Music to my (freelance) ears

For this entry of the blog I have decided to talk about music. Although I am as tone-deaf as they come and I can’t play any instruments to save my life, music has always played a big role in my life.

I still remember the stacks of cassettes in my mum’s car, especially the Queen one: I couldn’t read yet, but I knew which one to pick and load it into the cassette player to listen to Bicycle and We will rock you whilst we were driving to visit my grandma at the lake house.

The more I grew up, the more I got into (listening to) music: mum and dad where big fans of Italian singer-songwriters, so my tastes were quite refined by the age of 12, if I do say so myself. Needless to say, the first thing I did when we had a dial-up connection in the house was to download all the music I could and store it on my mp3 player (no iPods then!). I would go through a couple of pairs of headphones every month as I listened to music whenever possible: in the car, whilst eating, on my way to the dojo, whilst studying, reading, and even falling asleep. Despite the annoyed comments of my parents, I could not not listen to music to fall asleep: the silence of the room was deafening and would keep me awake for hours. I then got into competitive karate tournaments and a very demanding high school, that’s when music really became my anchor and my taste came to expand. I could easily listen to anything ranging from Bach to Metallica, each song and genre motivating me when I needed them the most. I’d spend hours creating playlists for pre-competitions warm-ups, intense studying sessions and so on, and I still remember clear as day the songs I listened to before sitting down in front of my final exams at high school and university, or stepping onto the tatami.

Now that I work as a freelance translator and interpreter, most of my work is done sitting down at a desk in my study, at the local library or in cafes, and music is ever more indispensable.

But why?

Doing some research, it’s easy to discover that music is a natural stimulant for the brain, that triggers the release of dopamine and opioids whilst lowering cortisol levels. Dopamine is the brain’s motivator, responsible for the emotions triggered by chocolate or by the runner’s high and I am pretty sure everybody understands the effects of natural opioids on our brain. Cortisol is instead the hormone released by the body in response to stress: lower cortisol levels equals less stress, and I think everybody could do with a bit of that right?

Other benefits of listening to music include extensive brain stimulation, pain relief, memory aid increased creativity – what’s not to like?

So, the question bears asking: should we listen to music whilst we work?

There’s abundant evidence that listening to music at work can make you a happier, more productive employee: office workers allowed to listen to music complete tasks more quickly and come up with better ideas. Music has shown to improve performance on cognitive and repetitive tasks, as well as accuracy. However, translators and interpreters are far from office clerks working on data entry. Notwithstanding, listening to the music you like increases brain blood flow and engages the areas of the brain linked with creativity, paying attention, making predictions, and updating memory – all skills that can come in handy when working on a piece of translation or preparing for an assignment.

One thing must be noted: performance in various tasks is better when completed to music than when completed in silence or in spaces with background noise, but only for extraverts. In fact, introverts have a harder time completing the tasks when there is music playing.

Research suggests that the best type of music to boost your working performance should be first and foremost the music that you like, it should be instrumental, have an upbeat tempo, be played at medium volume, and ideally include sounds of nature.

It seems that the question boils down to personal preference: yes, music can help, but not everybody reaps the same benefits in the same ways. It also depends on the task we’re executing: are we working on our admin, are we researching for an assignment or are we translating?

As you gathered from the introduction, music is like air to me, especially when working and focusing. If you’re like me, here’s a few suggestions that can help you choose the best music for your day at the desk.

Bad news first: you should pick music that you like, but not too much – otherwise you can be easily distracted and before you know it, you’re headbanging to AC/DC or pirouetting away to Deboussy. Take time to select the songs you want to listen to whilst working and if you find yourself singing it out loud and air-guitaring, I am truly sorry, but that one can’t make the cut.

Try and give priority to music with a strong instrumental component, as lyrics have proven to be quite distracting – you can also just opt for nature sounds!

There are a few genres that apparently works better than others:

1. Classical Music

2. Nature Music

3. Epic Music

4. Ambient soundtracks

I am a bit of an odd specimen, and I have seen that classical and nature music aren’t really my cup of tea. I select my music depending on the task I am carrying out (admin, translation/editing, research) and the urgency with which I am working: the bigger the task and the shorter the deadline, I revert to survival mode with headphones banging out heavy techno music. For admin and research, I don’t have specific preferences, so I usually opt for a shuffle playlist with the music I am into at that specific moment, mostly indie rock/pop, and if I am translating or editing without much pressure, I like to have relaxing jazz music in the background. There is only one thing I avoid like the plague when it comes to work music: Italian songs, as the lyrics are as distracting as having a child tugging at your sleeve for constant attention for me.

I have found that music can help you not only whilst working but it can have an impact on your general mental health: it’s extremely useful to wind down after you’re done for the day and to slow your buzzing mind when it’s time to sleep. This observation is supported by evidence: a study carried out on college students has found that participants who had listened to music had significantly better sleep quality than those who had listened to audio books or received no intervention.

Now, a word of caution: look after your hearing!

This is vital for interpreters, although going deaf is no joke for anybody. The teenager me has probably done enough damage as it is, so that’s why I now prefer to have music in the background when I can, especially when working from home. I have found that speakers (not my laptop!) are the best solutions as they diffuse music evenly throughout the room, and I regularly use my Google Home to play music and control it with my voice to save time, rather than having to look up playlists from my phone.

If you’re using headphones, my advice is to discard in-ear options and switch to over-the-ear ones, noise cancelling if possible, so that you can set a lower volume and still be able to block out external noises. Talking about volume, especially when working from “noisier” locations such as cafes or co-working spaces, observe the 60/60 rule: no more than 60% volume, for no longer than 60 minutes - as for screens, take a break from your headphones every hour or so.

Are you a music junkie too? What music do you like listening to in order to get an extra boost of free energy to power through your day? Have you got a special pair of headphones you find to be very good for volume control and sound quality?

Share it with us in the comment section or on social media!

Lara