Stay calm and good luck on all your exams!

One of the best things about Columbia is its beautiful libraries, with tall ceilings and antique wooden desks that make it easy to fully immerse yourself in a “Dark Academia” playlist on YouTube. However, it doesn’t take long to realize that you will actually spend some of your darkest times there, and that you won’t even care about the chandelier shining above your head anymore.

Maybe listening to classical music would enchant these places again, allowing us to appreciate our dreamlike libraries to the fullest while staying grounded in reality.

I have made three playlists you can listen to while studying in our classical libraries — Butler, Avery, and Burke. One is for the daytime, when you stop by the library before your next class; one is for late-night study; and the last one is to hype you up after a long, draining study session.

Tips:
Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto is the perfect grandeur for the sunlight streaming through the windows of Burke Library. Pick a sunny day to study there, and before you step inside, turn on Piano Concerto No. 2, Op. 18: II. Adagio sostenuto. Just as you open the door to the Reading Room on L3, a cascading line of piano notes will welcome you into the glistening sunlight.

Tips:
Are you all alone on the third floor of Butler at 2 a.m.? That’s the perfect time for a ghost rag. William Bolcom’s Graceful Ghost Rag will make sure you’re not entirely alone…

Tips:
Keep the volume low at first so you don’t blow out your eardrums, and enjoy the classical rock ’n’ roll!

Header via Bwog Archives