Garcia 1

Jenifer Garcia

Mrs. McCann

English 1302.203

9 February 2022

Do Different Music Genres Affect Productivity and Mood?

Many people utilize music to focus on their work or to put themselves in a pleasant

mood. Combining diverse music genres such as heavy metal or country, or by combining

numerous music genres that are not within the same genre. It will be determined whether the

genres slow down or speed up productivity. It all boils down to deciding what one's best options

are. Many people may find it difficult to concentrate when listening to music. Depending on the

beat, music can also affect people's mood. If the music has an upbeat cheerful beat, it can

improve a person's mood. The whole point of the researching with different music genres is to

check how they are going to affect productivity and mood.

In Mind Your Music: The Effects of Music-Induced Mood and Arousal Across Different

Memory Tasks, the author stated that it was most likely that a student would learn faster with

music instead of a speech. Not only does music affect productivity, but it can also increase

learning. Background music can enhance learning, but it is inconsistent. Mood and arousal may

be different, but both of them represent emotions. “Immediately after listening to Mozart,

participants showed better scores on a spatial reasoning task than after sitting in silence” (Grahn,

81). The author states, that the change was made by the music, indicating that positive music

arouses happy emotions. The different types of music basically reflect on the emotions/moods.
 Garcia 2

For example, a music that has a happy and fast tempo increases arousal, whereas a music that is

sad and has a slow beat decreases arousal.

The research started by gathering different music genres that are unknown, like K-pop,

country, and heavy metal, usually the ones that are not within the comfort zone. The music

genres were found within a radio on a music platform that allows the person to explore more

genres of they wish to. After assembling a very diverse playlist, every time there was any

assignment due, the experimental playlist would play. Each song was separated depending on the

specific genre. The songs also depended on the mood for the day. If the mood was bad, then

upright songs would be the ideal option to start playing, some include heavy metal, and country.

Heavy metal definitely an upbeat genre, it does, in a way wake the body up.

While conducting the experiment, it was really interesting. When starting on any type of

work, it was difficult to concentrate at first since it was something completely new. The first

thing that was noticed during the songs were the beats. Some of the songs had a slow and steady

beat, those types of songs were the ones that made it difficult to complete any tasks that had to be

done. On the other hand, the songs with a faster tempo made it easier to work with. High arousal

positive music and low arousal negative music appeared to be the best combinations of mood

and arousal for optimal memory performance (Grahn, 83). On the second day of the research, it

went more smoothly. Since listening to the different music genres was starting to be part of a

routine, the songs were something to be expected. After some time, it finally got to the point

where the songs were already nothing new. The beats of the songs finally allowed concentration,

even the songs with a slow and steady beat like country were easy to work with.

With the mood research, that one was easier to work with. Choosing a music genre

depended on the mood for the day. For example, if the mood was annoyed, then maybe some
 Garcia 3

country song with be good to increase the arousal. If the mood wanted to be calmer, then K-pop

would be a good genre for the mood.

 Garcia 4

Works Cited

Kumar, Arti A., and U. Akash. "Influence of Demographic Factors on Music Listening

Preferences in the Workplace." International Management Review, vol. 16, no. 1, 2020, pp.

98-109,112.

Nguyen, Tram, and Jessica A. Grahn. "Mind Your Music: The Effects of Music-Induced Mood

and Arousal Across Different Memory Tasks." Psychomusicology, vol. 27, no. 2, 2017, pp.

81-94.