Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Mrs. Thomas
UWRT 1103-020
February 17 , 2018
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I believe that my inquiry proposal answers most of the required questions. I feel confident
about my use of intriguing the audience about my question and making them want to dive deeper.
I also feel confident about how important the question of learning and music is regarding higher
education and education in general. I have changed my draft from beginning to end mostly by
changing minor grammatical errors and wording of sentences. This would go along with the
student learning outcome of knowledge of conventions since I was following formal and informal
rules of writing. I also added some questions that my peers suggested to think about in our
writing conference. This change relates to the student learning outcome of the composing
A belief commonly held by society is that if babies listen to classical music, it will make
them more intelligent. Pregnant women even go as far as playing Beethoven’s sonatas through a
speaker held closely to their stomach. But does music actually increase their child’s intellectual
ability? How much does music play a part in human developmental growth? What about playing
a musical instrument? Even more so, I have wondered how much music affects the ability to
learn throughout childhood and into adulthood. In this day and age, access to music is readily
available through our smart devices. College students can be seen at the library with their
headphones in, studying away and tuning out the world on a Spotify instrumental piano playlist.
Does this musical stimulation actually benefit their cognitive ability? Does it improve their
memory? Does it depend on the genre or style of music? Is time a factor and does music make
studying take longer? As you can see, the larger question of if music affects learning is extremely
broad and can be broken into several smaller questions. As an avid music listener in college, I
research this semester, I hope to dive deeper into these questions and discover the effects of
Music is one of the defining elements that make us human. Sociologists and
anthropologists have found that every single ancient and current society have had music as a part
of their culture. It is even believed that the creation of music arose before language was
developed. The effects of music on the brain have been relatively understood since its creation.
Music has been used for religious, spiritual, psychological, and even healing purposes
throughout human history (Greenberg). The in-depth and scientific research of the effects of
music has come about in recent times. The field of music psychology has been on the rise, and it
involves researching and understanding all aspects of the effects of music on humans. There has
been extensive research within the field of music psychology relating to learning. Music and
cognition, the developmental psychology of music, and even the neuroscience of music have
been studied (Oxford). Neuroscientists outside the field of music psychology are interested in the
topic as well, specifically relating music to attention span and cognitive ability. Major schools of
medicine such as Stanford have conducted this research by using MRI technology to indicate
which parts of the brain are active during music listening (Stanford). The amount of research
being done on music and learning is extensive and offers valuable knowledge into its benefits or
negative impacts.
In order to find more perspectives on my question, I will search through databases to find
studies and experiments relating to music and learning that have been performed by various
music psychologists and neuroscientists. I will also look through medical journals that have
articles related to my topic. This topic is extremely broad, so I will narrow my searches to music
and developmental growth, playing an instrument and its correlation to learning, the effects of
listening to music while studying, the effects of listening to music and memory, and what genre
of music is the most beneficial to aid learning. Some subject words that I can use to help my
search are education, music education, popular music, genre, composers, musicians, brain
The answer to whether or not music affects our cognitive and learning ability is
extremely important to my classmates and the larger UNCC community. Music has become a
part of our daily lives through radio, smartphones, computers, and other technologies. Whether
we’re in the car or going for a jog, our society is constantly plugged into music. More related to
learning, students often listen to music while studying or doing homework. It is important to
know if listening to music while studying is beneficial or hinders our learning. Education is vital
for obtaining a career or growing as a person; therefore, we should learn in the best manner
possible. This topic is also important because if music is found to help learning, it could help
those who have learning disabilities or anxiety related to school or test taking. Not only is
learning a part of academia but a part of our daily lives as well. We constantly learn how to
perform new tasks, how to interact with others, how to become more independent, etc. Learning
is essential to survival and discovering whether or not music aids our learning processes could be
life changing.
Works Cited
Baker, Mitzi. “Music Moves Brain to Pay Attention, Stanford Study Finds.” News Center,
med.stanford.edu/news/all-news/2007/07/music-moves-brain-to-pay-attention-stanford-study-
finds.html.
www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-power-music/201608/what-is-music-exactly.
www.music.ox.ac.uk/research/disciplines/psychology-of-music/.