Preview

Does Music Really Help You Concentrate By Dean Burnett

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
1170 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Does Music Really Help You Concentrate By Dean Burnett
Does listening to music help with concentration? Music is a significant part of our lives. We hear it at a lot of places, whether we are voluntarily listening, or hearing it play in stores, restaurants, or from the general public. From the Guardian, writer Dean Burnett argues whether music is beneficial in the way one thinks, or if music is a form of distraction, in his article “Does Music Really Help You Concentrate?”. Burnett uses experiments from multiple researchers on how the human brain has a “medium level of syncopation in music to elicit a pleasure response and associated body movement in individuals” (Maria Witek and colleagues). Explained by Burnett, it is the beat of the music one is listening to and how their brain reacts to it; …show more content…
Expanding this claim, the basis of musical preference stimulates the conscious attention system, meaning that one is set and focused, briefly mentioned by Burnett. Classical and, or, instrumental music are commonly known to be the least distracting, as there are no lyrics. This is demonstrating the use of logical appeal by making reasonable claims to prove his inconclusiveness. Stating the facts can help persuade the reader into agreeing Burnett’s inconclusive …show more content…
For example, he describes “funky music compels you to dance”, or “sad music makes you melancholy” (Burnett). These descriptions show how the different genres of music can set a mood, causing a reaction in the brain of an emotion or reaction. As previously mentioned, this is down to a person preference. Burnett’s use of pathos can also be seen as a way of keeping the reader’s attention by creating scenarios. A scenario he uses, for example, is by questioning the reader if they have ever “worked in an open-plan office and been working on a very important task, only to be driven slowly mad by a coworker constantly sniffing, or sipping their coffee…” (Burnett). Having this example is a way to keep the reader engaged with the article, by either thinking of a time they have encountered a similar situation or by putting themselves into the scenario. It is a form of persuasion or self interest in the article that can help the reader understand or relate to what is being said through text. This can also be developed as a type of feedback, creating influence in terms of

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Powerful Essays

    Walters, Lawrence. How Music Produces Its Effects On The Brain and Mind. New York, 2006.…

    • 2009 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Better Essays

    How does music make us feel? Not what do we feel when we listen to music but more specifically, what is it about Music that triggers our human emotions? What effect did hearing those sad country songs on the radio during my morning drive to school have on the rest of my day? Why does upbeat hip hop music always make me nod my head with the beat? Why does a song like “Go rest high on that mountain” by Vince Gill always make me cry? Music is a large part of most of our everyday lives. Sergei Prokofiev understood that considering the feelings and emotions of the listener was vital in the production of music, and demonstrates in “Peter and the Wolf” how musical properties can persuade us emotionally.…

    • 1635 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    John Powell’s captivating book, Why You Love Music, digs deep into the minds of all to uncover why some musical elements make us cry, laugh, and love. This book promises to strengthen our knowledge on music, and focuses on the big question: Why? Why does a certain beat make us feel nostalgic, or why are we more focused under the influence of different styles of music. Powell’s intent is to inform readers of musical elements we would never even know to think of, and how those elements affect our lives. For example, who would have thought that repeating the chorus in songs trains our minds to get those top charts tunes stuck in our heads? I can gladly say that the author accomplishes what he set out to accomplish through this book. After reading, I…

    • 967 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    The purpose of this essay was to inform and explain to individuals all of the several ways for people to enjoy music as well as to explicate that the readers should strive for a more active type of listening. It showed the impact music can have on the lives of people. Aaron Copland said that even “One note is enough to change the atmosphere of the room” (599). This essay was written for just about everybody, with hearing of course, because most everyone listens to music. Even for the few that do not listen to music often, this could perhaps persuade them to listen to music . This was presented in a creative essay type format. The different types of music and conclusion of this essay are examples of evidence to support the purpose. Copland mentioned “We all listen to music on three separate planes… (1) the sensuous plane, (2) the expressive plane, (3) the sheerly musical plane” (599). Copland also says that the reader should strive for a more active kind of listening regardless of what type of music you listen to (603). However, the author also mentioned that many people who would normally consider themselves qualified music lovers abuse the first plane when listening. This author effectively uses these appeals very effectively with logic. This author used a more objective type of language in his essay. The evidence in this essay supports the claims through practices people experience while listening, writing, or performing music. The evidence covers the perspectives associated with the 3 planes, but nothing else. I felt this article was very well written. I enjoyed the essay, as I was engaged during it. Anyone who listens or performs music can very easily relate to this essay and become engaged into it. The organization of this essay also helps people to be absorbed by this essay. The language throughout this article is not too formal, but not terribly informal. It was the perfect median in which you could read through and easily relate to…

