Does music in class affect concentration/grades?

As children we are encouraged to listen to music, to sing and dance in the classroom. But as we grow older many people suggest that listening to music whilst studying can be distracting. Others say that it helps them concentrate better, and if you can concentrate better then in effect your grades will improve, too.

A research team from the Stanford University School of Medicine has showed that music engages the areas of the brain involved with paying attention, making predictions and updating the event in memory. Peak brain activity occurred during a short period of silence between musical movements.
The research also showed that musical techniques used by composers 200 years ago help the brain organise incoming information.

Another research team, the Australian Music Association, looked into the positive effects on academic, mental functioning and social skills resulting from a music education. The results showed how learning music can help your child in so many more ways, the areas were identified to be:

• Improved reasoning capacity and problem solving skills
• Improve maths and language performance
• Better memory
• Greater social and team skills

Another study conducted by a Big Ten school has shown music to elevate and intensify the emotions of college students. Professor Arthur Harvey, an internationally known neuromusicologist from University of Hawaii added in his study, "Of all the music we tested in medical school with patients, colleagues and others, Bach's music consistently made the brain work in a balanced way better than any other genre".

Many studies have been done to find out the effects music has on the brain whether positive or negative. The type of music the research mainly refers to is classical as opposed to up beat music such as techno. Perhaps listening to music could help the concentration if taking into account many factors seperately and jointly, these could include:

• The time of the day your listening to music
• The type of music
• And the subject you are studying

Despite research some feel music helps them and arguably others find it to be a distraction. However it seems to be up to the individual schools, teachers, parents and students to choose to involve music in their learning environments as it is down to indivudual preferences to study with or without music. Only the individual can really feel the effect that music has on their level of concentration, stress and other emotional feelings whilst studying.

Reference: http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/