Great question, Lynn! I replied No, I need silence to focus - which then produced an error, because I didn't answer the next question (If you replied Yes...). So I picked 'other' for the second question.
I used to listen to music all the time when I wrote, but for the last two years or so, I've found that I need silence for serious thinking tasks like writing. I can read to music, so long as I'm not expected to then make intelligent comments on whatever I'm reading (so I can't BR to music, for example).
Strangely, I'm quite happy to have the radio on at work, so long as it's not a classical channel playing music I really like - then I get distracted by the beauty of whatever I'm listening to. However, if it's classical music I don't like or am indifferent to, or pop/jazz music I like or don't like, then I don't have a problem. Does this mean that I don't think seriously at work?
BTW, I hadn't realised that people might pick classical music so as not be distracted by lyrics. Interesting!
Yvonne
