Whether you live on campus or in private accommodation or sit in the loud or quiet parts of the library, there’s always sounds coming at you from at least five different directions. To combat against the noise, you would ususally fish out your headphones, untangle the countless knots, and get YouTube or Spotify up and running to help drown out the distractions. You promptly find yourself singing along to whatever it is you have picked, naturally ignoring the work you were set to do (oops!). Here are some things to listen to when you’re studying or doing work that won’t distract you too much.
1. Classics.
Put on Vivaldi’s Four Seasons or Smetana’s Vltava, or something slightly newer like anything from Yiruma (the guy who composed River Flows In You), Hans Zimmer (soundtrack for Inception, The Pirates of the Carribean, The Lion King), or perhaps piano cover compositions of Disney music.
2. Natural sounds.
If you’re doing a Media degree, you’re probably familiar with the term. Natural sound is everything you hear on daily basis and don’t even notice. So no, by ‘natural’ I don’t necessarily mean the whales. Try to think of what makes you feel all nice and safe. The rustling of leaves? Busy shopping centre? Thunderstorm? There is no end to possibilities when you have the Internet.
3. Everything you’d never normally listen to.
Yes, it sounds weird. Look up the stuff you thought you’d never listen to. I’ve never been a fan of AC/DC and Black Sabbath, and funnily enough, that’s exactly what’s in my earphones while I’m writing this. The music that is unfamiliar and sort of unappealing to you will be easy to ignore as you type away.
4. Elvish music.
I trust you’ve all at least heard about The Lord of the Rings (if you have not seen it, go see it now). If you have, you’re probably aware that there’s the race of Elves in it. The Elves, by nature, are singers, and most of their themes and songs can be found online (thank you, Tolkien). It’s a bit like choir music, I guess? In any case, it works.
Quite obviously, the best atmosphere for studying is in complete quiet. Since a ‘perfect’ enviroment is probably unachievable, putting in your earphones and not listening to anything at all works as well. But if you feel that would be unnatural, you’re more than welcome to try out the four listed.