Genius Hour Blog #4: The Musician Theory

Hello again! So much has happened since I posted last about my Genius Hour project and it's been very exciting! There is an INCREDIBLE amount of discussion on this topic both in the academic world and in blogs, posts, and surveys similar to mine around the Internet. I have gathered my research into two categories: 1) Music and Environment  2) Music as a Mnemonic Device. Since I have yet to complete the Mnemonic Device experiments on two of my participants who are out of the city, this post will focus on my findings for the first category.

1) Music and Environment 

 When I told my fellow students about my project many of them thought that I was exploring music as a studying tool, rather than an all around memory aid. And many of the articles I read identified studying as the best environment to discover if or how music can help someone retain information. So I decided that I would gather some theories and test them out on myself. 

While reading "Music and Learning: Integrating Music in the Classroom"  

by Chris Boyd Brewer I learned that your working memory is based on attention and the trick to choosing music that will create an environment conducive to improving memorization is finding out what kind of mood helps you focus the best. And this is not the same for every person. If a song makes you too happy it can over stimulate you and you can become distracted. If it makes you bored then your mind might wander (Gold, 2013). Classical music is often offered as a solution to this problem, it is seen as pleasing but without lyrics or catchy rhythms to distract. The Mozart Theory and the Vivaldi Theory claim that these composers in particular have been known to improve memorization and creativity in any task they accompany (Brewer, 1995). Recently, jazz has also been listed as a genre that creates a calm environment that stimulates memorization, with surprisingly strong results. 

Instead of making anyone suffer through hours of footage of me attempting to study to various types of jazz (smooth, bossa nova etc.) Vivaldi, Mozart, Beethoven and Tchaikovsky, I decided to make GIFs that summarized my reactions to the music:

Vivaldi and Mozart

I was constantly distracted by the music and, as the footage so kindly revealed, would break out in spurts of "conducting". Though I did find Mozart slightly less distracting, possibly because I did not enjoy "The Best of Mozart" mix as much as "The Four Seasons" by Vivaldi. 

via GIPHY

Tchaikovsky. 

Another YouTube "The Best of..." mix. I found it too emotional. The Nutcracker music was far too familiar and so, much too distracting. I did not make a GIF of it because I was wildly embarrassed, but I almost cried during Symphony No. 6 in B Minor Pathetique. Which I was not expecting. But I was in a very stressed state and honestly that is generally my emotional state when I am studying, so Tchikovsky would not do. 

My actual face caught on my laptop camera during that song: (sorry its so big, I don't know why it did that) 

via GIPHY

I don't have an interesting GIF to show for when I listened to jazz because, strangely enough, I was actually getting work done for most of the video. They were a few instances of "conducting" and other distractions but, compared to the other genres I was much more focused!

Jazz was by far the best in keeping me focused. I reflected on why this was and I've come up with a Musicians Theory, a theory which was hinted at in several of the articles I read but never directly addressed. I believe that since I have a semi trained musical ear, classical music is actually the most distracting for me than any other instrumental music. I love listening to the melody of a movement weave its way through the piece, as shown when I listened to Vivaldi, and I am easily pulled in to the emotion of piece, as with Tchaikovsky. I enjoy jazz just as much as classical music and yet it did not distract me in the same way and I believe its simply to do with the unpredictable nature of jazz. I am not a strong enough musician to pick up on the subtleties of the melodies in jazz and since I can't predict what is going to happen, but I still enjoy the sound, my mind naturally gravitates back to my work. 

I will post more about my finalized conclusions to this experiment on my next blog post. Until then, check out the articles I linked!

References 

Gold, B. P. et al. (2013) Pleasurable music affects reinforcement learning according to the listener. Frontiers in Psychology. Vol. 4 Article 541.  Doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2013.00541

Berard, Guy, M.D. Hearing Equals Behavior. New Canaan, Connecticut: Keats Publishing, 1993.

Bjorkvold, Jon-Roar. The Muse Within: Creativity and Communication, Song and Play from Childhood through Maturity. New York: HarperCollins, 1989.

Brewer, Chris. Music and Learning: Seven Ways to Use Music in the Classroom. Tequesta, Florida: LifeSounds, 1995