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Happy Music Boosts Brain's Creativity, Study Says (newscientist.com)

Posted by BeauHD on from the creative-juices dept.

An anonymous reader quotes a report from New Scientist: Need inspiration? Happy background music can help get the creative juices flowing. Simone Ritter, at Radboud University in the Netherlands, and Sam Ferguson, at the University of Technology in Sydney, Australia, have been studying the effect of silence and different types of music on how we think. They put 155 volunteers into five groups. Four of these were each given a type of music to listen to while undergoing a series of tests, while the fifth group did the tests in silence. The tests were designed to gage two types of thinking: divergent thinking, which describes the process of generating new ideas, and convergent thinking, which is how we find the best solutions for a problem. Ritter and Ferguson found that people were more creative when listening to music they thought was positive, coming up with more unique ideas than the people who worked in silence. However, happy music -- in this instance, Antonio Vivaldi's Spring -- only boosted divergent thinking. No type of music helped convergent thinking, suggesting that it's better to solve problems in silence. The study was published in the journal PLoS One.

102 comments

  1. Really? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    Because Happy by Pharell makes me want to blow my brains out.

    1. Re:Really? by Big+Hairy+Ian · · Score: 1

      Because Happy by Pharell makes me want to blow my brains out.

      Try the Sound of Silence

      --

      Build a Man a Fire, and He'll Be Warm for a Day. Set a Man on Fire, and He'll Be Warm for the Rest of His Life.

    2. Re:Really? by Oswald+McWeany · · Score: 1

      True techies listen to Linus Torvald's biography played in morse code.

      --
      "That's the way to do it" - Punch
    3. Re:Really? by Stormwatch · · Score: 1

      Enjoy the Silence.

      --
      Circumcision is child abuse.
    4. Re:Really? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      No thanks, not a big fan of Simon and Garfunkel.

      Try this instead.

    5. Re: Really? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I listen to music over semaphore flags.

    6. Re: Really? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      and also smoke signals.

    7. Re:Really? by KingBenny · · Score: 1

      super exact lol ... depending on the mood id much rather go for a classic hatebreed cd or acujazz avant-garde radio, this hophop1234 prefab music tends to irritate me

      --
      Free speech was meant to be free for all... how can anyone grow up in a nanny state ?
  2. "Happy Music"? by fustakrakich · · Score: 1

    I prefer easy listening myself

    --
    “He’s not deformed, he’s just drunk!”
    1. Re: "Happy Music"? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You mean oldies

    2. Re: "Happy Music"? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Nah, it's metal. You know, that genre that hasn't existed since the 80s.

    3. Re: "Happy Music"? by DontBeAMoran · · Score: 1

      Oh, you mean classical music.

      --
      #DeleteFacebook
    4. Re: "Happy Music"? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You might want to educate yourself on musical styles.

    5. Re: "Happy Music"? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Must be a millennial then, oldies are not songs that are old. It's a term that was coined to describe the various rock, R&B and the like of the '50s, '60s and '70s for advertising purposes. Basically, the music that Baby Boomers were listening to when they were young.

      Trying to apply it to newer music doesn't really make much sense since that would imply that there was a time when Jazz and Blues were "oldies" and that's not really been the case.

      This is just another case of Millennials being ignorant and destroying things they don't understand.

    6. Re: "Happy Music"? by DontBeAMoran · · Score: 1

      In 1000 years, it will be classical music.

      --
      #DeleteFacebook
    7. Re: "Happy Music"? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      "Classical music" does not refer to the age of a piece, it refers to the style of a piece. Old Metallica is metal and could be considered classic rock or oldies but it will never be classical music, not even the crossover symphonic stuff.

    8. Re: "Happy Music"? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Actually "oldies" is not a musical genre at all and does in fact refer to music that is old, but still popular.

    9. Re: "Happy Music"? by Evtim · · Score: 1

      Clasical music is a subset of concert music and refers to particular time period in the development of concert music.
      Thus a composer today might create simphony very much like Mozatr's but it won't be called clasical.
      Source: audio lectures on history of music from famous dude working in Chicago's conservatory.

