6.20.2006

Music at Work

Being a musician, I never thought I could listen to music and write Perl scripts at the same time. I thought that for a reason; namely, that music tends to take over any other tasks at hand. If I'm driving and listening to Def Leppard, I'll catch myself speeding (if it's Lifehouse's "You and Me" playing, I have to be especially careful, because I love that song and it's all I'll remember after it's over.) If I'm doing housework and listening to LeAnn Rimes, whatever I'm doing stops whenever the melody goes above high C, because I have to straighten up to hit high notes well, and it's nearly impossible to just listen to LeAnn.

Apparently, though, the absence of an accelerator pedal at my desk--and the fact that "singing along" in my silent department would be akin to shouting in the library--makes it possible for me to listen and work at the same time, without affecting the quality or quantity of work accomplished.

So, today--while setting up divisions and tangling with a nasty multi-level list--I wore headphones most of the time. On the playlist:

1. Relient K, "mmHmm." I haven't paid much attention to this band in a couple of years; guess I should have. Excellent CD. Fave tracks: "Be My Escape", "High of '75", "Let It All Out", and "Maintain Consciousness"... although I have to put in a good word for "My Girl's Ex-Boyfriend", because it runs through my head and makes me laugh.

2. Collection of themes from various video games, movies, and TV shows. Brandon made it for me. Has the "Brothers" song from Fullmetal Alchemist on it, and a lot of other very beautiful songs (others that stand out to me right now: "Tifa's Theme" from Final Fantasy VII, "Kaoru and Misao" from Rurouni Kenshin, and "Grief and Sorrow" from Naruto.) Incredibly good music to work to, although every time I hear "To Zanarkand" from Final Fantasy X, I have to remind myself that I can't learn a melody and write regular expressions at the same time.

3. John Van Deusen, Closet Songs. My favorite artist, with or without his band, The Lonely Forest (although they definitely rock.) Someday, I'll be able to say that I played street hockey with him before he was famous. That particular CD is made up mostly of songs he, unfortunately, doesn't do anymore.

4. CD I burned off of MSN Music last year. Titled it "Philosophy and Passion." Managed to make it all the way through Jon Bon Jovi's "Livin' On A Prayer" without accidentally singing aloud... minor miracle, that.

5. Relient K again. I broke my usually strict rule about not listening to the same CD twice in the same day. And I did it for a Christian CD. That... just doesn't happen. It's good stuff. Besides, their happy-go-lucky drummer keeps me awake.

1 comment:

  1. "If I'm driving and listening to Def Leppard, I'll catch myself speeding (if it's Lifehouse's "You and Me" playing, I have to be especially careful, because I love that song and it's all I'll remember after it's over.)"

    A lot of us Star Wars fans had this same problem when the soundtrack to Episode I came out. How many of us got tickets after charging down the road with "Duel of the Fates" blaring from the car speakers, the world will never know... but I know of at least one :-P

    (A similar thing happened with "Battle of the Heroes" from the Episode III track last year. Thanks GOODNESS John Williams didn't combine that with strains from "Duel of the Fates", like he did in the actual movie :-)

    ReplyDelete

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