'Happy music' good for soul, work

SYDNEY - Listening to happy music will generally improve your mood, but according to a new study released on Thursday, it can also help you function more creatively at work. The report found that creativity levels were higher for people who listened to "happy music" while completing divergent creativity tasks - tasks that have multiple possible solutions.

While compared with those who listened to silence, or tasks that require a simple "correct" answer, no difference was noted with convergent creativity.

With the emergence of technology being a driver of the current global innovation race, a greater understanding of the role of music on our creativity is important, particularly when working, says Sam Ferguson from the University of Technology Sydney, one of the authors on the study.