A Reader’s Guide to the 

Effect of Music on Learning 

By: Samika Satheesh
 Table of Contents 
 

Introduction: What is the Relationship Between 

Music and Learning? …………………………………………… 3 

Positive Effects of Learning with Music ……….. 4 

General Positive Effects of Music …………………….. 6 

Different Types of Music and Their Effects ….. 7 

Negative Effects of Learning with Music ……… 8 

Sources ……………………………………………………………………….. 9 

 
Introduction: What is the Relationship
between Music and Learnin​​g? 
 
In the competitive world we live in today, students constantly 
face pressure to be the best in school. To be the best, students are 
always trying new ways to facilitate their learning strategies, 
whether this includes the location or amount of time the student 
dedicates towards their studies. External factors such as music 
may also have an effect on a student’s learning ability. 
Many students include listening to music during their 
process of studying. They believe having music in the background 
has a positive impact on their study skills. This improved studying 
method correlates with higher memorization and increased 
comprehension skills. Along with the direct impact on the 
specifics of the student’s learning ability, there is a change in the 
overall mood and attitude the student has towards the study 
material. As the student listens to the music that they enjoy and 
there is an improvement in the mood there could be an increase 
in motivation throughout the learning environment as well.  
Others argue that music is simply a distraction and does not 
act as a learning enhancer. Different types of music have various 
effects on students, such as the level of distraction. Aspects of 
music that cause these different effects include, intensity, rhythm, 
volume, and presence of lyrics. There have been studies done with 
students to test if there truly is a correlation between music and 
learning ability.  
Throughout this reading guide there will be an inquiry 
regarding whether listening to music while studying truly has an 
impact on a student’s learning ability. The first chapter will discuss 
perspectives that support music having a positive impact on a 
student’s learning ability. The second chapter will compare how 
different music types can have different effects. The last chapter 
will convey the perspectives of why music is simply a distraction 
and has a negative impact on the student’s learning ability.  
 
Positive Effects of Learning with Music 
 
Students have reported the beneficial impacts of listening to 
background music while learning. One main reason for this is that 
music provides a more enjoyable mood in the corresponding 
learning atmosphere. Music provides “the user more control to 
personalise their learning environment with something they 
already find engaging and 
relevant”(Leo Learning Web 
Team, 2013). This personalized 
environment allows the 
student to connect more 
with the learning material 
and this will have a positive 
influence on the ability to 
memorize the content as 
well. Music forces multiple 
sections of the brain to work 
together activating the active 
listening and even the 
memory. Memory skills can 
be found in the left atmosphere. Music triggers almost every 
section of the brain. Although these parts of the brain are 
activated during studying with music, there is no evidence that 
proves a direct scientific connection between music and an 
improvement in learning.  
 
Advocates for music as a learning enhancer use the 
arousal-mood-hypothesis to further provide scientific evidence for 
this theory. This idea relates to the suggestion of music creating a 
more motivating and stimulating atmosphere. While the student 
listens to the music that is enjoyable to them during their 
studying process, the learning material may even become more 
enjoyable to the student. This can be explained because, “​music 
can add meaningful context by making the experience personally 
relevant and authentic for the learner, raising attention with 
emotional charge” (Leo Learning Web Team, 2013). The student 
starts to share the same emotional connection that is felt with the 
music with the study material as well. This will eventually have 
positive effects on a student’s learning ability.  
 
A well known concept that even many teachers use in a 
classroom setting is called the Mozart Effect. Teachers will play 
classical music as there students complete work during class, 
many times resulting in higher quality work. There have been 
studies made where students listen to music written by Mozart 
and then complete different tasks that require a decent amount 
of brain activity. The classical music written by Mozart had a 
positive effect on the student’s ability to perform the tasks. ​The 
Mozart Effect is a well known major factor of the relationship 
between music and a student’s learning ability. This effect 
specifically targets the memory skills of the student. Memory skills 
tend to be correlated with specific parts of the brain and studies 
about the Mozart Effect focused on these parts. This idea has 
spread beyond students and their learning ability. The Mozart 
Effect even went on to have an effect on health care aspects. Many 
people in the healthcare profession rely on this theory in order to 
help their patients. Music has been known to decrease stress 
levels due to neurotransmitters that are released while listening. 
This is helpful when healthcare professionals want to help with 
anxiety cases. The decrease in stress levels connect back towards a 
student’s learning ability as well. This allows the student to be 
more focused rather than feeling pressured and stressed to recall 
the information. 
General Effects of Music 
 
Positive impacts of listening to music expand beyond a student’s 
learning ability. Music can have an impact on one’s overall mental 
and physical health as well. Anxiety is one of the most commonly 
known mental illnesses that use music as a natural remedy. 
Doctors who treat patients with illnesses such as high blood 
pressure and cancer will recommend them to listen to music to 
help speed their recovery process. 
 
