Thomas J. West Music

Today, a student at my cyber charter school that I've never spoken to before sent me the following internal instant message:

Hi Mr. West,

I wanted to know what your opinion is about students listening to music while doing school work? I asked one of my other teachers and she told me that you would probably know more about the subject. Thanks, John (not his real name)

My reply:

Hi John,

Listening to music while you do school work can be beneficial under certain circumstances. The idea is to help generate an atmosphere in your workspace that helps keep you focused and engaged emotionally and energetically on your work. I suggest the following:

1.) Instrumental music tends to work best. Music with lyrics in them tend to draw your attention away from what you are supposed to be focused on.

2.) Music should be played at a volume level that is below what you would normally use for listening. You want the music to provide background ambiance, not demand your attention.

3.) Music that has sudden dramatic changes, like breaks for silence followed by loud, impactful chords will also tend to draw your attention away from your work.

You know yourself best - choose music that inspires you but will not pull you away from your task.

Best wishes,

Mr. West

Students in a cyber charter environment spend a lot of time at their computer working on coursework. Many of those hours are solitary. I have lots of planning time (usually) on Fridays at my school to get work done and find myself at the computer for hours at a time myself. I usually find music to keep me company along the guidelines I mentioned to John. Typically, I find music that matches my mood or energy level.

I see no problem with using music as an evironment control device as long as the music does not become a reason to be off-task.

This article (c) 2011 Thomas J. West. All content on ThomasJWestMusic dot com is licensed under a Creative Contributions Attribution-No Derivative Works 3.0 License. Please contact the author before publishing on or off-line.

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