Posted by If used appropriately, music can be a powerful tool in your studies. Tuning into your favorite playlist can get you in a good mood, which you need when studying. Studies have revealed that music can help boost one’s concentration and memory due to relaxation. Sometimes, students struggle to understand concepts because they are stressed, but you can achieve maximum relaxation with music. We all have different preferences regarding music genres, so don’t be afraid to experiment until you find a suitable playlist for your studies. But how do you use music to boost your productivity when studying? Let’s dig in and find out.
Select the Right Genre
Choosing an online essay writing service requires careful assessment to ensure the service you pick will serve the intended purpose accurately. The same applies to selecting music for studies. Different types of music genres bring out various emotions in us. The calmness of RnB and slow jams can be relaxing, while the sound of upbeat rock music can get you energetic and in high spirits. Not all genres are suitable for studying, especially if you don’t want to be distracted. Therefore, when choosing a playlist for your study session, you can opt for slow music, instrumentals, or ambient sounds. Also, choosing music with fewer lyrics is best since you might get distracted trying to follow up with the lyrics. Thus, you should create a laid black playlist to make your focus more accessible.
Once you get the right playlist, you can stick to it, but in case you need to change it, you can use the existing one to find similar sounds that will help you focus when studying. For better playlists, you can opt to use music applications such as Spotify since they have an already combined playlist, including a study playlist. Once you find the right genre, you can use it as a Pavlovian trigger, whereby listening to the same music constantly helps your brain get cultured, and you will always associate that type of music with studying. Some of the playlists you can try include:
- Classical orchestra music
- Nature sounds
- Spa music
- Soft rock
- Film or game background sounds
- Mellow jazz
Set the Right Volume
After selecting your playlist, ensure you play it at the right volume. The most appropriate volume level should be low but loud enough to give you a soft background sound. Loud music often gets irritating and may lower your focus. Besides, loud and agitated music can affect your mood, making it hard to concentrate, especially if doing a reading or writing task requires maximum attention, like a dissertation. You might find yourself postponing working on the paper or you’ll feel unmotivated to write it and might think, “Should I hire someone to do my dissertation online?”
Use Music as a Timer
You can create a playlist of songs with the same tempo during your music selection and run them almost simultaneously. For example, if the first songs run for 25 minutes, collectively, you can time yourself to take a short break after the last song ends. If you take a five-minute break, you can also time yourself with one track and resume studying after it ends. Timing yourself using music, not the standard clock, will motivate you to keep going, as it’ll spice up your study session.
Match Music to Task Difficulty
Some tasks call for high concentration due to their complexity; thus, for such assignments, you can opt for slow-tempo music to avoid distraction. But you can use an upbeat sound for repetitive or creative tasks to keep you active. Also, when dealing with complex tasks, it is good to select a playlist with minimal lyrics; an instrumental or classical playlist will be more suitable. Therefore, before curating your playlist, check whether the concept you want to master requires much of your attention. Ultimately, the impact of a music playlist during your study session should depend on your preference and what gets you to focus more. To find a suitable genre, consider your choice, see what affects your concentration, and make the necessary adjustments.
Take Breaks
While music helps set your mood right and stay relaxed even when studying gets intense, it is still essential to take breaks when needed to avoid exhaustion. It is easy to overstretch when studying while listening to your favorite tunes. However, you should listen to your body more and take a break when you feel exhausted. Use your breaks to stretch, eat, or hydrate to keep you recharged. Taking a break to clear your mind will leave you more energetic than you were before.
Avoid Distractions
Music can create the perfect study environment, but it can also be the destruction you don’t need. Therefore, you should draw the line between benefiting from it and when it becomes a distraction. For example, if you start focusing more on the lyrics on the instrumentals, then it is time to switch off the sound. Also, if you find yourself constantly changing tracks, you can switch it off to avoid further distraction.
Before settling down to study, it is best to create a playlist that will last for the duration of your studies so that you don’t have to keep perusing through your music library to find the right track. Also, not everybody studies well with music; hence, you should first identify if studying with music works for you. If you find it distractive, you can do away with it. You should also find music that will not make you drowsy throughout your session.
Find Commercial-Free Music
Commercial music often promotes items or services in between, which can be distracting. For example, listening to music from YouTube with advertisements means you must keep skipping the ads that divert your attention from your work. Also, listening to DJ mixes can be distractive due to the incessant DJ chatters, which can distract your concentration from the task. That is why you need to create a flowing playlist with no breaks in between.
Summing Up
Studying while grooving to your favorite tunes can be therapeutic, making your study sessions more productive. However, for your playlist to be effective, it should keep you awake but not make you tap and move to the beat. Whichever music you pick to keep you company, ensure it doesn’t sway you from the main objective, which is mastering concepts.
