THE EFFECTS OF LISTENING TO MUSIC ON THE ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE OF

THE SELECTED SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS OF

SAINT BERNADETTE COLLEGE OF ALABANG

Group III

ALA, IAN PAUL A.

CORPUZ, JOHN KENNETH D.

VANILLA, JIMUEL M.

ESPIGA, ANGELIE J.

GUIWANON, MA. DOREEN S.

LIRA, KHYLA R.

MATIENZO, MARYNEIL R.
 CHAPTER 1

THE PROBLEM AND ITS BACKGROUND

Introduction

Music is the pattern of sounds produced by vocals and or instrumental sounds. It is an art

that permeates society and lends itself to words as songs and physical movement as dance.

Throughout history, music becomes an important assist to ritual and drama and has been credited

with capacity to reflect and influence human emotion.

Music had been part of people’s lives since time immemorial. It affected the body

unconsciously and consciously. People, when listening to music, may have a series of action that

can be a combination of tapping, nodding, swaying, clapping, stamping and many more

(Daunow, 1977). It thought to be as form of entertainment, however it can be used to affects

behavior. According to Plato; an ancient Greek Philosopher (348-428 BCE), the effects of music

was a psycho sociological phenomenon. It has a power to mold human character by recognizing

happiness and pleasures as value to both the individual and the state.

Music has a great impact on the brain. According to Sugaya; a neuroscientist and

Yonetani; a world-renowned violinist, music affects brain function and human behavior,

including by reducing stress, pain and symptoms of depression, improving cognitive and motor

skills and neurogenesis: the brain’s ability to produce neurons. These effects of music to the

brain could benefit people in terms of education.

The use of music could set a positive learning atmosphere that enhances teaching and

learning activities. Music could affect the student’s academic performance and cognition, thus it

could help them improve their study habits by providing a favorable mood towards learning.
(Monika, 2015). In addition, music could help in memory formation. Music and memory are

strongly linked on the brain, it activates both left and right hemisphere of the brain at the same

time, and the activation could maximize learning and improve memory. (Klemm, 2013).

There are lot of benefits that comes with music, students must enjoy and experience what

music has to offer. According to Harris (2008), when exposed to music, students learn better and

could develop wholesome attitude towards learning.

Background of the Study

Music is an art of sound that expresses ideas and emotions in significant forms through

rhythm and melody. It is a form of sounds that were combined in a way as to produce beauty of

form and harmony. It sets people’s mind into mysterious and wonderful things that world could

not provide.

Ever since, music was a culture to people, but in today’s generation, specifically to the

young people, it becomes part of their life. They found music as the most effective way to escape

distractions. As to education, it gave them the ability to focus and concentrate better. According

to Seabble (2019), teens found it hard to resist listening to music while doing homework because

music made their assignments much easier by helping them have hype up mood.

Studies involving music as a distraction have demonstrated the ambiguous results

regarding their effect on cognitive processing. According to Dobbs, Furnham, and McClelland

(2011), performance would be worse in the presence of background music and noise than it

would be in silence; specifically, for all the cognitive tasks performance would diminish in the
presence of music. Performance with silence was best when compared to performance with

background music. In contrast, according to Pool (2002), the distracting effects of background

music on homework performance did not find any significant impairment on assignments when

students were distracted by music while working on those homework.

Music can either distract or facilitate cognitive task performance. Improved performance

in the presence of music might be directly related to the type of music listened to. (Cockerton,

Moore, & Norman, 1997). Researchers have found better performance on tasks with calming and

relaxing music condition when compared with no music condition. One might imply that the

calming music could provide a soothing environment that puts students at ease, facilitating

cognitive processing.

Statement of the Problem

The purpose of this study was to determine the effects of listening to music on the

academic performance of the selected senior high school students of Saint Bernadette College of

Alabang. Specifically, it sought answer to the following questions:

1. What are the effects of music to the students?

2. How could music affects student’s academic performance in terms of:

a. Memorization

b. Concentration

c. Analyzing

3. What are the feedback of students on their academic performance with music in terms of:

a. Perception
 b. Satisfaction

4. What is the best music genre that could help students in learning?

5. How many students prefer to listen to music while studying?

Conceptual Framework

This study developed from ideas, revealed and cited researchers brought about by local

and foreign researchers.

Considered as the input variables were the participants’ perception on the effects of

listening to music to the academic performance as to how can music affects academic

performance, does listening to music can improve academic performance, do they prefer

listening to music and what genre they listen to when they study with music.

These input data were processed by analyzing the data and by using descriptive statistics

to determine measure of central tendencies and measure of variation. It was followed by

presentation, analysis and interpretation of data.

Considered as the results of this study were the effect of music to the academic

performance of the selected senior high school students of Saint Bernadette College of Alabang

and recommendation for the sectors who would benefit from the result of the study.

