Music for Purposes
You should totally play this track while you read. It’s kind of the whole point.
Near the beginning of the pandemic, a favorite YouTube creator of mine released a video titled Spaceship You. Here’s a very brief synopsis (though I recommend watching it regardless): “If you’re stuck in one place, make sure you allocate different zones for different tasks.” I think we’ve heard some form of this before.
Don’t do work in your bed.
Don’t waste time on social media in your productive space.
Don’t answer emails sitting on that couch that faces your TV.
In short: don’t break the rules of the room and don’t cross-pollinate!
The reason for this is simple, almost to the point that we forget it’s real importance. We are creatures of patterns and habit, and once we use something for other than its intended use, it stops working for what it’s meant to do.
I can attest to this. I earned a high school diploma and bachelor’s degree with work done almost exclusively on my bed. Now, I sleep terribly (even worse than before, at least). And so, answering emails while sitting at that special relaxation zone might to prevent you from reaching your TV-induced late afternoon zen when it’s needed most. Or, scrolling your various feeds at your work desk gradually makes you all the less motivated to work the next time you sit to work on your paper. Maybe you wind up watching Reels or TikToks without even realizing you made a decision to!
The arguments here are simply and familiar. I’m convinced, at least, from real-world experience why they ought not be broken. But what about music?
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The general application here isn’t too hard to conceive, but I want to take whatever attention of yours I still have left to convince you that it’s more than interesting; it’s vital.
First, I’d suggest you consider the specific roles music has in your life right now. Maybe there aren’t any, and that’s okay, but you might have some. Things like:
I listen to x when I mow the lawn.
I put x on whenever I have to study.
X is the kind of music I always play when it’s time to unwind.
Maybe you have a very specific fill-in-the-blank for each x above. Maybe it’s just a genre, or a Spotify playlist, or just a really general idea. But what if it was specific?
What if every time you went to do something that music could be a part of, you made an active effort to put the very same track or album or artist on? Imagine what could come of out that…
There’s a whole lot of psychological research that this whole thing will obviously be missing, but hopefully you can forgive the weight of making something interesting to read versus something with citations to clinical studies on Pavlovian responses. I’ll tell you what, if you’re really bothered by it, just message me and I’ll send the specifics your way. In the meantime:
Aren’t you familiar with the recent wave of Low-fi beats to study to? If you’re not:
Now, imagine if you put something like this on every single time you sat down to read or study. Don’t you think, after a long enough time, that this music would become some kind of signal for you to do productive mental work? Don’t you think it could be even a little effective at helping you get started on a particularly unmotivated day (or more realistically, 12:30am on a Sunday)? And if you’re with me that far, don’t you also find it convincing that putting this on when you went to sleep, or took a shower, or cooked dinner could ruin that mental association and hinder its efficacy? In other words: respect the rules of the music and don’t cross-pollinate!
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I think we all have some idea of the benefits of doing this sort of thing. In an almost Pavlovian way, having a musical signifier can prepare us for something; it can tell that part of our brain we can’t really talk to just what to expect. Time to eat, time to sleep, time to get to work. And, I believe, the longer you respect that tradition, that ritual, the more effective it becomes.
I’m not going to try to convince you anymore of this. And I’m not going to tell you any pseudo-science music theory on the kind of music that works best for any occasion. That’s up to you. So, to keep things brief, I’ll include only two more things in this post. One is the strong affirmation from personal experience that this sort of musical association works. Really, really well. Using music in this way has changed my life in lots of ways. It’s made me more productive, better at sleeping, but also so much more. What are the limits? I don’t know that I’ve found them yet. So the other thing I’ll do is give you a few primers, just to get the well going, about just what sort of rituals you can even incorporate music into your own life. Maybe I use some you would never consider. And then, I’ll give you the music I use there, not as some sort of prescription, but for the dual purpose of giving suggestions of what I’ve found to work, as well as just some flat out good music suggestions.
As a last word: I’ll say I approach this pretty strongly. Some music only goes with certain occasions, other occasions only go with certain music. In other words, there are some things I’d only listen to at night, but it’s not the only things I’d listen to at night. Either the music or the source can be the non-negotiable in the equation. So without further delay, here’s my list, as it stands for now:
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MUSIC FOR SLEEPING:
Robert Rich’s Somnium is also a favorite. He’s got a sister album, Perpetual, that’s just as good.
Steve Roach’s Structures from Silence is another special one. It’s not 7+ hours like the others, but it loops pretty well.
(And the thing is, their purpose for me is truly singular. I would walk out of a room if someone began playing this when I wasn’t ready to sleep. The association is 100% pure, and is the reason it’s so unbelievably effective).
MUSIC FOR READING / STUDYING:
New Space Music is the only one here. I can’t focus fully with anything much more complex than this, but it is like Adderall in audio form, at least for me.
MUSIC FOR RUNNING:
Once again, only one type of music here. Here’s a particularly fun variation, but the whole thing works for a nice varied-pace run. Glenn Gould always pushes my pace and rewards me for following his tempo.
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And there are quite a few more: some of which I’ve made mention of before. Choose music only for when it’s summer. Only for when it’s night. Only for when you’re around a friend you don’t see often anymore. Only for when it’s time to relax. Or time to wake up. Or something you listen to only when you’ve accomplished something wonderful. And respect the ritual: don’t break the rules or cross-pollinate. Eventually, you will wind up with a playlist for your life, a rich body of music for all occasions—special and tedious—to enrich them all the same. Because each of those things to which you assign music will gradually become better, more effective, more inspired, more powerful. It doesn’t even take a lot of planning. You probably have a few of these already. Just nurture them, tend to them, and always welcome the idea of finding or choosing more. You will one day—and forever afterward—be very grateful that you did.
