chemical live has always been my thinking music; I'm writing an essay on paradise lost. at the moment it's santiago chile 2004.

Now, star guitar just came on. but I'm confused, see. I'm confused because I'm hearing both the sweet live version and I can't get the shinichi osawa guitars out my head!!!

what do I do?!?!!?

ah, but Surface to air just kicked in and foooooooooooooook.

that's atmosphere.

I just noticed something in the beat I haven't before -- cool!

Not much more to add at the moment, but this is one of my favorite quotes, by Albert Einstein:

"If I were not a physicist, I would probably be a musician. I often think in music. I live my daydreams in music. I see my life in terms of music. ... I get most joy in life out of music."

I know what you mean about that Star Guitar cover. It's been on my playlist a lot lately and I'm afraid what will happen when I play the original.

I don't know how you can think when listening to music that you can't help listen to in great depth. I find the likes of Mozart or Vangelis work for me.

Gotta love 'Rachel's Song'.

I do <3

oh I forgot Chopin.

Who wouldn't adore the opulent Vangelis qualities that make up the Blade Runner soundtrack?? :D

Definitely more low key music (by that I mean, less boom and more melodic fluidity and atmosphere) always worked when my brain required I buckle down in deep thought and study/write essays/do homework. One thing I never understood was how people felt they could study when the television was on. Too much of a distraction!

And Mozart - all those studies on improving brain function and all of that expose some truths about brain function and memory retention. There's all sorts of Mozart For Babies stuff out on the market and sure it's a money making scheme but at the same time you there's that old saying that music calms the savage beast. ;) I had a couple of teachers in high school that used to play Mozart or Beethoven (not the sweeping dramatic Beethoven but the more low key) softly during exams. Whether this had a marked improvement on test scores I don't know, but with the music playing people seemed to settle into exam mode quicker and I know for me having the music playing helped me focus more on the exam and less on distractions coming from outside the classroom, or my brain drifting off into la la land.

Another thing that comes to mind is when I was in college I took a number of art courses, lots of life drawing and such. Even when your output is more creative than academic, there's plenty of room for distraction so music helps keep things centered I think. One of the instructers I had used to play Dead Can Dance and This Mortal Coil. Something about the energy, atmosphere, instrumentation of those songs fit so well with what we were doing. It was those classes that introduced me to those bands, so it all worked out in the end.

Anyway, yeah. I didn't mean to type a freakin novel here.

Mozart and Beethoven have WAY too much going on to not distract you!

good call on the blade runner soundtrack.

and yes context is quite important... music fitting the feel of the work and the space at hand is a complex relationship. Not always clear. changes everything though.

My favorite thinking music has to be Pink Floyd's "Atom Heart Mother Suite". Very relaxing but very energetic/epic at some moments.

Atom Heart Mother is one of my favourite albums, probably the best of Pink Floyd!

How true!