Listening to classical music while reading is amazing!

Submitted by Ameliagonemad t3_11cev3x in books

I used to get distracted by any and everything when I read; the crinkling of the page, the humming of a ceiling fan or lightbulb, the wind outside, the droning of cars—every little noise would pull me out of the story. Then, on a whim, I decided to put on one of those long ambient noise compilations on YouTube. It was the sound of a fireplace crackling and rain thudding outside. It didn’t work; it was more distracting than helpful. So I decided as a last resort to just put on some random classical music. At first, the music was distracting as well, but then I found that I couldn’t read without it! I try to pick slow and simple arrangements and turn them down a bit. The music becomes so immersive for the story! So many books go well with classical music, and even when a book doesn’t fit the aesthetic of classical music, the sounds still help me concentrate tremendously! Reading books like The Count of Monte Cristo with classical tidings in your ear is a whole new experience…

So, I’ve made this post to recommend you to at least try reading with classical music playing! It’s immersive and wonderful!

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Sieperill15 t1_ja2p74g wrote

I also enjoy this so so much!! I usually listen to movie scores and it makes the reading experience so much more epic! :)

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Ameliagonemad OP t1_ja2plvk wrote

Ooh that’s a wonderful idea! Any recommended scores?

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Sieperill15 t1_ja2q0eg wrote

Pretty much everything by Hans Zimmer works perfectly :) For me especially Interstellar, Inception and Man of Steel. That also depends on the setting and the overall feeling of the book of course :)

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Helpful-Spirit7002 t1_ja55xsf wrote

The older stuff I recommend the lieders by alma Mahler. Female composers suppressed by time, truly exceptional.

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spacewooly t1_ja2urzm wrote

Dune soundtrack is a banger for reading Dune Book

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SpaceGypsy79 t1_ja4w0m4 wrote

Which Dune? In case you don’t know, Toto did the soundtrack for the first one.

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spacewooly t1_ja5m14r wrote

I was referring to the newer one as the original will just make you think of sting in his underwear...and then you ain't doin no reading anymore.

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SpaceGypsy79 t1_ja5o9vb wrote

It is difficult to read when you gouge your eyes out.

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Solar_Kestrel t1_ja33sla wrote

Oh, man, I definitely need to try this the next time I read some Tolkien. Howard Shore's score is phenomenal.

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Solar_Kestrel t1_ja33pwd wrote

While you're listening to classical music and reading, please consider also trying to do that with a 80lbs golden retriever sleeping in your lap.

It is the very height of decadent luxury.

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cohray2212 t1_ja2x3gt wrote

I love listening to very slow instrumental doom/stoner metal. Bongripper's Terminal album especially while I'm reading the most dark and epic graphic novels or manga. 10 minute songs of just low and slow sludge guitars and huge drums.

Highly recommend. Pick up Watchmen and pipe that shit into your ears and it'll really suck you in and immerse you into those Rorschach monologues.

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sc2212 t1_ja2rcqg wrote

A thousand times this. I was reading early 20th century fiction yesterday with the Met Opera on quietly in the background. Such an enjoyable afternoon.

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ReturnOfSeq t1_ja36bfr wrote

Also jazz

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Trot1995 t1_ja3rtk6 wrote

Yeah I'm a big Jazz fan when reading.

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ReturnOfSeq t1_ja36mj9 wrote

Also also some post rock, like Godspeed you! Black emperor, or M83, or the Mount Fuji doomjazz corporation/Kilimanjaro Darkjazz ensemble

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i_love_pesto t1_ja3e2st wrote

I prefer the continuous rain, fire, etc. kind of asmr videos, but to each their own. I'm just glad that you found something that works for you!

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n3ws4cc t1_ja4seuq wrote

Yeah i usually go to youtube and type in 'X ambience', X being whatever setting/vibe suits my current book. The videos are usually a couple hours long amd there's a surprisingly large selection to pick from. Anything from libraries to spaceships to medieval villages!

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emmidkwhat t1_ja3b0t8 wrote

Listening to Shostakovich symphonies while reading 1984 is the best deal.

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Markj565 t1_ja4001l wrote

Nope….reading is one thing listening to music is another.

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AnthropomorphizedAI t1_ja2txog wrote

You're right, but don't limit yourself to just classical. I find moving from one genre to another while reading can amplify different types of scenes. For instance, one of my most potent memories is having a rock song on while reading Elfstones of Shannara as a teenager. It made the scene just so much more intense.

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Hyperion_Consul t1_ja3rwz9 wrote

Ambient music for me. Especially those which capture the tone of the novel. Some examples if anyone is interested:

Brian Eno's "Music for Airports" while reading The Great Gatsby

Eluvium's "Talk Amongst the Trees" while reading The Handmaid's Tale

Deathprod's "Morals and Dogma's" while reading 'Salem's Lot

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OcotilloWells t1_ja4vd2z wrote

That used to be how many independent bookstores used to be. So much Bach, Vivaldi, Beethoven, and Holst.

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SpaceGypsy79 t1_ja4wb3v wrote

I like to listen to smooth jazz.

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timwhelan t1_ja3fk4l wrote

+1 on Hans Zimmer! The Pirates of the Caribbean soundtrack makes for an epic read. Listening to "Pirates" makes even weeding seem epic;-)

Along this line, I also just read Conversations with Tom Petty. It was really fun to listen to all his albums (via youtube) as I went along. I didn't time them perfectly, but kept things in the same era. It was really cool!

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noice-smort99 t1_ja3ymqu wrote

I like to put on the Disneyland esplanade music while I read (or do a puzzle)

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anachroneironaut t1_ja3o9ph wrote

If anyone who reads this have not listened a lot to classical music: check out the classical guitar. Even softer to the ears and mind than piano or bowed strings, IMO. Segovia, Tarrega, and others.

