When cooking, washing dishes, or cleaning the toilet, I find that listening to music and singing along make the tasks not only tolerable but pleasurable. (Yes, I do pity anyone within earshot.)
What about playing music when writing? A lot of research is available on this topic. If you start at "Should We Turn Off the Music? Music with Lyrics Interferes with Cognitive Tasks" a study appearing in the National Library of Medicine website, you will find the results, while mixed, point to lyrics posing distractions to thought processes.
I would not say that I listen to music when I am writing. But the music is on. I call it background music. I hesitate to share the music I play for two reasons:
- I do a disservice to the great musicians, whose talents are worthy of my complete attention. When I do listen to them play, I am moved emotionally and even spiritually.
- The background music of choice depends on the phase of the writing process I am engaged in. Am I planning, drafting, or rewriting?
Having made those disclaimers, I listen almost exclusively to jazz, and occasionally classical, but never to vocals, unless they're of the Philip Glass non-lexical sort. Indeed, Glass's music can be quite focusing. Bill Evans, one of my favorite pianists, is great to have in the background, and greater when paying close attention. Even unorthodox pianists like Thelonious Monk and Lennie Tristano make for helpful background music.
For me, the problem with listening to music with lyrics is capturing the right rhythm of my sentences. That's the very reason why having instrumental music in the background enables me to craft rhythm in a passage.
Another disclaimer: I wrote this post in a public park, where the background music was a symphony singing birds and screaming children. So enjoyable.
