Music in a Classroom: Is it a Distraction or a Study Tool?
Science WAC - Music in a Classroom: Is it a Distraction or a
Study Tool?
Study Tool?
“When good music hits you, you feel no pain,” said Bob Marley. Many would have agreed while others would argue that music serves as a distraction. I stand with a foot in each world-- it really just depends on what kind of music. I believe that music can help you study if you don’t turn it up incredibly loud and if it’s the kind of music that’s purely instrumental-- without words. But at the same time, I believe that music is only a distraction-- the amount of times I’ve tried to write something and listen to music at the same time and failed because I ended up writing the words into a document, then had to go back and delete them. To help you study, music should be turned at a low volume and should not contain words to confuse you. Since I listen to a variety of music, I’ve learned to choose music with simple tones rather than an onslaught of confusing melodies. However, I lean towards the side that says, “Don’t listen to music in a classroom!”
When I study at home, I often find music a little bit distracting, especially if I'm trying to remember something. However, when I'm doing homework, it's a different story. In the article, Why You Shouldn’t Listen to Music While Studying, it states, “Music may impair cognitive abilities when you're trying to memorize things in order, because you may be thrown off by the changing words and notes in your chosen song. That's why they have dubbed this phenomenon the 'irrelevant sound effect' (ISE)." In another article, Don't Listen to Music While Studying, David Cutler writes about the ISE again: "I recently spoke with Perham, who told me about the 'irrelevant sound effect.' This involves a subject conducting a certain task, in this case recalling a series of numbers, while listening to different kinds of background music. If sound exhibits acoustical variations, or what Perham calls an 'acute changing-state,' performance is impaired. Steady-state sounds with little acoustical variation don't impair performance nearly as much. I'm also interested by another of Perham's conclusions. 'We found that listening to liked or disliked music was exactly the same, and both were worse than the quiet control condition,' he says. 'Both impaired performance on serial-recall tasks.' Still, I'm curious how prevalent serial-recall is in everyday life, and if one could get by without developing this skill. Unlikely, Perham says, as one would have tremendous difficulty recalling phone numbers, doing mental arithmetic, and even learning languages." It seems that the main reason why you shouldn't listen to music while studying all boils down to the ISE.
I enjoy listening to music as much as the next person, but if I have a really important test coming up, I'd really just prefer the quiet because it gives me silence to think and get things down in my brain. A ULoop article titled, Do Or Don't: Studying While Listening To Music, also talks about the ISE. Standford University professor Clifford Nass states, "'Music with lyrics is very likely to have a problematic effect when you’re writing or reading. Probably less of an effect on math, if you’re not using the language parts of your brain,' Nass said. 'In my day, there was no way you could take music to the library. When [today's students] go to the library to study, they bring their noise, and music, with them.'" The article continues after that, "Because music can impact and regulate your mood and the best mood to study in is a more relaxed mood, choosing music that helps you relax but also with enough beat or rhythm to ensure you don’t zone out while studying is crucial. But music that’s too loud or with too much of an upbeat tempo can also be distracting, so having a playlist or specific artist you turn to for studying music can really help. If you’re the type of person who has more difficulty multitasking and is easily distracted, listening to music while studying may just cause your attention to drift to the music rather than help you concentrate on your material. If you’re really set on listening to music while studying but know your focus will probably end up divided, choose classical music or more acoustic music with minimal words to distract you. Movie scores, which typically consist of a bunch of orchestral pieces, may also be good background music for you to study to." Now if someone didn't quite agree, they would probably argue their case a little like the one below (only to be countered by me, of course).
Someone would like to argue that music makes them happier, helps them relax, and prepares them to focus for a study session. I looked for an article that supported listening to music while studying, but this is what I found: "Well, several studies have shown that listening to music before studying or performing other tasks that require your total focus can be beneficial. It improves your memory, attention, and reduces the levels of anxiety and depression." However, none of the studies were actually cited so it makes it hard for us to see reason. Now, the article also listed out the cons, and I have to say, the cons were a lot more powerful than the flimsy paragraph of the 'pros'.
