Are you a person who is easily distracted? In the midst of a busy day at the office finding creative space to concentrate and forge ahead is a real challenge. Here's a suggestion... it's possible to set up a creative space by playing baroque background music as you work. Not your style? If you're willing to give it a trial, the results may surprise you. Here's why...In a three year research study, Maya Ruvinshteyn and Leonard Parrino, instructors in math at Essex County College and Rutgers-Newark, found when they played baroque background music in their classes, it made a difference. Here's how...
- 86 % of students surveyed enjoyed class more with baroque background music whereas 76 % of students without any music found the class enjoyable
- 33 % of students found math challenging whereas 46 % in the class without the baroque music found it challenging.
Why Baroque Music? Research reveals that Baroque music pulses between 50 to 80 beats per minute. Baroque music "stabilizes mental, physical and emotional rhythms," according to Chris Boyd Brewer, "to attain a state of deep concentration and focus in which large amounts of content information can be processed and learned."
Music affects your brain waves. Slower baroques, such as Bach, Handel, Vivaldi or Corelli, can create mentally stimulating environments for creativity and new innovations. Alpha brain waves originate from the occipital lobe during periods of relaxation. As you relax you can move out of stressors that otherwise impede your creativity.
Dr. Ellen Weber lists ways several music genres affect your brain waves based on Don Campbell's work published in The Mozart Effect.
Here's a sample of Bach's "Air in D," a deeply moving Baroque selection.
I'm shopping today to add to my collection of baroque music...I want to enhance flow... You?
22 comments:
Robyn, you really caught the best of Maya and Leonard's research here and the background music here at the MITA Center today fills the bill as we work.
Thanks, Ellen since I learned from you that music affects brain waves. As I listened to your music this morning, I went into flow and dug deeper to find all the components that make this information useful to leaders so they can enhance creativity, too.
I never cease to be amazed at the fact that music deeply influences the brain.
Always a thoughtful post, Robyn - I particularly appreciate the comment on 50-60 beats per minute...I wonder if the resting heart rate ties in somehow?
A perfect youtube selection as I dash off to lunch :)
This is some interesting research to pick up, Robyn.
I'm partial to Baroque, especially played on electronic instruments. Bach especially shows up with an almost mathematical clarity. And it does aid concentration (if it isn't too soothing).
Bob, you make a good point. I did choose one of the slower Baroque pieces. Bach's Brandenburg Concertos, for instance, have a slightly faster pace.
The idea that rhythm is founded on heartbeat dates back to the Renaissance, but it is not supported by current research according to Robert Jourdain. It is merely coincidence that Baroque music corresponds nicely to the average heatbeat.
The "Air in D" is one piece that really brings flow to my work. But we need to find the pieces which work best for us. Glad you liked it, Bob.
Thanks for the input!
Rick, there's quite a bit of flexibility in the Baroque rhythm. Researchers Maya Ruvinshteyn and Leonard Parrino mention 50-60 beats (more soothing), but Chris Boyd Brewer and Robert Jourdain mention up to 80 beats for Baroque. Bach's Brandenburg Concertos have a faster pace and these work well, too. Like you, I've also heard some amazing electronic renditions.
It takes some experimenting to find what works best for you.
Thanks for the kudos, Rick!
Robyn, this is great. I just heard about baroque music recently as part of some research on working with children who have dyslexia. I had on my list 'find out more on function of baroque music' and here it is! Thanks.
Joanna
Hi Joanna, the power of music to affect our brain waves is amazing, no matter if it is fast or slow. I'm pleased that this piece is so helpful to you.
Good blog post. I did my Ph.D. dissertation at USC in "Music & Metaphysics" and have since been engaged in extensive "research in the field" - I am happy to have "discovered" your blog and look forward to communicating. Wayne
Wayne, since music deeply affects our brain waves, it truly intrigues me. My interest is in how we can use music as a way to work with our brain to benefit our activities. As I worked on my PhD, I explored ways that the arts, including music, can help us learn as we explore and express ideas. Some people are strong in the musical intelligence and by enhancing the learning process using strategies to build on that, secondary learners were more motivated and scored higer on high stakes standarized tests. :D
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Baroque Music Helps You Focus! <------------- so true so true ! !