    10. Re: "Happy Music"? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Wrong. Classical music specifically refer to the methods, traditions, arrangement style and instrumentations. It is a proper musical genre. Modern classical music does exist and is ubiquitous.

      Source: Me (I hold a doctorate of music from USC)

    11. Re:"Happy Music"? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I prefer Human Music myself. Helps remind me that life is just a game.

    12. Re: "Happy Music"? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      One must be sure to delineate between classical classical music and other forms of classical music.

    13. Re:"Happy Music"? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      TIL Doom ripped off Metallica.

      Was the Doom soundtrack licensed by Metallica, or did they just get away with it?

    14. Re: "Happy Music"? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Just another case of a crotchety old fuck becoming autistic in his senility.

    15. Re: "Happy Music"? by DontBeAMoran · · Score: 1

      So what's the difference between classical classical music and modern classical music? Will your categorization stand the test of time? What about someone in the year 8000? Both kinds will be far in the past, to the point of being the same exact thing especially since they're made the same way and sound about the same.

      --
      #DeleteFacebook
    16. Re: "Happy Music"? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      There are small differences from one era to the next, but the underlying sound and influence is the same. Go listen to some Renaissance, Baroque, Romantic, 20th Century and Modern classical and hear for yourself. The bottom line is that they all fall under the genre of "classical music".

      As for standing the test of time, that was never a position I advanced so I don't see the relevance. In 8000 years, humans probably won't exist and if they do, everything that we currently know of will be long dead and buried to anyone who isn't a historian.

    17. Re:"Happy Music"? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Bobby Prince ripped off more than just Metallica for Doom. Slayer, Pantera, Megadeth, Alice in Chains, etc. I seriously doubt he got permission, but his renditions were changed enough and of low enough quality that I doubt the bands cared.

    18. Re: "Happy Music"? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      "Classical music" does not refer to the age of a piece, it refers to the style of a piece.

      A lot of stuff that people call classical is actually baroque which is defined as being before 1750, so go fuck yourself.

    19. Re: "Happy Music"? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I see what you did there.

    20. Re: "Happy Music"? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      *facepalm*

      Baroque isn't the only era of classical music, you uneducated piece of shit.

  3. Not for me by zifn4b · · Score: 5, Interesting

    When I'm coding, high energy music is what gets my creative juices flowing. There is more evidence to suggest that what is related to creativity is how much stress you are under. The closer you are are to "fight or flight response" the more resources are being taken away from the cognitive processes that give rise to creativity. I'm reminded of several John Cleese quotes on the subject:

    "If you want creative workers, give them enough time to play."
    "Nothing will stop you being creative so effectively as the fear of making a mistake."
    "Creativity is not a skill, it's a state of mind, being in the open state."

    We are not in open states when we are stressed. Perhaps for some "happy music", whatever that means, helps with getting "into the zone". Just find whatever it is that gets you in the zone and practice mindfulness about getting into that zone and staying there as long as you can.

    --
    We'll make great pets
    1. Re:Not for me by MangoCats · · Score: 1

      And, for some of us in 1991, "Happy Music" can be Nine Inch Nails' Head like a Hole.

    2. Re:Not for me by Dr.+Evil · · Score: 1

      Your coding is probably not taxing your problem solving skills.

    3. Re:Not for me by Sumus+Semper+Una · · Score: 4, Insightful

      I definitely experience the same thing - my creativity is best triggered by high energy music

      I kind of wonder whether the real takeaway from the study is supposed to be "listening to music you like helps with creativity." I've certainly found that to be the case when I listen to punk metal (my current musical flavor of choice). And sludge metal helps me when I need to just focus on rote tasks and get into a trance "zone". But I'm sure others would find their creativity or productivity impeded by listening to those genres, so I would never suggest anyone else listen to them to help with tasks unless I know their musical preferences.

      Considering that they had people listen to sad, anxious, and calm (or anxious and calm at the same time somehow? Damnit New Scientist, this is why people use Oxford commas!) classical music, I'm not sure you can draw conclusions outside that genre. This seems to be more about "happy classical music" having a positive effect on a greater portion of the population than other emotive flavors of classical music. But even that may not hold true for everyone. Maybe it's just that more people have a positive reaction to "happy classical music" than other kinds of classical music, but that the effect is reversed for some percentage of people.

