Music to Listen to Before a Presentation (The Research-Backed Pre-Speech Playlist)

TL;DR. Music before a presentation is a real tool with real research behind it. The principles: match the music to where you need to end up, not where you are; familiar over novel; mid-tempo (60–120 BPM) over extremes; instrumental over lyrical for cognitive prep. Most nervous speakers default to “pump-up” music when they actually need calm-down music. Below: the science, the protocol, and a 30-song playlist categorized by what your nervous system needs.

What the research actually says

Pre-performance music is one of the most-studied interventions in sport psychology. Costas Karageorghis at Brunel University has spent two decades on it. The main findings:

Music can shift arousal in both directions. Stimulating music (faster tempo, brighter timbre, lyrical positivity) raises arousal. Sedative music (slower tempo, lower frequency, smoother) lowers it. Both effects are measurable in heart rate, skin conductance, and self-report.

Familiar music is more reliable. Songs you’ve heard many times before produce more predictable arousal responses. Novel music can do anything — your brain processes it harder, which can interfere with the calming or energizing effect.

Music affects cortisol. Multiple studies show 15 minutes of preferred music reduces salivary cortisol levels by 20–25% compared to no-music controls. This is a real, measurable physiological change.

Music affects perceived effort. Athletes report exercise feels easier with music. Speakers experience an analogous effect — the perceived effort of public speaking is lower with the right pre-event playlist.

Lyrics affect cognition. Verbal content in songs competes with your verbal processing system. If you’re about to give a speech, instrumental music leaves your verbal channels clearer. This is also why people find it harder to read while listening to music with words.

The implication: pre-presentation music is a real intervention. The trick is choosing it correctly.

The two-state framework

The first question to ask yourself before picking music: what state am I actually in right now?

State A: Over-aroused. Racing heart, shallow breath, ruminating thoughts, time pressure feeling. Most nervous public speakers are here.

State B: Under-aroused. Tired, sluggish, low energy, vaguely dreading but not panicking. Common for early-morning talks or after a long travel day.

Each state needs a different music strategy.

If you’re over-aroused (most nervous speakers)

Goal: bring your baseline down, then end at a calm-alert peak.

The mistake here is reaching for pump-up music. Loud, fast, high-energy tracks when you’re already over-activated push you further into anxiety. You arrive on stage jangly.

The protocol: start with sedative music (60–80 BPM, instrumental, familiar), gradually shift to mid-tempo (90–110 BPM), end calm but engaged.

A 12-minute version:

• Minutes 0–4: Calming instrumental. Brian Eno’s Ambient 1: Music for Airports, Max Richter’s Sleep excerpts, Nils Frahm.
• Minutes 4–8: Mid-tempo instrumental. Ludovico Einaudi Nuvole Bianche, Hans Zimmer Time, Ólafur Arnalds.
• Minutes 8–12: Familiar mid-tempo track with positive associations. Could be a favorite song you’ve heard a hundred times.

If you’re under-aroused

Goal: bring your baseline up, gradually, to land at engaged-but-not-jangly.

The mistake here is going straight to high-energy pump-up. Same reason — you’ll over-shoot.

A 12-minute version:

• Minutes 0–4: Mid-tempo familiar music. Whatever your normal “getting things done” music is.
• Minutes 4–8: Faster, more rhythmic. Daft Punk, electronic, percussion-forward.
• Minutes 8–12: A genuinely energizing favorite. Lose Yourself, Eye of the Tiger — sure, if that’s actually you. Lovely Day by Bill Withers if you want energizing without aggressive.

The 30-song playlist (categorized)

Calm down — for over-aroused speakers (12 picks)

1. An Ending (Ascent) — Brian Eno
2. Spiegel im Spiegel — Arvo Pärt
3. Nuvole Bianche — Ludovico Einaudi
4. Time — Hans Zimmer (Inception)
5. Re:Stacks — Bon Iver
6. Holocene — Bon Iver
7. Wolves and Werewolves — Ben Howard
8. Adagio in G Minor — Albinoni / Giazotto
9. Clair de Lune — Debussy
10. Saman — Ólafur Arnalds
11. Mother — Nils Frahm
12. On the Nature of Daylight — Max Richter

Mid-tempo focus — for the transition (10 picks)

13. Strobe — Deadmau5
14. Intro — The xx
15. Avril 14th — Aphex Twin
16. Outro — M83
17. Porcelain — Moby
18. Comptine d’un autre été — Yann Tiersen (Amélie)
19. Cornfield Chase — Hans Zimmer (Interstellar)
20. Marconi Union — Weightless
21. Lovely Day — Bill Withers
22. Three Little Birds — Bob Marley

Energize — for under-aroused speakers (8 picks)

23. Lose Yourself — Eminem
24. Eye of the Tiger — Survivor
25. Don’t Stop Me Now — Queen
26. Stronger — Kanye West
27. Mr. Blue Sky — ELO
28. Walking on Sunshine — Katrina and the Waves
29. Get Lucky — Daft Punk
30. Levels — Avicii

Build your playlist by picking the appropriate category and 4–6 tracks from it. Don’t shuffle a single mega-playlist with all three categories — you don’t want a calm-down track ambushed by Eye of the Tiger 3 minutes before going on.

Timing the playlist

The single biggest mistake people make is letting music play up to the moment of going on. Two problems:

1. The headphone-off moment is jarring. Going from immersive music to a noisy green room is a small but real cortisol bump at exactly the wrong time.

2. Music handles the period 15–3 minutes before going on. The final 2 minutes need something different — breath work, walking, vision-of-the-room.

Better rhythm:

• 15 minutes before: Headphones on. Begin the playlist.
• 3 minutes before: Headphones off. Stand. Breathe. Walk slowly.
• Going on: Cold.

The walk-off-the-music period is the bridge between the prep state and the performance state. Letting music carry you all the way to the podium robs you of that bridge.

What about live music or singing along?

A small note for performers (singers, musicians, actors) using pre-show music: don’t sing along, especially full-voice. You’ll fatigue the voice before the performance starts. Hum quietly if anything. Listen, don’t perform.

What to avoid

Loud music with aggressive vocals when over-aroused. Spikes cortisol further.

Brand-new music. Your brain processes novelty harder; the response is less predictable.

Music with strong emotional triggers. Songs from breakups, funerals, painful memories. Not what you need 15 minutes before going on.

Random shuffles. Algorithmic playlists can throw you a wrong-state song at the wrong moment.

Anything too long. 30+ minutes of immersive music creates a dependence and a worse drop-off when it stops.

What to do today

If your talk is tomorrow:

1. Diagnose: Are you currently over-aroused (anxious, racing) or under-aroused (tired, flat)?
2. Build a 12-minute playlist from the right category above. Save it offline so a bad WiFi connection doesn’t break it.
3. Plan to start at T-15 minutes before going on. End at T-3.
4. Test the headphones tonight. Bring spare batteries / a backup pair tomorrow.
5. Print this playlist. Or just bookmark this page.

Music doesn’t replace breath work or rehearsal or sleep. It supplements them. Used well, it’s one of the highest-leverage pre-performance tools you have.

Related reading: Before a presentation: the complete prep playbook, The night before a big presentation, 4-7-8 breathing for speech anxiety, and Pre-speech rituals of famous speakers.