Originally Posted by Baraka_Guru

I work at home, which basically means I can work naked, eat whenever I want, take video-game breaks, and listen to whatever music I goddamn well please and at any volume I wish.

That sounds crazy—I know—and I actually do a couple of those things. One of them is listen to whatever music I wish. However, as an editor/reader, I find that most music can be distracting. Anything with lyrics can throw me off. This rules out songs and talk radio.

I've listened to a lot of jazz, but I've found that it can be distracting depending on the style. Now? I listen to baroque music primarily because I've found it is the least distracting, and I happen to find it quite energizing as well in an understated kind of way. I have also listened to medieval chant. If it's in Latin, I don't tend to get distracted, but the tonal qualities and the harmonies are wonderful to work to.

So this thread has two purposes, 1) to ask what you listen to while working, reading, studying, etc., and why, 2) to get share recommendations for music for this purpose.

I currently have Correlli's Concerti Grossi, Op. 6 and Bach's Brandenburg Concertos as far as my Baroque is concerned. In the past, I've had Vivaldi's Four Seasons. I'm thinking about getting that back into my cycle as well. Also, I'm thinking of adding Handel's Water Music. Any other baroque recommendations?

I have a bunch of music from other periods (classical/romantic/modern), but I find that the styles and forms are too distracting, especially much of that produced in the romantic period. It's wonderful for listening, but it tends to really grab your attention.

More recently, I've found that ragas, a Indian classical music mode, are good for work music as well. There are many pieces that have vocals, but like the Latin, I find that if it's in a language far enough from my own, it's not distracting.

Anyway.... what do you have piping into your proverbial workshop?

Originally Posted by LordEden

....there wasn't a BEAT there that I could tune into to tune out the outside world.

Originally Posted by Willravel

I've been searching! For whatever reason, I've developed annual tastes in music. It started with Christmas music around the holidays, but expanded quickly from there. I listen to a lot of Afro-Cuban jazz during the summer, particularly when I have barbecues and such. I listen to Romantic classical music in early autumn, and then dark ambient around Halloween.

Late Winter and early Spring, though, have gone without genre for a while now and I'm looking to rectify that. After New Years, I started jumping around my music collection trying to find something that clicks. I listened to Billie Holiday, then Allice in Chains (which I discovered is better suited to Summer for some reason), then Edvard Grieg. Greig wasn't bad, but it feels more like a late Spring kind of thing.

Originally Posted by Willravel

....Maybe I'll take a page from Baraka's book and go for boroque. I recently bought the Keith Jarrett 24 Preludes and Fuges CD from either iTunes or Amazon, I can't remember, and it's outstanding. It's light, but it's also stimulating. Like an Asian girlfriend.