With all these distractions out there, it becomes harder and harder to concentrate on a single task. Sometimes, it seems like we punish and deprive ourselves of things just to be able to concentrate. Music, however, can make this all easier. Check out what’s the best music for concentration.
Does Music Help Us Concentrate?
There are different studies that deal with this topic in one way or the other. What most of them have in common is the finding that music is not directly helping us to concentrate on a task at hand. Instead, it fosters our concentration by drowning out sounds and noises and other factors that can interrupt our focus or draw away our attention.
This coincides with a study that suggests that we have two networks for attention, one for conscious attention and one for unconscious attention. Music playing in the background could thus function as some kind of buffer. Our unconscious attention tends to wander. With music playing, it has a fixed point to wander to and not take too much from the concentration we need.
What about the genre though? Are their musical genres that are more suited as background noise than others? The bad news is that there is no rule of thumb. The good news is that it is down to your own personal preference. That’s good because it suggests that you can freely listen to the music that you like best, whether it be Jazz, Blues, Death Metal or Classical.
However, since lyrics might impede the good effect music has on your concentration, it’s suggested to use music that does not contain human vocals. Our attention is automatically drawn to voices, thus instrumental music is the safest bet.
Also check out Environments that Help You Concentrate
Classical Music
Classical music is often suggested when it comes to music for studying or when you have to concentrate. It hardly contains any lyrics (if you avoid operas) and is usually less intrusive or stimulating.
Check out 15 Classical Music Pieces You Have Heard But Don’t Know The Name Of
Movie Scores
Movie scores, oftentimes, do not contain any singing either. In addition to that, they are designed to evoke certain feelings in the viewers. This ranges from suspense to sadness, from light-heartedness to a grandeur.
Depending on your situation and what you need to concentrate on, you can use these manipulative features of movie scores for yourself.
Video Game Scores
Video game scores are similar to movie scores. You can use their abilities to evoke feelings to focus on whatever you need to get done, may it be writing, studying, chores, … The only difference is that this music is based on video games.
Ambient Noise
Of course, we have to mention this: Ambient noise!
Especially when you concentrate on sounds of nature, drones, white noise, ambient rumbles, and generally sounds that fall under the #NoWhisper category, you can find many ambient noise tracks that boost concentration and drown out any noise and sounds that keep you from doing your thing.
