# Driving and Classical Music



## Captainnumber36 (Jan 19, 2017)

Do you drive better while listening to Classical Music? I feel it helps me focus more on the task at hand and gives me full concentration.

What about you?


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## Dan Ante (May 4, 2016)

Unfortunately I do not enjoy CM when driving as roadnoise drowns out the quite passages.


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## Bulldog (Nov 21, 2013)

I have no reason to think that I drive better when listening to CM or any other music.


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## SixFootScowl (Oct 17, 2011)

Much easier to concentrate on the road with music than with a talkative passenger.


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## Simon Moon (Oct 10, 2013)

I very rarely listen to CM while driving.

As previously mentioned, quiet passages are drowned out.

But more importantly, listening to music is way too important to me to do it while doing something else. The vast majority of my listening is the only activity I am doing. 

The only time I will listen in the car, is when I just bought something by a new composer (to me), or a piece that new to me.


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## eljr (Aug 8, 2015)

Dan Ante said:


> Unfortunately I do not enjoy CM when driving as roadnoise drowns out the quite passages.


this

i never listen to classical in the car

you just cant appreciate it to it's fullest in a car


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## Captainnumber36 (Jan 19, 2017)

I have a local CM radio station, so the passages are evened out. That's what I listen to mostly, if not fully and it definitely helps me keep calm and focused while driving.

I don't know why, but I love listening to Classical at low volumes, it's not music I feel the need to blast. It's easier to contemplate at lower volumes for me.


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## Captainnumber36 (Jan 19, 2017)

https://www.dailyinfographic.com/how-listening-to-music-affects-your-driving-ability

"This infographic recommends listening to classical music that'll act as background noise. It also lists off some of the worst songs you can listen to while driving."


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## Strange Magic (Sep 14, 2015)

I never listen to CM while driving. I either listen to NPR, or to rock/pop on CD.


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## Rogerx (Apr 27, 2018)

Fritz Kobus said:


> Much easier to concentrate on the road with music than with a talkative passenger.


This .............................:tiphat:


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## Captainnumber36 (Jan 19, 2017)

Rogerx said:


> This .............................:tiphat:


Sometimes I find with music that focuses attention better, the conversation becomes better and more focused as well.


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## starthrower (Dec 11, 2010)

A bit of classical radio if they're playing something interesting.


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## MatthewWeflen (Jan 24, 2019)

I had a very nice experience listening to Sibelius while driving along the Pacific Coast Highway in Oregon. But that's a pretty quiet road, and I was drivng in a car with a quiet cabin (a 2019 Prius). For the most part, I do not listen to CM while driving for the noise issues mentioned by others.


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## science (Oct 14, 2010)

Baroque and early music in HIP performances are okay because the volume is fairly consistent, so I can turn it up loud enough to hear it fairly well over the road noise. 

But if the driving requires much attention - such as if I'm going somewhere unfamiliar - then something else needs to be on. 

By the way, silence is under appreciated in our time. Just turn the music off and listen to the road noise. Listen to whatever is happening in and around the car. We actually suffer from too much music, around us all the time, blaring from shops and televisions and everything else. I've actually seen hikers out in the forest with earphones in, probably unaware of the birds and crickets and the leaves rustling and the stream giggling. What a lost opportunity! Listening to music continually means we miss out on the world, and it deadens our sensitivity so that when we sit down and really listen to music -- which is getting harder and harder to do anyway because our attention lacks discipline. 

Anyway, this has been a sample from Science's Santimonious Sermons, available for a small fee as a podcast that you can listen to while you're driving, working out, walking though the forest, or trying to ignore family members.


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## KenOC (Mar 7, 2011)

I've found that classical piano music works fine in cars because the dynamic range is fairly narrow. Throw on that set of Beethoven piano sonatas!


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## Merl (Jul 28, 2016)

I do half of my listening in the car. No music changes my driving anymore. It used to (I used to drive faster when playing quick and very noisy rock choons). No music has ever improved my driving though.


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## Strange Magic (Sep 14, 2015)

> Science: "I've actually seen hikers out in the forest with earphones in, probably unaware of the birds and crickets and the leaves rustling and the stream giggling. What a lost opportunity!"


This holds for cellphone misuse almost everywhere--people babbling away in Paradise; their concentration on the minutiae of what Joe and Alice are doing. Then a quick photo to prove to themselves and others that they really were somewhere. Constant communication actually stifles thought; constant photography stifles experience.


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## Malx (Jun 18, 2017)

I have various different types of music and even talk radio on in the background - but do I 'listen' to it not really.
I believe to drive well you need full attention to the task - on an average working day I will travel 130-150 miles in all sorts of weather alot of which is at high congestion times, concentration is imperative.
Just my opinion of course.


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## brunumb (Dec 8, 2017)

I always listen to classical music while driving. It may not improve my driving but it certainly improves my temperament. Missing some of the quieter sections is no big deal for me as I'm not that concerned about hearing every single note all the time.


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## eljr (Aug 8, 2015)

Strange Magic said:


> Constant communication actually stifles thought; constant photography stifles experience.


With all respect, my esteemed friend, WTF???????????????????????????????????????????

LOL

Let's put it this way, I STRONGLY disagree. It's very stimulative. You must realize that the average person is a dolt. Wondering about what is for lunch or what dress to wear. People are not engaged in deep though, about ever. In fact, our brains work to free us from this intense energy use by creating templates of thought which to us are reflexive.

Contrary, photography stimulates as does constant cyber banter.

Of course does it really matter if the verbiage exchanged is about who hooked up with who last night or what deodorant is best.


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## Strange Magic (Sep 14, 2015)

^^^^I take your post as full agreement!:tiphat:


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## mbhaub (Dec 2, 2016)

KenOC said:


> I've found that classical piano music works fine in cars because the dynamic range is fairly narrow. Throw on that set of Beethoven piano sonatas!


Exactly right. Orchestral music just doesn't work while driving. Nor does opera or most chamber music. Piano music mostly does. Right now I have the Hyperion set of Gottschalk piano works in the cd changer. And one disk of Scott Joplin.


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## science (Oct 14, 2010)

Harpsichord music works even better.


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## larold (Jul 20, 2017)

Listening to music probably isn't as bad as texting or looking at your phone while driving but it diverts your attention. driving is not something that is a very good multitask.

In my case I once ran into a fire truck on the way to a fire because, in part, I couldn't hear it because of music in the car.


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## Oldhoosierdude (May 29, 2016)

KenOC said:


> I've found that classical piano music works fine in cars because the dynamic range is fairly narrow. Throw on that set of Beethoven piano sonatas!


Exactly. Bach cello suites. Beethoven and Bartok String quartets are good too.


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## Oldhoosierdude (May 29, 2016)

I drive quite a lot. I either have a classical station or Bluetooth my phone with CM or an audio book. I have something going 100%of the time.


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## Weston (Jul 11, 2008)

I don’t drive but — no. The only time I have classical as “background” is in headphones at work, but even then it gets frustrating as I’d rather stop everything and just focus on the music. Sometimes I take notes to listen again at home to focus on a part that draws my attention.


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