What Music Boosts Concentration for Complex Math and Physics Tasks?

[jackiefrost]

Hi,
Does anyone have any exceptional music to recommend that they believe enhances their ability to concentrate or visualize highly abstract and/or complex math/physics problems? It's fun experimenting with stuff like this so if you have any recommendations let me know. [I do a lot of math & physics problems using Mathematica and Boze ]

jf

 

[Astronuc]

For me, something energetic!

Maybe Mussorgsky, Borodin, Stravinsky, Profokiev or Rimsky-Korsakov.

But good classic rock and roll works - Emerson, Lake & Palmer and Pink Floyd might work.

A lot depends on my mood.

 

[Bladibla]

The Bach Cello Suites. - Nuff' said

The Bach Violin Partitas - The finest violin pieces ever conceived by the human mind.

Both volumes of the well tempered clavier.

Double violin concerto in D minor - JS BACH

http://magnatune.com/collections/bach - Has all the appropriate Pieces, and you can play it for FREE. For the appropriate albums, press 'details', then pick a piece then choose either 'hifi' or 'lofi'

 

[ZapperZ]

Corelli's Sonata Opus 1-5.

Or any italian boroque.

Zz.

 

[Bladibla]

Corelli's Sonata Opus 1-5.

Or any italian boroque.

Zz.

Agreed! Baroque music is the best period of music in history of music.

 

[franznietzsche]

I'm a big fan of The Brandenburg concertos (JS Bach), #3 and #4 (they're all good, those are just my favorites).

 

[konartist]

I once read in psychology that classical music utilizes the whole brain and therefore the whole brain is being used which results in a person being smarter and being able to think straighter.

 

[Dawguard]

I once read in psychology that classical music utilizes the whole brain and therefore the whole brain is being used which results in a person being smarter and being able to think straighter.

At least this explains why my thinking is screwed up in so many circles. Too much Guns and Roses

 

[Jelfish]

Hi,
Does anyone have any exceptional music to recommend that they believe enhances their ability to concentrate or visualize highly abstract and/or complex math/physics problems? It's fun experimenting with stuff like this so if you have any recommendations let me know. [I do a lot of math & physics problems using Mathematica and Boze ]

jf

I would say that it depends less of the music and more on how you listen to music. If you just let it wash over you like background music, it won't do you any good in regard to abstract visualization. However, if you really concentrate on music and consider all perspectives - intensely focus in on one instrument at a time and follow how it moves within an ensemble; take a few leading instruments that are playing off each other, like guitars, vocals, or strings, and see how their individual melodies construct larger harmonies; or listen to a bigger picture of how the piece progresses, what sort of mood you think it's trying to set, the mood you actually experience, and then try to figure out what specific elements in the piece allow it to achieve that mood. If you can get into the habit of doing these things when you listen to music (any type of music, really, though listening to music with relatively simple or similar forms may become a bit boring for such an analysis) then I think you'll improve your ability to visualize abstractly. After all, when you take some seemingly random waveform and separate it in your mind into different instruments and then analyze them, I would think that it takes quite a bit of abstract visualization (or auralization?). Knowing some music theory helps too.

Of course, that takes a lot of concentration and if you get use to doing that when you listen to music, it will become very hard to multitask with music in the background (there's no music in the car when I drive through the city). If you're not looking to make music the "MS Windows" of your mental resources, I would say that anything with a good beat but not too recognizable or singable (lest you become distracted) may be good for keeping you on task.

 

[jackiefrost]

Good stuff! Thanks. I'm trying Bach Cello Suites and violin sonatas and partitas (whatever a partita is :-). http://magnatune.com is a good site for sampling.

 

[Bladibla]

Good stuff! Thanks. I'm trying Bach Cello Suites and violin sonatas and partitas (whatever a partita is :-). http://magnatune.com is a good site for sampling.

There are different kind of Baroque suits: a collection of baroque dance movements; Allemande, Corrente, Ciaconna, Loure, Sarabande and so on. There are different kind of collections of these pieces as well, like French overtures or french suites.

Partitas are considered the most difficult collection of barque dances of a single instrument (in most cases)

Strictly defining, the Cello suites are really 'partitas', but the name stuck when first mentioned.

