Should Music Be Allowed in the Classroom?

Does your day begin with blasts of music playing while you are waking up or getting dressed? Are you in a much better mood because you started your day with music? Do you know that music can make you more creative while generating positive changes in your mood? I certainly do know that while I listen to music, it puts me in a calm mood to where I am no longer stressing about my upcoming test. I know that music is important to me because it helps me to concentrate. It is easier for me to remember things when I apply music into my study regime. Music definitely helps me when I am completing a math assignment. I tend to do much better in math when I am singing or humming along to the song of what I am listening to. I argue that music should be allowed within the classroom setting because music can reduce stress, calms the body and mind, and boosts focus and productivity.

Music can affect your whole entire body as well as your emotions. When music has a faster tempo, it can make you concentrate much better and help you to become more aware. Upbeat music can make you feel more positive about life in general. A slower rhythm can quiet your mind and relax your muscles while making you feel soothed while releasing the stress of the day. Music can help you to relax and minimize tons of stress. A lot of students and elderly people who suffer from depression tend to enjoy listening to music while it increases their self-esteem levels. Another factual evidence would be that music can reduce burnout and improve mood among nursing students. While listening to music in a class setting could be somewhat of a distraction to some, listening to music also may reduce stress by helping a student or even a parent while working and as for test takers, students should be allowed to listen to music for the fact that they do not become distracted by the clock and how much time is left while they are trying to focus on their test.

Although some schools do not allow music in classrooms, when students are supposed to be quiet and study, there are always other loud talking classmates that just simply refuse to be silent. This alone creates an enormous distraction and some students never get their tasks done on time. That combined with simple boredom can cause any student, not just me, to be distracted by anything and everything, whether it is a string hanging off my shirt, a bug on the ceiling, the ticking of the clock, or any number of other distractions. I personally find that it is much harder to study when there is absolutely no noise, a extremely quiet background or the shuffling of papers from students who are studying or testing as well. Students who suffer from ADD/ADHD with a silent background tend to wander and do not finish the work load, but with music, it would actually help them to pay attention to their work. With this being said, anything can become a distraction only if you let it.

Music is extremely calming and pleasant and puts anyone in a better mood so that they can get their work done much faster. As memory serves me correctly, I remember my eighth grade english teacher, Ms. Smith, allowed us to listen to a classical music station that took regular songs played on the radio and transferred them into classical instruments. There were no words and it was fun for us to try and guess what song was playing. I remember vividly that we tended to work faster and talked less when music was playing. It seemed like the entire classroom was in a calm trance. This example shows that listening to music can have a relaxing effect on our minds and bodies, especially slow, quiet classical music.

This type of music choice can have a strong effect on the physiological activities of our bodies, slowing our pulse and heart rates, lowering blood pressure and anxiety, and bringing down the levels of our stress hormones. Research shows that music can bring order and security to disabled, distressed children and cancer patients. It encourages coordination and communication, so music improves their meaning of life. I have a younger sister who has special needs. Her name is Allyson. She attends Haynes-Inman Education Center, which is a school specifically for children who have special needs. Everytime she gets tense, she tends to fuss uncontrollably. Once she hears any kind of music playing from anywhere, she quickly calms down and just sways her head from side to side and smiles. For this reason, Haynes-Inman Education Center specializes in playing music for their students within their classrooms and gym area. This is yet another perfect example of how music can calm our tense bodies and minds.

Different kinds of music have different effects on our brains. What boosts productivity for one person again may be distracting for someone else. One example would be when completing a writing assignment, songs with lyrics could sometimes become distracting. This is because music with lyrics can transfer your brain into multitasking mode. It is just like someone talking over you while you are trying to work. So, I would suggest instrumental music for writing and reading classwork. Songs with lyrics in them could be used for class assignments that are more repetitive or clerical work like filing papers or cleaning out your emails. I can attest to that hearing a song that I love motivates me, especially doing a task that I do not really enjoy doing. Therefore, hearing music that I like and enjoy listening to improves my mood, which boosts my productivity in my work performance. I also tend to talk less every time I have my ear pieces in my eardrums.

Music just helps “pass the time” while also being given a form of entertainment in a sense. In school, work can be done more efficiently because you are not really aware that you are doing the work because the music is playing. A very close cousin of mine, Cassandra, just recently revealed to me that while in the 7th grade, she has suffered chronic depression and chronic migraines. When she is with people that she does not know well, she is not able to concentrate. When listening to music, she says she feels like she is with the artists (a close friend of hers died a few days ago and she met her at a concert). She is the type of person who wants to keep to herself. She can block out nasty comments about her scars and hair and know that there are other people who care and understand her. This made her happy and now she can concentrate even better now that she is happy. She is now an online student at East Carolina University and can listen to her music while working on her assignments as opposed to when she was in public school and could not listen to music. While in public school, she emphasized that her grades, self-esteem, and overall happiness had gone down the drain. I am very glad to know that she is doing much better now.