Music as a learning tool

September 23, 3:27 PMWorkplace Training and Development ExaminerLenn Millbower

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Show biz secrets for adult learning success.

This article explores techniques for using music as a learning tool.

Solders march to the beat, athlete’s exercise with music, and people united in a cause sing. Music, an integral part of human life, is often overlooked as a tool for improving human performance. In this era of “better, faster, cheaper,” trainers are looking for new, innovative approaches that help learning interventions succeed. The work of Howard Gardner, Georgi Lozanov, and a host of researchers have demonstrated that music is one such approach.

Music Helps Learners Focus

Background music during learning discussions and solo reflection activities can be especially helpful. It creates a sense of privacy for small group discussion, making conversations more satisfying and your learners more likely to say what they feel; enters into memory and aids recall; and masks ambient noise from other groups. The steady tones and tempos of Baroque music make it ideal for this purpose. Much of it was in fact composed as background music for kings, emperors, and other dignitaries.

Music Changes Energy Levels

Music can change the dynamic of your learning environment at appropriate moments, encouraging people to move about, relax, calm down, or get excited, depending on the needs of your session. After intense concentration, play faster music in a major key to encourage better moods. After heated discussion, play slow, minor key music with low-rhythmic activity to calm your learners down. After a depressing, worrisome discussion, play major-key music with high-rhythmic activity and short, quick notes to create a happy mood.

Music Creates a Positive Learning Environment

Providing pleasant emotional content to your learners will establish a link between you, your classroom, and the learners’ pleasure. Music reaches deep into the brain’s limbic system, and creates pleasant emotions. Learners who walk into your classroom and immediately feel comfortable because of the music you play will be engaged to learn.

Music is not a replacement for effective content, nor is it the only resource available. Rather, music is one more tool effective trainers should have at their disposal. Music, by its very familiarity, does not draw attention to itself. Instead it works much as coffee comforts the morning, popcorn anticipates the movie, and baking bread remembers home; it awakens the recesses of your learners' minds and calls the emotion to attention. Trainers who harness the teaching power of music find that training does indeed have a beat!