I have to listen to music when I study. I catch myself listening to the same thing for different subjects, and I have even posted about these habits in the past. This semester I am taking my first Hebrew class and a pretty intensive exegesis class on the general epistles. Both of these involve alot of language work and memorization, this means I will try to find either really complicated stuff to listen to or something very repetitive. My usual go-to's are Radiohead and Wilco, although Low got some serious listen time last year and I figure that some new things might creep in. I wrote my entire doctrine notebook to Godspeed You Black Emperor! and it seemed to be a good fit. If you check out my last.fm widget on the side of the page you can see what is getting playtime.
So what do you listen to when you study?
reading some thomas merton right now...gonna test drive arcade fire i think. If that doesnt pair well together, then maybe i'll give my morning jacket's latest one a try.
i'll let you know.
Posted by: jeremiah | September 04, 2008 at 09:15 PM
Listen to while studying...Damien Rice, John Mayer, and Richard Marx. I know you are ashamed of me.
Posted by: Mere | September 05, 2008 at 05:07 AM
You're into Fleet Foxes? Bravo, sir. Caught them on some late show a couple weeks ago and fell in love.
I usually have a hard time listening to music with lyrics while studying, so most of it ends up being classical (read: an assload of Chopin), celtic, or "mostly instrumental", which usually turns into some combination of Enya, Radiohead, Yoshida Bros., Gotye, Blue Man Group, Explosions in the Sky, Sigur Ros, Saxon Shore, Howard Shore, and/or Philip Glass. It's a repertoire quite a few hours long, so it usually gets me through. I've definitely expanded, though...in undergrad I wrote term papers exclusively to Enya. Not only did it get me in the right mindset, but when guys would come to bother me and they heard Enya, they knew to back off.
Posted by: Chuck | September 05, 2008 at 05:18 AM
hmmm. you and jason and your constant-music-while-living! I usually study to morgan humming some theme song these days. I seriously can't read most things with music on. Math and economics were the lone exceptions, which have been replaced by language study. During those times i can listen to anything, but prefer a guitar and one voice. Sometimes while writing a paper I can handle a session of explosions in the sky or some jazz.
Posted by: ryan | September 05, 2008 at 09:12 AM
hmmm. you and jason and your constant-music-while-living! I usually study to morgan humming some theme song these days. I seriously can't read most things with music on. Math and economics were the lone exceptions, which have been replaced by language study. During those times i can listen to anything, but prefer a guitar and one voice. Sometimes while writing a paper I can handle a session of explosions in the sky or some jazz.
Posted by: ryan | September 05, 2008 at 09:13 AM
I almost forgot the king of study music - Michael Buble.
Posted by: Mere | September 05, 2008 at 11:59 AM
Lord of the Rings soundtrack. Especially the songs "The Fellowship" and "Concerning Hobbits." The first makes you want to write something worthy of that swelling background. So sorry. I'm a nerd. This confirms it.
Posted by: Matt LeRoy | September 05, 2008 at 06:18 PM
Oh, I forgot... love the bbq and cole slaw reference. Come visit us in the promiseland o' pork and we'll hook you up right! None of that sorry red sauce.
Posted by: Matt LeRoy | September 05, 2008 at 06:20 PM
I have never thought about comment banning my wife before
Posted by: chad | September 06, 2008 at 06:44 AM