Melody for the Mind: Enhancing Mood, Motivation, Concentration, and Learning through Music Listening in the Classroom

Abstract

Listening to music has been shown to have positive impacts on mood and task performance, but there is little knowledge on such effects in school environments. This mixed-method study aimed to investigate the effects of self-selected music on students’ mood, motivation, concentration, and learning success in a real-life school context. Forty-eight secondary school students (age range: 15–19) completed the study, and both quantitative and qualitative data were collected. The study consisted of two phases: one week of regular lessons without music and a subsequent week in which students listened to self-selected music before each lesson. The results showed that listening to music had strong positive effects on mood, motivation, and concentration, and moderate effects on learning. Qualitative analysis of open-ended questions revealed that the beneficial effects were mostly perceived to be due to creating positive and energizing emotions, increasing attention, and providing routine and rest between lessons. The findings suggest that listening to self-selected music could be an effective and low-cost strategy for enhancing students’ emotional state, motivation, and concentration in a school context.