Whether you use YouTube, Spotify, iTunes or Pandora, you might want to tune in more often. If you’re not already a regular and avid listener of music when you study, you might want to start taking advantage of the benefits it can offer. From making you feel less stressed, more focused and productive, it’s a great tool that is universal to ease your studying demands. Although everyone has different tastes and preferences, it has been widely researched that certain styles of music are more effective than others. Let’s take a look at some brain stimulators:
Keeping it classic
Lyrical music has long had a bad rap of being a major distractor especially when you need to read chunky pieces of text and then write up an extended essay. On the other hand, classical music has been historically shown to provoke the opposite effect by inducing productivity so much so that it has even been dubbed the ‘Mozart effect.‘ Hence, this is why we- see so many soon-to-be mothers attaching earphones or speakers to their stomachs in the hopes of nurturing the next Einstein or Edison. Although I have no way of guaranteeing it, there’s nothing to lose from trying it out for yourself.
Nature’s blessings
Studying in a room or area with a lot of people? No doubt one of the most annoying and frustrating things is having a fierce wave of white noise dashing straight towards you. Thankfully, calming music nature sounds such as rain, birds chirping and the seashore, for example, can be highly effective in masking white noise. Here is my absolute favourite album which incorporates background nature noises into well-known classical ballet scores.
Instrumental tunes
You may want to crank this up for your next cramming session before your final exams or an important piece of work such as your dissertation. This album was specifically designed to relax stressed-out travellers at airports but has also proved an effective tool when it’s time to get down to some serious studying and deep concentration.
Playlist tips
- Create your playlist beforehand so you don’t have to deal with the distraction and loss of time by actively searching for a new tune every few minutes.
- Stick to playlists of between 40-50 minutes— so you save yourself having to set a timer with the automatic reminder to take a study break when the time is up. Plus, it helps you plan your study sessions to ensure your concentration levels do not tail off.
- Avoid listening to the radio. Dialogue between radio personalities and commercials can be distracting.
- Don’t listen to music at full blast, moderate is best.
