These days, there’s music playing everywhere – in the café, at your local Tesco; even in the library, most students listen to music when they study. So shouldn’t it be better to turn it down when you’re sitting down with your favourite book? It is, of course, a question of personal preference whether you like to listen to music whilst reading or not. As with studying, some people prefer silence in order not to be distracted.
Certainly, the upsides of listening to music are plenty. It can help you to calm down and get into the right mood for reading. Especially calm instrumental music (which many also listen to while studying) can be perfect to make you forget your busy everyday life and embrace the imaginative world you’re diving into. There are countless playlists on Spotify, ranging from soft piano ballads to mellow jazz, to improve your reading experience. Something that also works well is choosing music that fits the vibe of the story you’re reading, which creates a certain atmosphere. Think classical music for a historical novel set in the eighteenth century, or the film score of cinematic adaptations. There is hardly anything that can get you more in the mood of Middle Earth than Howard Shore’s beautiful Lord of the Rings soundtrack, to name just one example.
Vocal music with lyrics, however, is more likely to turn out to be a distraction as we often tend to pay attention to the words that are being sung. An upbeat pop song might also not be the best accompaniment to every book. Also, the absence of music does not necessarily mean that you’re reading in dead silence. Other sounds can affect your reading experiences similarly to calm music: whether you’re listening to raindrops falling on the window in your bedroom or to the birds chirping in the Meadows, both make for a great reading environment.
Everyone chooses for themselves, in the end. The only advice I can give is that when you listen to music whilst reading, choose it carefully. Simply turning on random playlists can have you end up – like me – getting flashbacks to The Hunger Games every time you hear a Coldplay song on the radio.
Here’s my recommended film scores to enhance your reading experience:
Atonement (Dario Marianelli) for both romance novels and classics
Brokeback Mountain (Gustavo Santaolalla) for a calm and sentimental atmosphere
Dune (Hans Zimmer) for science fiction novels
Photo by Dollar Gill on Unsplash