Sound Directions for Using Music in the Classroom

by Chris Brewer, MA, FAMI

Welcoming Music

Play music as students (participants) enter, exit, or return from lunch or breaks to set the desired learning atmosphere and get them ready to learn.

• Play calming Baroque-era music to set a relaxed and supportive learning atmosphere and welcome students as they enter the classroom. Sound Suggestions: Relax with the Classics, Vol 1 or Vol 2, The Four Seasons, Baroque Music for Learning and Relaxation.
• Play energizing Mozart music as students enter the class to prepare them for an active and focused learning session. Sound Suggestions: Mozart Effect: Strengthening the Mind (best choice for adults)
• Mozart Effect for Children: Tune Your Mind, Mozart Effect for Children: Mozart to Go, Play music at a mid-level tempo to stabilize energy levels and create a help students get into the rhythm of learning. Sound Suggestion: Dance of the Renaissance, Emerald Castles, Ventana al Sol, Primitive Future
• Play lively music for an exciting welcome back after break, recess or lunch! Sound Suggestions: Hooked on Classics, Earth Tribe Rhythms, Funny 50's, Oldies for Kool Kiddies, Gary Lamb's East Meets West

Music Memory Activities

Use music with memory activities that help students process content information in an alpha state and through multiple senses.

• Take students on a Learning Journey by playing reflective music while you verbally lead them on an imaginative journey related to an academic topic---through the structures of a cell, around the solar system, through the digestive tract, as if they were a molecule of water in the hydrologic cycle, through the setting of an historical event or a book setting-or for corporate-through the founding of the company, through the mechanics of a job task, or through specifics of customer service. Sound Suggestions: use an Ambient or Piano music selection. Top picks: a selection from Galaxies, Velvet Dreams or Music for Accelerated Learning.
• Do a visual review of a unit or lesson by playing music and showing students overheads used in an earlier lecture from the unit. During this activity no one speaks (including you) ---students will focus on the visual information and remember it better if there is no talking. Leave each overhead on for seven seconds--or more if there is a large amount of text. The best overheads use visual symbols and only a few key words. Sound Suggestions: use any of the piano, reflective classical or ambient suggestions. Top picks: Pachelbel's Canon from Relax with the Classics Vol 1, Velvet Dreams, Classical Harmonies
• Present vocabulary in an Accelerated Learning Concert format. Have students close their eyes. Play a slow Baroque or ambient music selection for two or three minutes. Then read the vocabulary slowly---read a vocab word and pause for 4 seconds and then read the definition and pause again. Read all the vocabulary words and definitions in this manner. Let the music play for one or two minutes when you are done. Sound Suggestions: use any of the reflective classical or ambient suggestions.
• Introduce a topic or review information using a mindmap concert. Design a simple mindmap that outlines the main points of a unit or lesson. Use color and symbols. Play music and on a blank overhead begin to draw your mindmap. Start with the overview and then move to individual points. Explain the content as you draw and alllow students to copy the mindmap. Sound Suggestions: Piano, Classical (Reflective), or Ambient music.

Focus and Concentration

Use music to help hold attention and focus.

• Play Baroque-era music or slow Mozart music while students are reading or writing to focus their attention and keep them on track for longer periods of time. Sound Suggestions: Relax with the Classics: Volume 1 or 2, The Four Seasons, Baroque Music for Learning and Relaxation, Classical Harmonies (Mozart)
• For low-energy times of day, play upbeat Mozart while students are reading or writing to help them stay energized and interested. Sound Suggestions: Mozart Effect for Children: Tune Up Your Mind, Mozart Effect for Children: Mozart to Go, Mozart Effect for Children: Mozart in Motion, Mozart Effect: Strengthen the Mind, Mozart Effect for Children: Playtime to Sleepy Time (selections 1-4)
• Play focus music quietly in the background to hold students' attention while working at learning centers or on projects. Sound Suggestions: Dance of the Renaissance, Emerald Castles, Relax with the Classics Vol 1 or 2, Baroque Music for Learning and Relaxation, Mozart Effect: Mozart to Go, Mozart Effect, Tune up Your Mind, Classical Harmonies, Baroque Music for Learning and Relaxation
• Play reflective music while you're reading a story. This helps to add interest and keep noise levels down. Sound Suggestions: Velvet Dreams, Music for Relaxation, And So to Dream, When You Wish Upon a Star, Galaxies

Play music to refocus attention.

