Listening to music in school or while working has been a big controversy within schools and between students and teachers. Most teachers feel as if music is a distraction, but the students believe that it helps them focus and be more effective on their work.

Depending on the teacher they won’t allow you to listen to music at all but some still believe to an extent, that music does help students study. But some teachers will provide their own music or allow students to listen to their music as an award if they show that they are still engaged while the music is playing.

“Some students prefer to hear music to help them relax and function. Music helps shape moods. Positive music can bring students out of a funk and make them feel happier,” said Thomas Briones.

Music affects different people and Mr. Briones explains as to how he plays music in class since he knows that most students like to listen to music while working. But at the beginning of the year he asked his students in each class which students don’t work well with music and he sat them away from the speakers to meet their needs.

But depending on the music, some students feel as if just hearing music rather than other noises keeps them focused.

“Do you think music affects students in a negative or positive way while working? and why?”

“I think music can both be positive and a negative affect because it’s a good way to work independently and helps students focus on their work but then there are those who take advantages of using the phone.” said Ixchel Barrera.

“Does music help students focus on their work?

“Yes, because when I’m listening to it helps me focus rather than hearing other noises or just silence,” said Nayelli Luna.

Nayelli Luna explained as to how she always listens to music while doing any kind of work, let it be school work, physical work, or just thinking about a topic, music does help her concentrate on the activity’s she’s doing.

Music affects everyone differently, some positively some negatively. Scientist have said that classical music or calming music helps people while doing work the best. But music such as hip hop, pop, or rap music can actually distract students or anyone doing some sort of work. So if you’re going to listen to music while working, slow music or instrumentals will help you focus best and can improve the effort you put into the assignment.

Some music does affect students in a negative but some music can also help students focus and learn things, in the end all that matters is the student’s’ preference. It also matters if students’ are comfortable with multitasking. Classical music helps best with doing school work but pop, rap, hip-hop, etc won’t be as useful and have a better chance of distracting the student.