      In short, I find the study interesting, but as usual the magazine article takes the conclusions and runs with them beyond the scope of the actual study.

    4. Re:Not for me by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      > Your coding is probably not taxing your problem solving skills.

      Bingo. That's a much more eloquent way of saying what I just wrote a few posts below.

    5. Re:Not for me by Jason+Levine · · Score: 1

      High energy music works for me too, but not because it raises my stress levels. First of all, I'll often be tired and high energy music helps stave this off. Secondly, I find my mind will often want a distraction. Instead of visiting web sites or playing games, the music gives my brain something it can shift focus to for a second or two before going back to the task at hand - without running the risk that a simple Wikipedia lookup will turn into hours of wasting time.

      --
      My sci-fi novel, Ghost Thief, is now available from Amazon.com.
    6. Re:Not for me by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I'm reminded of several John Cleese quotes on the subject:

      "Creativity is not a skill, it's a state of mind, being in the open state."

      Much as I like John Cleese, he's wrong on this point. Creativity is a skill, one that can be improved and can be taught, even taught to children.

    7. Re:Not for me by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Not really, creativity happens when you just let the mind wander. You can get better at capturing the end results and you can have more possible pieces of information to use, but creativity itself isn't something that you can teach or train. It's an innate part of a person.

      The whole idea that you can teach creativity or improve it demonstrates a profound lack of understanding about what creativity is. Just look at anything that Thomas Kinkade did, there's little to no evidence of creativity in any of what he's famous for.

    8. Re:Not for me by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I need wordless music or complete silence, at least when there is difficult thinking or when I'm not running on all cylinders.

    9. Re:Not for me by flargleblarg · · Score: 1

      Damnit New Scientist, this is why people use Oxford commas!

      Since you bring up English grammar, I'm going to go ahead and point out a grammatical error in your sentence above. You're missing a comma after the interjection "Damnit." Your sentence should be:

      Damnit, New Scientist, this is why people use Oxford commas!

    10. Re:Not for me by zifn4b · · Score: 1

      > Your coding is probably not taxing your problem solving skills.

      Bingo. That's a much more eloquent way of saying what I just wrote a few posts below.

      You're better than The Great Carnac! How would you know? I deal with some very advanced object modelling, graph theory and mathematics. I suppose you could say that perhaps I've been doing this long enough that my brain is attuned to dealing with this problem domain and therefore I no longer find it cognitively taxing. I am also a musician and can compose and play very advanced, colorful musical compositions and in many styles on several instruments but I no longer find it difficult. It was very difficult at one time in my life though. Now, I can do that without exerting much conscious thought so perhaps you might be correct in the sentiment of "not taxing your problem solving skills". *shrug*

      --
      We'll make great pets
    11. Re:Not for me by Sumus+Semper+Una · · Score: 1

      I thought the rule was that you use it after a dependent clause that starts a sentence. Or after an appositive or introductory adverb. Those are the only uses for introductory commas I was aware of that might apply in this case, but if you can point out the style guide rule this breaks then I will consider modifying my grammar.

    12. Re:Not for me by zifn4b · · Score: 1

      I'm reminded of several John Cleese quotes on the subject:

      "Creativity is not a skill, it's a state of mind, being in the open state."

      Much as I like John Cleese, he's wrong on this point. Creativity is a skill, one that can be improved and can be taught, even taught to children.

      You can teach children basic techniques used by artists or you can teach them music theory. You can have them do exercises until they can imitate other people's works. They can get far and create neat things that way but you can't teach them how to create truly ground-breaking, unique pieces of art or music this way. That is something that comes from somewhere else and it's highly subjective. Inspiration can strike at the strangest of times. Even mathematicians and scientists have bursts of creativity where they suddenly realize the answer to something. Where do you think "Eureka!" came from? I once worked with a highly creative software engineering team. We had a really talented DBA. One day he was faced with a very complex problem and he couldn't see the answer and grew frustrated with himself. After work, he went to mow his lawn and while not thinking about anything just mowing, it hit him what the answer was. The next day he came in an solved the problem like a boss. I've also had this sort of thing happen myself.

