If background music
takes priority over what
you are studying, then it
is advisable for one not
to try studying with this
method.
re, the test by the University of Whales used music
with vocals to juxtapose with the real life scenario.
It’s more common to see youngsters listening to the
current hip song than to a Classical or instrumental
music. Studies done by the University of Dayton re-
veal that paying Mozart—purely instrumental music—
in the background improved performance, allowing
students to better accomplish “spatial and linguistic
processing” (Doraiswamy, 2012).
The best time to listen to music really depends! We
are all different. If some students are unable to con-
centrate without background music, then it is best
they use music as a stimulus. Although studying in
a quieter environment yielded
better test scores,
if students lack the m o t i -
vation to even sit
and study without
music, then it is
better to have the
background
music to serve as
a propellant for
studying. However
it’s not suitable for
people like me,
who get distracted
by outside noise.
Type of Music (Beats per Minute)
The right type of music must be chosen when stu-
dying to boost performance. But what is the “right
music?” This can be figured out when looking at the
beats per minute. The term beats per minute refers to
the speed of a musical piece. More beats are com-
mensurate to faster music (Teo, 2013). Collaborative
research by music streaming service Spotify and cli-
nical psychologist Emma Gray reveals the following
(Metro, 2013):
1)
Listening to Classical music, which has about
60-70 beats per minute, while studying encourages
learning and boost concentration. Students also
showed a 12% increase in their Math test scores.
2)
“Melody and tone range” in Classical pie-
ces
l i k e
Beethoven’s famous
piano composition
Für Elise, enabled
students to pro-
long their time
spent
on studying. Fur-
t h e r m o re ,
it helped students
retain more infor-
mation.
52 | ZEALOUSNESS MAGAZINE | Winter / Spring 2017