The Effect Of Music On Students’ Learning: The Mozart Effect

Introduction

Defined by Lachman (1997) as the process of acquiring knowledge, learning is the driving force for almost everything a teacher does. Promoting learning and igniting passion within students is fundamentally what being a teacher is all about. In an ideal world, all students would be eager and willing to absorb knowledge and perfect their skills. This, however, is clearly not the case. There are a vast number of reasons as to why students do not want to learn, ranging from a students’ perception of a subject to personal issues, many of which are out of the teacher’s control. It is, therefore, down to the teacher to find ways to foster learning within students. Whilst improving teaching and learning is imperative, it is often overshadowed by negative behaviour or a lack of focus displayed by students. Sun and Shek (2012) suggests that low-level disruption, such as talking and avoidance of work, take up a significant amount of time during lessons. It has been observed that students often get distracted during lessons, particularly during independent work. Bransford (2000) discusses that learning must be done consciously. In other words, in order to learn, one must give be intentionally and deliberately trying to learn. The off-task behaviour observed in lessons, therefore, suggests that students are not optimising their learning. It could be implied that increasing students’ concentration levels will, in turn, increase their level of learning.

It was found, following discussions with teachers, that many of them use music themselves when trying to increase concentration levels. We have all experienced the effect music can have on our mood. Music can make you feel a certain way depending on the style of music chosen. Music has even been used in medicine to aid healing and recovery (Sarkamo et al, 2008). Whilst there are a wide range of benefits to listening to music, one of the most prominent interests when it comes to the effects of music is the effect is has on concentration. Listening to music is a method that is commonly used to improve focus. It, therefore, seemed fitting to determine the effect it would have on the concertation levels of students within a classroom setting.

The aim of this project is to determine whether using music as a classroom tool is an effective method for decreasing off-task behaviour during lessons. The hope is that the frequency of off-task behaviours decrease, leading us to conclude that instrumental music will have had a positive effect on student concentration. In performing this study, the overall aim is to increase students learning time in order for them to make the optimal amount of progress in mathematics. In analysing the literature, the goal is to determine the effect of music on students’ learning, behaviour and concentration. The genre of music will also be explored to see which has the greatest effect.

The Effects of Background Music

Kahneman (1973) outlines a concept called the capacity model of attention. Essentially, this model explains that a person can only allocate a certain amount of attention at any one time. They go on to discuss that more difficult tasks require more attention and thus, easier tasks require less attention. With this theoretical model in mind, it’s important to determine how much attention will be deployed by students to listen to background music and whether the genre of the music will have an effect on this. If a student is allocating too much attention to listening to background music, then this could cause a negative effect on concentration for the given task. Gardner’s Theory of Multiple Intelligences contradicts this, explaining that different processes occur in different parts of the brain and thus categorising processes in such a way that it may not necessarily have an effect on task concentration.

Giles (1991) suggests that playing the ‘right kind’ of music in lessons can have a positive effect on students’ mood, as well as, improving productivity and focus. This is corresponding to the findings of a study performed by Savan (1996), where they found that usually disruptive and aggressive students became calm and followed instructions when background music was played. This study was carried out over a five month period and results stayed consistent throughout. Hallam and Price (1998) also carried out a study in which students were asked to perform a maths task. They showed that, although the level of effect varied, all students completed the task with more success whist listening to music. Whilst further studies were required to improve reliability of the results, there was a clear indication that background music improved focus and concentration. Sacks (2007) outlines the effect that music can have on memory, explaining that memory skills can be improved as the mind can recall knowledge when listening to an associated piece of music.

Wilkinson (2013) suggests that whilst there are many opportunities during a school day to excite students, there are fewer opportunities to calm students to a state of ‘alert relaxation’. Wilkinson goes on to explain that background music can encourage a readiness for learning. This suggests that music played, prior to learning taking place, will prepare students for the lesson ahead. Rauscher, Shaw and Ky (1993) concur with this theory and suggests that listening to music before performing a task has a neuropsychological priming effect. That is, it prepares the individual for the task ahead, thus, improving the chance of successful completion of the task.

