There are motivational songs and then there are motivational songs. When you are studying motivational songs with lyrics can be distracting from the work you are doing. Here are some of my tried and true instrumental songs that motivate me to conquer mountains of homework, tests, papers, and finals. Whether they pump me up or give me a quiet steady motivation these pieces truly are works of art. Giving yourself a 'school-work theme song' may be cheesy but hey if it works it works.

The Imperial March

A classic song with an amazing trumpet fanfare - what more do you need? This song should get your blood pumping whether it is from fear or just sheer jubilation.

Jurassic Park (Score)

What can I say? This theme song just gives me chills (especially that horn part!) and makes me want to conquer the world with my tyrannosaurus rex and velociraptor babies...okay maybe not the world, but I will at least conquer my homework for how could I not with motivation building with each crescendo? Here is an hour of Jurassic Park music if you can handle that much motivation.

Lord Of The Rings (Score)

You can finish that paper! You can walk to Mordor (because lets be real that is what Frodo and Sam did #truestory)! You shall pass! How could you not with this fantastic soundtrack plugging away in the background? And can we please give some props to that choir? They are on point.

Star Trek Into Darkness (Score)

I should have played horn - man that opening line gives me chills every time! Channel your inner Spock with a hunger for knowledge with this score. Play it in the background and soon you will be exploring your schoolwork as Kirk explores space. Throw in a few Scotty quotes and add a dash of the ever adorable "I can do zat!" from Chekov and you are set to go.

Spirit (movie)

Remember this gem from our childhoods? My brothers and I actually broke our VHS copy of this because we watched it so many times. The music is exhilarating and calming at the same time. The steady and pulsing beat motivates just as the legato horn line steadies your heart to the proper working zone. This is a piece that gives you endurance - not just a burst of energy, which is fantastic when you have an assignment that is going to take eons to finish.

King Arthur

For when you desire to have an epic slow-mo heroic homework slaying moment in your head choose no other than the King Arthur soundtrack. Defeating the Romans and defeating homework - same thing right? No? Well anyway, this is great to play as you are walking dramatically to the library to hit the books or even better - as you are walking to class to turn in that perfect assignment that you slaved over for days.

Schindler's List

I realize some of you may feel that this theme is more depressing than motivating, but if you ever have a class where you were supposed to write your own greek tragedy this is the score to listen to. This score is perfect for listening when you have to compose a short orchestration piece in a minor key. The music just gets creative juices flowing in a different way.

Pride and Prejudice

Light and almost ethereal at times this soundtrack is perfect for when you want music but you reeeeaaaallllly need to concentrate. This also works as perfect relaxing music to calm you down from your late night study session so your brain is ready to sleep. Just breath and let the smooth piano notes sooth your soul.

and finally...

I know this isn't a movie score theme song but something about bagpipes just stirs my heart to charge into battle...or do homework.

Scotland the Brave

I will warn you - this one is not for the faint of heart. 10 hours of Scotland the Brave is enough to stir any percentage of Scottish blood you might have in your body. After you listen to this you may speak with a Scottish accent and have odd cravings for black pudding or haggis.

In short movie scores are very underused as study tracks. They are made to sound unobtrusive in the background (though they are incredibly beautiful and can stand on their own); unlike classical music which was created to be listened to with full concentration. If you are still searching for more tracks to suit your study needs just look up scores by Hans Zimmer, John Williams, Michael Giacchino, Howard Shore, or Alexander Courage. Those should be plenty enough to get you started into this beautiful land of study music. If you are using Pandora just search for your favorite movie score and start a station based on that. I'm sure you will find that your efficiency with work and your grades improve once you sprinkle some movie score love into your life.