Music and Behavioral Health

Music to Increase Focus and Concentration

Focus! Please, focus! As a mother and a teacher, I can’t begin to sum up the amount of times I ask my children or students to “focus.” It’s not easy to focus when our brains are easily distracted by our own inner thoughts and the world around us. But listening to music can help! Unfortunately, you may be disappointed to know that only certain types of music have been scientifically proven to increase focus and concentration. According to several studies (Anderson & Fuller, 2010; Johansson et al, 2011), classical and ambient music are noticeably better than silence at improving focus. The selections from these genres are best if they have no lyrics, are relatively simple, and are sufficiently pleasing to listen to while being easily ignorable.

Also, a study from the University of Connecticut found that undergraduates listening to background music played in the major key (think "happy" sounding music) performed significantly more tasks than did those in the minor (think "sad") key. (Blood & Ferriss,1993).

So what can help your child focus and be more productive? Listening to Classical or ambient music in a major (or happy) key!

Click here for a Spotify playlist to help!

References

Anderson, SA, & Fuller, GB. Effect of music on reading comprehension of junior high school students. School Psychology Quarterly, 2010;25(3), 178-187.

Blood, DJ, Ferriss, SJ. Effects of Background music on Anxiety, Satisfaction with Communication, and Productivity. Psychological Reports, 1993;72(1), 171–177.

Johansson, R., Homqvist, K., Mossberg, F., & Lindgren, M. Eye movements and reading comprehension while listening to preferred and non-preferred study music. Psychology of Music, 2011;40(3), 339-356.