emotions
"Musically spoken, you can get away with almost anything in pictures if the score only captures the 'feeling' of the sequence" (Scott Bradley, quoted in Goldmark, 2005).
Emotions - So What?
To be effective in the classroom, a fact every teacher must account for sooner rather than later is that the emotional responses and preferences of students impact learning as much as, or more than, cognitive, pedagogical, or curricular factors (Ormrod, 2011). In addition, motivation plays a key role in learning. Students must be on board with materials and methods. Ideally students, or at least their needs, help direct classroom planning. Adults especially must see a connection between the classroom and their personal goals (Finn, 2011).
So in the most effective and efficient English learning environments, teachers will have selected materials and designed activities that they think students will find fun, meaningful and engaging, while simultaneously helping students meet their specific language needs. To do this, teachers need materials and activities with relatively predictable emotional effects on learners.
As it turns out, some acoustic patterns in music, when taken as a whole, predict listener emotional responses to a significant degree. (Hargreaves, 1984; Hunter, Schellenberg & Shimmack, 2010; Juslin & Laukka, 2003; Larsen & Stastny 2011; Leblanc, et al, 1988; Margulis, 2013; Patel, 2008; Taruffi & Koelsch, 2014).
An especially interesting fact from a language teacher’s perspective is that several of these music-to-emotion cues have the same effect when they are a part of linguistic vocal expression (Coutinho & Dibben, 2013; Juslin & Laukka, 2003). For example, both rapid music and rapid speech often express and evoke more active emotions, like happiness and anger. Both slow music and slow speech often express sadness and love (Coutinho & Dibben, 2013; Hunter, Schellenberg & Schimmack, 2010; Juslin & Laukka, 2003; Larsen & Stastny, 2011).
Music emotionally impacts the overwhelming majority of people; 96% of the general population report having experienced happiness, sadness, fear and/or dislike when listening to music (Craig, 2009). Knowledge of the effects of music on listeners, and knowledge of the emotional cues music shares with language, helps teachers underscore learning with music, so that the result is both targeted and emotionally impactful. As will become clear, when it comes to the emotional underscoring of learning with music, Mickey Mouse can teach us a lot. No matter in what other ways music underscores language, Mickey only really impacts students when his music moves them emotionally.
Musical and Vocal Emotions
Musical sounds can be more emotionally expressive than the emotions in speech, because music bypasses semantic meaning in expressing and eliciting emotions (Coutinho & Dibben, 2013; Patel, 2008; Pogaceanu, 2013; Taruffi & Koelsch, 2014).
The same piece of music, however, affects different listeners differently, depending on a wide range of factors. These factors include the listener’s culture, upbringing, personality, preexisting mood, life experiences, musical training, and the listening context (Anderson & Fuller, 2010; de Groot, 2006; Hunter, Schellenberg & Schimmack, 2010; Leblanc et al 1988; Lewis & Schmidt, 1991; Ohlhaver, 1998; Woody, 2004).
In addition, any given musical signal taken in isolation is a relatively poor predictor of listener responses. As Juslin & Laukka (2003) note, however, a piece of music containing several different prompts to the same emotion will more reliably predict effects on listeners.
Even so, in many of the studies that follow, listeners were much more consistent in identifying what the music(ian) was trying to express, than in their own responses to the music.
Even musically untrained listeners in a range of studies (summed up in Bigand & Poulin-Charronnat, 2006), were also quite accurate in identifying the emotions both composers and performers were trying to express. The only prerequisite appears to be that listeners had experienced a variety of the specific culture's music before - that they had not been musically deprived. Formal musical training appears to add little to most listeners' ability to correctly identify expressive intent.
Some responses
A very powerful emotion listeners sometimes feel when listening to music is “chills.” Listeners often feel chills when they hear sudden harmonic shifts (Patel, 2008). As discussed in the section on Pitch, harmonic shifts occur when composers change the first, or "tonic" chord, which has set the key for the music, to a chord progression in a different key.
