Music is one of the major inventions of humanity, having the power to affect your brain and body beyond imagination. While you are well aware it can move you to tears, give you goose bumps and drive you to dance like there’s no tomorrow, did you know that some well-chosen study songs can boost your creativity and help you write better and more easily?
How come? Well, because:
- First of all, music puts you in a better mood, making even the most boring or difficult assignments more pleasurable.
- It relaxes you and has a soothing effect, reducing that awful anxiety that creeps up on you when you have a tight deadline or an overwhelming task
- It sparks inspiration, boosts creativity and acts as a strong memory cue.
- The right music, such as guitar, violin or piano songs for studying can help you focus and improve your attention span.
Now, not every music style is fit for studying or goes well with every type of assignment. More aggressive music or songs with very complex vocals, for instance, can actually hinder your ability to concentrate. Similarly, a warm, soothing guitar piece may be great to help you express your feelings in a reflective essay, but might be too “sedative” for a sharp argumentation or tasks that require critical thinking. This being said, here are two of the best study music playlists to help with your writing depending on the task at hand.
Best Classical Music to Study to, Express Feelings and Boost Creativity
This 60 minute classical music playlist is excellent for more creative tasks,such as poetry assignments, literature, creative writing, tasks that involve expressing your feelings, narrative and reflective essays, personal statements, and basically anything along these lines. Some of the most revered composers can be found on this list, from Mozart and Tchaikovsky, to Bizet, Rossini, Grieg and Offenbach.
The playlist offers a wonderful mix of:
- soothing, but playful music,such as The Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairies, excellent for getting rid of anxiety and sparking ideas
- songs with a winding, repetitive rhythm such as Tchaikovsky’s Waltz of the Flowers, great to improve concentration, bring up memories and boost your imagination.
- Stronger pieces, such as Les Toreadors, fit for expressing powerful feelings or writing an exciting story.
Modern Music Playlist for More Acute, Insightful Projects
If classical music is not your cup of tea or your assignment entails more cognitive and critical thinking, such as compare and contrast essays, argumentative pieces or research papers, this may be the best study music playlist for you. Containing a series of 14 modern songs and underground pieces, from folk and pop, to synthpop, techno and electro, to various hybrids.
Although many of the songs here have vocals, they are not in the least distracting, the rhythm of the pieces playing a primary role in improving your concentration and helping you find solutions. Take, for instance, the fantastic Baths song, “Earth Death”, or Willow Smith’s “Rta” – both are great examples of good study music to keep you focused on the task at hand, do your research, and craft ingenious arguments. Moving on, Touch, by Holy Other, and Lady Daydream by Twin Sister are excellent songs if your task requires thinking outside the box, Will Calls is super if you need invigorating, while Kirk Karman’s cover of Tears for Fears is great for a relaxing break.
Choose your preferred study music list depending on your mood and the type of writing you need to do, and you’ll see how much your productivity can increase!