Osse, thanks. I found that Bach kept me moving with my writing as I worked on my dissertation.
Music really does effect our brains. I have been studying the power music can have and i have come across some very interesting data. I recieved this data from Michael Ballam, PhD I wish to share what i know, since i am only allowed so much to write in the comment box, I too have a blog about music, it is
beet9hoven.blogspot.com
I invite you to read this and hope it helps you Robyn. I would like to share on little bit of data.
CLIVE’S CROSSROAD
CLIVE’S CROSSROAD
In 1988 WNET in cooperation with the BBC-TV, produced a series called The Mind. It aired on PBS and is available through the Educational Broadcasting Corporation. One of the episodes is about Clive, a man of extraordinary intellect and talent who in the onset of middle age contracted a form of influenza which attacked the lining of his brain rendering his cognitive skills and information retention abilities to be destroyed. His wife was told by medical authorities that there was no way he could ever function in any degree of thought process or memory again. He was given a diary in which he was asked, every 15 minutes, to record what he had done within that time. All the entries were identical: 5:45 p.m., I just awakened; 6:00 p.m., I just awakened; 6:15 p.m., I just awakened, and so forth. Though Clive was experiencing stimulus and experience, he was not able to retain the information and call upon it again. His wife, refused to accept the diagnosis given her by two doctors, believing that given the fact that her husband was a genius in the discipline of Renaissance Music, one of the most complex and orderly forms of music in history. She insisted the music must hold a key to his recovery. She took him to the church where he had worked for years. Upon entering the church he was greeted by throngs of people in the chorus who knew him and had missed him. This caused Clive a great deal of concern, because he recognized that he should have known them as well, but since he didn’t it frightened him. This is a common reaction of people who are experiencing the onset of Alzheimer’s and other forms of dementia. Clive’s wife took him to the organ which he had played since his childhood. She told him to play. He became very disconcerted, saying he did not know how to play the organ. She insisted and placed his hands on the keyboard. A miraculous event then took place. Clive began to play the organ with great facility, his hands flew across the numerous manuals of the organ and he began to cue the choir into a Palestrina Mass “et incarnatus est”...”et in filio sancto”. It was astonishing to witness the facility that Clive possessed, especially given the state of disfunction we had become accustomed to seeing. When the song concluded, Clive fell into a grand mal seizure, where all the electrical systems of the brain seemed to short out, causing violent twitching and uncontrolled movement throughout his body. When re recovered from the seizure, his wife helped him to the organ again, and the same phenomena repeated itself, this time with the music of Orlando Lasso, another highly organized, complex composer of the Renaissance. A doctor appeared on the video describing in medical terms what we have just witnessed. He explained that the ravages of the virus had eliminated the order in Clives brain, rendering it incapable of cognitive and retentive function. Music has so much order, it superimposed it’s own native order onto an “orderless” brain, causing it to function again. That is an amazing statement, because if it is true, it could revolutionize the way in which we can optimize the educational process. We will explore this potential.
Very nice article, I enjoyed reading your post, very nice share, I want to twit this to my followers. Thanks!
I appreciate your words and desire to share with others. Thanks so much.
maybe old news, but it's new to me.
Googled what music helps you stayed focus and this popped up.
This Baroque music really is helping me stayed focus! And it's so calming. Thanks so much for posting this.
Thanks for posting this! I found this page on Google.
Baroque really does help when you need to stay focused.
Anna, as I wrote my doctoral dissertation, baroque music helped me not only to stay focused, but also helped me maintain momentum while I wrote. I truly like baroque's affect.
You're welcome, Anna. When people like you are willing to test it out, they begin to realize baroque's power to move your brain waves.
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