Listeners associate “chills” in music with different emotions, including fear, sadness and joy. The following excerpt from Bonny Tyler's (2011) "Total Eclipse of the Heart" illustrates a harmony which develops in one direction, then shifts direction on the second occurrence of the word "Apart." The singer prepares the listener for this harmonic shift by singing louder, accompanied by pronounced beats on the drum, a couple of seconds before the shift occurs. When I first heard this turn in the music, I felt a chill.
- Emotions - so what?
- Musical and vocal emotions
- Emotions for teachers: Music selection; activities
Emotions - So What?
To be effective in the classroom, a fact every teacher must account for sooner rather than later is that the emotional responses and preferences of students impact learning as much as, or more than, cognitive, pedagogical, or curricular factors (Ormrod, 2011). In addition, motivation plays a key role in learning. Students must be on board with materials and methods. Ideally students, or at least their needs, help direct classroom planning. Adults especially must see a connection between the classroom and their personal goals (Finn, 2011).
So in the most effective and efficient English learning environments, teachers will have selected materials and designed activities that they think students will find fun, meaningful and engaging, while simultaneously helping students meet their specific language needs. To do this, teachers need materials and activities with relatively predictable emotional effects on learners.
As it turns out, some acoustic patterns in music, when taken as a whole, predict listener emotional responses to a significant degree. (Hargreaves, 1984; Hunter, Schellenberg & Shimmack, 2010; Juslin & Laukka, 2003; Larsen & Stastny 2011; Leblanc, et al, 1988; Margulis, 2013; Patel, 2008; Taruffi & Koelsch, 2014).
An especially interesting fact from a language teacher’s perspective is that several of these music-to-emotion cues have the same effect when they are a part of linguistic vocal expression (Coutinho & Dibben, 2013; Juslin & Laukka, 2003). For example, both rapid music and rapid speech often express and evoke more active emotions, like happiness and anger. Both slow music and slow speech often express sadness and love (Coutinho & Dibben, 2013; Hunter, Schellenberg & Schimmack, 2010; Juslin & Laukka, 2003; Larsen & Stastny, 2011).
Music emotionally impacts the overwhelming majority of people; 96% of the general population report having experienced happiness, sadness, fear and/or dislike when listening to music (Craig, 2009). Knowledge of the effects of music on listeners, and knowledge of the emotional cues music shares with language, helps teachers underscore learning with music, so that the result is both targeted and emotionally impactful. As will become clear, when it comes to the emotional underscoring of learning with music, Mickey Mouse can teach us a lot. No matter in what other ways music underscores language, Mickey only really impacts students when his music moves them emotionally.
Musical and Vocal Emotions
Musical sounds can be more emotionally expressive than the emotions in speech, because music bypasses semantic meaning in expressing and eliciting emotions (Coutinho & Dibben, 2013; Patel, 2008; Pogaceanu, 2013; Taruffi & Koelsch, 2014).
The same piece of music, however, affects different listeners differently, depending on a wide range of factors. These factors include the listener’s culture, upbringing, personality, preexisting mood, life experiences, musical training, and the listening context (Anderson & Fuller, 2010; de Groot, 2006; Hunter, Schellenberg & Schimmack, 2010; Leblanc et al 1988; Lewis & Schmidt, 1991; Ohlhaver, 1998; Woody, 2004).
In addition, any given musical signal taken in isolation is a relatively poor predictor of listener responses. As Juslin & Laukka (2003) note, however, a piece of music containing several different prompts to the same emotion will more reliably predict effects on listeners.
Even so, in many of the studies that follow, listeners were much more consistent in identifying what the music(ian) was trying to express, than in their own responses to the music.
Even musically untrained listeners in a range of studies (summed up in Bigand & Poulin-Charronnat, 2006), were also quite accurate in identifying the emotions both composers and performers were trying to express. The only prerequisite appears to be that listeners had experienced a variety of the specific culture's music before - that they had not been musically deprived. Formal musical training appears to add little to most listeners' ability to correctly identify expressive intent.
