It’s finals week.  So begins the anxious end to every college semester.  Studying for finals can be something of a fine art.  For many students, listening to music while studying serves to lessen the anxiety and stress of preparing for exams.

While good note taking skills remain one of the best assets to final exam success, it could be the musical notes a student listens to – and when they listen to them – that has an even more critical impact on retention.  Is what you choose to play while you study ultimately helping or impeding your brains ability to retain what you learn?  Well according to numerous studies, that seems to that depends on several factors.

First, the subject are you studying seems to be of significant importance.  For instance, according to studies, math students have been proven to experience higher memory retention if listening to classical music.  Whereas, students studying history and having to retain a large amount of facts and dates, have been proven to do better if they study in silence – or with a repetitive ambient background.

In a recent “on the spot” survey of students at IU Southeast, 50% of those surveyed reported that they are plugged in to music while studying.  The genre of music used for studying by those surveyed is interestingly split.  The categories with the highest percentage are equally split between Rock and Ambient.  Classical was next with 9.38%.

“I don’t normally listen to music while studying because it is can be a distraction”, said Catherine Daugherty, a senior criminology major.  “But when I do listen while studying, it’s to instrumental.” said Daugherty.

Rachel Hamm, a sophomore business major listens to symphonic video game music while studying.  “It is Nintendo video game music that you hear on games – but is orchestrated.  It works because video game music is designed to help you focus.”  said Hamm.

So what is the best genre of music for studying?  This has been debated hotly over time – however major studies conducted over the past 30 years have shown that listening to specific types of music does have an impact on cognitive performance, and can actually increase or decrease our brains ability to retain what we hear and read.

In the 1960’s, Dr. Georgi Lozanov, a Bulgarian doctor, began studying the correlation of music to memory and learning.  He conducted his research over a period of 30 years, and his conclusion was that it was not all music, but a specific type of music, that allowed for faster learning and richer retention.

Turns out that classical music was the key ingredient.  But not just any classical music.  Lozanov believed that for each stage of the learning process, different types of classical works worked better than others.

Lozanov studies state that there are three main stages of learning and the music you listen to during these stages affect the brain and its retention differently.  He referred to the three stages as a “relaxation” stage, where we setup up the brain to learn. This is followed by an “active learning” stage, where the brain is actively absorbing information.  Then, lastly, there is the “memory consolidation” stage – where the brain commits what we have read and studied to memory.  In Lozanov’s studies, MRI and PET scans proved that the brain reacted differently to the tempo of each piece of music used in his studies during the different stages.

Here are some of the specific classical music pieces that were recommended by Lozanov:

Active Learning Stage:

•         Beethoven, Concerto for Violin and Orchestra in D Major, Op 61
•         Tchaikovsky, Concerto No. 1 in B flat minor for Piano and Orchestra
•         Mozart, Concerto for Violin and Orchestra, Concert No. 7 in D major
•         Haydn, Symphony No. 67 in F major; Symphony No.69 in B. Major
•         Beethoven, Concerto No. 5 in E flat major for Piano and Orchestra, Op. 73 (“Emperor”)

Memory Consolidation Stage:

•         Corelli, Concerti Grossi, Op. 6, No. 2, 8, 5, 9.
•         Handel, The Water Music.
•         J.S. Bach, Fantasy in G major, Fantasy in C Minor and Trio in D minor; Canonic Variations and Toccata.
•         Corelli, Concerti Grossi, Op. 4, No. 10, 11, 12
•         Vivaldi, Five Concertos for Flute and Chamber Orchestra.

Classical music, while not heavily prevalent in our survey results, did have a few fans.

“When I need to focus on memorizing facts, I listen to Classical music,” said Kelly Howard, a freshman psychology major.  “But when I am writing, I listen to Techno instrumental because it is less distracting,” Howard said.

In an August 2007 study, Neural Dynamics of Event Segmentation in Music: Converging Evidence for Dissociable Ventral and Dorsal Networks , researchers from Stanford University used the MRI to study the brain’s reaction to musical compositions.

They used symphonies from the English composer William Boyce (1711-1779) because his work was not widely recognized and contained well-defined pauses between the movements, which in earlier studies had shown to stir activity in two different areas of the brain.  The study revealed that while listening to certain pieces of classical music, the brain responded to the pauses between movements by receiving and storing what was being heard.

Jonathan Berger, PhD, associate professor of music at Stanford University and co-author of the Stanford study wrote, “Music engages the brain over a period time, and the process of listening to music could be a way that the brain sharpens it ability to anticipate events and sustain information.”

Over time, other well respected studies have shown that successful concentration and absorption of learning really depends on the individual and what they are studying.  As evident in our poll of IU Southeast students, no one genre fits all areas of study or even students with the same major.

In fact, percentages are evenly distributed across the genres for all the majors surveyed – the average being about 6.25%, with  exception of the two categories of “Ambient” noise or music and Rock – both with 12.5%.

That said, classical music does seem to hold value as a strong tool for not only academic studying, but for also as a stress management tool – which might be of great benefit during the week leading up to and including, the week of finals.

Allison Engel, an award-winning reporter and editor who regularly covers USC’s six arts schools and radio stations, writes in an article in USC News on December 4, 2014, “A number of academic studies recently zeroed in on classical music, showing that listening benefits the brain, sleep patterns, the immune systems and stress levels – all helpful when facing those all-important end of semester tests.”   Classical KUSC, which is a broadcast service of University of Southern California streams classical works of Brahms, Handel, Mozart, Strauss and Bach during finals.

Our poll showed that, like most aspects of our lives, one solution or methodology may not be suitable for all challenges.  We must learn to apply the methodologies individually to situations and find the best solution that creates the highest degree of success.  What is also important to consider, is that if you struggle to retain or focus during intense study periods, try changing up your music.  If you normally listen to heavy metal, try ambient noise.  If you fall asleep with classical, try jazz or instrumentals.

“I only listen to to music while writing and it is usually Rock,” said Brittany Ashby, a senior english major.  “If I am studying and reading notes, I cannot have music playing,” said Ashby.

Location is also important and overall, does not appear too surprising.  54% of IU Southeast students surveyed said that they study at home and 27% said they prefer to study in the library.  Those who prefer home stated it’s because there are less distractions.

What differentiates us from our parent’s college experience, is that we have the ability to take our music with us wherever we go.  We have the ability to choose a location conducive to successful studying and be able to accentuate that with music that enhances our ability to retain what we learn.

All studies and opinions aside, students are unique consumers of knowledge and we all deal with individual and environmental challenges when it comes to learning.  One methodology for cognitive retention and recall will work for some and not for others.

While classical music seems to be the recommended genre from a scientific standpoint for students during tense academic periods like finals, what is more important is understanding how music affects your specific ability to focus and retain what you are learning.