I find baroque classical music in general nicer than later classical music when reading, but YMMV.

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Jamandi_Aldori t1_ja40ncl wrote

There's classical, definitely. I also enjoy putting one of of many "focus/study" playlists on Spotify or other services, usually it'll be some instrumental minimalist beats that are just enough to drown out distracting noises, but not enough to distract from reading.

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little-birdbrain-72 t1_ja49ldu wrote

I'm the same way. I usually have to put some kind of soft music on in the background or else I get distracted because there's too much silence. Sometimes it can be tricky to find the right music or the right ambient sounds, but once you find something that helps it's a good feeling for sure.

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SnowdriftsOnLakes t1_ja4c8q1 wrote

Nope, can't do it. Any kind of music is just another distraction to me. I prefer to read in silence. When my fellow commuters or noisy teenagers upstairs have other ideas, I turn on he most generic, bland white noise I can find. It's the only thing I can tolerate while reading.

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storytoad t1_ja2tbys wrote

I do this on the train when people are talking and I’m trying to read. I also have a playlist of instrumental heavy metal which works better for louder journeys.

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New-York-Mouse t1_ja31gk7 wrote

I'll go it a go. I am a slow reader with a tendency to get distracted even when I'm enjoying something.

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NPRjunkieDC t1_ja36kc1 wrote

I'm going to try this while I go through the 18 or so novels of Emile Zola (the Rougon-Macquart)

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largish t1_ja3l564 wrote

You tube music has dozens of collections of “Classics for Reading” or something similar.

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auntiepink t1_ja3nux9 wrote

I listened to a Forensic Files episode the last time I read a murder mystery and my brain lit up like fireworks. It was amazing!!

I've never been able to study with music, though. I'll hear the right passage in the song that I was listening to when I studied the info I'm trying to recall but can't get through to the facts. That might just be be me, though. Most of the time I got blocked anyway and could only visualize the page the info was on. That was awesome for open book tests, though.

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Trick-Two497 t1_ja3pi94 wrote

I tell my Echo to play music for meditation. They have a station just for that. It's perfect for reading.

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Pinkclubpenguin t1_ja4ctav wrote

It is! Although I don’t listen to classical music, I listen to techno or house music. And somehow it helps me focus more on reading. I love it.

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Individual_Bug_2743 t1_ja4hrqu wrote

I am a big fan of the dark academia YouTube videos while reading

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shadowdra126 t1_ja4p1ev wrote

I either listen to lofi hip hop or smooth jazz

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the3rdtea2 t1_ja4xout wrote

I like lofi synthwave myself

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Swan_X1 t1_ja525np wrote

hello! And the first question that arose to me after reading your post: What compositions? Which composers? Are there playlists on YouTube that you recommend?

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fcfromhell t1_ja5f1cv wrote

when I read I use noise cancelling headphones and a soundscape that fits the mood of the book and it helps me, but I do still get distracted some times. I love classical music, so ill have to give that a try.

when I was younger, I read part of the harry potter series while listening to avenged sevenfold city of evil album, very low. just gave me some ambient noise. now when I hear anything from that album it remind me of harry potter lol

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ILoveMy-KindlePW t1_ja5jf7o wrote

I get too much into the music wherever I put it to read, so now I just use ambient sound like rain or sounds of the ocean.

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ecpowerhouse27 t1_ja5nnwp wrote

I prefer classical music with a lot of strings. Try 111 Haydn Masterpieces.

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SainttValentine t1_ja5oiup wrote

I listen to jazz! I can’t listen to anything with words or I get to distracted

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Amphy64 t1_ja5ru85 wrote

I'll listen to music if the book mentions it, but otherwise would find it distracting. Can't imagine throwing on random classical music that may not even match the period, it'd be like having two different emotional tones going on at once.

My dad described Bach's St. John's Passion as 'nice, Churchy music'. I tried to listen to it, it's just full of a sense of religious awe/terror, despite being a militant atheist, ended up an emotional wreck. Not all music is that emotional to potentially clash with a book (or not, maybe) as much, but a piece like that, I can't understand how it could even not bother someone.

I am also into opera so the line between books and music as narrative doesn't really exist as much, maybe. There's quite a lot of opera adaptations of books/plays, too! (Sometimes the opera version has become the more known, like Carmen, La Bohème, though those two also made a lot of changes to the source material)

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Kate1124 t1_ja5y6il wrote

100%! I do this every morning and it’s one of the highlights of my day.

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Ren_scarborough t1_ja65nls wrote

I started out listening to classical music now I listen to lofi and whatnot, I think it gives a similar effect. I think I should throw some Chopin in there after reading this and basically being reminded. Lol.

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NoisyCats t1_ja6gxjt wrote

Yep, or one of the ambient channels on SomaFM.

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JacobAintDumb t1_ja6p8rk wrote

I used to try and listen classical music when reading, and it almost felt like I am in heaven. ABSOLUTELY amazing.

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idlestuff t1_ja7a6el wrote

Trying this out!!!

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McIgglyTuffMuffin t1_ja7dkk8 wrote

I usually drift towards film soundtracks and I go towards films of what I'm reading.

Like recently went and read The Right Stuff and Neil Armstrong's biography so I was listening to the soundtracks for the TV show of For All Mankind, then the movies First Man, The Right Stuff, Interstellar, etc. etc.

If it's a book that has a movie, like The Cabin at the End of the World/Knock at the Cabin, I'll listen to that score while reading.

Big big fan of some music in the background as I read.

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ParisTexas121 t1_ja83kjb wrote

I started reading COMC and am listening to classical music and it is giving me such a vivid picture of each scene.

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