I read an interesting study about listening to different types of music versus no music and comparing the performances in a study of golf putting. Previous studies have found music to be effective in sports such as running. But golf putting is a fine motor skill requiring precision, not a large muscle action, so it's interesting that music was found to be helpful in golf putting.
All types of music were found to help performance over not listening to music, but the biggest difference was with jazz music. Jazz is more improvisational, more irregular than most other forms of music. It's neither too fast nor too slow. It activates your brain without making you nervous.
I think music helps because it puts your brain in the right zone, where it is active and alert, but not afraid or worried. You can get into this sort of zone yourself with psychological techniques, but music sort of guarantees that your mind will be properly activated.
Here is a link to the article on music affecting golf putting:
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