It’s 5:57 am. Still groggy, I open my laptop, bitter with resentment for my past self for leaving my homework for a Tuesday morning. Before I so much as open my Word document, my fingers instinctively navigate to Spotify. As the familiar sound of my Indie Hits playlist washes over me, I begin to type.
I’ve become an increasingly avid music listener throughout my high school years and recently, I’ve noticed that I am now completely dependent on music in a motivational sense. I’ve found it’s become difficult to start an assignment or read a book without background noise. This is a common experience for many students at Oyster River High School (ORHS), but it has led me to question my own study tactics. Does music really help me concentrate, or does it just make studying a little more fun? How can I listen to music without it being detrimental to my productivity? And, at what point must I sacrifice my sanity for efficiency when working?
As soon as I began asking these questions on the internet, I quickly realized I was not the first one to do so. The connection between music and productivity, specifically in students, is a heavily researched topic. According to a study done by Research Gate, The Effect of Music on Productivity, of the 200 students surveyed, 96% agreed that music helped improve their focus with the remaining 4% saying that it’s distracting. But, while many students may believe (or want to believe) that their favorite tunes help them study, other researchers claim that certain types of music have been scientifically proven to hinder academic performance rather than enhance it.
The general consensus of most public research I could find on this topic, including the forementioned study and others such as Harvard Business Reviews’ Can Music Make You More Productive?, is that instrumental or non-lyrical music has been shown to help improve student’s concentration, while more mainstream music with understandable lyrics only presents a distraction.
Nathan Grove, a social studies teacher at ORHS, uses this information to back up his answer when students ask to listen to music in class. “The literature is pretty straightforward that if you are listening to music with lyrics in your own language your brain is going to be distracted,” he says.
However, many students don’t want to give up their favorite study songs in favor of strictly instrumental music, which may not be as enjoyable. Keely Duggan (‘28) shares that pop music has improved her focus in the past. “In some classes, it helps me stay alert and focus on my own work… it distracts me from people talking around me,” she says.
Jimmy Kim (‘26) has a similar opinion, stating that the genre or style of music has no effect on his ability to concentrate in class. He says, “It keeps me engaged while bored, so I’m still focusing on my [work].”
However, despite students’ certainness that they can be productive with their own music, teachers often request that students choose strictly instrumental music or simply play music for the class to listen to collectively during a test or work session. If you’re anything like me and don’t find Mozart or instrumental Taylor Swift very intellectually stimulating, you might struggle to see the benefits of these practices.
While I typically prefer my own study music, I will admit it’s easy to become distracted, especially when listening to songs I know well or can recite the lyrics to. Occasionally, when tracks like these come on, I find myself focusing more on the words in the song rather than the words on my computer, which is not ideal, especially when I’m in a time crunch the period before an exam.
Grove presents a unique solution to this problem. He recommends that students who want to improve their focus but refuse to commit to classical music, should choose songs written in another language. “If you are listening to music in your non-primary language and you don’t understand [the words] you’re listening to, it’s basically the same as listening to [instrumental] music,” he says.
Madi Gorton (’26) attests to this theory. An avid K-pop listener, she often listens to Korean music while studying. “[That way], I can’t sing along to it in my head,” she says. “When I’m listening to English music, I’m more focused on the lyrics and words versus K-pop when I don’t really know what they’re saying.”
I tested this method out myself while writing this article. While I didn’t notice any revolutionary changes in my productivity, I did realize that similarly to Gorton, I was focused less on subconsciously deciphering the lyrics which I couldn’t understand. In doing this, I also learned that I have an affinity for French music.
While I was pleasantly surprised by the effectiveness of this strategy and would recommend others try it, I understand that it is by no means a replacement for comfort music. Sometimes, the familiarity of my favorite songs, if anything, motivates me to get to work, which is something I’m willing to exchange for a slight decline in efficiency.
-Jahrie Houle
Visuals courtesy of Colin Caron
Mouth of the River 
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