Have you ever wondered why some people can’t study with music and why some can’t study without it? We’ve had many parents come up to me and ask why their children insist on studying with music when (the parents feel) it is so obviously distracting and not conducive to learning.
The truth here is pretty nuanced and depends largely on the kind of music you are listening to. If you are listening to your favourite songs, those might actually distract you, because you’ll follow along with the music. It gets you into “active” listening mode, where your focus is on the music itself. What is helpful while studying (or any other task that requires focus) is “passive listening” when the music creates a sonic backdrop for you to focus on whatever else you are doing. The type of music that has shown to help best for studying is instrumental music. Why is this? Because there are no lyrics to distract the brain.
An interesting caveat here is that if you are a musician or a music student, it may be best to avoid the style of music you learn or play when you’re trying to study, because your brain might be more trained to focus on the music than the task at hand. So, if you’re a Carnatic mridangam player, maybe you shouldn’t listen to a complex rhythmic piece while cramming for your Math exam.
It’s also good to remember that though there are studies to show how the brain relates to music, each of us is unique. My own brother made his way through med school playing ghazals through late night study sessions and he’s doing great.
Volume also plays a role: try to ensure that it’s at a volume that helps drown out external noise (like the pressure cooker at home!) and helps you focus, but isn’t so loud that you can’t think.
If you haven’t used music while studying before, try it out!
(The authors run SaPa - the Subramaniam Academy of Performing Arts)