Do you play background music while reading?

[TylerDurden]

I'm currently reading Dracula and find some music in the background helps me to concentrate and adds to the feel. However, I've only been playing classical music because it doesn't distract me from the book. So what do you guys listen to while reading?

[WyattGwyon]

I'm currently reading Dracula and find some music in the background helps me to concentrate and adds to the feel. However, I've only been playing classical music because it doesn't distract me from the book. So what do you guys listen to while reading?

If one isn't distracted, one isn't listening. I can't have music on while reading.

[ChicagoReader]

Occasionally I'll put on some music while reading but very rarely, and if so, always instrumental.

[Big Dante]

I do sometimes but the point is not to listen to the music itself, just feel the effects of it to assist reading.

[farnoosh]

If the music goes to the feeling of the story,why not..especially scaryones!!!!

[Tournesol]

I don't listen to music when I'm reading at all...in fact, at times, I've even gone so far as to wear ear plugs to drown out the sounds around me when I'm reading.

[stlukesguild]

Rarely. I take music more serious than to imagine it as being nothing more than background noise or aural wallpaper. I also value the "music" of good writing... prose and poetry... enough to recognize that it doesn't need the assistance of a soundtrack. The only exception is when I am reading something "lightweight" (such as posts on the internet) and then if I do play music it tends to be nothing more than pop music played off my computer.

[Alexander III]

Rarely. I take music more serious than to imagine it as being nothing more than background noise or aural wallpaper. I also value the "music" of good writing... prose and poetry... enough to recognize that it doesn't need the assistance of a soundtrack. The only exception is when I am reading something "lightweight" (such as posts on the internet) and then if I do play music it tends to be nothing more than pop music played off my computer.

Gonna do a bit of the devil's advocate -

In Opera the orchestra does not detract from the libretto, and neither does the libretto detract from the orchestra. Much like the acting and costumes do not detract from the libretto or the orchestra. Rather they all augment each other (in a good opera)

So surely the same could be done with a poem or novel, if the right music is found, I see no reason it will detract from the music of the words, rather it aught to enhance them.

[dwdean]

I'm currently reading Dracula and find some music in the background helps me to concentrate and adds to the feel. However, I've only been playing classical music because it doesn't distract me from the book. So what do you guys listen to while reading?

listen to Requiem while reading Dracula, Bolero de Ravael while reading Frankenstein... you owe it to yourself to do so.

[OrphanPip]

Silence makes me anxious. I can't be in a room reading a book without some sort of sound. Although, this usually involves the tv on a 24 hour news channel while I read. When in a library I use music.

[inbetween]

I don't like silence... for example .. doing maths homeworks is easier while listenign to metallica.. but then I don't really listen.. (this is why I have to understand music before it can become background music for me) but while writing an essay I need silence for it absolutly absorbs me ... just the same with books.. they mostly absorb me when I sit down to really read. so I wouldn't even hear the music... but when I read (or write essays) there is no silence in my head for my occupation fills my head (maths just can't do so... fortunatly I'll never have to do maths again.. for .. yah.. got my A levels so I'm done with it... :D)
yep thats it

[evolute99]

I really enjoy music. I play guitar and really enjoy the intricacy of music... However, I also like to read and really fall into what I'm reading. I have tried whether it be Classical or Instrumental it doesn't work. I even try to listen to baseball games at low volume that doesn't really work either. The words on the page become my music.

Tournesol: I have tried ear plugs too. So this is not a completely crazy concept. yay.

[novelsryou]

Not usually but when I do it's most likely the Bach Cello Suites.

[qimissung]

I often read in bed at night or in the morning before I get up. I like the quiet, then. Sometimes I read in the afternoon, with the TV on.

[Red-Headed]

I often find total silence a bit distracting in itself. I like (BBC) Radio 3 on in the background as there are no commercials & little talking. Failing that, Elgar, Vaughan Williams, Mozart, Puccini, Wagner, Massenet, & Echo & the Bunnymen are among my favourites.