Research Paradigm

Input Process Output

Gathered data from Gathered data from
respondents’ perception on respondents’ perception on
the effects of listening to 1. Analyze the data the effects of listening to
music to the academic by using music to the academic
performance as to: descriptive performance as to:
statistics to
*What are the effects of determine the *What are the effects of
music to the students? measure of central music to the students?
tendencies and
*How could music affects *How could music affects
measure of
student’s academic student’s academic
performance in terms of: variation. performance in terms of:
a. Memorization 2. Present the data in a. Memorization
b. Concentration tabular form. b. Concentration
c. Analyzing 3. Interpret the data. c. Analyzing
4. Analyze the data.
*What are the feedback of *What are the feedback of
students in their academic students in their academic
performance with music in performance with music in
terms of: terms of:
a. Perception a. Perception
b. Satisfaction b. Satisfaction

*What is the best music *What is the best music

genre that could help genre that could help
students in learning? students in learning?

*How many students *How many students

prefer to listen to music prefer to listen to music
while studying? while studying?

Recommendations for the

sector who will benefit

Figure 1. The paradigm of the study showing the respondents’ perception on the effects of

listening to music to the academic performance of students.

Scope and Limitation

 This research study focuses on the effects of music on the academic performance of the

selected senior high school students of Saint Bernadette College of Alabang. The data that will

be conducted represents the percentage of students who prefer to listen on music while studying

and how music could affect their academic performance in terms of memorization, concentration

and analyzing. It will also represent the feedback of students on their academic performance with

music in terms of perception and satisfaction.

The study would not cover other problems that will lead to misunderstanding. The study

would be done through the utilization of questionnaire to the students as a survey and reference.

By using survey forms, the population of the respondents can easily be determined.

Moreover, the sample selections were conducted only inside the campus of Saint

Bernadette College of Alabang since it was a study specifically made for the development of the

school. This study was done during the second semester of the school year 2019-2020.

Significance of the Study

The findings of this study will redound to the benefit of the society considering that the

effects of listening to music have an impact on the academic performance of the students. This

research study hoped to benefit the following sector:

Senior High School Department (SBCA). This research could help the Senior High School

Department of Saint Bernadette College of Alabang to identify the effects of music on the

academic performance of the senior high school students.

Administrators. This research could guide the administrators on the effects of listening to music

on the academic performance of the students and what should be implemented to improve

students’ performance.

Teachers. This research could guide the teachers on the effects of listening to music on the

academic performance of the students.

Students. This research study could help the students know that listening to music can be of help

in their academic performance.

Future Researchers. This research study could be helpful for the future researchers in gathering

data needed in their future research study.

Definition of Terms

For this study, the following terms were conceptually and operationally defined:

Academic Performance It refers to the performance made in their courses of study

taken at a school or college. In this study, it refers to the

measurement of student achievement across various

academic subjects.

Audiovisual It refers to the aid of teaching by making use of both

hearing and sight. In this study, it refers to the teaching

technique that uses music and pictures to help learners

acquire knowledge easier.

Cognition It refers to the mental process of acquiring knowledge and

understanding thought and ideas. In this study, it refers to

conscious mental activities that involve thinking,

understanding and learning.

Concentration It refers to the ability to give your full attention to an object

or activity. In this study, it refers to as one of the effects

given by music in the brain processes that helps a person

focus on their study.

Distraction It refers to something that makes it difficult to think or pay

attention. In this study, it refers to the internal and external

obstruction while studying.

Education It refers to field of study that deals with the methods and

problems of teaching. In this study, it refers to the method

of teaching and learning in schools or school-like

environment.

Genre It refers to a particular type or category of literature or art.

In this study, it refers to the type or kind of music to listen

to while studying.

Mozart Effect It refers to the set of research results indicating that

listening to Mozart’s music may induce a short-term

improvement on the performance of spatial-temporal

reasoning. In this study, it refers to term coined on the

 effects of classical music to the brain development and

motor skills.

Music It refers to the science of art of ordering tones or sounds in

succession, in combination, and in temporal relationships to

produce a composition having unity and continuity. In this

study, it refers to the tool that could be use as instructional

aid that helps students in studying and getting knowledge

easier.

Sounds It refers to the mechanical radiant energy that is transmitted

by longitudinal pressure waves in material medium as air

and is the objective cause of hearing. In this study, it refers

to the tune and melody produced by music that gives

sensation perceived by the sense of hearing.

CHAPTER 2
 REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURES AND STUDIES

This chapter deals with the review of related literature and review of related studies.

Related Literatures

Music is an art of sound that expresses ideas in significant form through the elements of

harmony and melody. It could improve concentration as well as it could be a distraction. Few

researches showed that low mental effort tasks that do not need comprehension required high

energy music because it gives a positive mood in studying while conceptual tasks or high mental

effort tasks need a calm or classical music because it relaxes the mind and help improves focus.

