I Don't Know - 131 Beats Per Minute

The final track in the 131 beats per minute playlist.  I like this one as it has a blues development slapped right in the middle of the track - I've been meaning to do that for a while.

While the previous tracks in the playlist were very calm and reassuring - I knew that I wanted more energy in this one.  While it starts and ends with a mellow feel, it's all about the blues scale in the middle. 

There's a certain chugging nature to the way the left hand sets up the 12 bar shape and it's that driving energy that I often need when I'm hacking through something.  The trick is to make the right hand interesting but not overbearing while the left hand provides the energy without becoming monotonous.

I really like the ending too -  it makes me go back and immediately start the track again.  Listening to this on a loop is great when you want to stay focused an "in" for an hour or so.

Oh and there's a lot of Fibonacci references in the visual for those of you out there who dig that sort of stuff - I do! ;-p

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77% of People Listen to Music at Work!

Charlotte found this well written article by Liam Ward-Proud on how music can boost productivity.  While he touches on some of the familiar issues (de-bunking the Mozart effect & quoting Teresa Lesiuk) he did have a figure that blew me away.

Seems that a study from Sheffield University puts the number of people listening to music at work at 77%.  That's amazing!  As Liam suggests, and as we predicted eight years ago, the accessibility of portable players and new digital distribution platforms have made it super easy for people to access music - everywhere and anywhere.

It's interesting to see how the whole idea of music in the workplace has become accepted as normal.  What's fun to watch now is how different people and companies will tell you that it's their music that can help you best.

I think I'm with Liam on this one, what's best for you is totally subjective and driven by how that music makes you feel.  Just because there's research that instrumental music is best for some knowledge workers doesn't mean it's best for all of them. 

I know for me when I'm writing I need instrumental music - but when I'm researching it can be anything from Rastaman Vibrations through to Easy Star All-Stars Dub Side of the Moon - I like to groove when I read!

If you're part of the 23% that doesn't listen to music at work, read Liam's article on How Music Can Boost Productivity - it's a good introduction!

Image Credit: Music to Work or Study By - epiclectic - Flickr

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Will Music Make Your Child Smarter?

And so the debate continues - Vicky Williamson rebuts Louisa Diller's reading of Schellenberg's work and who knows how the politicians will vote!  Should society pay for music education - in the long term is there a net benefit - is there a positive ROI?

At the moment it's all in the framing of the argument - the unfortunate positioning of the "Mozart Effect"  and its commercial exploitation that Music will increase your IQ, we now know to be false. But to quote Michael Jackson - we shouldn't allow one bad apple to spoil the whole bunch of girls!

The research is clear that there are cognitive benefits - though they may seem secondary in nature.  For example, musical training improves auditory processing which in turn develops language processing, which in turn can develop classroom performance, something we know to be true - and yet - because it doesn't improve your IQ - should we just ignore these more subtle benefits?

Clearly I'm on the "music is good for you" side and I believe that if society does pay for early music training we will see a net benefit.  The sooner our scientists can understand how it works and publish verifiable data - the sooner we can convince our politicians that it's the right thing to do.

Image Credit: Untitled - Hilary Boles - Flickr

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