Whistle While You Work: How Music Helps Productivity

Have you ever met someone who needs absolute silence to concentrate? Maybe you’re that person yourself. It turns out that having music playing while you work can actually make you more productive.

A staggering 90% of workers perform better when listening to music, and 61% of employees listen to music at work to make them happier and more productive.

Additionally, music can have an impact on our spending habits. 4 in 10 business owners believe playing music increases sales.

Music is processed in the auditory cortex and stimulates memories from the hippocampus of the brain. Additionally, it activates the motor cortex, which is what makes you tap your foot or shake your shoulders to a song.

Music also releases dopamine in the reward center of the brain (the same chemical released when you eat your favorite food). That’s why you feel better when you hear a tune you love.

If you’re trying to figure out what Pandora station to listen to, it depends on what you’re doing. Ambient music is great for data entry, while dance music can help you proofread. If your work requires you to focus, it’s best to listen to familiar songs.

Flight of the Bumblebee played on trombone

bumblebeeFlight of the Bumblebee is a ridiculously fast piece of music, best played on instruments suited to such speed. Some do not believe the trombone is such an instrument, but Staff Sergeant Carmen Russo pulls it off with The U.S. Army Field Band, Major Scott McKenzie conducting. The Trombone Meets The Bumblebee is an original Army Field Band arrangement https://www.viagrasansordonnancefr.com/viagra-ou-cialis/ by Master Sergeant Jay Norris, drawing from Rimsky-Korsakov’s Flight of the Bumblebee and themes from Bizet’s Carmen.

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A Short Film about Music and the Human Spirit

In this uplifting short film, directed by Max Thurlow and Nick Trumble, Noisey meets 93 year old jazz pianist Edward Hardy. Ed was given a new lease of life and relief from dementia and depression, when his care home discovered he was a talented pianist in his younger days. They reunited him with his ex-band members for a special performance, which proved the power of music for people suffering cognitive disorders.

An Analysis of the Beatles

The Beatles have so many great songs, to the point that I`ve started to wonder how these four ordinary British blokes managed to write so many No.1 hits.  As it turns out they were not so ordinary.  Lennon and McCartney led the way in songwriting, crooning about love all the way to to the top of the charts.

The Beatles are without a doubt one of the most influential rock bands in the history of mankind. Radio stations still play their songs and their catchy lyrics never get old.  Yesterday, Hey Jude, Penny Love, are just some of many songs you will hear on your everyday commute to work.

But they were also acheterdufrance.com so much more than a band; they were cultural icons. It goes without saying that Lennon, McCartney, Ringo, and Harrison were extremely talented individuals, well deserving of their place in history (see our illustration of rock music history here).

Beatles-Analysis

source: http://www.dailyinfographic.com/most-prolific-songwriter-of-the-beatles 

Tracking what a pianist sees

pianist handsHave you ever noticed how fast a pro piano player’s fingers move? Since they move so fast, what do they look at? This video shows you, thanks to eye-tracking technology.

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Music Theory Interview: Jacob Collier

The amazing June Lee interviews the phenom, Jacob Collier about music theory. Here’s a link to my review of his Album “In My Room”.

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Here’s part 2 of the interview

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Bernstein on Mozart

Berstein on MozartBernstein uses Mozart’s Symphony # 40 in G minor to illustrate the how tonal music theory is actually the interaction of two oppositional forces i.e. chromaticism which is a force of ambiguity or expressivity and, diatonicism which is a force for tonal clarity or keyness . Viewed from this frame of reference there comes into existence a kind of (spectrum of affective response) that is directly related to both history and chromatic density: So very diatonic music sounds simple direct and clearly in a key (think folk music) and the more chromatic music becomes the more expressive the music becomes (if it’s good) until it becomes sorta dream like (impressionist) and then quite modern then atonal . This is a short excerpt from lecture 1 Phonology of Bernstein’s Six Harvard Lectures “The Unanswered Question” 1973 .

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A different way to visualize rhythm

rhythmIn standard notation, rhythm is indicated on a musical bar line. But there are other ways to visualize rhythm that can be more intuitive. John Varney describes the ‘wheel method’ of tracing rhythm and uses it to take us on a musical journey around the world.

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Bono on How U2 Began Inside Larry Mullen Jr.’s Kitchen

“Kids started coming from all around the place,” frontman tells Jann Wenner in 2005 interview about band’s teenaged origins in Dublin.

Here’s a link to the Roling Stone article.