      --
      We'll make great pets
    13. Re:Not for me by zifn4b · · Score: 1

      The whole idea that you can teach creativity or improve it demonstrates a profound lack of understanding about what creativity is. Just look at anything that Thomas Kinkade did, there's little to no evidence of creativity in any of what he's famous for.

      Sure you can, you just need some happy trees and a little bit of titanium white, it's easy peasy. ;) I've had friends try to imitate what Bob Ross did that seemed so easy. It's not easy and he didn't explain all the little nuances that he was doing from muscle memory... he probably didn't even really know consciously the little things he did.

      --
      We'll make great pets
    14. Re:Not for me by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      There are lots of examples of non-creative people, or at least non-creative work output. What does that have to do my point about teaching creativity?

      Rather than some inexplicably popular painter, a more relevant figure would be Edward de Bono. I gather there are legitimate criticisms of his work, but he at least works in that field.

    15. Re:Not for me by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You can teach children basic techniques used by artists or you can teach them music theory. You can have them do exercises until they can imitate other people's works.

      Or you can teach cognitive tools that are actually relevant to creativity in general, as opposed to teaching orthogonal concepts from some specific domain. Start here:
      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Creativity#Fostering_creativity
      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Creativity_techniques

    16. Re:Not for me by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Try solving a real hard problem listening to happy music (or the music you prefer). If the problem is cognitively taxing for you, notice any differences.

    17. Re:Not for me by Optic7 · · Score: 1

      Good question, so I spent a little while looking for the rule that applies. There are so many rules for using commas, some of which don't seem to always be included in purported lists of comma uses. This one, in particular, seems to be the one that applies to your case: http://www.grammar-monster.com...

      Separate the name of the person (or thing) you are addressing from the rest of the sentence with a comma.

      I hope this helps. It helped me get a more solid understanding of one comma use-case.

    18. Re:Not for me by Dr.+Evil · · Score: 1

      "... perhaps I've been doing this long enough that my brain is attuned to dealing with this problem domain and therefore I no longer find it cognitively taxing"

      Yep, that's what I'm saying. Coding may for you be no more than putting together blocks of stuff you mostly have mastered. Keeping a momentum to fight boredom is more important than concentrating.

      What do you do when things get difficult? when you're faced with something very unfamiliar, poorly written, opaque and massive that it needs to be reverse engineered to be understood... to the point that it may not be solvable?

    19. Re:Not for me by zifn4b · · Score: 1

      You can teach children basic techniques used by artists or you can teach them music theory. You can have them do exercises until they can imitate other people's works.

      Or you can teach cognitive tools that are actually relevant to creativity in general, as opposed to teaching orthogonal concepts from some specific domain. Start here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...

      Or you could just learn the obvious skill: meta thinking and hack your own mind. But even that takes...creativity... :P

      --
      We'll make great pets
    20. Re:Not for me by zifn4b · · Score: 1

      Try solving a real hard problem listening to happy music (or the music you prefer). If the problem is cognitively taxing for you, notice any differences.

      I don't need to experiment with other methods of doing the same thing I already do quite effectively.

      --
      We'll make great pets
    21. Re:Not for me by zifn4b · · Score: 1

      What do you do when things get difficult? when you're faced with something very unfamiliar, poorly written, opaque and massive that it needs to be reverse engineered to be understood... to the point that it may not be solvable?

      Let me try to describe. In regard to dealing with a difficult problem: First, I do what I believe is brute force conscious graph traversal through all kinds of different approaches that are potentially heuristically applicable to the problem at hand. This occurs almost like what I've heard quantum computing described as. At each node, I simulate application of that solution to the problem domain. If nothing applies, I skip the node. If something partially applies I stored that information and continue onto other nodes. If the node wholly applies, I'm done. Solution found. If after exhaustively traversing this graph/mind map I do not find something using conscious brute force, I back away from the problem and do something else. During this time, my conscious mind is focused on the "something else" but it is as if a background process in my mind is still thinking about the unsolved problem. Sometimes, this background process will interrupt the foreground process and have a solution. Other times, after taking a break I come back to the original problem with more insight for some unknown reason.

