Singing In The Brain: The Influence Of Education And Music

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Throughout history, two of the most substantial influences on society have been education and music. Education is a key element to modern society as it is known. From an early age, children are sent to school on a mission to learn all they can. Students progress, year by year, with the difficultly and complexity of the content increasing as they move on. After twelve to thirteen years of this progress, an individual should earn their high school diploma, which is viewed by modern society as the most basic level of education. After finally completing the long and grueling thirteen years of education, society expects newly graduated high school alums to continue their education if they wish to attain a better paying job. This whole process of …show more content…

It is common for educators to discourage the use of headphones and listening to music in school. Administration of many schools in the United States believe that music is distracting and should not draw attention to the more important schoolwork. The educators are correct in some aspect; however, it depends on the style of music. Songs with lyrics are more likely to take away from a student’s focus than those without lyrics. A study by titled “Singing in the Brain: Independence in Lyrics and Tunes” was conducted to test the difference between both instrumental and lyrical music to uncover each style’s effect on the brain. Their reseach concluded that music and lyrics compete with each other for attention from the brain (Besson, et. al, 1998). While this study does support the dismissal of lyrical music in academia, that does that mean that classical or instrumental music cannot be incorporated. Another study done at the Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications says otherwise about music incorporated in learning. Qian Su and Fei Wang studied forty students broken into two groups. Group A was presented a song with a fast tempo, while at the same time being tested on cognitive memory. The other group was played a song at a slow tempo. Their study found that the studies conducted proved that music of a quicker tempo proved to be more distracted than music of a slower level, …show more content…

If wounded military men found enough comfort in music to derive an entire field of therapy, surely music will help students in dealing with the common stress of schoolwork. Not only can the comfort of music can help students cope with and overcome the fear of failure, but also test anxiety. Some believe that the incorporation of soft, relaxing music can relieve tension and help relax individuals when taking tests. A study titled “Effects of Music and Grade Consequences on Test Anxiety and Performance” was conducted at Texas State University to find out the true effect of music on test anxiety. Similar to the aforementioned study by Su and Wang, gave students either soft music or obnoxious music and measured the systolic blood pressure (SBP). The study

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