Does music help you concentrate while studying?

For me, it is a distraction.

Depends on the surrounding environment. I usually use music to drown out all the other distractions and then it helps me focus.

Music helps a lot but only if its instrumental music. That way I can enjoy the music but not get caught up on lyrics that would distract me from whatever I was trying to read/learn

Yup, I always put on music while I studied maths. Awesome combination, the two.

@Ayesha Aren’t music and math interlinked somehow?

@Adirondackwannabe They are linked, in literal form. They say ‘Mathematics is the Basis of Sound’ Bull (cough) Crap. I put it on so that I wouldn’t die in the process.

Depends what I’m listening to. I’m like @uberbatman, instrumental music (e.g. Holst, Mendelsshon, Sonny Rollins) helps me. Death metal does not really help. Rap (for me) also helps for some reason.

Yeah, same as above. Instrumental music works well for me.

I found that I can’t have music on while studying. Even if it’s instrumental. I still get too caught up in the music and can’t concentrate on what I’m doing.

Yes, but it cannot be loud and has to be a lite rock-type music. I am fortuanate that I can associate a song with a question and answer. I have used this method all of my life and it works for me.

An example: the song I Shot The Sherriff….I associate this song with the degrees of murder.

Music works really well for me as it turns into what amounts to white noise which keeps other distractions minimal. After the fact it helps remind me of my focus as once I’m fully engaged it basically falls unnoticed into the background and I recognize when I start to “hear” it again.

Here is a study finding that music disrupts short term memory: “The results showed that the [white] noise condition did not differ from silence; both of these proved less disruptive than instrumental music, which was in turn less disruptive than the unattended speech condition.”

Hmm. My son needs a lot of help with his math, so my wife spends a lot of time with him. He also does his homework in kitchen in the middle of everything. He is, of course, distracted, but how can he get help without being distracted? Maybe he should listen to music and we should make him do it on his own. Maybe he’d do better that way. Or maybe he should listen to white noise.

Or maybe none of it is all that important in the long run. He may not know math facts, but he is brilliant at concepts, say his teachers.

No.. music distracts me so much. I need to study with almost 0 sounds on.

For me, playing music while trying to study is completely distracting. So is hearing other people talking or the TV going or the leaf blowers and lawn mowers going. I need near silence.

Downtempo, trip-hop, electronic, folk and classic music helps me concentrate on what I’m studying. It also helps me cover up surrounding sounds such as people eating chips in the library, etc. Almost every other music genre distracts me, especially if they speak too much in the song.

Hell no. It’s a distraction unless I’m doing something I that doesn’t require full concentration or isn’t that difficult.

If it’s dance/pop music then no, it doesn’t help. If however it’s alternative rock, country or classic then it helps a lot. I usually do listen to music like that whilst studying.

No. I love music too much. I get lost in the music and can’t concentrate on anything else.

I find it distracting. I need a quiet space to myself when studying.

I find that classical music aides my studying greatly if played softly in the background. I find that techno music played very loudly whilst I’m working on the computer gets me fired up to complete a project.

No.

I dislike almost all music that involves lyrics. My favorite type of music is instrumental. Not classical like Beethoven, but I like stuff like Holst’s Mars. When I am listening to music, I will either get the music stuck in my head (which does not help), or I can’t stop thinking about how stupid and pointless the music (which also does not help).

No

not for me it takes my mind elsewher especially depending on hat im listening to like adele or bruno mars <3