      In regard to poorly written or hard to grasp material, I keep re-reading the material. Each time more sticks. Eventually, my brain seems to memorize all the material and arrange the information in such a way that it makes sense conceptually in my mind. This is and has always been a very non-deterministic activity for me. I've noticed though once I get it, unless something changes, I know it forever and can recall the information very quickly. I also have at least partially an eidetic memory so that might have something to do with it too. *shrug*

      --
      We'll make great pets
    22. Re:Not for me by dddux · · Score: 1

      Agreed, NiN makes some very happy, lovely songs. Joy Division makes me happy as well. ;)

      --
      "It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society." - Jiddu Krishnamurti
  4. But by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    No type of music helped convergent thinking, suggesting that it's better to solve problems in silence.

    NOOOooooooooooooOooooOooooooooooooo

  5. first post. yay, i guess. whatever. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    At least it would have been first if I hadn't been playing somber music instead of happy music.

  6. How is this news??? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Of course happy music, to the respective person, makes a person more creative, happy, etc. Just as the same as with depressing music makes people sad.

  7. Pretty soon... by famebait · · Score: 1

    ...the trolls will have found some very creative ways to make this about the threats from feminist, liberals and BigScience(tm).
    They must be listening to some extremely happy music.

    --
    sudo ergo sum
    1. Re:Pretty soon... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Singing while working is an old tradition among men from many, many cultures so... not only would the troll have to stretch they'd have to stretch pretty far.

    2. Re:Pretty soon... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      ...the trolls will have found some very creative ways to make this about the threats from feminist, liberals and BigScience(tm).
      They must be listening to some extremely happy music.

      Well, then feminists, liberals, and other "progressives" need to stop telling everyone how to live.

      There's NOTHING more inimical to human freedom than a dictatorship fueled by arrogant, ignorant, busybody, self-styped go-gooders:

      "That soda is TOO BIG FOR YOU!!!!!"

      Jesus H. Fucking Christ.

    3. Re:Pretty soon... by famebait · · Score: 1

      Stop telling me what to do.

      --
      sudo ergo sum
  8. What's old is new again by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Armstrong did this for Muzak about 100 years ago.

  9. Ragga Jungle for me by NCG_Mike · · Score: 1

    I listen to it most of the time when I'm coding.

    1. Re: Ragga Jungle for me by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      My brother from another mother. :)

    2. Re: Ragga Jungle for me by NCG_Mike · · Score: 1

      https://youtu.be/75ciLcHS6EQ

  10. Newflash: Happy music makes you happy! by Qbertino · · Score: 1

    Brought to you by Captain Obvious Research Institute.

    --
    We suffer more in our imagination than in reality. - Seneca
    1. Re:Newflash: Happy music makes you happy! by Oswald+McWeany · · Score: 3

      I wouldn't say it's necessarily "obvious" that happy music makes you happy.

      I remember as a teenage being depressed over the break up with a girl friend, flipping through radio stations and temporarily stopping on an oldies station. The Cascades "Listen to the Rhythm of The Falling Rain" came on, arguably, a sad song.

      I sang along, and like a light switch, started feeling better. Over the years I've found certain sad songs actually cheer me up and make me happy when I'm sad. When I'm sad, happy songs irritate me.

      --
      "That's the way to do it" - Punch
    2. Re:Newflash: Happy music makes you happy! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I strongly disagree. A lot of happy music makes me depressed and angry, especially if I'm not in the mood for it.

    3. Re:Newflash: Happy music makes you happy! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I'm not sure it's obvious, this is probably true because happy people are stupid people. They're people that don't go looking for reasons why things won't work and because they don't go looking for reasons why things won't work, they're not going to filter the creativity out as much as other people would.

      Seriously, being happy is terrible if you care about making sure that everything is properly planned out and accounted for.

    4. Re:Newflash: Happy music makes you happy! by freeze128 · · Score: 1

      If you're heartbroken, even filing your taxes can make you feel better. How about people who aren't flooded with emotions from a break-up?

