Many students listen to music to focus while studying or doing their homework. Everyone has their own strategy to get through finals week and weeks with particularly heavy workloads. While music is scientifically proven to help focus and improve memory, listening to different types of music has different effects on the brain.
To write her English essays, Micaela Ramos (Form IV) listens to aggressive classical music because it “gets [her] in such a classical mood that when [she] write[s], it sounds more genuine.”
Priya Couchman (Form IV) also listens to classical music, “because it is motivating and there are no lyrics to distract me, but I’m still blocking out the noise around me”
According to Healthline, classical music specifically enhances focus and attention span, as well as allowing the listener to absorb new material without shifting their attention to the lyrics and the songs themselves. Classical music also increases memory retention and other cognitive functions because of how it stimulates your brain.
Farah Mahmud (Form IV) listens to old John Lennon and Billy Joel because she does not recognize the words, so the words do not distract her.
Jeein Chung (Form V) listens to R&B music because it is calm and she says that she “can’t listen to pop music when I’m studying because I get too into the lyrics.”
Uma Couchman (Form VI) listens to white noise because it allows her to focus on her work and limits distractions.
The music tastes of Fieldston students are incredibly varied, however, the reasoning behind the studying soundtracks is all the same: as long as the lyrics do not distract the listener, the student can concentrate. Listening to music also lifts mood and increases motivation, while simultaneously reducing stress. This change in mood can also be the cause behind the memory and concentration benefits of music. So why doesn’t everyone listen to music while studying?
Everyone’s brain works differently, so what may help one person concentrate better, impairs another person’s concentration. According to Healthline, music is proven to negatively impact working memory, which involves problem-solving and manipulating multiple pieces of information. Listening to music makes these tasks even more difficult, and math can be one of the hardest subjects to accomplish with background music.
Loud music with lyrics or faster tempos can also decrease reading comprehension and make it more difficult to read passages and retain the information in them. Whether you are reading from a novel or a textbook, the myth of multitasking limits how you process everything going on. Slow, quiet music without lyrics is proven to be the best way to listen to music while studying.
However, according to The British Psychological Society, white noise does not negatively affect working memory or reading comprehension. Although neither of these is affected by white noise, it also does not have as positive an effect on studying as classical and instrumental music does.
