Everyone has different preferences when it comes to studying. I prefer to grab a cup of tea or coffee, head up to my bedroom, have the pillows propped up behind me, laptop and books beside me, and everything so quiet you can hear the cat's paws as he enters the room, incidentally to come and lay right on anything that I am currently trying to read.
When my daughter studied, she liked Mozart or something of that nature, no words, playing quietly in the background. She said it helped her relax, and concentrate.
What is your preference? Does music really help with concentration?
I guess it is all in how you began and what you are used to. Perhaps it is partly because I grew up in a household that was, well, in a word…loud! I had 4 older brothers who were always running through the house, quite noisily (if Sasquatch is real, maybe he has not been spotted because he lived in my house 😊), and so I sought quiet anywhere and anytime I could!
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There is a study, Does Listening to Mozart Affect Listening Ability, identified as Mozart Effect (ME), that was done just to see if listening to music makes a difference in retention of material on tests. The students were divided up into groups that listened to Mozart A (high pitched, slow rhythm pieces, alpha group), Mozart B (other Mozart pieces, beta group), Rock and Roll, and sitting in silence or working a crossword puzzle before listening to a lecture. The study found that students who listened to Mozart A music scored 9 points higher on IQ tests than those who listened to meditation tapes or sat in silence. Results also showed that students in silence performed better than ones in music conditions only if they rarely studied with music in the background. The study did show Mozart music can improve listening ability if it is the ones "rich in high-frequency sound, mimicking the high frequency sounds heard from the mother's voice in the womb," a condition synonymous with normal development of listening ability. The study noted a French physician and ear specialist found that Mozart's music "rich in high-frequency sound is the perfect balance; not too relaxing, which might cause daydreaming; and not too much energy, which might cause hyperactivity" (Bowman, B., Punyanunt-Carter, N., Cheah, T. Y., Watson, W. J., & Rubin, R. (2007). Does Listening to Mozart Affect Listening Ability? International Journal of Listening, 21(2), 124–139. https://doi.org/10.1080/10904010701302014) .
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The study did identify improved listening skills after listening to Mozart A type music, but only better than listening to other types of music and was not any better than students in the quiet room group who were used to that situational study choice.
The article brings out some further research questions that the authors identified to study this phenomenon further, and is a very interesting read.
So, based on the study findings, I guess both my method of study, as well as my daughter's method are equal for the most part. I would say the main thing is to just make sure you do set aside time to study (rather than last-minute cramming), whichever method works best for you. Certainly, listening to Mozart's music identified in the study (they do list one particular song in the alpha group) can wake your brain up for those cognitive skills it needs to equip itself for retention and alertness. I guess my background of rambunctious siblings will always make me lean toward peace and quiet. I have only my cats to contend with – namely keeping them off my books while I try to read from them!
