I view myself as an eclectic person when it comes to music. I keep my Pandora on shuffle, and my YouTube history is full of artists from Beyonce to John Lennon to Rob Zombie. However, I will never sit down to do homework and listen to Mozart or Bach. Classical music has never been appealing to me.
There have been countless studies that look at how classical music can improve brain function, but for those of us that can't stand classical music, I have a different approach. The way I believe my brain works best is when it's bombarded with multiple things. Sunni Brown has a TED Talk on doodlers (people who draw "mindlessly"). She suggests that your brain actually functions better when you're doodling. She even decided to create her own definition of doodling, being "to make spontaneous marks to help yourself think."
Attribution: www.ted.com
She talks some more about doodling and how it affects the brain, then goes on to say that there are four modes of learning, visual, auditory, reading/writing, and kinesthetic or hands on. She then makes a remark about how you retain information better if you're engaged in two or more of these modes at the same time, or if you are engaged in one, but it carries an emotional tie to it.
If you haven't caught on to what I'm saying yet, then here it is:
Music is auditory, we listen to it and process it in our brains. Most music has an emotional connection to it. When I'm doing online homework or writing a paper, or even taking a test, I'm reading/writing. If I add lyrical music into the mix, I'm reading/writing, using an auditory mode to learn, and coupling it with an emotional connection.
Attribution: www.fastcompany.com
Instead of just two modes of learning at a time, I'm using three. So, shouldn't that mean that I will retain the information better and process it better?
I always remember my teachers getting upset because I would ask if I could listen to music, but the reality is, I just learn better that way.
In all honesty, this isn't for everyone. Not everyone can listen to lyrical music and study at the same time. The one thing you can do, is start to understand how you learn. It might take you a while, but it's worth it. Once you know how you learn best, you can work even harder to succeed and be the person you hope to be.
Long story short, blast some Beyonce, dance around a little bit, belt out your favorite ballad, get comfortable, and get started on that homework. You might find that all the time you spent procrastinating could have been used to listen to Lemonade while you wrote a 10 page paper!