Etaugh and Michals (1975) outline that more unfamiliar sounds can be more distracting that familiar sounds. They, therefore, suggest that the frequency to which an individual listens to music whilst performing a task will affect their level of concentration. For example, if an individual listens to music regularly whilst studying, then it will have a lesser effect on their concentration than it would on someone who rarely listens to music while studying.

However, Chou (2010) found the contrary in their study where they found that the participants performed cognitive tasks more successfully when they were not listening to music. They go on to explain that as the intensity of the music is increased, there is a greater negative effect on concentration. This links back to Kahneman’s (1973) capacity model of attention, since students were having to divide their attention to other tasks, whether done consciously or subconsciously, they were less focussed on the task at hand. This was also found in a study performed by Shih et al (2012). They found that music with lyrics had a negative effect on productivity and whilst listening to music without lyrics did still decrease productivity, the effect was far smaller. Cassity, Henley and Markley (2007) highlight the misconceptions when it comes to background music and intelligence. Whilst listening to background music can enhance the opportunity to improve intelligence, it does not solely make a person smarter.

Cassidy and Macdonald (2007) explain that playing background music has the potential to be detrimental to task performance. They go on to outline that consideration of different personalities should be taken before deciding to play music as different personalities respond differently to background music. Cassidy and Macdonald (2007) found that introverts are more likely to get distracted by background music due to their heightened awareness of their surroundings. Extroverts, on the other hand, were less distracted when listening to background music. Whilst the majority of literature suggests that background music improves concentration and ability to learn, some of the literature suggests that the style and genre of music will impact the effectiveness of background music on cognitive processing.

Genre

Some of the literature suggests that listening to the ‘right kind’ of music will improve concentration. But, what is the ‘right kind’ of music? And will the same style of music be consistently effective for all learners? A vast amount of literature discusses the idea of cognitive complexity. Cognitive complexity refers to the level of concentration needed to focus on a task. In relation to music, a more cognitively complex piece would be a piece of music that has more elements, or layers, to it. For example, a piece of music with lyrics is more cognitively complex than an instrumental piece. Furnham and Strbac (2002) suggests that the more cognitively complex a piece of music is, the more distracting it will be. This implies that background music should be as simple as possible to prevent distractions.

Balogun, Monteiro and Teseletso (2013) performed a study in which they compared the effect pop and gospel music in different languages had on task performance. They found that foreign languages proved more distracting as they were unfamiliar to the listeners and therefore had to concentrate more on the music rather than the task at hand. Balogun et al. (2013) also found that pop music was less distracting than gospel music. They suggested the various layers heard in gospel music, such as multiple harmonies, made this genre of music more cognitively complex and therefore more distracting.

The majority of literature suggests that classical music provides optimal conditions for concentration. Specifically, literature suggests that listening to music written by the composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart will increase task performance. Originally reported on by Rauscher, Shaw and Ky (1993), this is called ‘The Mozart Effect’. Rauscher and Shaw explain that listening to Mozart’s Sonata for Two Pianos in D major (K. 448) for short periods of time will increase students’ ability to perform a task successfully. Taylor and Rowe (2012) investigated the use of The Mozart Effect to assist learning in mathematics. They played music by Mozart in three different trigonometry classes and found that listening to Mozart during these lessons improved assessment results.

However, some studies have been carried out to determine the reliability of The Mozart Effect. Crncec, Wilson and Prior (2006) conducted a study comparing the effects of K. 448, pop music and silence and found that playing K. 448 had no effect on task performance. Xing et al. (2016) showed that whilst K. 488 had a positive cognitive effect, other pieces by Mozart actually had a negative cognitive effect. They go on to suggest that components such as pitch and rhythm are important factors when it comes to deciding what music to play. Whilst the study conducted by Xing et al. was carried out on rats, it is suggested that the effects would be similar on humans. Ivonov and Geake (2003) outline that the Mozart Effect may not be exclusive to music composed by Mozart, as a similar study showed the Schubert Effect. Therefore, solidifying the point made by Xing et al. (2016) that rhythm, pitch and tempo are contributing factors to the effect on task performance (Ivanov & Geake, 2003).

