Whistle While You Work

I've only got a week to go spending my mornings with CBC Radio. I'm mostly okay with this as I get really frustrated with it anyway and listening to it for 3+ hours while I do my morning activities...well, it gets a bit much. At the same time, I dislike regular commercial radio - they play all of the same tunes again and again and take advert breaks every two or three songs - it's ridiculous. However, heading back to work, I might have to make some real selections in terms of what I listen to while on the job - and this was the exact topic of conversation on CBC Radio this morning - music while working. This documentary detailed the history of music and working - dating back to people chanting and singing while rowing boats and building the pyramids. Apparently music was also played in factories [before robots did most of the work] - it increased productivity quite a bit in all cases. Yknow - something about the synapses of your brain firing in better timing in the presence of music - also, in repetitive work, it made it easier to get a rhythm going and such.

Unfortunately, they didn't go into the effect of music in offices or other areas of work - like retail or doctor's or dentist's office [though I would think this would mainly affect the patients]. There was a time when I couldn't have imagined working without music [there was also a time when I used to actively pursue new music - but then I got old]. My early career working in retail - there was music and then in any office I worked in there was a corporate radio of sorts. The music was mostly terrible - lots of new country and Richard Marx and maybe some older classic rock on a good day...but very easy listening. Then I started working in a new office and while there was no piped in sound, it was always loud in there. At first I did miss the music and I would listen to my own music via one earbud...but then, the ambient sound of crazy, type-a personalities drowned out any and every other distraction. Music became a point of ugliness in the office more than once - listening to other people's radio and singing or CDs - it sometimes got nasty. I continued with the occasional discreet earbud, but mostly I embraced the silence - whenever it happened [which was rare with all of our big mouths yapping and shouting @ incredible volume @ all times].

These days I can't imagine working in an office with music, though now I'm wondering how it might affect productivity. I did enjoy the Gap tunes over the holidays [I had a couple of very favourite holiday tunes] - it was great for passing the time [each song = 3 minutes worked] and the shop would have seemed like a big cave with halogen lighting without it. However, a quiet office is no fun @ all either - I've experienced that...so I'm hoping for a certain liveliness to my new office...but hold the Richard Marx and Shania Twain.