• Play an upbeat selection of music during a break time to refresh and re-energize. Sound Suggestions: Hooked on Classics, Earth Tribe Rhythms, Funny 50's and Silly 60's, Oldies for Kool Kiddies
• Take a 90-second break and do the Brain Gym Cross Crawl or simple energetic exercises to get more oxygen to the brain for better thinking! Sound Suggestions: Hooked on Classics, Earth Tribe Rhythms, Funny 50's and Silly 60's, Oldies for Kool Kiddies and especially, Music for Creative Dance, selection #1 (move slow or fast depending on the tempo of the music at the time).
• Have students stand up and do the twist to get the body re-energized and the brain re-oxygenated! Sound Suggestions: Oldies for Kool Kiddies, Funny 50's and Silly 60's
• Do easy stretching exercises to music with the students for 60 seconds to get kinks out of the body. Add a few comments about "stretching the mind" to learn more as you do the exercises. Sound Suggestions: An Dun: Calming the Emotions, Velvet Dreams, When You Wish Upon a Star, Music for Relaxation, And So to Dream, Music for Accelerated Learning.
• Take a brain break and play interesting music while students close their eyes. You can verbally lead them through a mind-calming exercise-take them on a journey to a favorite place, lead them through a peaceful nature scene or remind them to let their bodies relax and release stress. Sound Suggestions: use music from the activity above OR find an interesting selection from Galaxies, Deep Breakfast, or Music for Creative Dance.
• Take a grand march around the room to energize and get ready for work. Sound Suggestions: Hooked on Classics, Mozart in Motion

Creativity and Quiet Times

Use music to facilitate creativity and reflection or to help slow students down when energy is high.

• Play music quietly as students are journalling or writing to enhance their concentration and reduce talking. Sound Suggestions: music from Classical (Calming), Ambient (Calming) or Piano categories.
• Play reflective music while students are drawing or painting to quietly bring out their creative expression. Sound Suggestions: music from Classical (calming), Ambient (calming) or Piano categories.
• Play dynamic music to help stimulate ideas and set an energized mood while students work on creative projects. Sound Suggestions: Deep Breakfast, Hooked on Classics, Mozart in Motion, Echoes of Incas, Primitive Truth, Earth Tribe Rhythms
• Play an Ambient music selection and have students use their imaginations to develop the ideas for a creative project or product. As they listen to the music, lead them through a visualization of their project. Sound Suggestions: music from Classical (calming), Ambient (calming) or Piano categories.

Use music to activate memory with energizing learning experiences.

• Play an upbeat music selection and read vocabulary words for a new unit in rhythm to the beat. Sound Suggestions: Hooked on Classics, Earth Tribe Rhythms
• Play "Musical Challenge Chairs" by adding a twist to the traditional game-when the music stops and students sit, the person left standing must answer a "challenge question" about the lesson or unit you are working on. Sound Suggestions: Hooked on Classics , Mozart in Motion (selection 1), Earth Tribe Rhythms, Deep Breakfast (selection 1).
• Vary the Musical Challenge Chairs game by having students stand in a circle and pass an object or koosh ball around the circle while the music plays. When the music stops, the person holding the object must answer a challenge question. Sound Suggestions: Hooked on Classics, Mozart in Motion (selection 1), Earth Tribe Rhythms, Deep Breakfast (selection 1), 1988 Summer Olympics, Oldies for Kool Kiddies, Funny 50's and Silly 60's.