The Bitran Family: Top 5 Albums to Work/Study to

I gave a challenge to our writers to give me their top 5 albums to work or study to. Their interpretation of the use of the top 5 then followed with a list. In this entry, you'll find mine, my brother, and my sister's list with some glaring genetic correlation.

Alberto Bitran’s top 5:

These are my top five:

1) Dream Theater, Metropolis: Scenes from a Memory
2) Seu Jorge, The Life Aquatic (Studio Sessions)
3) John Coltrane, All grouped: My Favorite Things, Giant Steps, A Love Supreme
4) Luis Alberto Spinetta, Para Los Arboles
5) Sarah McLachlan, Fumbling Towards Ecstasy

This is for work, or in college or school doing homework (not for studying).


Debbie Bitran’s top 5:

here they are (in no particular order, except for number one...those two albums are actually my number ones):

1) Bela Fleck- Tales from the Acoustic Planet/ The Bluegrass Sessions: Tales from the Acoustic Planet (i listed both albums under one number)
2) Yann Tiersen- Le Fabuleux Destin D'Amelie Poulain (Amelie soundtrack)
3) Miles Davis- Kind of Blue
4) Lotus- Germination
5) Thelonious Monk- Round Midnight

This list is agreeable with ALL forms of studying: doing homework, busy work, just plain studying, reading, and all of the above. I have found in my few years of hardcore studying that listening to music is in fact conducive to studying; however, it is vital that the music be instrumental only -- no words. Words are distracting, and, unless you have an uncanny ability to concentrate, which some people do (example: my best friend marci...i'm convinced she has an adderall dispenser built in her brain), music with words will probably be counterproductive.


Ariel Bitran’s top 5:

Here’s my top 5.

1. Germination by Lotus: never-ending drums, spacey synthesizers, and honeyed melodies. No album is better to get your brain shifted into 5th gear. Mike Rempel’s sound-sweeping guitar pulls on the levers and pulleys in my prefrontal cortex and suddenly I’m a machine. Driven and destined. This ElectroniFunkaJamband expands on epic musical journeys that simply get me in the zone. It’s on both Debbie and my Top Five’s for one reason: the album is perfect.

2. Death and the Maiden by Takács Quartet: One of those random albums received in the acquisition between my brother’s music and mine freshman year, this string quartet’s performance of Franz Schubert’s Death and the Maiden provides a sense of adventure and grace to the studying process. When you hear the violinist breath into your ear, it is because he’s there with you struggling to beat that chapter. When he flips a page in his score, you turn one in your textbook and with every resinous bow across the cello, your highlighter slides across the page in such sweet squeakiness. At the latter portion of the album is another piece, Rosamunde I-IV, which is quite forgettable, compared to the exciting first half, but it’s worth the sacrifice.

3. Dead Set by the Grateful Dead: My old faithful of the set, I remember listening to this CD in my sweet CD/tape player back in the 6th grade while writing an essay about Redwall. Though many of the live cuts are edited, something many Dead fans may complain about, the choice cuts are juicy and the Dead boogie down hard. Instead of what could’ve possibly a slightly drawn out jam, you get song after song, keeping you moving. Brent Mydland’s Rhodes solo in the slowed down “Friend of the Devil” is transcendent.

4. Images and Words by Dream Theater: I don’t know what it is about double bass drum pedals, but they somehow make you write faster. This album has one of my favorite Dream Theater songs, “Take the Time” which encourages you to take it easy and not freak out, perfect advice while doing homework. Also, it has some of the most badass keyboard solos ever.

5. Boulevard by St. Germain: St. Germain’s brand of complex house jazz fills my need for pensive solos with a pulsing bass. Some beats are reminiscent of Dr. Dre, like the one on “Street Scene (For Shazz).”

I’d like to note that I cannot study for tests while listening to music, because I have to focus on my work. Primarily music is listened to while doing math-like homework, writing an essay, or any other busy work.