8 Hours of Sonic Silence for Research and Writing
As a nearly full-time student, frequent blogger, contract writer, and church planter, I do quite a bit of research and writing. I also have a family: a wife, three girls, two parakeets, a fish and a dog running around the house. That can make concentration challenging at times – to say the least.
My coping mechanism? Headphones.
In my iTunes there is a play-list simply titled “Study.” It contains over 8 hours of the sort of music that creates an ambient, atmospheric bubble. I typically lower this sonic cone of silence whenever I need an extended period of uninterrupted focus (I expect to listen to it twice before tomorrow morning).
- Brian Eno & Harold Budd – Ambient 2: The Plateaux of Mirror
- Brian Eno – Apollo: Atmospheres & Soundtracks
- Passengers – Original Soundtracks 1
- The MDH Band – The Million Dollar Hotel Soundtrack
- Finding Forrester – Music From The Motion Picture
- Thelonius Monk – The Measure of Monk
- Esperanza Spalding – Esperanza
- The Roy Hargrove Quintet – Earfood
(My buddy Roy turned me on to Esperanza Spalding. If you like Jazz Fusion I highly recommend her.)
What are your strategies for finding solitude?
Headphones are a FANTASTIC IDEA. I don’t know why I haven’t thought of this yet. I oftentimes work/study from home, and I listen to music through speakers, but oftentimes need to screen out whatever is going on downstairs (and when our four kids have friends over, there are often 8-10 rowdy kids doing one thing or another in our house…)
I would add one band I’ve found to be good study music: This Will Destroy You. Kind of a post-rock instrumental outfit.