keep on plodding

I once believed that music could only empower my dance, not my work. I've tried listening to music at work, at the library, and at school. At all these places, music reduced the pages I turned, data I entered, homework I finished. For a very long time, I forbade myself from having music when I had other matters.

But there's another kind of music I hadn't tried. This music was created specifically to put the listener in a state of mind to produce brilliant work.

Video game music. Specifically, strategy game music. Think about them and the sound of their music for a moment.

Reading, working and studying are all activities with relatively high levels of mental focus. The technical and emotional complexity of music makes mental focus on a task difficult. In general then, these tasks can't coexist with music. But strategy games are also highly intense acts of mental focus, yet they predominantly feature fine soundtracks that don't distract me at all. In fact, they empower me with a sense of belief in my abilities, a sense of responsibility as a commander, that somehow allows me to do these tasks with vigour, attentiveness and intelligence.

Why is this so? I can speculate a number of reasons.

1. None, or incoherent lyrics such as those from latin choirs. Trying to understand "principles of formal process management" while being fed lyrics that describe "nights in da club" is a recipe for failure. Even if the lyrics were relevant, they would still jumble up with whatever thoughts are in my head. Imagine listening to two radio stations talking about politics simultaneously. It's possible, but more trouble than it's worth.
   
2. Power. As mentioned above, strategy game music has a thickness, a masculine body that empowers me to do the best I can. In the game, it inspires you to prevail over your enemies, while in the working environment, it inspires me to do my best.
   
3. Positive association. If we love something enough, we develop a strong positive association with it and everything related to it. Many people love the Mario games enough such that hearing the Mario Theme invokes many of the same feelings they have when playing the game. On the same note, studying while listening to music of a game I love seems to trick my mind into believing it's playing that game, and I can work with a sense of addiction similar to that while playing the game.

I've had great success with the soundtracks of Shogun: Total War and Battle Realms. Conveniently, the soundtrack to Battle Realms can be downloaded for free.

I'm still on the hunt for more music. I'll add them to this post as I find music that works.