 
“Exposure to sound, music, and other forms of vibration, 
beginning in utero, can have a lifelong effect on health, learning, 
and behavior”(Campbell, 1997). Music can have a lasting positive 
impact on other aspects of life, along with one’s learning ability. 
This positive impact can include decreased levels of stress, 
increased amounts of sleep, and even reduce depression. 
Listening to music stimulates the opposite internal sensations 
that are triggered by stress. This will therefore contribute to a 
person’s overall greater physical and mental well being.  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Different Types of Music and their Effects 
 
When trying to observe whether music has a positive or 
negative impact on a student’s learning ability it is necessary to 
delve into the specifics, such as the type of music the student is 
listening to. 
Listening to music that has an excessive amount of lyrics 
involved can have a negative impact on learning because, “vocal 
music is more distracting than helpful, particularly when trying to 
memorize”(Computer Systems Institute, 2015). As the student 
attempts to memorize the study material, the music containing 
lyrics can cause a distraction even if it just played in the 
background. The student’s brain will unwillingly focus on the 
words from the song rather than concentrating on the study 
material.  
Along with lyrics, the tempo, volume, and rhythm have an 
effect on student’s as well. Music that is played softer in the 
background and has a fast tempo can have beneficial impact on 
the student, while music that is louder will take too much 
attention away from the study material. Also slower tempos do not 
create the specific mood needed for the student to feel motivated 
in the learning environment. 
Music that is familiar to the student can display varying 
effects onto the studying process. One possibility could be the 
familiarity allows the student to feel more comfortable with the 
learning material that is unfamiliar towards the student. This will 
motivate the student to study harder and truly understand the 
concepts better. Another possibility that comes with listening to 
music that is familiar is that it is more likely to be a distraction for 
the student. The student will unknowingly find themselves paying 
more attention to the music that is easier for them to understand 
and connect with. This type of music varies with the type of 
student. 
 
Negative Effects of Learning with Music 
 
People who disagree with the idea that music acts as a 
learning enhancer for students mainly believe that people are 
unable to truly multitask. They state that although the music will 
be played only in the background and the student believes it is 
helping their concentration, it is merely only having a detrimental 
effect on the student’s focus.  
“When learning with background music, the learners have to 
divide their attention between the learning task and the 
music.(Lehmann, 2017)” Music causes a distraction because 
unknowingly parts of the brain will start to focus on the music.  
Although the music may be creating an overall enjoyable 
mood that could be helping the student feel more involved in the 
study material, the student may end up becoming too involved in 
the music as well.  
To test this theory, social scientists Nick Perham and Harriet 
Currie coordinated four groups of student each with a separate 
task. One group consisted of studying in silence, the second group 
studied with songs that had lyrics they favored, the third group 
studied with songs that had lyrics they did not favor, and the last 
group studied with songs with no lyrics. The results stated that 
students studying in silence performed better than students who 
listened to music. The students who participated in this study 
claimed that the music provided a distraction although it did 
increase their mood as they studied. The social scientists were able 
to conclude that music may not have a direct influence on 
impacting higher intelligence skills but it does create motivation 
to reach these higher standards. 
 
 
 
 
 
Sources 
 
Lehmann, Janina A. M., and Tina Seufert. “The Influence of Background Music on Learning in
the Light of Different Theoretical Perspectives and the Role of Working Memory Capacity.”
Frontiers in Psychology​, Frontiers Media S.A., 2017,
www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5671572/.

 
LEO Learning Web Team. “How Does Music Affect the Learning Experience?” ​LEO Learning,​
4 Nov. 2016, leolearning.com/2013/08/how-does-music-affect-the-learning-experience
https://leolearning.com/2013/08/how-does-music-affect-the-learning-experience/​.

Computer Systems Institute. “How Does Listening to Music Affect Studying?” ​Computer
Systems Institute in MA & IL​, 4 Feb. 2016,
www.csinow.edu/blog/how-much-does-listening-to-music-affect-your-studying/

Campbell, D., & Campbell, D. (n.d.). ​The Mozart effect : tapping the power of music to heal the
body, strengthen the mind, and unlock the creative spirit ​(1st ed.). New York: Avon Books.

Shorr, Ardon, director. ​Unlocking Music with Neuroscience​. ​YouTube,​ 19 Apr. 2012,
youtu.be/cswhOCKQZ7Q.

Sacks, Oliver. “Music and the Brain ~ The Importance of Early Musical Training.” ​PBS​, Public
Broadcasting Service, 10 Sept. 2018,
www.pbs.org/wnet/musicinstinct/video/interviews/music-and-the-brain-the-importance-of-early-
musical-training/49/.

Hattie, J., & Yates, G. (2014). ​Visible learning and the science of how we learn .​ London ;:
Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group.

Laughlin, Frank. “Frank Laughlin.” ​Emerging Education Technologies​, 30 June 2016,

www.emergingedtech.com/2016/06/positive-impact-music-can-have-on-student-success/​.

“How Does Music Affect Your Brain?” ​Ashford University,​ 7 June 2017,
www.ashford.edu/online-degrees/student-lifestyle/how-does-music-affect-your-brain.

Busch, Bradley. “Drowned in Sound: How Listening to Music Hinders Learning.” ​The
Guardian,​ 14 Mar. 2018,
www.theguardian.com/teacher-network/2018/mar/14/sound-how-listening-music-hinders-learnin
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