Lyrics of the song could influence the effects of music to the brain. According to Nash; a

researcher, music with lyrics have a problematic effect when dealing with words and less of an

effect when dealing with numbers. Lyrics jumbled with words and complex mind to process both

elements simultaneously and can distract mind to perform comprehension. Music is a kind of a

give and take thing when it comes to the brain. The net benefit or net deficit will depend on the

situation. In the objective sense, it could be distracting, but it also raises positive emotions and

motivation to stay focused. (Frank, T. 2016)

Listening to music could be entertaining and could make someone healthier. Music could

be a source of contentment and could give pleasure. There were many psychological benefits of

using music in the mind and body but probably do not come as much a surprise. Music therapy

was widely known given because there’s an intervention sometimes utilized to promote

emotional health, help others to cope with stress, who’s suffering anxiety, depression and even in

academic performance. It could also reduce stress that made it to be considered the trend
centered on mediate music that soothes the mind and induce relaxation, and it could improve

memory. Music could relax the mind and all the parts of the body. It could give energy that

could handle the body pain better. Music could also improve the cognitive performance, it could

primarily help to focus on activity and improve the performance on the given tasks. (Fogoros,

2019)

Music has a lot of benefits to people, one of this is that it lowers the cortisol level; a

hormone responsible of stress and anxiety. Many students feel the need of music while studying

because it gave them the ability to focus and it lessen their anxiety that made them motivated to

study. On the other side, some of them finds music as a distraction and requires a quiet

workplace to function. For long study sessions, background music was helpful because it creates

a positive mood that can endure studying for a longer time. It could also inspire mental processes

to work better in memory formation. (Segaran, 2019)

There have been a huge number of studies done on the effects of music on academic

performance and development of the students. These studies showed that students who are

engaged with music have an advantage in communication and analytical skills compared to those

who do not. Music does not only benefit students but also their teachers. According to music

educators, musical involvement improves students’ self-discipline, dexterity, coordination, self-

esteem, thinking skills, listening skills, creative abilities and personal expression. Overall,

enhancing music instruction build personality, social development and enjoyment that leads to a

lot more benefits to both learners and teachers. (Sun Star Pampanga, 2017)

Music could give the sense of relaxation and made a person comfortable. From there,

they could process their mind properly, gave them the power of focus, and easily process its flow
of rhythm and hear its melody depending on the genre of music they want to listen to. People

often find music as stress reliever, when times that person feels sad, down, and bored they listen

to music to cure those bad feelings and engaged with positive mood. The importance of music

depends on a person; some people might treat it as an ordinary and some as an art that makes life

better. There were those that could not perform well and study well when they listen to music

and there are those who needed to hear music to have a focus and concentration. Many students

prefer studying while listening to music because they feel comfortable to work in academics like

making essay, research, reading books, and many more. It makes their brain feel better and

motivated to work. (Monte, 2019)

Related Studies

A study made by Kumar, N. et.al., entitled “The Effect of Listening to Music on

Concentration and Academic Performance of the Student: Cross- Sectional Study on Medical

Undergraduate students” (2016), flaunted that 75% of the participants works better and

concentrate better with slow music. The lowest score goes to those who were tasked with no

music, only 31% of them were able to answer the entire question correctly. This showed that

most of participants enjoyed listening to music while studying. This positive finding could justify

that listening to music while studying do not counter effects on concentration of students but

might improve academic performance. Music was considered as a positive mood changer

because it gave a positive perception in studying. The effect of background music was proven to

be effective.
 Another study made by Lehmann J. and Seufert T., entitled “ The Influence of

Background Music on Learning in the Light of Different Theoretical Perspective and the Role of

Working Memory Capacity” (2017), showed that the learners who has low working memory

capacity reached higher score in comprehension without music because it couldn’t process both

comprehension tasks and background music simultaneously. The result found out that the higher

working memory capacity, the better that could learn with background music. It means that

studying with background music only works to those learners has a high working memory

capacity. However, some learners might not give their full capacity in learning process and

doesn’t necessarily need to outperform with poor skills. Therefore, the effects might have been

attributed to the other variables such as motivation and interest. The study suggested that it might

be interesting to consider creativity as another variable in learning with background music and

the interaction between background music and working memory capacity on creativity learning

tasks. Learners is merely a matter of personal preference as to what it want to learned with

background music or not, however it should be careful on choosing what music to listen because

it could be potentially more distracting or could help to those who concentrate better.

