Music that Makes You a Better Coder
Songs that will uplift you while maintaining your concentration.
There is a concept in Hollywood called Mickey-Mousing. This means explicitly telling the audience what to feel in each scene of a movie through the use of music. Granted this is used as a derogatory term on big-budget productions that overuse music, but what if we could Mickey-Mouse our own jobs, not to become more concentrated or to cut us off from the rest of the office but to makes us feel more excited about what we are doing.
What if through the use of certain music we could become the heroes of our own movie, our own life.
I have spent more than 10 years being a professional DJ, which at its essence is making playlists to enhance certain situations.
Picture a hacker movie from the 90s, even if the “hacking” was ridiculous one thing was very clear. These people were very cool, why?.
There was some very cool music being played while they were hacking.
Cool music will make you feel cooler, more empowered, and thus more confident in yourself.
One important caveat when selecting music to code to is that coding requires lots of attention and focus. How does pop music grab our attention so quickly, even if we don’t like the song? Because there’s a person singing. Singing words. As humans, we are conditioned to pay attention to other humans speaking. So this selection will be instrumental music, voices will appear from time to time, but they will be used as an instrument.
Even though the following artists have all produced truly remarkable long-form works, we are going to focus on tracks/songs.
Aphex Twin
The reclusive electronic music genius real name Richard D. James should be first on any list about instrumental music.
You could take any record from Aphex Twin at random and you would have a classic in your hands. The man has released music under more than 9 aliases and his output spans over three decades and hundreds if not thousands of songs.
Orbital
This electronic music British duo was huge in the 90s and their music was used in a lot of movies.
This next song is on the soundtrack of Hackers so you already know you have a winner.
Mozart
A lot has been said about the educational power of listening to Mozart. A study was conducted on this very issue with some promising results.
Whether or not it makes you smarter one thing is for certain. Listening to one of the greatest geniuses in the history of humankind will definitely inspire you.
Wendy Carlos
To call Wendy Carlos a true electronic music pioneer would be a huge understatement. Her soundtracks for movies like A clockwork of orange are ingrained in our shared conscience and have helped electronic music become as ubiquitous as it is now.
If you pair her genius with that of Bach, get ready for some truly inspired code to be written by you.
Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith
With Terry Riley and Suzanne Ciani as some of your inspirations, you are off to a great start, and Kaitlin does not disappoint, just have a look at the modular madness that is her studio.
A common theme in all her songs is the use of arpeggios and repetition, and how it all ends up in some really outstanding and magical moments.
And this is precisely what we are looking for!
This is but a taste of the power that music can have on any intellectual endeavor.
Next time you are writing a simple function, put these tracks on and get ready to feel like you are accessing NASA’s mainframe but watch out because what once was a simple function might just be able to access it now.
More content at plainenglish.io
