Do you listen to music while your read?

[Anonymous]

This question sounds crazy to me: I don’t understand why or even how someone could listen to music and read at the same time. But in a recent NYT piece on her experience judging the Booker prize, SJP (or the writer) made a big deal of the fact that the demands of reading all the nominated books meant she had to totally change the kind of music she listened to while reading. I was bewildered— it seems to defeat the enire purpose of reading.
So I ask: do you listen to music and read at the same time?

[Anonymous]

No, the less noise the better.

[Anonymous]

No.

[Anonymous]

Agree with you, PP. I can't read anything with music playing.

[Anonymous]

I’ll put wave sounds or spa music on but nothing too interesting or it’s distracting.

[Anonymous]

I'll put on something quiet without words. I don't find that distracting.

[Anonymous]

I also do not listen to music while reading for pleasure. Have you listened to the playlist that she used? It’s in the article, and I found the music pretty distracting when I tried it out as background music while working.

[Anonymous]

I can do this if it is classical; it makes me feel calm while reading. It would be something like piano music or opera.

I don't always play music when reading though.

[Anonymous]

No it is too distracting, especially music with lyrics.

[Anonymous]

Absolutely not. Not classical either - if you have any knowledge of classical music, you can't listen to it as background "noise" - it's just as mentally stimulating as reading, so how could you do both at once??

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Absolutely not. Not classical either - if you have any knowledge of classical music, you can't listen to it as background "noise" - it's just as mentally stimulating as reading, so how could you do both at once??

Some of us can multi-task and do both at once.

[Anonymous]

No. If I’m reading for comprehension, I can’t have any music on, lyrics or no. This makes it difficult to read in the same room with my husband who not only prefers to read with music in the background but actually seems to need it. Our brains are just wired differently, I guess.

[Anonymous]

Wow, I find it odd that a Booker judge had music on in the background while reading and judging books! I cannot listen to anything else while I read.

[Anonymous]

Nothing with lyrics. I find music with lyrics distracting in any scenario that requires verbal processing or reading: during mealtime, conversations, reading, working, etc. I can do classical or ambient-type music. I have friends who love to pair books with specific genres of music so I know brains work differently.

[Anonymous]

Too distracting for me!