Just for fun - What music do you listen to while reading novels?

Rahul Balaggan

None, it’s not like I need total silence, but with lots of noise I can’t concentrate, like I will get to the end of the book but I won’t retain much of it.

Silver Sugar Duchess

@Rahul-Balaggan You really can't concentrate while listening to music?! What a shame. A few years ago I could even write, listening to music, gaming on a handheld console and watching tv all at the same time. Today, unfortunately I can't do this anymore. It's a mystery even to me why I could to this in the past.xD

Wellwisher

I don't listen to music while reading, because I'll either filter it out completely (so there's no point in music in the first place) or start to concentrate on listening, or even start analyzing music (and don't pay attention to the book anymore).

Jon Mitchell

I generally prefer quiet, or if anything; instrumental whatever as white noise

nothing with words

myskaros

Varies based on mood.

Two Steps From Hell
Marvel Cinematic Universe soundtracks
Touhou techno remix (Kuroneko Lounge)
Alan Walker
Various anime soundtracks (Attack on Titan, Koutetsujou no Kabaneri, Erased, Re:CREATORS, YouTube mixes)
Final Fantasy/Chrono Trigger/Chrono Cross music

piisfun

4:33 on a continuous loop (this is a classical music refence that I don't expect most people to get).

the green death

@piisfun That Cage piece is about all I can handle when reading too.

Honestly, I used to listen to music and read all the time but there just came a day when I couldn’t do any song with lyrics and then there came a time when I couldn’t listen to any song with music.

jcochran

None. Or more specifically, I can't tolerate information carrying sound while either reading, or sleeping. If the ambient sound has information, my mind tends to latch onto it and attempts to predict what's about to happen. So music is right out, as well as conversations, dripping faucets, etc.
I will frequently cover ambient sounds using brown noise. Makes things much easier to tolerate.

Aruseus493

I have a huge library of Japanese music that I just always have playing for the most part. Every now and then, I come across a song that fits perfectly with what I'm reading at the moment.

Orangestar's Alice in Freezer goes great with Legendary Moonlight Sculptor
Garnidelia's My Little Happiness goes with Only Sense Online
RookieZ is Punk'D's Complication goes with Gash Bell (Manga)

SomeOldGuy

I generally cut off the music when I'm reading because my mind associates what I listen to with memories. Even purely instrumental pieces often bring up memories are more powerful than what I'm reading, so...

hopebestman

Well i play jazz but time to time when i read i start to murmuring x song or something so i play that song and when i read i change the lyrics as the words of the novel. Ofc after song finish i have to re-read again but hey who cares when you listen "Fixing a hole" when reading "Can Someone Explain What's Going On?" :D

piisfun

So, I may have left:

Playing for a discord server-mate who failed to leave the audio channel. I attempted to read for aproximately 30 seconds while listening to it before I couldn't take it anymore.

Timmaaah

I can only listen to music and read when I'm on the train or plane because it drowns out the background noise and people talking.
If I'm at home, I find music is too distracting.

Qeh

@SomeOldGuy said in Just for fun - What music do you listen to while reading novels?:

I generally cut off the music when I'm reading because my mind associates what I listen to with memories. Even purely instrumental pieces often bring up memories are more powerful than what I'm reading, so...

I can totally relate to that. I can't listen to certain music without remembering what I did while listening to that music. For example several years ago I played an album every time I read the same book and now several songs remind me of certain scenes in the book. Same with gaming and music. So I at least try to cycle different bands and what I do to not get random associations. ^^

trashboat

@jcochran I thought brown noise is a tone that resonates with bowels. What are you referring to in this case?

Hyferzftw

I listen to score music from movies, sometimes it fits perfectly with the mood of what’s happening in the story. I use pandora radio station for it as well so it’s really random. Other times I listen to electric studying station. I can’t read if the music has a lyrics tho, I lose total concentration.

gmkz

It depends on which language the novel I'm reading is in. With English ones, I can listen to anything (but tbh my Spotify daily mixes are mostly old Vocaloid and video game soundtracks). When I'm reading Japanese, I can't listen to anything without getting distracted.

jcochran

@trashboat said in Just for fun - What music do you listen to while reading novels?:

@jcochran I thought brown noise is a tone that resonates with bowels. What are you referring to in this case?

There are various "colors" of noise that most people don't bother to distinguish between, and most people who say they use "white noise" to block background sounds don't really use "white noise". Some of the colors are:
White - Equal energy per frequency. Very harsh sounding.
Pink - Equal energy per octave. And since each octave covers twice the frequency range of the previous octave, it doesn't have as much energy at high frequencies as white noise.
Brown - Somewhat like pink noise except its power drops twice as fast as pink noise as the frequency increases, so it has more bass.

The brown you were thinking of is a theoretical "brown note" which hasn't been proven to exist and has nothing to do with "brown noise".

piisfun

@jcochran So which "color" sounds like air coming out of a vent?

jcochran

@piisfun go to this Wikipedia article and listen to some 10 second samples of various noise colors and decide for yourself.