Listen To Music For Limitless Inspiration And Improved Mental Health
Listen up, fellas, there is real science behind this brain hack
How often do you find yourself struggling to focus on your writing? You’ve got your schedule ready, got your coffee, it’s a lovely morning — but something keeps pulling you away…
The internet is flashing its lights at you; the dog wants a belly-rub; the damn fridge is humming; now you’re kinda hungry.
In times like these, you need an escape plan, a mute button for the world, a way to get your mojo workin’!
Music can help you get back on track — and stay there.
Turn on, tune in, drop out…
The Many Blessings of Music
I often think in music. I live my daydreams in music. I see my life in terms of music. — Albert Einstein
Can you dig it?
Whether it’s rock, pop, or reggae, there is something out there for everyone.
Music can reduce anxiety and depression, it improves memory, relaxes us, and stimulates our minds. We listen to music when we’re bored, lonely, happy, nostalgic, and in love.
It is the universal language of human emotions and experiences. We use music in religious rituals, in concerts, in films, and in adverts. Harmonies and melodies are everywhere and in everything. The very fabric of reality is woven out of constantly vibrating atomic micro-particles.
Let’s explore why music is the most precious muse in enhancing your performance as a wordsmith.
Music Sets The Mood
It’s bloody hard get any writing done when you’re caught up in a funk.
Fortunately, if you’re feeling grumpy or blue, music is a widely accessible and powerful stress-management tool. Studies from Stanford Universtiy found that “listening to music seems to be able to change brain functioning to the same extent as medication."
The effects of music on our neurology are even comparable to the profound power of meditation. With the click of a button, you can tune out of your brain’s (often irrational) broadcast of fear and tune in to the dimensions of bliss, if only for a few minutes.
And if we combine all this goodness with the countless benefits of movement and exercise, there are real long-term benefits to a life filled with music.
Shut up and dance!
Music inspires
Another study discovered that “listening to happy music facilitates divergent thinking.”
Participants were exposed to four types of classical music — happy, calm, sad, or anxious — and tested for their divergent or convergent thinking through various creative tasks.
Researchers observed that those who’d been exposed to happy music scored higher on divergent thinking than those who worked in silence or with other types of classical music. Happy participants came up with more total ideas and more original ideas.
“…these findings, known as the ‘Mozart effect’, can be explained by the perceiver’s arousal level and mood, which can affect performance on a variety of cognitive tasks.”
It is also interesting to note that the degree of enjoyment reported by the participants had no impact on their performance.
How to use music for inspiration
I love doing this.
Put on a piece of good music, relax, grab a notepad, maybe light up a joint, and listen to the story that is being told. Embark on a journey, its highs and lows, and notice your reactions to it. How does it hit you? How does it make you feel?
Is it sad?
Exciting?
Melancholic?
All of the above?
Whether you’re a storyteller or a poet, music is sure to stir up emotions and images within you. Whatever you feel or see, write it all down.
In my experience, music has helped develop themes, settings, and deep characters. It has even revealed entire plot-lines.
What music works best, according to science
We know music can help us be more focused, more happy, more creative. But what type of music produces the best results?
Whatever you enjoy
Studies from the University of Miami concluded that listening to music we enjoy can help boost our performance, simply because it makes us happier.
Teresa Lesiuk, an assistant professor in the music therapy program, says: “When you’re stressed, you might make a decision more hastily; you have a very narrow focus of attention. When you’re in a positive mood, you’re able to take in more options.”
While I encourage everyone to explore different genres and see what works, don’t overthink it— just listen to whatever rocks your socks!
Anything without lyrics
When writing, the last thing I want is someone else’s words webbing with my own. It is an intolerable distraction.
Researchers at Cambridge Sound Management have done studies that show how it isn’t noise that distracts us, but rather words that pull us out of our flow and force our brains to compute external stimuli.
According to the 2008 study, “…out of 689 employees from 11 companies… 48% of participants reported speech as the most disturbing source of noise.”
So if — like me — you enjoy happy and wordless music, you can hardly do better than 24/7 live-stream by Chilled Cow and the lost-in-time “study girl”.
Sounds of nature
Nothing beats a pleasant stroll through nature, but researchers at Renssellaer Polytechnic Institute found that just listening to natural sounds — birds, wind, mountain streams — can have a positive impact.
They tested a group of office workers, exploring how natural accoustics in the workplace could serve as an alternative to the standard masking system of low volume white noise. It turned out that both systems were equally effective in “enhancing cognitive functioning, optimizing the ability to concentrate, and increasing overall worker satisfaction”.
White noise and nature sounds are often subtly incorporated into ambient music, as well, which many find to be an ideal blend.
Ambient and OSTs
Ambient music is my personal go-to. Atmospheric, little to no rhythm, continuous and repetitive.
I won’t bother with the research behind ambient music and how it stimulates the brain — we already know it’s good because it incorporates many strains of relaxing sounds and melodies in varying degrees.
Instead, I would just like to make a few suggestions that continue to help me with my daily writing quests.
A YouTube channel, Cryo Chamber, has been a constant source of inspiration for myself and many other fans of dark ambience. The channel oozes Loveraftian and dystopian themes and imagery. If that’s the kind of universe where you spend much of your writing hours, Cryo Chamber is perfection.
OSTs (Official Sound Tracks) from video games and movies are a gold mine.
You can flip back decades to the Hitchcock era and listen to the chilling compositions of Bernard Herrmann; or maybe you’ll delve into the epics of Hans Zimmer; how about the fantastical world of Elder Scrolls with Jeremy Soule?
There are mountains of ambient OSTs on YouTube — arranged, extended, and remastered — that not only help to focus but are often a nostalgic and soul-stirring experience.
Just please listen to this masterpiece.