Writing this essay has actually managed to convince myself, that studying while listening to music only has more consequences than benefits. An online blog called Uniplaces has an article on the pros and cons of listening to music. It states, "f you’re the type of person who gets distracted very easily or has some difficulties with multitasking, then listening to music while studying might not lead to good results! It’ll be very easy to lose focus from what you’re studying and listen to the lyrics instead. Should you listen to music while studying? Researchers say it depends. If your tasks require keeping track of several pieces of information at once while processing them, then you may somehow be affected by any kind of background noise, and you should thus do it in a calmer environment. Your personality also seems to play a role on whether you benefit from listening to your favourite tunes while studying. As such, both factors, task complexity and personality, seem to influence your productivity while listening to music." Another blog called Fedana Blog wrote an article with a similar title, Do or Don't: Listening to Music While Studying, and states, "While many may be ‘for’ listening to music while studying, others have differing views. Studies have also shown that listening to music while studying can also be very distracting. This may not be prevalent in the case of instrumental music such as the works of Mozart but mainly in genres with extended vocals or major distortion of sound such as metal music (Students don’t usually study when listening to metal music). Studies have shown that the mind tends to have what is known as cognitive limitations. These limitations are exposed when someone tries to do two things at once or multitask. This is especially the case when listening to music while studying. It tends to break focus. This is especially the case when listening to music that isn’t particularly beautiful to our ears. The overall effect then can be dampening."
I truly believe that listening to music while studying will not benefit you (to some extent). For one, the effects of extremely distorted music can cause one to lose their focus and someone who is bad at multitasking (doing two or more things at once). What do you think?
Links:
*Cited using EasyBib
*Cutler, David. “Don't Listen to Music While Studying.” Edutopia, 4 Dec. 2013, www.edutopia.org/blog/dont-listen-music-while-studying-david-cutler.
*Goodwin, Elana. “Do Or Don't: Studying While Listening To Music.” Uloop, 31 Jan. 2015, www.uloop.com/news/view.php/149570/Do-Or-Dont-Studying-While-Listening-To.
*Papadopoulos, Kerstin Meergans, et al. “The Pros and Cons of Listening to Music While Studying.” Uniplaces Blog, 13 Mar. 2017, blog.uniplaces.com/listening-music-while-studying/.
When I study at home, I often find music a little bit distracting, especially if I'm trying to remember something. However, when I'm doing homework, it's a different story. In the article, Why You Shouldn’t Listen to Music While Studying, it states, “Music may impair cognitive abilities when you're trying to memorize things in order, because you may be thrown off by the changing words and notes in your chosen song. That's why they have dubbed this phenomenon the 'irrelevant sound effect' (ISE)." In another article, Don't Listen to Music While Studying, David Cutler writes about the ISE again: "I recently spoke with Perham, who told me about the 'irrelevant sound effect.' This involves a subject conducting a certain task, in this case recalling a series of numbers, while listening to different kinds of background music. If sound exhibits acoustical variations, or what Perham calls an 'acute changing-state,' performance is impaired. Steady-state sounds with little acoustical variation don't impair performance nearly as much. I'm also interested by another of Perham's conclusions. 'We found that listening to liked or disliked music was exactly the same, and both were worse than the quiet control condition,' he says. 'Both impaired performance on serial-recall tasks.' Still, I'm curious how prevalent serial-recall is in everyday life, and if one could get by without developing this skill. Unlikely, Perham says, as one would have tremendous difficulty recalling phone numbers, doing mental arithmetic, and even learning languages." It seems that the main reason why you shouldn't listen to music while studying all boils down to the ISE.