    • 928 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Music is a big part of people’s lives and it can be accessed so easily. People can hear music anywhere they go on their phones. Many people like to listen to music whenever they are doing other tasks. Others feel that the music distracts them from the work they are performing. In my opinion, I do not like listening to music when I am working on certain tasks that require thinking or concentration because do not concentration. I love listening to music in my free time. If there is music on while I am doing a task, then I am more likely to be paying attention to the music than concentrating on the task. When I listen to music, I like to pay attention to the lyrics even though I already know them word by word. Don’t you want to find out whether…

    • 423 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Listening to the ambient melodies, associated with classical music, have been linked to helping your brain harness it’s full creative potential. Having an instrumental track playing quietly while performing additional tasks, is just distracting enough to help your mind think in a more abstract way. This type of brain-training is appropriately termed distracted focus. “The way this works is that moderate noise levels increase processing difficulty which promotes abstract processing, leading to higher creativity” (Cooper). Although others may argue that any background music would…

    • 491 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Can we enhance our mind just by listening to music? Most people are not intellectually gifted at all, and most people strive to learn to become wiser and more informed about the world around them. Studies show that listening to classical music can have positive effects on learning and attitude. This occurrence is called the Mozart Effect, and it has been experimented by many scientists. Different types of music have different effects on the mind.…

    • 1628 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Cooper, B. (2013, November 20). 8 Surprising Ways Music Affects the Brain. Retrieved February 6, 2015, from https://blog.bufferapp.com/music-and-the-brain…

    • 1070 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Research shows that our body will be affected when we are listening to music. Our breathing and heart rate will slow down. This means music can help us reduce stress and depression. After we calm down, we can begin to solve the problem. When I have a trouble, I always lose my head and I have no idea how to deal with it. Then I sit down, and listening to music. After I calm down, I can think about the problem and figure out the way to solve it.…

    • 312 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Music and the Brain

    • 855 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Tempo, “the pace of a piece of music”, usually determines the mood set by any piece of music. Upbeat songs that move at a faster pace are generally “happy” songs while the slower songs are generally considered the “sad” songs. People are surprisingly accurate when it comes to replicating the tempo of any given song. Levitin credits this incredible ability to a system of time keepers that exist in the cerebellum. These time keepers have the ability to synchronize the music as we hear it and the replicate it the next time we sing the song.…

    • 855 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    A blind experiment was conducted by Nikki Rickard (2004) to determine whether there was a difference in physiological arousal between more and less emotionally powerful music (EPM). Twenty-one “healthy” participants (12 males, 9 females) (mean age of participant was 25.5 years) were given “music treatments” of 3 different types of music, and 1 EPM of the individuals choice. The participants were exposed to relaxing music, stimulating but not emotionally powerful music, an emotional/powerful scene from a film, and a piece of music that the participants selected by themselves that they classified as “emotionally powerful”. Each individuals gender, personality, and level of musical experience was noted, but was found that none of these factors…

    • 238 Words
    • 1 Page
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Audio-Visual is co-dependent on ‘music’ hence it’s insertion into the very name. If a scene in a movie is not scribed to a melodic track, then the scene collapses in its believability. Without underscored music in a scene, its deliverance is met with confusion as the audience fails to reciprocate the emotions evoked. Music subtlety pinches our heart’s chords as we watch, ignorant of the music’s coercion. An emptiness parades on screen if music is omitted.…

    • 1881 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Henderson, M. T., Crews, A., & Barlow, J. (1945). A study of the effect of music distraction on reading efficiency. Journal of Applied Psychology, 29, 313-317.…

    • 5755 Words
    • 24 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Bibliography: "Music Has Big Brain Benefits Compared to Other Leisure Pursuits." Emory News Center. N.p., n.d. Web. 01 Nov. 2012. <http://news.emory.edu/stories/2012/07/hanna_pladdy_music_brain/campus.html>.…

    • 653 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Cited: Sloboda, J.A. (1985) The Musical Mind: The Cognitive Psychology of Music. Oxford Psychology Series No. 5. Clarendon Press, Oxford. pp. 194-215.…

    • 2294 Words
    • 10 Pages
    Powerful Essays