Music is an art form that many students enjoy. Whether it be listening to music at home, getting ready for bed, or heading to school playing their favorite song, everyone has a song they enjoy. Music is widely listened to at school as well. Most teachers say it’s a distraction, but Madelyn O’Bryan, 11, disagrees. 

“Music is what gets me through school and if I was not listening to music I would not be studying very well. It helps me concentrate. Having a form of media be consumed while I do something needs to happen. Like you know how people crochet and watch a movie? I listen to music and do my homework,” O’Bryan said.

O’Bryan explained how slow and monotonous school can be. She said that adrenaline can help students make it through the day. 

“If I have silence, I’m just going to fall asleep. Music with fast tempos, loud bangs, loud guitar, it will get me awake, and I need to stay awake for homework… I listen to a song that I can get into the groove with,” O’Bryan said.

Jared Reyes,12, differs from O’Bryan’s opinion of fast music. In his case, he needs a little softer tune to concentrate too. 

“When I study, they are usually short sessions, at most 15 minutes. So I just listen to classical music. It calms me down, helps me concentrate on the thing I am trying to remember,” Reyes said.  

Reyes added that, according to studies, classical music has the benefit of bettering your mind for assimilating information. On the other hand,Elijah Nelson-Brantley, 11, wants to jazz up his study session. He thinks that music with lyrics is distracting.

“If there are lyrics then your brain just follows them automatically. I [study] to jazz music…[Classical music] makes me feel basic, I like to listen to Tarence Fletcher, and Andrew Neman, ” Nelson-Brantley said. 

While Nelson-Branley thinks that lyrics in songs are very distracting, O’Bryan argues that she can ignore the words while she listens. 

“If it’s something I’m very familiar with, I can tune it out. I just love listening to stuff I’m familiar with, let’s just say The Wall [by Pink Floyd]. I know every single song [and] every single lyric in that album, and I just sort of tune it out as if it were an instrument,” O’Bryan said. 

Considering song lyric distractions, Nelson-Brantley and O’Bryan’s opinions clash. However, they both agree that studying should not be done with shows playing in the background.

“[People who watch shows while doing homework are the] people who are dependent on media consumption. That’s even worse than listening to music with lyrics because then you focus on the words and what’s going on. I think people who say they do that, aren’t getting anything done,” Nelson-Brantley said.

O’Bryan recognizes that everyone is different, one preference does not apply to everyone.

“It depends on the person. For me it does help me, but I know people that can’t…I think whatever [music] you like the most will help you study. For me, like if I just pop on The Wall while doing my [Trigonometry] assignment, it gets done pretty quickly,” O’Bryan said.