4 Best Types of Music for Work
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As we recently reported, Claremont Graduate University researchers applied machine learning (ML) to neural data that was gathered from individuals listening to new music to determine what songs would become hits. Thanks to machine learning, they were able to achieve a success rate for predicting hit songs that increased to 97%. This research can transform the music industry, helping musicians, producers, and marketers distribute more music that will resonate with listeners.
But did you know that music can also help you perform your job better?
In fact, on a webinar, bestselling author and business owner Michael Hyatt shared that he even has a special playlist for working. So how can music improve our work lives, and what music is the best to listen to while we work?
Scientific Benefits of Listening to Music
The industrial workspace can be loud and full of distractions, and, according to one survey, 54% of high-performance employees find their work environment to be “too distracting.” Though it may sound counterintuitive, listening to music may actually help.
Here are several benefits of music noted by Healthline:
- It can lead to social connectedness.
- It can increase your desire to learn more.
- It can enhance memory.
- It can help manage some mental illness.
- It can lower anxiety.
- It can help treat some depression symptoms.
- It can boost heart health.
- It can energize.
- It can enhance exercise performance.
- It can help with pain management.
4 Types of Music That Can Help You Become a High Achiever at Work
1. Nature Sounds
If you work in a busy office, listening to nature music may improve your ability to focus, according to a study.
In an open floor plan office, it’s easy to get distracted when overhearing other conversations, being curious about whose footsteps you hear behind you, and listening to other people click-clacking away on their computer as you stare blankly at your screen. Listening to nature sounds like ocean waves can drown out other background noises and soothe your emotions — without diverting your attention to catchy lyrics.
2. Rock Music
According to researchers at a university in Scotland, rock music that includes the guitar helps to improve memory and concentration. Likewise, Dr. Emma Gray, a consultant clinical psychologist and service director at the British CTB and Counseling Service, conducted research that indicated music with 50 to 80 beats per minute can create the alpha state in listeners’ brains, making them more alert and better able to concentrate.
There are positive benefits of rock music on the brain: The fast tempo is said to stimulate the brain. It’s also been said to motivate teenagers — and if it has the power to motivate teenagers one might conjecture it’s certainly able to do the same for workers striving to put a roof over their head.
However, be forewarned that other research has found that listening to rock music can be distracting.
3. Classical Music
The “Mozart Effect” posits that listening to Classical music increases intelligence. The notion birthed an entire industry of music for babies, to the extent that even pregnant women were urged to listen to it.
It turns out that listening to Mozart actually has more short-term effects. The research in the 1990s actually found that students that listened to the Austrian composer’s piano sonata for 10 minutes performed better on spatial reasoning tasks for only up to 15 minutes afterward.
More recently, though, in September 2021, research indicated that Mozart’s Sonata for Two Pianos in D Major K448 can help to calm the brain and reduce epilepsy symptoms.
Meanwhile, research from 2007 suggests that Classical music primes the brain to pay attention. Interestingly, it was the moments of silence that occurred between the musical movements composed by an obscure Classical musician in which there was peak brain activity, so the key may be to listen to music in spurts.
4. A Song That Has Meaning to You
Corianne Rogalsky, who works at Arizona State University as an assistant professor of speech and hearing science, explains that listening to music that has an emotional connection to a meaningful moment for the individual can stimulate the amygdala, where the brain stores emotional memory, preparing the listener to act. She says it only take a few beats of the song for it to create an emotion.
For Arizona State’s NCAA wrestling champion Zahid Valencia, this song is the Red Hot Chili Peppers “Can’t Stop.” He listened to it throughout his winning season.
For another person, their wedding song or the soundtrack to their favorite movie may be the trigger that motivates them. This means that all types of music have the power to positively influence work — it just depends on the listener's needs and interests.
