Can you read or write while listening to music?

I can only write and read in complete silence. Otherwise it's too distracting. Even whispering will drive me nuts. My brain just can't focus with noise.

 

It really depends on the situation for me.

If it is a first draft and I am kind of coming up with ideas while writing it, I like listening to music because it really helps inspire me.

If I am editing I usually don't listen to music because it distracts me. I have to work that I am editing as my inspiration.

So if I need extra inspiration I use it, if not it's distracting. And sometimes it just depends on the mood I'm in.

 

I always read in silence. If I'm writing I'll either do it in silence, or I have some music (usually instrumental) playing at a very low volume. Music is definitely a distraction for me

 

I've become a master at reading while my twin toddlers run rampant, tv blaring, husband yelling into his headset at his World of Warcraft buddies. It's the only thing that gives me the peace I crave. As far as writing- no way. Hopefully when they start going to school I will have time for that. In the meantime, I consider all of my reading time studying for the final project.

 

Definitely. Of course I don't listen to Grindcore when writing but some nice atmospheric tunes that fit the mood of the story can really make me more productive and more creative.

 

When I read, I cannot listen to any type of music. At all. It confuses me, and makes it very difficult for me to focus. However, if I'm trying to read at school, and there are kids all around me, goofing off and being loud, I can still read. I just zone out. I think it has something to do with the fact that one is voluntary (putting on music) and the other is not (random kids making unwanted noise).

On the other hand, when I'm writing, I almost need music. I listen to post-hardcore, metalcore and alternative rock just fine. I need it to be upbeat. It motivates me, and gets my brain working. If I try to write in silence, I'll often end up writing a few words, pausing, then writing a few more words. While when I have music playing, it's more of a constant stream. Probably because my brain is more stimulated. Often, I won't even hear the words of the music, and will be confused when my playlist seems to have skipped a song, when, in reality, I was just so into my work that I didn't notice it playing.

 

I can't because I'd rather be completely focused on what I am writing. I like silence when writing. Music would drive me nuts!

 

While reading I prefer complete and utter silence.
I even put earplugs and close the door and turn the lights off. Yeah.

Whilst writing, I tend to be more adaptive, and it does not really matter since I just absorb my surroundings and channel the absurdity.
A bit of quite would not hurt, though.

I listen to heavy metal music and classical, which are by themselves passionate works that need concentration and daydreaming.

 

I do listen to music when reading/writing, its helped and inspired me countless times

 

I have to have music whilst I write. My house is very noisy (you can hear a whisper from the first floor when you are on the second), and whenever people talk I tend to want to listen. I've got too many annoying family members who are always yelling at each other or have their radios and TV's blaring. Music is just one of the few ways I can escape the stress of my household, and adding that to writing makes the escape two times better.

 

I can only write while listening to music. I choose atmospheric music to what I'm writing about at the moment
to get the right mood. Sometimes I even get the idea through listening to a specific sound track; it sparks off
a whole whirl of ideas inside me and I have to get it down on the paper. It activtes schemes and scenarios
in my mind, I guess and I further develop them. Sometimes, according to a certain idea, I even can imagine
the music suitable for it, but as I cesed to play the keyboard long ago, and as it is incredibly time-consuming
to achieve some decent result in playing it, I just hum the melody in my mind.

 

It really depends on my mood. Half of the time I do and half of the time I don't. But I do not like it to be completely silent.

 

I can't have T.V on, or any sort of video games playing around me. Also since I'm a solitary writer it's very difficult for me to write with people around me. But music is a necessity to my novels. I even have a youtube playlist of instrumental songs that either get me into the spirit of the novel or pull me back and help me to look at it from a different angle. Some even give me the plot it's self.

 

with Music and or TV going yes I can write! Some times what im listening to inspires my writing!

 

I've been able to master reading while listening to music after years spent with headphones in and a book in front of me to try to deflect fellow employees from talking to me while at work. Not that it ever mattered (fun experiment: Put headphones in while reading a book and count how many people STILL try talking to you. It's pretty incredible). As for writing...no. I love listening to music while plotting for characters, ideas, scenes, that sort of thing. But when I'm in the process of actually writing I need complete silence. I get distracted much too easily otherwise.

 

I can, but I find that my thoughts flow more freely when it's off. I only listen to music when I'm doing a basic outline of something. It's too consuming for my tastes to write while listening to it, and it often affects the tone of the piece in detrimental ways.

 

I find it tends to help. Personally, when I'm putting together a specific scene, I try to match music that would go along with it and take it from there. Effectively, for the piece of writing I'm doing just now, I have a playlist that matches each of the chapters.

I hate silence though, unless that's the situation that the character is in and I'm writing about isolation at that time.

 

I find that soft music helps to seal a quiet writing environment from inevitable surrounding sounds; I often write to the music of John Cage and Erik Satie.

 

If it refers to the genre of my novel then yes. So for example, I'm producing an Fantasy series whereas I need Fantasy music to inspire me to write more efficiently.

 

I'm constantly listening to music. However, grown up with Bipolar, I'm used to having my mind racing of multiple things, which makes me the ultimate multitasker.

What's on the Itunes when writing? AC/DC, Aerosmith, James Horner, Elton John, Goo Goo Dolls, Gordon Lightfoot. You name it, I'm probably listening to it-except for rap and numetal.

 

That is the only way I can really. I've tried to write without music and I just can't get into it.

 

I'm pretty weird about this - I'll listen to music as an inspiration or to amuse the muse, so to speak, but once I'm writing, it needs to be silent. I can't focus otherwise.

 

I like music in the background while writing.

 

For me it's really something that changes from time to time, and largely depends on what I'm writing. For most stuff writing with music is actually kind of nice, especially if the music fits the scene I'm writing (Won't lie, my writing is influenced by the music I'm listening to.)

But when I'm rewriting and nitpicking, I need silence. If it's not completely silent, I will miss mistakes and rewrite stuff in the exact same, wrong way. Anyone else feel like this?