FOCUS

Have you ever sat yourself down to write a paper, do math homework, or just get something done and always find yourself singing along to the words blasting through the tiny speakers you have jammed into your ears? Music with words distracts me from my work. Having a good no-words, lazer-beam-focus play list of songs can be a handy tool. It's like legal adderall.

Either you can go with no words, or a band with a singer impossible to understand. So obviously I mean Radiohead. You never quite know exactly what he's saying, but I think that both the listener and Radiohead know that's really not the point of listening to Radiohead.

If you're looking for something to make your Chem homework more epic, turn on The Pirates of the Carribean or John Adams soundtrack. As the music builds in intensity, the speed of your frantic scribbling increases until at last it changes key and switches to some funky 7/8 time and YES! You have found the empirical formula at last! ONTO THE MOLECULAR FORMULA! Honestly, there couldn't be something more satisfying.

Another option is Classical music. This can take many forms. I'm a fan of the Pavarotti pandora station. Opera is almost never in english, so it's rarely distracting. Unfortunately, an opera itself isn't distracting even when its supposed to be in a theatre (ZZzz....) I'm a fan of Bach and Debussy as well, if you're going for a more calming focus. Classical music creates pleasant background noises and drowns out the gab of annoying people around you. It typically makes me feel pretty sophisticated. Is that pretentious of me?

Finally, my favorite. Ratatat. Hip-hop/electronical/rock slide-y sounds that just perfectly echo the way I imagine my brain functioning while I'm studying. Sustained sounds tend to stream line my brain power and put me into a deeper work-trance for a longer period of time.

So find your favorite! I typically don't combine these different types of sounds into a single playlist, but I want you to sample them all! Plus, I like them for different things. Ratatat for paper writing, Pavarotti for Chem, radiohead for high-stress situations, classical music for when I'm in a comfy chair or by a window with a nice view.

 I'm sure you have your favorites too. Leave recommendations for me with your comments!