Actually, contrary to popular belief listening to music without lyrics (instrumentals) with a soft/calming melody can actually help you to work better whilst studying.

I’d reccommend taking the time to look up instrumentals of songs on YouTube and play them in the background whilst you study. I like to listen to a lot of J-Trance at a low volume.

Actually, contrary to popular belief listening to music without lyrics (instrumentals) with a soft/calming melody can actually help you to work better whilst studying.

Actually I believe that actually already is the popular opinion :P

…music without lyrics (instrumentals) with a soft/calming melody can actually help you to work better whilst studying

I like to listen to a lot of J-Trance

Sure… Trance music is the BEST for soft, calming melodies :P
Also, soft, slower-tempo’d Classical music is said to be quite good for studying to. Apparently it’s best at 60bpm, but I don’t think having it at 70 or 80bpm would make THAT much difference.

While I’m doing big important uni studying, I’ve found I can concentrate a lot better without music (and away from the computer entirely, in fact :P). But when I’m doing something boring like flashcard reviews, I’ve recently been playing the soundtrack to a Lucas Arts game called Grim Fandango – it’s not always the most calming, but it’s lyricless swing-jazz/bebop (and some latin), which makes it interesting enough to be enjoyable, but not distracting enough so that I can’t answer my flashcards. It’s a film noir style game, but set in the Mayan Day-of-the-Dead-style limbo land, so the soundtrack is pretty fitting :)

Latin style:
http://youtu.be/jT4A-MSQgoI
http://youtu.be/WzBQ28d5Oiw

Swing-jazz/bebop style:
http://youtu.be/4VZUxci9u54
http://youtu.be/QVggc7SUhj4
http://youtu.be/8UmeKmxx8O4
http://youtu.be/7cngQ9EuY0Y

(Yeah, that’s a lot of links… I don’t usually listen to jazz, but I think that games soundtrack reminds me of the old days ;) )

• This reply was modified 12 years, 7 months ago by  MisterM2402 [Michael].
• This reply was modified 12 years, 7 months ago by  MisterM2402 [Michael].
• This reply was modified 12 years, 7 months ago by  MisterM2402 [Michael].

I can’t study in complete silence; the silence is louder and more distracting than when playing music (with or without lyrics). Silence causes my mind to wander, and that’s mostly never a good thing for me. This makes it pretty difficult for me to take tests in class now; when the room gets so quiet one can hear a pen drop (or really irritating noises like doors slamming down the hall), which is why I sneak my mp3 player in class while I take tests (I just hope no one catches me or they’ll think I’m cheating somehow). D:

I also can’t fall asleep in dead silence; I need a fan or something running. Funny enough though, I can’t sleep while playing music, and as a result, I always have trouble sleeping because then I start thinking too much when trying to fall asleep; I can’t win either way.

Anyway, this turned into an unintentional mini-ramble.

I vote for Portal 2 music – it’s what I work to :D