I would say that it depends less of the music and more on how you listen to music. If you just let it wash over you like background music, it won't do you any good in regard to abstract visualization. However, if you really concentrate on music and consider all perspectives - intensely focus in on one instrument at a time and follow how it moves within an ensemble; take a few leading instruments that are playing off each other, like guitars, vocals, or strings, and see how their individual melodies construct larger harmonies; or listen to a bigger picture of how the piece progresses, what sort of mood you think it's trying to set, the mood you actually experience, and then try to figure out what specific elements in the piece allow it to achieve that mood. If you can get into the habit of doing these things when you listen to music (any type of music, really, though listening to music with relatively simple or similar forms may become a bit boring for such an analysis) then I think you'll improve your ability to visualize abstractly. After all, when you take some seemingly random waveform and separate it in your mind into different instruments and then analyze them, I would think that it takes quite a bit of abstract visualization (or auralization?). Knowing some music theory helps too.

Of course, that takes a lot of concentration and if you get use to doing that when you listen to music, it will become very hard to multitask with music in the background (there's no music in the car when I drive through the city). If you're not looking to make music the "MS Windows" of your mental resources, I would say that anything with a good beat but not too recognizable or singable (lest you become distracted) may be good for keeping you on task.

Agreed. It must be stated that ANY kind of music in the background can be a distracting factor in terms of working. Hence, when talking about 'enhancing the mind', we are talking more of free-time music where the person can rever in the great melodies of music and think appropriate thoughts.

 

[jackiefrost]

For me, something energetic...

I with you on that my friend! Energy is good.

jf

[uh... "recalcitrant" - interesting word]

 

[Moonbear]

I think it all depends on your personal taste in music. If it's something you really like, it'll get you energized, but if you don't like it, it doesn't matter if it works for someone else. I work best with hard rock, heavy metal, some pop music, a lot of 80s dance music, some country...anything with a hard, driving rhythm. Classical is more relaxing for me, so not conducive to getting work done. Rather, it's something that I would listen to when I don't need to work and just want to unwind before going back to work, or when I have a day off work to relax. For others, that's what they listen to when they want to focus on work.

 

[fourier jr]

Agreed! Baroque music is the best period of music in history of music.

hmm i think it's a toss-up between baroque & renaissance. if you like bach because of his counterpoint/canons/etc that sort of music was going out of style in bach's time. however the renaissance was the golden age of polyphony; many of the composers during that time completely leave bach in the shade. i think bach wrote some stuff with <6-7 parts; thomas tallis & alessandro striggio wrote motets with 40 parts! johannes ockeghem wrote a 36-part canon if you can believe that. i think the most bach wrote a canon for was 6 parts, in his musical offering. if you're interested in counterpoint bach is simply no match for many renaissance composers. not that i don't like his music or that he was a bad composer, but he's definitely not the absolute greatest anymore. there was a time when i thought bach was but i guess I've branched out since then.

i think a good representative renaissance work is giovanni pierluigi da palestrina's missa papae marcelli. as the urban legend goes, it allegedly saved church music from the draconian reforms of the council of trent. imho it's one of the few truly perfect pieces of music ever written. it's usually paired on cd with gregorio allegri's miserere. that work also has a somewhat intersesting history to it. it was the first piece of music ever bootlegged. apparently it was featured in chariots of fire; it was the music being sung in some cathedral (?) i haven't seen that movie so i wouldn't know.

 

[Astronuc]

[uh... "recalcitrant" - interesting word]

And very accurate in my case. Always have been, always will be.

 

[mattmns]

So how does one buy classical music? It seems like there are numerous cds of classical music, but I am sure there are some differences, and that some are crap, and others are great, so what is the key here? Thanks!

 

[Plastic Photon]

I like to play my own music before I study! NOt only do you listen but you create.

Although I will say anything by Bach is good enough.

 

[Cyrus]

So how does one buy classical music? It seems like there are numerous cds of classical music, but I am sure there are some differences, and that some are crap, and others are great, so what is the key here? Thanks!

Listen to the radio for about a year. Then you will be able to identify all the good stuff. Now, when it comes to seeing a live concert, that is done by trial and error. Just don't waste a penny on Leonard Slatkin. He will play a load of crap and charge you a lot just because it’s at the Kennedy Center. My god he played some nasty songs. I never saw so many people leave the Kennedy Center so fast after he was done. No encore's when he is conducting, that's for damn sure.

 

[franznietzsche]

So how does one buy classical music? It seems like there are numerous cds of classical music, but I am sure there are some differences, and that some are crap, and others are great, so what is the key here? Thanks!

I think I bought most of my Bach CDs at Barnes and Noble. The recordings were of one orchestra or another from London (The particular orchestra wasn't important to me at the time, sometimes it makes a difference though, as sometimes I want a particular performance or soloist). Amazon will have them as well.

As for quality, the key is the group. Generally though, any group commercially selling a classical recording will be good, even if they're not the best. I've never heard a commercially available classical recording that was 'crap' though some groups are better than others.

