Do you listen to music while you read?

[Mathor]

This is a question I've wanted to pose on this forum for quite some time. Some of my friends have told me that they find it easier to concentrate on what they are reading if they have some light music playing.

I've always thought absence of sound was the best way to appreciate literature, but I do not know if I've even ever tried reading with music playing. And I suppose at times the silence has distracted me, what do you think?

Do you listen to any sort of music while reading?

[islandclimber]

I listen to music maybe half the time I'm reading.. I don't really find it necessary, but I also don't find it distracting... However I do know people who cannot read with any distractions around them including music, and I also know people who can't read without something such as music providing an atmosphere of a sorts...

but when I do listen to music while I read I listen to Classical, to indie rock, to punk, glam rock, pretty much anything... I just don't really find it distracting or detrimental to my reading experience.. of course, there are times when I just want to be extremely focused on what I am reading and then anything but classical proves problematic...

[Dark Muse]

I would be totoally distracted by music, if I tried to read while music was playing, becasue I get really into music when I listen to it. Though I don't need complete silence either, I can read with just typical background noise, TV going, people talking etc..

[eyemaker]

Sometimes I do listen while reading. I make it doesn't sound too distracting or else it will spoil the curling-up.:) Classics and anything mellow are not distracting at all. But most of the time, I don't even bother myself setting my playlist to have a music while reading.

[kiki1982]

Never, I need absolute silence, otherwise I start whispering in order to better concentrate...

Although, it seems strange, but traffic doesn't bother me that badly (reading on the trai, tram or bus). I suppose TV, talking people and music are distracting to me because I understand them or it makes other emotions than there are in the book come up or something.

[Zee.]

I've spoken to a lot of people about this, and i guess everybody is different.

I prefer to read with silence but listening to music while i do isn't a problem for me, at all.

I find that when i'm writing, though, I HAVE to listen to music

[Cailin]

Classical music is the only accompaniment to reading that I can bear - but even then it has to be more relaxing classics.

[LitNetIsGreat]

Never listen to music when I read and the TV is an absolute no no. I can read on the bus, but when someone starts blasting out their MP3 or whatever, I want to kill them. I don't often get the bus these days anyhow I cycle. Like someone else said I usually listen to music when I write as well.

[Joreads]

If I am really enjoying a book you could be screaming at the top of your lungs and I could block you out. That being said I would not sit down to read with music on that is all I would hear and think about.

[Red-Headed]

Mozart is good to listen to when you read. Particularly 'Sinfonia Concertante K364' & some of the symphonies. I like Wagner as well. You can't play them too loud though. I suffer from ADHD & strangely it can help me concentrate on what I am reading.

[Stargazer86]

It depends on my mood. Mostly instrumental. Probably classical or celtic and at a low volume

Mozart and Vivaldi are my favorite classical composers.
I love Enya and the Chieftains for Celtic. Though the Chiefteins is better drinkin' music than readin' music :)

[kasie]

If I do have music in the background, it has to be wordless musice - anything vocal interferes with the flow of absorbing the written word. I prefer to concentrate on one thing at a time (it's my age, you understand....) but like some other people here, I find a little background music helps me when I start to write something.

[mono]

Sometimes, only sometimes. I would not call myself easily distracted, thinking I can concentrate well, and I can read under almost any conditions, but when I do listen to music while reading, I usually listen to instrumental music - classical (typically Chopin, Grieg, Beethoven, Brahms, Liszt, or Vivaldi), jazz/blues, Brian Eno, Mono (the Japanese one, not English), Joe Satriani, or Savage Rose. At home, I usually read in silence, but typically only listen to music while reading in public, or while commuting; technically, I would not call it "listening" to music, considering that most of my concentration will aim at the book in front of me, but my iPod earphones work as a good barrier to say "I'm reading and listening to music, definitely preoccupied," so it works not only to erase the distractions in one's periphery, but also as a do-not-disturb sign.

[stlukesguild]

Rarely... or rather I might qualify this by saying only if I am reading something that I would not consider "literature": articles in a magazine, newspaper, even on-line. Other than that I find it reduces the music to nothing more than background noise (which as a major music lover, I cannot abide) and it interferes with the "music" of the writing itself.

[JBI]

I like to listen to music, generally something in a language other than English, or instrumental music - so Opera, Lieder, or something of the sort, or symphonies.

When I write though, I like more lively, "funny" music, like Mozart's Abduction from a Seraglio - that does wonders for me when writing, though is too distracting while reading.

[mortalterror]

I like to listen to rock while I read. ex. Metallica: Hero of the Day, Mama Said, Whiskey in the Jar. AC/DC: For Those About to Rock(We Salute You), Big Balls, Who Made Who. Pink Floyd: Eclipse, Comfortably Numb, Dogs. Led Zeppelin: Houses of the Holy, Fool in the Rain, Tangerine. Rolling Stones: Sympathy For the Devil, Brown Sugar, Jumpin Jack Flash. Although, I do often listen to classical as well: Mozart, Vivaldi, Bach.

