Tuesday, August 28, 2007

Background Music

I never considered myself to be a music person. In any activity, I prefer to listen to the ambient sounds (unfortunately in the city, ambient sound means listening to the humming of machines and auotmobile engines) rather than my favorite band or artist. Perhaps it’s the only thing that’s not geeky about me: neither rock nor pop nor classical.

That’s not the case with everyone else though. I’ve been at photo shoots and every single time, either the photographer or the model or the make-up artist wants some background music, even if it’s not their favorite genre. They feel that something is amiss when there’s no music playing.

In either writing or reading, I value silence. The lack of sound lets me hear my thoughts and focus them. Some people can read and concentrate with a racket—I’m not one of those people. But I’m not a music person either. So what music do you listen to when you’re reading? What music do you think the bookstore should be playing in the background? (Perhaps this is one of the failures of Powerbooks in Mega Mall—the fact that it’s beside Music One and there’s usually loud, pop musing playing.)

1 comment:

cecille said...

i prefer silence while reading too as it lets me concentrate. but at times when i want background music, i listen to instrumentals; my favorite is yoko kanno, specifically the cowboy bebop and wolf's rain ost's.

when i used to write fan fiction, usually angst, i remember listening to the rurouni kenshin kyoto arc ost, and evanescence.

[ah, one of the influences of anime on my life. XP]

so i guess i'd prefer listening to instrumentals [which don't necessarily have to be classical music] in book stores. easy listening you can tune out if you want to.