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Posted: |
Apr 15, 2015 - 12:39 PM
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By: |
bobbengan
(Member)
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This is hard to say, as honestly different people have different notions of what's good for "background" purposes - and while I love Williams as much as the next guy, I'm not sure his music is best for studying, as it's simply too engaging!
For me baroque music is best, because it's busy and bustling but, in most cases, not necessarily "memorable" per se, i.e. it usually doesn't have immediately distinct melodic lines that lunge out and grab your attention. At least not often.
That said, explore as many film scores as you can. There's so much wonderful stuff out there. Guys/gals like John Scott, Michael J. Lewis, Michiru Oshima, James Horner, George Delerue, Elmer Bernstein, Miklos Rozsa, Yoko Kanno, Bill Conti, Jerry Goldsmith, Christopher Gordon, Basil Poledouris, Trevor Jones, Richard Band, Robert Folk, Michael Kamen, Christopher Gunning, Christopher Young, Naoki Satto... Start with names like that and explore.
John Barry might work well for you, because his later style of simple, distilled, very "static" and sssslllooowwww melodic-lined music (man I'm about to catch flack for this) is very mellow and, well, easy to detach from - At least for me. SOMEWHERE IN TIME, OUT OF AFRICA and portions of DANCES WITH WOLVES are pretty but also excellent cures for insomnia.
It's an almost endless bounty of wonderful music out there, and what's best for "study" will soon emerge obvious for you, and what doesn't work will speak for itself too.
Hope this helps!
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I am looking for albums or individual tracks that would be perfect to listen to while i complete my university dissertation. I quite like John Williams but don't know much of his stuff. I am open to just about any film music. Thanks
I'm in the same boat, and I typically find that when writing, the best film music/classical music is something that has a little propulsion, a little repetition, and little-to-no abrupt shifts in melody, tempo, or dynamics. Jazz scores from the 1960s like Schifrin's Bullitt and Quincy Jones' The Split work really well for me for these reasons, as they keep me energized but are just constant enough in their grooves to keep from distracting me. I'd also recommend some of the non-film music from composers associated with film - John Williams' violin and harp concertos, as well as Philip Glass's Symphony #9 and violin concerto, are writing mainstays for me - again, all are propulsive enough to keep me alert, but not so melodic that they'd pull me out of the writing zone. For some reason I also work really well with Jarre's Lawrence of Arabia and Mancini's The Molly Maguires, but I can't really point to a good reason for either. Anyway, hope that helps, and let me know if you find anything that works for you.
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Yeah, I listen to Glass, Desplat and Steve Reich on repeat when I'm writing anything of intended substance.
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You wanna get a bad grade? Listen to filmmusic... it's WAY too distracting!
Listening to some Steve Roach... his "ambient" or "atmospheric space" music. Two titles I can recommend are "Mystic Chords and Sacred Spaces" and "The Dream Circle"... BOTH are outstanding for putting on in the background. One of our esteemed members on here loves to listen to Roach while he's writing.... and he's a DAMNED TERRIFIC AUTHOR!!!!
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Posted: |
Apr 23, 2015 - 5:15 AM
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By: |
Graham Watt
(Member)
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These are all interesting replies, but they do seem to confirm something that I kind of knew anyway, and that is the fact that I'm weird.
Now, I know I'm an old fuddy-duddy, and horribly square. I actually hate that aspect of myself. I'm inflexible, but not so much so that I'm unprepared to change. So my question is a simple one. How can I change my mentality so as to be able to work/ study with music playing in the background?
Due to the nature of my work, I spend a lot of time at home with paper, books and the computer. It's not like housework - it does require attention to detail, but less so than if I were a writer or some other really creative person. And I simply cannot work with any kind of music playing, no matter how softly. It's ALWAYS a distraction. So when I'm working I need silence. Spending so much time at home in silence is a waste of good music though, so is there anything I could do to help me accept - and benefit from - the "intrusion" of music into my silent world during those periods?
It's like people who can read books with the TV on. I can hardly even drive the car with the radio playing. It takes my mind off my contemplation of the beautiful countryside, wild giraffe grazing awkwardly at the side of the motorway, and oncoming lorries in the wrong lane.
I think I may have answered my own question. With a mentality like mine, there's no hope. I have unwittingly expressed my real lack of willingness to change. But I'D LIKE TO BE ABLE TO LOSE THAT LACK OF WILLINGNESS.
Is there really any hope for me?
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No, there's nothing wrong with you.
If it's simple work, like working with HTML coding, editing text, or reading an un-involving article, there's no problem with the music in the background. But if I'm doing serious work, paying accute attention, music is a distraction -- if I can even concentrate on it. You don't read The Federalist Papers, for example, and listen to some golden age scoring.
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