Music acts as a soundtrack to our lives. Various genres, instruments and styles may determine our mood and outlook on daily life, so having the right playlist for studying can make all the difference.
Finding the perfect music to listen to while studying may require doing some research. The ideal study playlist will look different for everyone. Below you will find a number of music genres and artists to help craft a study playlist that will help you succeed in your studying habits.
Ambient Music
Sometimes lyrics in music can be distracting when the task at hand is to read, write and focus in general. For this, ambient music will serve as an ideal choice for study sessions where deep focus is required.
The goal of ambient music is to use long tones to cultivate an atmosphere. Various sounds – sometimes reminiscent of nature – are used to make this genre less conventionally musical and more abstract, letting the listener craft their own mental image of the music. Streaming platforms like Spotify have curated playlists under the genre, including Wild Ambience, with music mimicking the natural world. Popular artists of this genre to explore are Aphex Twin, Ichiko Aoba, and Brian Eno.
Lofi Hip Hop
Commonly dubbed as study music, Lofi Hip Hop makes for a great addition to your study playlist. The repetitive beats can serve as an anchor to whatever your task at hand is. Several mixes for studying can be found on YouTube, with channels like Lofi Girl, Feardog, and chilli music providing frequent uploads. Additionally, some channels offer 24/7 radio mixes, so you never have to worry about choosing a new video in the middle of a study session.
Classical
As the foundation of modern music, the term classical music serves as an umbrella for multiple eras of music including the baroque and romantic periods. Due to the size of this genre, it can be difficult to know where to start.
To begin, figure out which instruments are most pleasing to your ears when trying to relax or focus. There are multiple playlists on Spotify made for specific instruments categorized by mood, such as Shimmering Strings, Atmospheric Piano, and Peaceful Piano. The playlist of your choice will be determined by the mood you seek to cultivate during your study sessions. Piano is often a go-to for calming the mind and encouraging focus. Composers like Chopin and Liszt are known to be piano virtuosos of their time and are an excellent place to begin in this genre.
Soundtracks
The same way music serves as a soundtrack to our daily lives, soundtracks from various mediums are a worthy addition to your study playlist. Soundtracks are often stylistically different depending on what medium they were crafted for. Therefore, the ideal soundtrack will be determined by the mood you need while studying, be it action based or slow and sentimental.
A soundtrack album may serve as a playlist of its own, since the music is made to be listened to as one. Some popular composers of soundtracks to explore are: Hans Zimmer (known for Interstellar), John Williams (known for Star Wars), Ennio Morricone (known for The Good, The Bad and The Ugly), and Joe Hisaishi (known for Spirited Away).
World Music
If vocals are something you seek for listener engagement but you find yourself distracted by lyrics, a good option is to explore music of different languages. This provides you with the listener engagement and familiar structure of pop music, but also prevents you from having lyrics in your own language distract you from reading or writing. Furthermore, you can explore genres in other languages to suit your music tastes in your native language. Doing this also provides the opportunity for cultural exploration and discovery.
All in all, the cultivation of your ideal study playlist will be determined by the individual, and the only way to explore new tastes is to jump in headfirst to new genres, styles, and artists. The priority should be to experiment and find out what study habits and music work best together to help you achieve academic success.