[LitNetIsGreat]

I like to listen to rock while I read. ex. Metallica: Hero of the Day, Mama Said, Whiskey in the Jar. AC/DC: For Those About to Rock(We Salute You), Big Balls, Who Made Who. Pink Floyd: Eclipse, Comfortably Numb, Dogs. Led Zeppelin: Houses of the Holy, Fool in the Rain, Tangerine. Rolling Stones: Sympathy For the Devil, Brown Sugar, Jumpin Jack Flash. Although, I do often listen to classical as well: Mozart, Vivaldi, Bach.

I'd find that really distracting. I like rock and classical too, but certainly not while reading.

[stlukesguild]

Mortal... no wonder you're screwed up.:lol: Seriously I could not read to such distractions... I fuss and fume at the doctor's office when I'm trying to read my book in silence while Oprah's babbling on the TV screen.:flare: On the other hand I can listen to almost anything while working on my own art work... even the most ornate and sensitive areas: opera, classical, jazz (Miles, Monk, Ellington, Coletrane) rock (the Stones, Zeppelin) even bluegrass/country (the Stanley Brothers, the Louvin Brothers, Johnny Cash... just not that contemporary "country" like Shania Twain that is really just commercial dreck with a southern accent.:sick:

[Mutatis-Mutandis]

As a person who listens to metal (an I'm talking heavy ****) I find it is extremely counterproductive for reading. I don't listen to music at all, but if I did, it would be something in the vain of light jazz, slow classical, or soft space-rock, like Pink Floyd. I prefer to read to the sounds of nature. I love reading outside with birds chirping and win rustling the trees. Tonight we had a very nice thunderstorm, which was joyous to read to.

[JBI]

Mortal... no wonder you're screwed up.:lol: Seriously I could not read to such distractions... I fuss and fume at the doctor's office when I'm trying to read my book in silence while Oprah's babbling on the TV screen.:flare: On the other hand I can listen to almost anything while working on my own art work... even the most ornate and sensitive areas: opera, classical, jazz (Miles, Monk, Ellington, Coletrane) rock (the Stones, Zeppelin) even bluegrass/country (the Stanley Brothers, the Louvin Brothers, Johnny Cash... just not that contemporary "country" like Shania Twain that is really just commercial dreck with a southern accent.:sick:

Southern Accent, or Northern Accent?

[aeroport]

I fuss and fume at the doctor's office when I'm trying to read my book in silence while Oprah's babbling on the TV screen.:flare:

I have to endure this every afternoon while trying to read in my home! :flare::flare:

These days, I need complete silence. I used to put on Chopin recordings while reading, before I was really familiar with the music; but I found that when I tried afterward to focus on the music itself, I would get frustrated, thinking I recognized a phrase only to find it was different than I remembered, or that I was thinking of a different piece. I must now keep the two separate.

[stlukesguild]

In her case... a probably quite a few others... lets say a pseudo-southern accent.

[mortalterror]

Mortal... no wonder you're screwed up.:lol: Seriously I could not read to such distractions... I fuss and fume at the doctor's office when I'm trying to read my book in silence while Oprah's babbling on the TV screen.:flare: On the other hand I can listen to almost anything while working on my own art work... even the most ornate and sensitive areas: opera, classical, jazz (Miles, Monk, Ellington, Coletrane) rock (the Stones, Zeppelin) even bluegrass/country (the Stanley Brothers, the Louvin Brothers, Johnny Cash... just not that contemporary "country" like Shania Twain that is really just commercial dreck with a southern accent.:sick:
I find that music harmonizes and hightens what I read and afterwards whatever I read or feel is inextricably linked to a particular tune. Today, I cannot hear Bob Dylan's Hurricane without remembering The Green Hills of Africa, the day I finished it, my roommate packing his bags, and afterwards walking up the hill my trenchcoat flapping in the rain, drinking a chocolate milk I bought a red balloon.

[amarna]

No, never. What I read has its own melody. While reading I always hear the text being spoken in my head. Music would drown this voice and disturb me.

[The Comedian]

I like to listen to music, generally something in a language other than English, or instrumental music - so Opera, Lieder, or something of the sort, or symphonies.

This is pretty much how I feel about reading with music. If, I listen to music while I read, it is of this that JBI describes. But lately, I've taken to listening to the songs of the hermit thrush, common veery, yellow warbler, indigo bunting, white-throated sparrow, & co while reading. :)

[ktm5124]

I listen to Sigur Ros almost invariably when I write essays for school. It's in another language though, so this probably makes it less distracting.

Once in a while I listen to music while I read, though I don't see how you can turn your attention to both at the same time. And if you can't attend both at once, how can you enjoy them simultaneously? When I write, there are enough pauses in the process to enjoy the music inbetween. Perhaps if you stop-and-go while reading, you can get the benefit of both worlds; otherwise it remains a mystery to me.