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So, when you're working, do you...

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Renegade:
Music does NOT work for me.

In common with many other pro and semi-pro musicians, I cannot simply listen to (or ignore) music when it's being played. I'll immediately start analyzing, evaluating, critiquing, and processing it. If I don't know the piece, I'll subconsciously try to learn it. If I do know it, I'll mentally play along - or even worse, start playing with it.
-40hz (December 29, 2010, 02:13 PM)
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:) Which is why I find music that I already know very well, like Slayer, or dance/trance music to work very well. New music makes it difficult as I'm then trying to figure out chords and fingerings. I usually don't have the problem of mentally playing along, though it does happen. But I'm far from being pro or semi-pro -- happens to happy hobbyists as well.  :)

The repetition in dance music is enough to stop me from "playing along" as after a short period I get bored and can focus again. It breeds familiarity very quickly.

40hz:
But I'm far from being pro or semi-pro -- happens to happy hobbyists as well.  :)
-Renegade (December 29, 2010, 05:57 PM)
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OMG! The blight...it's spreading?  :tellme:

I usually don't have the problem of mentally playing along, though it does happen.
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Once you reach semi-pro it will happen all the time.  :P

--------------------

 O.T. (Musician Joke) SpoilerQ: What do you call a bass player who doesn't have a girlfriend?

A: Homeless.

barney:
Mostly the [ambient?] light for me.  

As a myopic old cripple, comfortable seating is a physical non-sequitur, but adequate light in a reading area is an absolute necessity.  I'm ambivalent on auditory stimuli ... someone watching TV or playing music in another room seldom matters.  The maid vacuuming the floor is no bother, although I find I'm instantly attentive should some sound - like picking up a hairpin in the sweeper's brush - break the normal drone.  The sound of kids playing - some of 'em are adult kids - seldom bothers, unless there's that indescribable but instantly recognizable sound of trouble or pain.  Mind, I don't have 'em but some of my cohorts or students do.  

Due to physical limitations - bodies can be so-o-o uncooperative - I have to get up and walk away every half-hour or so, and that can be intrusive, but I've kinda learned to adjust my work flow, barring emergencies, around that.  So ... yeah, my big thing would be light ambiance/adequacy - I'm mostly oblivious to all else.

techidave:

Good lighting is important. My eyes, never that great to begin with, need all the help they can get. The important thing is it not be too bright because I'm very light sensitive.

-40hz (December 29, 2010, 02:13 PM)
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I agree with 40hz, my eyes are light sensitive and I find it helps to have things a little dark.  It drives my wife crazy, because I don't like the door or window shades open especially on a bright day.

As far as the sound going on around me it doesn't matter all that much if I am really concentrating because I will just block it out.

app103:
When working, I need to be in an environment in which I am the only human presence. This means either everyone needs to not be home, or they need to be sleeping, and the music I listen to is usually void of human voices...but that's a personal preference and not related to working. I listen to post-rock music, mostly, but only because there is something about it that keeps me calm and less easily frustrated. Prime working time for me is normally between 3-7am.

It's not that I need an environment like that. It's other people that need me to work that way because they can't just leave me alone and amuse themselves with something that doesn't include me.

I am very capable of mentally blocking out any and all distractions, but when people are awake and home they will insist on breaking that and demanding my attention. They get upset when they don't get it or I am incapable of focusing on what they are saying for longer than 15 seconds because it's not related to the task I am performing. It's really hard for me to come out of full focus once I get into it, and I will mentally slip right out of an unrelated conversation, unintentionally, and not hear a word you are saying. Bother me while I am working and you'll swear I have ADD.

I had some serious focus and filtering training in school, when I was a child. My school burned down and for a few years we were all crammed into space donated by local churches in the neighborhood, multiple classes in a single room. The noise level was not what you'd find in a typical classroom, and in order to concentrate on what our class was doing, we had to learn to filter out the other classes. Instead of a nice quiet environment during tests, we had to focus on our tests while all kinds of noise surrounded us. We all had to learn how to block it out. And we had to filter out the voices of the other teachers and focus only on our own. It was a pretty harsh environment for learning, but we had no choice and had to learn to deal with it.

As a result, you can't talk to me when I am doing things...I just won't hear you. You have to be pretty loud and obnoxious to get my attention once I block everything out. And sometimes I am capable of carrying on an entire conversation unconsciously, with no memory of it having occurred, when I am focused on something else. (I handle Q&A quite well, this way)

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