Music is something that is extremely important to society, a little more than you think! We use music in almost any situation. Music is affective (makes us feel things), so we can actually use it to help us to modulate monitor our mood.
Many people use background music for studying, but why? Surely it should be distracting if you have Usher saying ‘Yeah!’ in your ear while you’re trying to memorise the periodic table of elements. It’s thought that this is because listening to background music actually helps you to drown out distracting, ambient noises. Once you’re habituated (not reflexively responding) to the music, it allows you to ignore all the other inputs and focus on the task at hand.
There has been a lot of research gone into how learning music can affect our academic performance. However, a majority of people simply play music while they’re studying, without any clue why.
So how can we use music to help us study?
Let’s start with a few foundations:
Remember that everyone is different
Different genres, volumes and tempos of music are going to work differently for different people. This means that as you try to best use music to help you study, you should be looking to yourself and not what everyone else is listening to. One ‘study playlist’ will not fit-all. This post should equip you to create the playlist that will work best for you. Also, not everyone will benefit from listening to music whilst studying.
Remember that you are different
You don’t feel the same way every day. Sometimes you want cereal, and sometimes you want eggs. Because our moods are always fluctuating and changing, it’s important to consider how you feel at the time you’re studying and choose music to help you enhance or combat that moment. If you’re feeling mentally fatigued, it may be a better idea to opt for something high-energy and motivating like electronic music instead of classical, which might send you to sleep.
The sweet spot
The ‘sweet spot’ is the middle ground. Not too hot, not too cold. Choosing music has to be a balance or else it can become ineffective. You want to listen to music that you like. But not too much, because then you will end up listening to the music and ignoring your work. Then again, if you dislike it too much, you will end up disliking study even more. Finding the middle ground between distraction and demotivation can be a challenging task but once you do, it’ll be worth it.
So how do we choose what music to listen to? I’m shifting into first-person now (tsk tsk) because I think the best way to demonstrate this will be to talk about my own experiences and give you some scenarios.
a) In the morning when I first start studying I know I have a long day of work ahead of me and want to start off on the right foot. Sometimes I feel a real ‘flow’ in study and can concentrate for long periods but other times I just feel agitated. We want to encourage the former. So, I would probably start my session listening to something a little slower tempo, usually classical scores.
b) Another scenario is later on in the day. I’m sure you can all relate to getting to the point when you’ve been working since the AM and you’re pretty much ‘done’ with life by the night. You have to give yourself that final push. Here I might find it better to listen to some RnB to really help my motivation. It always makes me feel like a boss so I feel like I can smash out the rest of my work.
Other Tips
- Generally, it’s better to listen to music without words (try some chill house. There are some great study playlists on YouTube)
- Listen to songs you’re familiar with, so you don’t have to process them as much.
- If you’re looking to find instrumentals but don’t know where to start, try looking for the soundtrack to your favourite movie
- Try different things! If you’re listening to something and it’s just not working, change it.
- Use headphones. I find this actually makes a huge difference, even if it’s quiet.
- If nothing is working, you may just need silence. There’s nothing wrong with silent study and sometimes this is what your brain needs to concentrate
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At the end of it all, it’s just about listening to yourself and being more aware of what you’re listening to. Once you get a feel for what music helps you in certain situations, you can use to boost your productivity.
Music is not only something we can enjoy but an amazing tool to help us through life. Once you start thinking about it, you can start to apply music to other areas. It can be used to help uplift us when we’re feeling depressed, keep us motivated to exercise or change the mood of any room.
We hope that this has helped you understand a bit more about why music helps us study and how you can make the most of it! Comment below if you have any questions you have and we’ll be sure to answer them!
Happy studying!