  11. Music is situational for me by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Normal coding at work: Classical
    Wanting to relax or escape from work: Ambient
    Adding exciting new features to my game projects at home: Epic or techno (new country or good/bad/ugly soundtrack if the game is western themed)
    Creative game design and coding: Chillout (best after midnight)
    Crunch time and deep code reviews: No music

    1. Re:Music is situational for me by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Normal coding at work: Classical Wanting to relax or escape from work: Ambient Adding exciting new features to my game projects at home: Epic or techno (new country or good/bad/ugly soundtrack if the game is western themed) Creative game design and coding: Chillout (best after midnight) Crunch time and deep code reviews: No music

      Normal coding at work: Metallica or Alestorm
      Meetings at work : Wagner arranged for ronkhorn quintets
      Sleepy time: Anything from the 60s

  12. That's why I like Perrey by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean-Jacques_Perrey

    His very light-hearted music always puts a smile on my face.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v9vOtUm-0so

    It combines my love for the 1960s and cheesy synth music.

  13. the real question by TimMD909 · · Score: 3, Funny

    Now that we know happy music makes people more productive, how will this get incorporated into the open office? I'm assuming my looping Journey "Don't Stop Believing" over and over.

    1. Re:the real question by sizzzzlerz · · Score: 1

      Oh, you mean like AM radio did when the song came out in 1981.

      I lived through that! I was there! I hate that song more than The Dude hates the fucking Eagles.

    2. Re:the real question by chihowa · · Score: 1

      Now that we know happy music makes people more productive, how will this get incorporated into the open office? I'm assuming my looping Journey "Don't Stop Believing" over and over.

      "How about piping in some Tom Jones music. That always cheers me up!"

      --
      If you want a vision of the future, imagine a youtube comments section scrolling - forever.
  14. How do you define happy? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I define "happy music" to be whatever music that helps me engage in creative activities.

  15. Depends on the person by KozmoStevnNaut · · Score: 1

    I refuse to believe that any person can possible stand sappy "we're all so happy everything is wonderful"-type fake-positive dreck for any length of time without tearing their ears off.

    --
    Eat the rich.
    1. Re:Depends on the person by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Your taste and exposure to music must be minuscule if you think that is what "happy music" means.

      Depending on whether I want to move or I want to chill, my happy music could be anything from BT to Brahms to Brazillia.

    2. Re:Depends on the person by KozmoStevnNaut · · Score: 1

      I probably go to more concerts in a month than you do in a year.

      Happy upbeat music can only be tolerated for so long. You need contrast, drama and excitement to move the soul, not the meaningless platitudes of inoffensive "happy music".

      --
      Eat the rich.
  16. Newflash: Elevator music makes you suicidal! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Nice thing about this development is that now our workplaces will sound like retail businesses complete with elevator music.

  17. ...and the rest is CONSTANT NOISE! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    > it's better to solve problems in silence.

    Oh, listen - another jackass with super-loud-vehicle driving by. Just like the one 10 seconds ago. And the one 10 seconds before that. Oh, and a F-22 overhead. And of course the cicadas. And people talking and slamming doors. And all the computers whirring. Remind me again, where can I find this mythical "silence" to which you refer?

    1. Re:...and the rest is CONSTANT NOISE! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      An empty recording studio or your choice of anechoic chamber. Take your pick.

  18. Depends on the repeat value... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    If you enjoy listening to "Mambo Number Five" by Lou Bega on repeat, it might inspire homicidal tendencies in people who don't enjoy listening to it more than once.

    1. Re:Depends on the repeat value... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      How lucrative are amazon affiliate links ($/day)?

    2. Re:Depends on the repeat value... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Probably not very if you're posting links to Lou Bega crap.

  19. Awesome excuse by DeplorableCodeMonkey · · Score: 1

    No boss, I'm not uncreative and incompetent. I just spend too much time listening to Scandinavian death metal. I'm an addict. Don't judge me.

    1. Re:Awesome excuse by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I've found that death metal really cuts down on interruptions in the office.

      I see people come up to my door, pause for a moment, and then go bother someone else!