A study that made by Muslin, A. et.al., entitled “ The Impact of Music in Memory”

(2017), showed that trying to memorize lines without correct order while listening to music is

effective than memorizing without music. This conclude that music helps memory formation

because the participants recognized the same nonsense syllables and the results shown that at

least one of three nonsense syllables was remembered by every student. In this study, it is

recommended that during different activities, music is a good tool to use. It increased the mood

of a person to work and study hard. Furthermore, it also improves the concentration to be more

productive in a class.
 Another study made by Mabborang - Cabang, R.M., entitled “The Effect of Songs on

Students’ Attitude and Achievement” (2016), showed that using songs and music as one of the

teaching strategies could be helpful to orchestrate a classroom environment and could provide

learners to have harmonious and sound education. Music could change the book-based teaching

and can be an excellent medium to present a lesson. It could light up the classroom discussions

and could bring excitement and motivation in learning because of its interesting approach that

can inspire imagination and creativity. Songs affect brain function by giving positive moods and

high energy level, also it could bring back powerful memories that could be beneficial in

studying. In addition, interest in learning plays a role in the effects of music on the brain. The

more eager the learners want to learn, the more knowledge they can acquire.

Another study made by Tiu, K.T., entitled “The Effect of Background Music to College

Students’ Academic Performance” (2013), showed that the two variables, listening to music per

week and pop music genre have significant effect on student’s academic performance. When a

person put themselves onto music, the more the nerves of brain becomes active. Pop music

unlike other genre, sets a positive mood and excitement in learning thus improves memory.

Moreover, the number of hours studying was insignificant; the amount of time studying does not

affect the performance but the strategies. How a person cope up with studying matters because it

is how a person acquire knowledge in their own ways. This study also proves that listening to

music was a good strategy in studying because it benefits the brain by activating the nerves

responsible in acquiring knowledge and memory formation.

St. Bernadette College of Alabang

Km. 26.6 East Service Road, Uding Compound, Alabang, Muntinlupa City
January 20, 2020
Mrs. Hortencia Marzan, MA-ELT
Principal
Saint Bernadette College of Alabang

Madam:

We, the members of Group 3 from Grade12 Fortitude (ABM) are in the process of writing a
research paper entitled “The Effects of Listening to Music on the Academic Performance of
the Selected Senior High School Students of Saint Bernadette College of Alabang” in the
partial fulfillment of the course requirement in Practical Research for the Second Semester of
School Year 2019-2020.

In this connection, may we request the permission from your good office to allow us to conduct a
study here at Saint Bernadette College of Alabang and gather data from the selected senior high
school students using the questionnaire developed by the Researchers.

Your approval will be highly appreciated.

Respectfully Yours,
Guiwanon, Ma.Doreen S.
Leader, Group 3: 12 ABM Fortitude

Noted by: Approved by:

Ms. Josefe D. Dariagan Mrs. Hortencia Marzan, MA-ELT

Research Adviser Principal

Saint Bernadette College of Alabang

Senior High School Department
Km. 26.6 East Service Road, Uding Compound, Alabang, Muntinlupa City
January 20, 2020

Sir/Ma’am,

We, the researcher of Grade 12 ABM Fortitude Group 3 are presently doing a descriptive
research entitled “The Effects of Listening to Music on the Academic Performance of the
Selected Senior High School Students of Saint Bernadette College of Alabang” in partial
fulfillment of the course requirement in Practical Research for the Second Semester of the
School Year 2019-2020.
Attached here with is a questionnaire which is designed to gather data on the effects of listening
to music on the academic performance of the students.

Your effort in accomplishing the questionnaire will be highly appreciated. Findings revealed by
this study shall be treated professionally and will be kept with the highest degree of
confidentiality.

Thank you for your cooperation and assistance.

Very truly yours,

Ma.Doreen S. Guiwanon
Leader, Group 3: 12 ABM Foritude

Noted by: Approved by:

Ms. Josefe D. Dariagan Mr. Leonardo Lim

Research Adviser Senior High School Coordinator

THE EFFECTS OF LISTENING OF MUSIC ON THE ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE

OF THE SELECTED SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS OF
SAINT BERNADETTE COLLEGE
OF ALABANG
 Name (Optional) :
Age :
Grade Level and Section:
Gender :

Put a check mark on your answer to the following questions.

YES NO

Do you prefer listening to music while studying?

Does listening to music can make your mind calm when you study?

Does music can help you focus on your study?

Do you feel pump-up or excited when you listen to music while studying?

Does listening to music can lessen your anxiety and stress while studying?

Does listening to music while studying can help you memorize faster?

Does listening to music an effective strategy in studying?

Does listening to music makes you study easier?

Does listening to music help you analyze better?

Do you think music is a distraction while you’re studying?

What music genre do you prefer to listen to when you’re studying?

What subject you want to accompany listening to music with while you’re studying?
___________________________________________________________________________
How long do you listen to music in a week?
___________________________________________________________________________________

How long do you study in a week?

____________________________________________________________________________

Please rate your academic performance with music according to your satisfaction.

____________________________________________________________________________

Please put your general average in first semester.

____________________________________________________________________________