What Music I Listen To While Working

My Home Office 

I originally posted this in March of 2020, but wanted to update it as this is a topic I am asked about every single week! 

Music is a huge part of my life. It has so much power and I feel that it enriches my life in so many ways. I love all music and I seriously think I could go on a music-based game show and potentially win with all of my knowledge, ha!

With the times we are in now I think music is more important than ever. I think it can be a respite from the worrying and fear and can be a way to uplift our souls. 

Today's post is all about the music that I listen to while I'm working (during the 'regular'/non-holiday season). I cannot work in silence so I either have to have the TV on or music playing, but typically it's the latter.

Honestly, there is likely some music playing during 60%+ of my waking hours. I love cooking dinner to music, cleaning, working out, driving, etc. If you're looking for the types of things I listen to while doing things like that, you can find a great blog post of my top favorite Spotify playlists that I have created myself! 

I do a mix of my own Spotify playlists, Spotify radio, Pandora Radio, and the actual radio. You can find some of my favorite playlists that I have created, here, and I'm linking to some more in this post. 

Cocktail Jazz (Spotify)- This is a new-to-me playlist and I love it. It's just very easy to listen to and pleasant-sounding. 

Dinner Party (Spotify)- This is my own created playlist that features big band classics. It's feel-good but mellow all at the same time. 

Ballet and Beyond (Spotify)- This playlist has so many Classical pieces that you might find familiar. It's great because it's one of those 'set it and forget it' playlists where you won't have to skip around a ton. 

Scores (Spotify)- This is a playlist I made of all of my favorite scores from movies! There are no words in any of the songs and I would say it skews pretty mellow but this is really a hodgepodge of songs. Think Nicholas Hooper, John Williams, James Horner, etc. 

Wynton Marsalis Radio (Pandora)- A jazzy favorite on Pandora. I would just die to see him live. 

London Philharmonic (Pandora)- This is popular symphony music that the general public is likely to know by the tune. 

Dave Brubeck (Pandora)- One of my favorite jazz artists. 

Ahmad Jamal (Pandora)- Another jazz favorite and a Pittsburgher himself! His Pittsburgh Album from 1989 is one of my favorites. 

Kenny G (Pandora)- Some think of it as elevator music, but I love it. It's easy listening at its finest and what I prefer to listen to if I really need to concentrate on something. I love the sound of a saxophone in general. *Some other options with a good smooth jazz vibe and havy sax are: Dave Grusin, David Sandborn, Dave Koz. On both Spotify and Pandora, you can just put in the artist's name and they usually have a 'station' or a greatest hits type playlist. 

Miles Davis (Pandora)- Another jazz favorite. Is it clear I love jazz?!

Nancy Meyer's Kitchen (Spotify)- This user-generated playlist has almost 300 songs on it and I definitely don't love them all, so I skip a lot but this is a fun playlist. It has songs with words, so this is not for when you need to be concentrating a lot. Nancy Meyers is basically my idol and I think this playlist really encapsulates her work. 

Harry Potter Soundtracks (Spotify)- This is a playlist with almost 200 scores from all of the Harry Potter movies. I love the HP soundtracks and I love that this playlist has them all in one place. It's also fun to listen to because I think there is a clear distinction in each composer's work. You get to know the composer better and learn the differences between their music. 

Classical Playlist (Spotify)- This is my personal classical playlist that I created myself that contains many better-known pieces although it really ranges when it comes to composers. I have everything from more contemporary composers like Philip Glass and Steve Reich to historical composers like Vivaldi and Mozart. I used to dislike minimal composers, but I took a class in college focused on them and found a new appreciation for their music. My favorite piece of note within the playlist is the Appalachian Spring Suite by Aaron Copland which is over 25 minutes long (this is his Pulitzer-winning piece). It's an incredible piece and you'll likely recognize the 7th movement as that is one of the most recognizable melodies, in my opinion. I am particularly fond as the piece was inspired by Western Pennsylvania (a different time period, obviously), which is where I call home. Whenever I feel overly stressed or anxious, sometimes I'll put the entire suite on, close my eyes and just listen. 

Father of the Bride Soundtrack (Spotify)- One of my favorite movies of all time and this soundtrack lives up to the movie. It has phenomenal scores but also some great big band classics by Steve Tyrell.  

This is Van Morrison (Spotify)- So much love for Van Morrison and this playlist has all his top hits. This is not a playlist to listen to when you need to concentrate because there are obviously words and a lot of the songs make you want to get up and dance. 

John Mayer Any Given Thursday Album Live (Spotify)- This is my all-time favorite John Mayer album and has my all-time favorite version of Covered Rain (one of my all-time favorite songs ever) on it. Again, not something to listen to when you need to concentrate, but it's easy to listen to and mostly upbeat. John Mayer is so darn talented! 

For the holiday season, I have a post similar to this that you can find, here.