Yes, teachers, music can help your students and here’s why
(hree Year 11 students, hard at work with music in their ears. (Image source: Lynette Chan)
By Lynette Chan
It’s been around since the beginning of time, and it isn’t leaving us anytime soon. Society progresses and though technological advancements arise every day, people’s love of music hasn’t faded. Music has even become essential for some with good reason; life is just boring. People love to turn on their favourite playlist as they sweep floors, ride a bus home, and celebrate birthdays. Most of all though, people love their music as they work. Of course, there has been some outrage, doesn’t music distract students? Doesn’t it take away from the quality of their work? They should be working in complete silence for optimal concentration! This is not entirely true, so allow me to elaborate why music should be allowed in classrooms.
Although some believe that music distracts their mind, music can actually stimulate the mind. According to a John Hopkins otolaryngologist (a doctor for the ears, nose and throat), “if you want to keep your brain engaged throughout the ageing process, listening to or playing music is a great tool. It provides a total brain workout.” Music stimulates the prefrontal cortex, hippocampus, nucleus accumbens and amygdala. And according to Gupta et al. these parts of the brain are responsible for attention, self-control, memory, organisation, decision-making and motivation processing (The Kennedy Centre, n.d). Music teacher Mr Daniel Tsang agreed with this point, saying he believes that different stimuli (AKA music) can help stimulate the mind and help students focus further.
Music has also been proven to reduce anxiety and stress. It has been proven to stop the production of cortisol, a stress hormone that raises blood pressure and heart rate (Tottle, 2020). Koelsch et al. demonstrated that surgery patients who listened to music before undergoing surgery had lower cortisol levels than those who didn’t.
That being said, the effectiveness entirely depends on the genre and person. Interestingly enough, different genres of music encourage different enhancements in work. This ranges from ambient music, which causes 92% of people to produce more accurate work, all the way to dance music, which improves proofreading efficiency by 20% (Carter, 2019). Approximately 88% of workers produce more accurate work when listening to music. There’s a reason music was used in factories back during WWII, and that’s because it improved the productivity of the factory by 15% (Gorvett, 2020).
Educators have shown some reluctance towards allowing music in classrooms. Science teacher Ms Vidya Madhavan-Ranganathan commented that “If they’re revising for a test then [no music is allowed], as studies have shown that music with vocals tend to distract us.”’ Head of Counselling, Ms Moira Conroy-Stocker also pointed out “On a personal note, I would not find music helps my productivity as I find it too distracting and always want to sing along!” Though this is true, highly lyrical music can improve your analysis and comprehension skills. However, research also shows that music is not the entire cause for productivity boosts. It’s the fact that music puts us in a better mood, with more motivation to continue (Byron, 2019).
Another thing to consider is that music is a great love to students themselves. According to a survey of students at RCHK, three-quarters of students listen to music regularly. Nearly all of them have said they listen to music when working and studying, and based on a 0-10 scale, the mean average they rated the focus and productivity enhancement music brings is a 6 (0 being none at all, 10 being very helpful).
Though some people may work better in silence, the rest may work better with music. So teachers, please at very, very least give students the choice!
References
Dreamstime. (n.d). A Young woman in a good mood listening to music while studying in a library. Dreamstime.
Retrieved October 25, 2021, from https://www.dreamstime.com/young-woman-good-mood-listening-to-music-studying-library-young-woman-good-mood-listening-to-music-image198101799
Carter, E. (2019, October 10). Whistle While You Work: Impact of Music on Productivity [Infographic]. WebFX.
Retrieved October 22, 2021, from https://www.webfx.com/blog/internet/music-productivity-infographic/
Gorvett, Z. (2020, March 19). Does music help us work better? It depends. BBC.
Retrieved October 22, 2021, from https://www.bbc.com/worklife/article/20200317-does-music-help-us-work-it-depends
Balzer, C. (2020, April 15). Music can boost your productivity while working from home – here's how. The Guardian.
Retrieved October 22, 2021, from https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/apr/15/music-productivity-working-from-home#:~:text=Beyond%20providing%20background%20noise%2C%20music,become%20motivated%20and%20stay%20productive.
Byron, T. (2019, October 17). Is it OK to listen to music while studying?. University of Wollongong Australia.
Retrieved October 22, 2021, from https://www.uow.edu.au/media/2019/is-it-ok-to-listen-to-music-while-studying.php
John Hopkins Medicine. (n.d). Keep Your Brain Young with Music. John Hopkins Medicine.
Retrieved October 22, 2021, from https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/health/wellness-and-prevention/keep-your-brain-young-with-music#:~:text=If%20you%20want%20to%20exercise,says%20one%20Johns%20Hopkins%20otolaryngologist.&text=Research%20has%20shown%20that%20listening,%2C%20mental%20alertness%2C%20and%20memory.
Gupta, R. R., Nagpal, M., & Sharma, R. (2018). Effect of Type of Music on Auditory Reaction Time in Young Adult Males. Journal of Medical Academics.
Retrieved October 22, 2021, from https://journals.indexcopernicus.com/api/file/viewByFileId/669378.pdf
The Kennedy Center. (n.d). Your Brain on Music: The Sound System Between Your Ears. The Kennedy Center.
Tottle, W. (2020, May 27). How Music Can Help Those With ASD Cope With Anxiety. Autism Parenting.
Retrieved October 22, 2021, from https://www.autismparentingmagazine.com/music-help-asd-cope-anxiety/