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B001UGIS9I/?tag=pfamazon01-20