The Sound of Music

The other day I was chatting with a teenage girl at a chess tournament.  She was telling me how she likes to listen to music when she is studying chess.  When she says "stud"ying chess", what she means is working on chess puzzles to help improve her game.  She volunteered that the music she liked listening to best was "old music".  Hmmm.  Old music?  I couldn't help but wonder what that meant to a 14 year old girl?  It ended up that to her, that meant classical music - like Beethoven, Brahms, and Bach.  She further explained that the reason she liked that kind of music was that it helped her relax and also helped her remember things.

When I watch my sons do their school work each day, they usually have earphones on.   Initially they started wearing them because they were a neccessity for working with Rosetta Stone to learn a foreign language.  But, now they wear them all the time, to listen to music.  

 However, unlike that sweet chess player who likes "old music", my boys listen to music that is relatively modern.  One of my sons is a big rock & roller, he pretty much likes any top-hits from the 50s, 60s, early 70's.  My other son, has some rather eclectic tastes and is a big fan of video game soundtracks.   Yep, to each his own I guess!

While I have never had any problems with them listening to music, it's always been a point of contention on what type of music is most appropriate.  It has always been my opinion, that you can't concentrate on subjects like math, creative writing, etc., while you are listening to music with lyrics.  Afterall, I know that when I need to totally concentrate I need to have complete silence.

So I started doing a little research to see the effect listening to music has on doing school work.  I came across an interesting study that was released by the University of Wales.  In the study, researchers looked at the ability to recall information in the presence of different sounds.  Twenty-five participants (between the ages 18 and 30) tried to memorize, and later recall, a list of letters in a certain order.  The various test "listening conditions" ranged from: absolute silence, music the subjects liked, music the subjects didn't like, a voice repeating the number three, and a voice reciting random single-digit numbers.  The results found that participants performed worst while listening to music, regardless of whether they liked it or not.  They also did not do well listening to someone reciting random numbers.  In contrast, the subjects performed best while studying in silence or when listening to the word "three" repeated.  I wonder if the repetiton of a single word produced a feeling of relaxation, not unlike how people chant the word "ohmm" during meditation?

Of course, just because a study comes up with some sound evidence vindicating me and my theory of music's effect on studying, my kids would still beg to differ.  They hate having to work in silence.  If they were forced to put away the headphones, they would probably tell me the sound of the clock ticking, the dogs barking, or their own breathing was driving them crazy.  Perhaps they'd be right.  Maybe, just maybe, when my kids are listening to the music they like, all those good vibrations help them overcome any interference with learning?

Regardless of whether music has a positive or negative effect on school work, I thought it would be interesting to look at some of the musical resources available.  So I am dedicating a series of posts this week on the sound of music.