I have had background music going on while I am writing at least since my high school days when I did a column for my hometown newspaper, the Daily Signal. I wrote most of my award-winning dissertation listening to Sting’s “Every Step You Take” on a compact disc player in the early 1980s. I still have music in the background as I write. Even right now. I am listening to Bob Dylan’s Ballad of A Thin Man (Live) on Pandora.
The Songs that Help Me Concentrate on Grant Writing
I have created a special YouTube playlist that you can access if you are interested in hearing the music that keeps me focused and concentrating as a grant writer. It is pretty eclectic. Reviewing my choices, I see a lot of the songs I’ve liked from the past, songs with strong drum lines, a defiant tone, and a certain twist of angst. If you find my playlist distracting, please remember that I have listened to these songs hundreds of times…some from when I was still a teenager. Because of my repeated exposure to these songs it is relatively easy for me to screen them out and not even notice them as I write. YouTube makes it very easy to create this sort of playlist. Just start by typing in and re-sampling the music you like the best. If you are interested in developing a list similar to mine, that fits your neural system, then here are the criteria I use:
1. Almost all of the songs in my playlist are ones that truly capture my attention when I hear them on the radio.
2. They usually have an extremely strong hook at the beginning, a sound that really captures my attention.
3. Some of these are songs I remember from high school, college, graduate school, college teaching, fundraising, grant writing and establishing and maintaining my own consulting practice.
4. Often, they ranked very high in the charts when they were newly released. Apparently, I was not the only one who found them captivating.
5. Many are quite contemporary since I am fascinated with whatever is the hot new trend.
6. If, while you are writing, a certain song brings back bad memories or leaves you cold, just delete it from the playlist.
7. I have found that the order does not seem to matter much to me. For the sake of variety, I usually have YouTube play back the list randomly.
Finally, I think one of the reasons listening to this playlist helps me concentrate is that I am also identifying with the artists themselves, particularly the creative process which led them to compose these hits and the responses of the audiences which embraced them. Ideally, I want to do the same thing for my charity clients: I want the grant to reflect the passion and expertise of the charity, and I want the grant funders to wake up and listen to their urgent pleas for help.
St. Vincent – “Los Ageless” (Official Video) is part of my motivational, concentration building playlist on YouTube.
These are the songs that work for me. At the very least, they represent the sort of songs that will help keep you up late at night.
Music Other Writers Use to Improve Concentration and Motivation
After reviewing my own play list, I got interested in seeing what sort of tunes got others to be both motivated, take action, and above all concentrate. All in all, I noticed some big similarities to the music that I favor in my work. For example, most of the existing background music resources are either action-oriented, heroic sounding or somewhat dreamy new age stuff. (My play list includes many of these themes too.) Below, I am including links to what are supposed to be the most popular lists available on YouTube for writers seeking to concentrate. I urge you to check all of them out and see which work best for you.
New Age
Music To Listen To While Writing – Essays, Papers, Stories, Poetry, Songs
Music to help Write A Paper, An Essay, Poetry, Stories
Study Music Insane Productivity | Music To Listen While Writing (AMAZING)
Piano
Emma – Music to create flow, write a paper or essay to
Dance Style Electronica
