This fun question was asked during our 102 Fundamentals Training Webinar this morning! I polled a few Asanas in the office and we compiled a list of soundtracks and the feelings invoked when listening to them:
Max Richter - The Blue Notebooks (great for doing menial tasks as it’s pleasant, without being distracting)
Music that’s ambient or orchestral typically works for me if I’m familiar with the tasks at hand. You don’t want something that’s too distracting to pull you out of the work, but sometimes silence (or conversations happening around you) can be a bit much to handle.
If I’m not familiar at all with the task and need to do some kind of try/fail/try again loop to accomplish a task, I’ll loop a super-repetitive song over and over again. Something like Closing Time by Semisonic or another ear-worm.
The book notes section on Largehearted Boy is also really good if you’re looking for playlists that match the mood of books you’re reading (and are on your mind).
I mainly like instrumental music if I’m trying to concentrate on something. I’ve recently been getting into synthwave retro 80s-sounding stuff, like Lazerhawk, Droid Bishop, or Kebu. John Carpenter’s Lost Themes albums are also great for this.
My relaxing choice would be the Shawshank Redemption or Inception soundtracks.
When I don’t need need to concentrate so much, I usually go with something louder/upbeat - Foo Fighters, Tom Petty (RIP ) or AC/DC. I also have a ‘happy’ playlist that I put together when I first started taking my daughter to nursery. For the first few months, she’d cry every time I dropped her off, so I thought listening to happy music in the car on the way there might help.
I don’t have particular mood playlists for this kind of work, but I think if we were going instrumental I would go with the Star Wars master soundtrack playlist, maybe a specific movie if I’m feeling it.
Bonus points if you listen to it on Spotify, cause the progress bar is a lightsaber and that’s just adorable.
Well depending on the mood of the day and the type of project I am working on but it goes from Essentials for Philip Glass to Calvin Harris playlist on Apple music. Mondays are more classical & Fridays are more dance playlists
For the lazy people like me, I combined as much of the above into one playlist in Spotify. Suggestions on other songs to add are more than welcome. Shuffle mode suggested
Rachmaninov for quickly reviewing and actioning items in a project.
Used to do Chopin, but I have some of those songs memorized and muscle memory competed with intellectual processes resulting in typos and mis-clicks. Oh well!
Also, Big Band. I like Bob Florence Limited Edition (or Bob Florence & His Orchestra) and Gordon Goodwin’s Big Phat Band.
) or AC/DC. I also have a ‘happy’ playlist that I put together when I first started taking my daughter to nursery. For the first few months, she’d cry every time I dropped her off, so I thought listening to happy music in the car on the way there might help.
Delightful!
