Is Music Your Muse?

Do you listen to music when you write?

I know writers who insist on silence. I know others who need or like music when they write, but it can't have lyrics. Classical is a favorite for many of those writers. Others need to rock.

I often have music playing. I have a lot of music on my computer, and often I'll put it on shuffle. Sometimes, I want a certain kind of music for the right mood for a scene. And, sometimes, if I'm trying to tackle a tough problem in a story, the music becomes too distracting and I have to turn it off. Usually, though, I need the music to help block out other household or office noises. It becomes a kind of white noise for me, although I usually notice what's playing. I don't understand the mechanics of it, but the music seems to distract a certain part of my mind that needs to be distracted when I write.

Occasionally, music intrudes a little more than I want, like if a song particularly interests me because I really like it, didn't expect to hear it, or makes me want to immediately hit the skip button. I think that's fairly rare, though. The deeper my writing focus, the less I actually notice which song is playing.

But then, I wonder if that's really true. I'm betting that if I could track my reaction to music while I write without the tracking becoming a distraction of its own, I'd notice that it distracts me more than I think.

In any case, music seems to help me when I use it as background noise when I work.

How about you?