 

[zoobyshoe]

I've never heard a commercially available classical recording that was 'crap' though some groups are better than others.

There are some recordings of performances that are so dull they aren't worth listening to. Once in a while you find one that is outright strange. It's also a good idea to stay away from "historic" performances, like, recorded in the 1930's. Start off by sticking with the most recently recorded ones and the sound quality should be excellent.

 

[franznietzsche]

There are some recordings of performances that are so dull they aren't worth listening to. Once in a while you find one that is outright strange. It's also a good idea to stay away from "historic" performances, like, recorded in the 1930's. Start off by sticking with the most recently recorded ones and the sound quality should be excellent.

Actually I have a recording from Benny Goodman's 1938 Carnegie Hall Performance. Its good. But that's Carnegie Hall.

That said, all of my classical recordings are quite recent 1998, 1995, 1988 being the oldest. Some of my jazz stuff is older though, 60s, 50s, 40s, even the 30s.

 

[zoobyshoe]

I think the best music to listen to is Bach keyboard music played on the piano. Performances on the harpsichord are hard to take for long stretches.

The Well-Tempered Clavier, 1 and 2, The Goldberg Variations, and all the keyboard suites and partitas. You can't go wrong if you get Glenn Gould, but there are lots of other excellent ones as well.

 

[zoobyshoe]

Actually I have a recording from Benny Goodman's 1938 Carnegie Hall Performance. Its good. But that's Carnegie Hall.

Whoah, Dude! You're freakin' me out! I just bought that today.

 

[franznietzsche]

Whoah, Dude! You're freakin' me out! I just bought that today.

I don't have the whole concert, just some of the songs from that recording are on one of Goodman CDs. I should get it though...

 

[zoobyshoe]

I don't have the whole concert, just some of the songs from that recording are on one of Goodman CDs. I should get it though...

I got it on LP. A two record set. It cost me a dollar at the swap meet. (The disks are in very good shape. Someone took care of them, or else hardly played them.) It boasts that they are digitally remastered from the original analog tape. Despite that, I found the sound to be disapointing, not much better than any other from the same time. Regardless, any Benny Goodman is worth it because he and his band are so flawless. I've heard the modern bands doing his tunes and they all suck compared to him.

 

[franznietzsche]

I got it on LP. A two record set. It cost me a dollar at the swap meet. (The disks are in very good shape. Someone took care of them, or else hardly played them.) It boasts that they are digitally remastered from the original analog tape. Despite that, I found the sound to be disapointing, not much better than any other from the same time. Regardless, any Benny Goodman is worth it because he and his band are so flawless. I've heard the modern bands doing his tunes and they all suck compared to him.

That concert is one of the greatest performances of all time, without question. I have some of the concert on a Sony/Columbia CD. Its pretty good, but I'm no audiophile.

 

[zoobyshoe]

That concert is one of the greatest performances of all time, without question. I have some of the concert on a Sony/Columbia CD. Its pretty good, but I'm no audiophile.

I have a record called Benny Goodman Swings Again which was recorded live in a club in Hollywood during his 1960 come back tour. The basic sound quality is so much higher than the carnegie hall recording you don't need to be any kind of audiophile to tell the difference. This one has spoiled me, I guess.

 

[Bladibla]

There is NO NEED to go to any shop for good Bach recordings.

http://www.soul-partita.com/ - Go to music gallery, then to the JS Bach section for any JS music you want to listen to.

http://www.greatjsbach.net/Work.php3 - Possibly the best Bach website. Click on the appropriate piece you want to play, then press play. Contains ALL of the BWV works.

http://boyunglee.com/frame/frame.html - Good for a lot of composers, especially Beethoven. Click on 'composers', then click whatever composer. then piece you want to play.

 

[Bladibla]

I like to play my own music before I study! NOt only do you listen but you create.

Although I will say anything by Bach is good enough.

Although I absolutely adore Bach's works, I disagree. It helps to listen to a lot of variety of composers for different feelings and style. Yes, JS is argueably the greatest composer who ever lived, but that's not to say other compsers are to be underestimated. No, in fact, Listening to other composers comes first ideally. Getting your ear to train for the perseverence to listen to Bachs music is tough.

 

[meteor]

Hi,
Does anyone have any exceptional music to recommend that they believe enhances their ability to concentrate or visualize highly abstract and/or complex math/physics problems? It's fun experimenting with stuff like this so if you have any recommendations let me know. [I do a lot of math & physics problems using Mathematica and Boze ]

jf

One would think that a mathematician should be satisfied with a type of music called http://www.zainea.com/fractalmus.htm .