I enjoy listening to music as much as the next person, but if I have a really important test coming up, I'd really just prefer the quiet because it gives me silence to think and get things down in my brain. A ULoop article titled, Do Or Don't: Studying While Listening To Music, also talks about the ISE. Standford University professor Clifford Nass states, "'Music with lyrics is very likely to have a problematic effect when you’re writing or reading. Probably less of an effect on math, if you’re not using the language parts of your brain,' Nass said. 'In my day, there was no way you could take music to the library. When [today's students] go to the library to study, they bring their noise, and music, with them.'" The article continues after that, "Because music can impact and regulate your mood and the best mood to study in is a more relaxed mood, choosing music that helps you relax but also with enough beat or rhythm to ensure you don’t zone out while studying is crucial. But music that’s too loud or with too much of an upbeat tempo can also be distracting, so having a playlist or specific artist you turn to for studying music can really help. If you’re the type of person who has more difficulty multitasking and is easily distracted, listening to music while studying may just cause your attention to drift to the music rather than help you concentrate on your material. If you’re really set on listening to music while studying but know your focus will probably end up divided, choose classical music or more acoustic music with minimal words to distract you. Movie scores, which typically consist of a bunch of orchestral pieces, may also be good background music for you to study to." Now if someone didn't quite agree, they would probably argue their case a little like the one below (only to be countered by me, of course).
Someone would like to argue that music makes them happier, helps them relax, and prepares them to focus for a study session. I looked for an article that supported listening to music while studying, but this is what I found: "Well, several studies have shown that listening to music before studying or performing other tasks that require your total focus can be beneficial. It improves your memory, attention, and reduces the levels of anxiety and depression." However, none of the studies were actually cited so it makes it hard for us to see reason. Now, the article also listed out the cons, and I have to say, the cons were a lot more powerful than the flimsy paragraph of the 'pros'.
Writing this essay has actually managed to convince myself, that studying while listening to music only has more consequences than benefits. An online blog called Uniplaces has an article on the pros and cons of listening to music. It states, "f you’re the type of person who gets distracted very easily or has some difficulties with multitasking, then listening to music while studying might not lead to good results! It’ll be very easy to lose focus from what you’re studying and listen to the lyrics instead. Should you listen to music while studying? Researchers say it depends. If your tasks require keeping track of several pieces of information at once while processing them, then you may somehow be affected by any kind of background noise, and you should thus do it in a calmer environment. Your personality also seems to play a role on whether you benefit from listening to your favourite tunes while studying. As such, both factors, task complexity and personality, seem to influence your productivity while listening to music." Another blog called Fedana Blog wrote an article with a similar title, Do or Don't: Listening to Music While Studying, and states, "While many may be ‘for’ listening to music while studying, others have differing views. Studies have also shown that listening to music while studying can also be very distracting. This may not be prevalent in the case of instrumental music such as the works of Mozart but mainly in genres with extended vocals or major distortion of sound such as metal music (Students don’t usually study when listening to metal music). Studies have shown that the mind tends to have what is known as cognitive limitations. These limitations are exposed when someone tries to do two things at once or multitask. This is especially the case when listening to music while studying. It tends to break focus. This is especially the case when listening to music that isn’t particularly beautiful to our ears. The overall effect then can be dampening."
I truly believe that listening to music while studying will not benefit you (to some extent). For one, the effects of extremely distorted music can cause one to lose their focus and someone who is bad at multitasking (doing two or more things at once). What do you think?
Links:
*Cited using EasyBib
*Cutler, David. “Don't Listen to Music While Studying.” Edutopia, 4 Dec. 2013, www.edutopia.org/blog/dont-listen-music-while-studying-david-cutler.
*Goodwin, Elana. “Do Or Don't: Studying While Listening To Music.” Uloop, 31 Jan. 2015, www.uloop.com/news/view.php/149570/Do-Or-Dont-Studying-While-Listening-To.
*Papadopoulos, Kerstin Meergans, et al. “The Pros and Cons of Listening to Music While Studying.” Uniplaces Blog, 13 Mar. 2017, blog.uniplaces.com/listening-music-while-studying/.
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