Campbell (1997) and Paget (2006), whilst they do not specifically mention Mozart, agree with the majority that classical music from the late baroque period are more beneficial for concentration. Paget explains that this era of music creates a consistent response with the brain. Wilkinson (2013) explains that music of this era has a metre of around 60 beats per minute, which regulates the heart rhythm and thus promoting the state of alert relaxation. Campbell (1997) also suggests that while listening to this genre of music is the most effective, it should not be over played. Playing background music for long periods of time will cause the students to switch off and therefore not receive the full benefit. He suggests that music should be played at explicit times and for specified time periods.

Teixeira et al. (2018) suggest that people become more attentive to a task when listening to their preferred style of music. They go on to suggest that listening to a genre of music that they dislike could, in fact, cause more distraction. Therefore, under this assumption, students’ should not listen to classical music whilst studying if they do not like this genre of music. Even though it is suggested that this genre provides optimal surroundings for concentration, it may become more of a distraction in their case. Cassidy and Macdonald (2007) also suggest that the effectiveness of playing background music is dependent on individual personalities and so this should be taken into consideration when selecting a piece of music.

Summary

A wide variety of literature suggests that playing background music can have a positive impact on behaviour, learning and concentration. Studies have shown that playing background music can improve both the mood and behaviour of students (Giles, 1991; Savan, 1996); even the most disruptive students were more calm and responded well to instructions. It was also identified that background music can improve an individual’s chances of completing a task successfully, as well as having a positive effect on memory.

Wilkinson (2013) and Rauscher et al. (1993) both discussed the idea of a priming effect. A priming effect relates to scenarios where students listen to music prior to learning in order to find themselves in a state of ‘alert relaxation’. It was explained that this has a positive effect of students learning, behaviour and concentration since students were free from distractions and able to focus on the task at hand.

The capacity model of attention outlines that an individual has a specific amount of attention that can be deployed at any one time (Kahneman, 1973). This theory suggests that any attention given to listening to music will then lessen the attention given to the task at hand. It was seen that the cognitive complexity of a task (how difficult a task is to perform) will determine the level of attention needed. A range of literature suggested that the more cognitively complex a task is, the more attention it will need. Therefore, in terms of background music, the simpler the piece of music, the less distracting it will be. Thus, suggesting that music with no lyrics is most beneficial for concentration.

The majority of the literature suggests playing music composed by Mozart has the most positive effect on concentration levels; toherwise known as The Mozart Effect. Specifically ‘Mozart’s Sonata for Two Pianos in D major’ (K. 448) has showed to have the optimal pitch, tempo and rhythm. Other studies have shown that other songs from the same time period, with the same rhythm, pitch and tempo (around 60 beats per minute) will have a similar effect on concentration levels. Rauscher (2003) and Campbell (1997) also suggest that background music should be played in short bursts or around 10 minutes to have the most positive effect on concentration levels. Music played for longer than this will fade into the background and students will become unaware of its presence. Some of the literature suggests that individuals will react differently to different styles of music, so there is not a ‘one shoe fits all’ approach when it comes to using musicto enhance productivity.

Whilst some of the literature suggests otherwise, the majority of the literature suggests that playing Mozart’s K. 488. affects on students learning ability specifically. It should also be noted that there are a few limitations to this literature review. A few of the studies included in this review where conducted in different countries and others were conducted on primary school children. Whilst they may not be directly comparable to the context of this research due to differences with age and culture, the arguments for each point were deemed valid and insightful for the purposes of this project.

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