Coding to Classical Music

I have gained a sudden interest in classical music! It's strange because classical music is nothing 'new' to me. Growing up, I would constantly hear classical music playing in the retail stores my parents owned. My mom would often listen to it in the car during our long commutes between the different stores (sometimes the entire day would be spent delivering product to the different stores). I eventually grew a strong distaste for classical music and found it very annoying after only a few minutes. It was always very difficult to concentrate while listening to it.

Today I randomly started listening to a classical music station after becoming frustrated about not being able to decide what kind of music I wanted to listen to (Internet radio). Although I am not entirely sure where the interest is coming from, for the first time (at least as far as I can remember), I loved what I was hearing. It was music to my ears (pardon the pun)!

Now I've been listening to classical music for the past 9 hours and it's simply amazing. It doesn't randomly cause me lose my train of thought while I'm in the middle of coding and there are so many variations that becoming repetitive and boring seems impossible. I have read programmer polls where the majority of programmers stated they listened to classical music while programming, and I've read articles about how listening to classical music while studying can help you retain information. Until now, I've never been able to understand how that was. I have tried coding to classical music in the past but quickly found it distracting.

I don't know what flipped the switch, but I think I've finally discovered the calming and concentration-enhancing effects of classical music!