  20. Predictable rythm by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    For me it is music without lyrics I have heard lots of times, preferably with a stable rythm.

    Lyrics, speech and unexpected sounds are incredibly disturbing for me.

    Low ambient light, allowing me to immerse myself in my bubble of productivity.

  21. Next management fad by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Oh great! Now all our managers are going to be blasting "happy" music (according to someone's idea of "happy") at us 24/7 to boost creativity while we're all sitting in our "open plan" offices to boost communication. Spare me!

    1. Re:Next management fad by PPH · · Score: 1

      "happy" music

      Do you mean like this?

      --
      Have gnu, will travel.
  22. Subjective by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    As always, this sort of thing is highly subjective.

    As a coder, I won't mind playing music if I know I'm gonna be working on mind-numbing repetitive stuff I've done a million times before. But if I need to actually concentrate on a hard problem, breaking new ground, and need to get creative, I'm hitting the Stop button, otherwise I'm NOT making progress.

  23. John Cage's 4:33? by Quirkz · · Score: 1

    What happens if you listen to John Cage's 4:33? Do you get both benefits?

    --
    The Quirkz Handbook of Self-Improvement for People Who Are Already Pretty Okay
    1. Re:John Cage's 4:33? by spongman · · Score: 1

      i listen to that all the time, on repeat.

      doesn't help.

  24. AM radio? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I've heard legends about AM radio, is it some sort of hardware/signals implementation of iTunes?

    1. Re:AM radio? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      No, in the early days they could only get the radios to play in the morning. Later on they came out with PM radio which was much better. :-)

  25. No different from the Motzart effect by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Which was debunked in relation to producing any effect beyond changing people's mood.

  26. comment subject by Falos · · Score: 1

    I'm thinking this is less about mood and more about the idea that inspiration = distraction.

    When you're trying to solve a problem - no, not the "motions" of making shit reference each other in your everyday code - but solve a fucking problem like mentally predicting constellation movements across various time lengths, you don't want light bulbs, you just want to chew very hard in a narrow way and nowhere else.

    When you DO want light bulbs (that can include code (design in particular, picking your maneuvers)) then yeah, sure, music ("happy" probably working a bit more) introduces variation (didn't want to say "noise) that will encourage wider thinking. It jiggles the handle, it vibrates the lock's tumblers, it gives dinosaurs feathers. But not dramatically as that; it's supplementary and subtle and you don't NEED it to think outside your usual box if you deliberately and consciously think outside your typical patterns.

    The two types of thinking (and what gives them these tiny buffs) might compare somewhat to CPU and RAM.

  27. "Everything's Awesome!" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Did anyone else have flashbacks to "The Lego Movie"?

  28. Happy == Sad? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    So if I want to write a funeral dirge I should listen to the Birdie Song?

  29. Don't Call Me Ska Face! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I nominate "Don't Call Me Ska Face" V. 1-3 to be the happiest collection of songs! EVAR!

    Perhaps not record-breaking "happiest", but even the sad topics are sung upbeat. Gotta love that limey '80's ska, does wonders for my production. Good stuff.

    https://www.last.fm/music/Skab...

  30. Creativity by n329619 · · Score: 1

    When I'm coding, high energy alcohol is what gets my creative juices flowing.

    ftfy.

  31. Does that mean... by dddux · · Score: 1

    Does that mean I should try listening to "Barbie Girl" when I'm making industrial music? ;) Anyway, how's that supposed to work for musicians to make them more creative? It's really hard to make your own music while listening to some other music.

    --
    "It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society." - Jiddu Krishnamurti
  32. Music or meditation? by Rise+and+Gain · · Score: 1

    Well, this study might have a point, but what about me? I listen to music all day, when I work, when I study, when I take a shower etc. I haven't noticed any changes in my creativity though. I view music more as a distraction to be honest. The only thing which actually helps me with my creativity is when I sit still and have no other distractions. Meditation also helps me a lot. The only problem I have with meditation is: it allows you to control your thoughts, so I guess you become more focused over time and your mind cannot wander as much to find creative ideas during the day. What do you guys think?