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. Mus ic , Rhythm, Rhym e, & RapBy: MeUssa Davis
Main Ideas:Background music and Mo zart : When problem-solving
and brainstorm ing Beethoven and
Mozart come in very handy because their music stimulates beta
waves in the brain and help students.In addition, background music
sets the emotional environment for class if you have it playing
whenclass starts. If you have a busy d ay play upbeat mu sic with a
faster beat (100 to 140 beats pe rminute), if, however, you want
the studen ts in a calm er place for class aim for mu sic w ith 40
to 55beats per minute (Tate, 201 0).
M usic and Me mory : W he n music is associated with specific
content it help s the content gointo the students' long-term mem
ory . It does this throug h association, and wh en the mu sic is
brough tback to mind, the content is as well and this retrieval
process is wha t he lps it go into long-termmemory (Ormand,
2008).
An important element for impro ving stude nts' special skills is
rhyth m. In addition, students atall grades improve when rhymes are
made about the content either by the teacher or the
studentsthemselves (Tate, 2010).
Mu sic is an exceptional tool for ESL students to learn language
skills through . Som e e xam plesfrom Kristen Lems are to use song
s in your language instruction:
Mo st pop songs have a lot of com mon langu age term s ("94 % of
the songs had a first person ,I, referent and are written at about
a fifth-grade level") and the lyrics are often sung at aslower rate
than when listening to people speak, plus they usually have more
pauses and a lotof repetition of vocabulary and structures.
Ask students to formulate a respons e to the song. Ac cord ing
to Le m s this activity is mo stenjoyed by older students.
Com pare and contrast songs or them es in songs .N O T E S :
Uf>.,v4G h r r ^ H {it\/n^'i/^uh. r,.nn.fiA C^ re ^ 7sr
\t}ri\/',stn,T-
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Music and rhyme s can help out in any subject and any grade. He
re are som e websites andresources to help you find specific
content for your grade and subject.
Websi te Resources:Rhythm Games for Elementary Education and
Activities for Toddlers:http://www .suitel 01 .com/content/rhy
thm-g ame s-for-elem entary-edu cation-and
-activities-for-toddlers-a258396Use Educational Rap to Teach . W e
create songs so teachers don't hav e to choose betw een teac hing
tothe test or promoting engagement and memorizat ion: ht tp: / /www
.educat ionalrap.com/The Children's Music Web's Resources for
Teachers (and it has a ton of resources and websitesUsted):
http://www.childrensmusic.org/rteachers.html
References:Campabello, N ., De C arlo, M.J., O'Neil, J., Vacek,
M.J. (2002). Mu sic enhan ces learning. (Ma sters
Thesis). Saint Xavier Un iversity, Chicago, II. Retrieval from
Dep t. of Educ ation: ED 471 580.Lems, K. (2001). Using music in
the adult ESL classroom. National Clearinghouse for ESL
Literacy
Education Washington DC. ERIC Identifier: ED459634.Orrarod, I.E.
(2008). Educational psychology developing learners (6* Ed.). Upper
Saddle River, New
Jersey: Pearson . ^Savan, A. (2009). The Effect of background
music on learning. International Ha ndbook of Education for
Spirituality, Care and Wellbeing V3 , pp. 1029-1039. DOI:
10.1007/978-1-4020-9018-9_56
Stevens, C. (2010). Thirty days has September, cool ways to
remember stuff. Broadway, New York:Scholastic Inc.
Tate, M.L. (2010). Worksheets don't grow dendrites {l""^ ^6.).
Thousand Oaks, Cahfomia: Corwin.
Music compiled from Beethoven; Horton, Bobby, and Music Recall
V. 1 & 2.
