Creating music playlists can be a fun task, collating all your favourite songs into one place where it is easily accessible. Having multiple playlists is perfect way to tailor your music depending on your mood or environment. In the lead up to exams or coursework, I always create a new playlist full of songs that make me feel relaxed and puts me in the ‘zone’ to ensure my work is done. So, here are my top tips for creating a new playlist and ideas on how to maximise your study time.
Choosing the Right Music
Choosing the music can be an arduous task especially when you don’t know what tunes to put in your playlist. The aim of a playlist is to help you cultivate the mood you want so that the playlist becomes a tool for your studies. It can be easy to put in all your favourite songs however, it can become like a club mix you’ll find at any old party. In my playlist I include artists such as Jessie Ware, Carly Rae Jepsen, Lana Del Rey and Janelle Monáe as the slow tempo of their music and genre fits perfectly to help me knuckle down. In fact, sometimes I associate the songs with certain topics I need to remember so they act a memory tool too!
Putting on a ‘LoFi’ playlist can help with studying too. LoFi stands for ‘Low Fidelity’ meaning that there is less production than the music you may regularly listen to and contain a relaxing blend of hip-hop, jazz and ‘dream pop’. The music provides a nice relaxing feeling especially when doing stressful tasks such as revision and is a nice placeholder if you don’t know what to put on but need something in the background. I recommend this 24-hour livestream on You Tube but you can also search for LoFi playlists on Apple Music and Spotify too.
In addition, looking at other people’s playlists on Spotify or online can be a good way to gauge what other music people listen and get inspiration from them and you can also find various videos with sounds i.e. coffee shops noises and rainfall.
Listening to Your Playlist
Now that you’ve chosen your songs and made sure your playlist is the best as it can be, how to listen to it is the next decision you need to make. Trying to find the right song to get you started can be half the battle, but you’ll feel relieved once you’ve found it. Whether listening through your speaker, headphones, phone or vinyl (…fancy!) the volume needs to be correct to. If it’s too loud you might not be able to hear yourself think but it it’s too quiet you can get distracted by other noises. Try to focus on your work with the noise in the background. It can take time to get used to it but having the association of certain songs with revision can help you settle down when needed.
Although there are a lot of elements to making a revision playlist, ensuring the context and songs match, it is a fun task. If you need background noise to focus, setting the environment with a playlist can help relieve some of the stresses exams can cause. So what are you waiting for, give it a go today and see how it can work for you.
By Thomas Jones
Whether you’re after motivational beats, chill out tunes or music to help you concentrate, our Student Advisors have included a little something for everyone in their very own Ready, Set, Revise Spotify playlist. Check it out today!
Good luck with your exams and assessments!