Homework and Music
I. Introduction
- Attention Getter: (Playing Mozart Sonata on keyboard) Mozart has been named one of the greatest classical composers of all time. His music stimulates and opens the mind.
- Relevance: Being college students, we all know the term homework, and most likely despise it. Music is also a passion of most of us in this room whether it is just listening to music or playing music. The combination of homework and music can be seen by the Mozart Effect, in which the majority of test subjects were undergraduate college students.
- Credibility: I have been playing the piano for the same amount of time I have been assigned homework. I love classical music and have been playing it for the past 13 years.
- Thesis: Students should listen to instrumental music while doing homework.
- Preview: To show why students should listen to music while doing homework I will take you through what the Mozart Effect is, how music affects homework, and what types of music students should listen to while doing their homework.
TRANSITION: Before we jump into doing homework while listening to music, we must understand what the Mozart Effect is.
II. Body
- The Mozart Effect was founded by Gordon Shaw and some of his fellow colleagues. This experiment showed how music affects the brain to increase intelligence and spatial-temporal memory.
- In the first experiment, college students took an intelligence test before listening to the first 10 minutes of Mozart’s Sonata for Two Pianos in D Major.
- After listening to the song, the students were given another intelligence test. The scores increased by eight to nine points. This showed that the spatial-temporal reasoning and memory were enhanced by listening to the music.
- The experiment was repeated many times. The scores were never as drastic as the first, but they always increased
- Also, EEG coherence studies were done along with fMRI studies that showed cortical blood oxygenation activation by the Mozart sonata. These studies, also, showed that the Mozart Effect is important for spatial-temporal reasoning and memory.
- All of this information can be found in Gordon Shaw’s notes and article called The Mozart Effect.
TRANSITION: Now that we know what the Mozart Effect is, we can fully grasp how music affects students’ homework.
- As Danielle pointed out on Monday, there are two sides to the brain. The left hemisphere, which is the center for academics such as math and science, and the right hemisphere, which is the center for creativity, best stimulated by music.
- There is a piece that connects the two hemispheres of the brain. This is called the corpus callosum. When the Mozart effect happens, this passage way is “opened” up. It allows for fast communication between both sides of the brain, stimulating the left hemisphere by the communication of the right hemisphere, which was stimulated by music.
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Gordon Shaw states in his book Keeping Mozart in Mind that there are thirteen pieces to our brain that fit in a puzzle. Each part is affects by the Mozart effect as you can see here (show overhead).
Diagram From: Shaw, G. L. (1999). Keeping Mozart in Mind. California: Academic Press
- You may be thinking, that’s nice, but what does this have to do with how music affects homework? Well, it has everything to do with how music affects homework.
- By listening to music while doing homework, both sides of the brain are stimulated and as shown in Shaw’s thirteen piece model of the brain, certain parts have improved intelligence.
- In one part of the thirteen piece model, it shows the piano training plus the star principle equals improved math skills.
- The spatial-temporal memory section of the brain is stimulated while listening to music as well.
TRANSITION: Since music affects homework, there are certain types of music one should listen to while doing homework.
- Although different types of music may be listened to, instrumental music is a must.
- During this study many different types of music were used to see which would bring about the greatest increase in test scores and memory.
- According to Martin Jones of the Human Intelligence organization, Mozart’s Sonata for two pianos in D major, the original test song, was used as well as music by Yanni, Philip Glass, Aqua, Albinoni and Schubert in other experiments of the Mozart Effect.
- The greatest increase in spatial-temporal memory was achieved by the instrumental and classical pieces.
- Classical Music is the best form of music to listen to, but not everyone’s personal preference is to listen to classical music.
- It has been suggested that any instrumental music that includes stringed instruments such as violins, violas, cellos, and more or piano music accompanied by horns should be listened to. This is suggested by Dr. Eric Chudler, a professor at the University of Washington.
- Some examples of other music rather than classical would be The Lord of the Rings soundtracks by Howard Shore, music by concert pianist David Foster, or Jim Brickman’s instrumental CDs.
TRANSITION: Music is the gateway to creativity and memory.
III. Conclusion
- Students should listen to instrumental music while doing homework.
- We have now looked at the Mozart Effect and how music stimulates the mind to do better on tests and improves memory, we have seen how music opens up the corpus callosum so that the left side of the brain and the right side of the brain can work together and helps one to remember what they read or did while working out a problem, and we have learned the different types of music we can listen to to achieve the best results while doing homework.
- So, I urge you to listen to Mozart or other instrumental music while doing your homework. Students should listen to instrumental music to stimulate the mind.
- I’ll leave you with a quote from the famous cellist, Yo Yo Ma, “Classical music is one of the best things that ever happened to mankind. If you get introduced to it in the right way, it becomes your friend for life.”
References
Chudler, E. H. (2004). The Musical Brain. Retrieved November 17, 2004, from http://faculty.washington.edu/chudler/music.html.
Jones, M. (2003). The Mozart Effect. Indiana: Indiana University.
Schirmer, G. (1893). Schirmer’s Library of Musical Classics. Milwaukee: Hal Leonard Publishing Corporation.
Shaw, G. L. (1999). Keeping Mozart in Mind. California: Academic Press.
Shaw, G. L. (2001). The Mozart effect [Electronic version]. MIND, 611-613.
Steele, K. M. (2001). The “Mozart effect”: An example of the scientific method in operation [Electronic version]. Psychology Teacher Network, 2-5.