Some responses
A very powerful emotion listeners sometimes feel when listening to music is “chills.” Listeners often feel chills when they hear sudden harmonic shifts (Patel, 2008). As discussed in the section on Pitch, harmonic shifts occur when composers change the first, or "tonic" chord, which has set the key for the music, to a chord progression in a different key.
Listeners associate “chills” in music with different emotions, including fear, sadness and joy. The following excerpt from Bonny Tyler's (2011) "Total Eclipse of the Heart" illustrates a harmony which develops in one direction, then shifts direction on the second occurrence of the word "Apart." The singer prepares the listener for this harmonic shift by singing louder, accompanied by pronounced beats on the drum, a couple of seconds before the shift occurs. When I first heard this turn in the music, I felt a chill.
An even more common response to music is sadness. This often comes in response to music played in what's called a "minor mode." Music in a “major mode” can both express and elicit happiness (Juslin & Laukka, 2003; Hunter, Schellenberg & Shimmack, 2010; Larsen & Stastny, 2011). "Major" and "minor" modes refer to the scales from which notes are selected. I discuss scales on the Pitch page.
The audio sample below illustrates "Old MacDonald Had a Farm" played first in a major, then in a minor mode (Stocker, Andress, & E.C. Schirmer Music Company, 1994).
The audio sample below illustrates "Old MacDonald Had a Farm" played first in a major, then in a minor mode (Stocker, Andress, & E.C. Schirmer Music Company, 1994).
Among Westerners, the most common response to music played in a minor mode - what I am calling "sad" music - is nostalgia. Among Eastern listeners, the most common response to minor-mode music is peacefulness (Taruffi & Koelsch, 2014).
Musical and vocal emotions meet
Because language intonation doesn’t rely on fixed musical scales, the effects discussed above aren’t prompted in speech from major and minor modes or harmonic shifts (Patel, 2008). Linguistic emotional responses are more often prompted by the semantic meaning of words and utterances.
Figure 1, however, contains a summary of the most predictive sound signals speech does share with instrumental music (adapted from Juslin & Laukka, 2003).
Musical and vocal emotions meet
Because language intonation doesn’t rely on fixed musical scales, the effects discussed above aren’t prompted in speech from major and minor modes or harmonic shifts (Patel, 2008). Linguistic emotional responses are more often prompted by the semantic meaning of words and utterances.
Figure 1, however, contains a summary of the most predictive sound signals speech does share with instrumental music (adapted from Juslin & Laukka, 2003).
In figure 1, pitch variability is a measure of the number of different notes in a piece of music. If only a few different pitch levels in a limited pitch range comprise the whole song, this would be low pitch variability.
The rate of voice onset/tone attack is the speed that a voice or instrument moves from silence to a fully articulated note. That is, with a fast onset the performer “jumps in” to the fully formed note immediately, instead of easing into it.
"Microstructural regularity" is essentially a measure of complexity. As for "bright" timbre, it is most simply explained as a preponderance of relatively high-pitched energy emanating from an instrument. Darker timbre is associated with lower pitch. (Patel, 2008).
Below, the excerpt of "The Cascades" illustrates high pitch variability, rapid tempo, fast onsets, and relatively bright timbre in a major mode. Most listeners hear this combination as expressing happiness. The melody both rises and falls repeatedly, adding complexity (Joplin, 2005).
The rate of voice onset/tone attack is the speed that a voice or instrument moves from silence to a fully articulated note. That is, with a fast onset the performer “jumps in” to the fully formed note immediately, instead of easing into it.
"Microstructural regularity" is essentially a measure of complexity. As for "bright" timbre, it is most simply explained as a preponderance of relatively high-pitched energy emanating from an instrument. Darker timbre is associated with lower pitch. (Patel, 2008).
Below, the excerpt of "The Cascades" illustrates high pitch variability, rapid tempo, fast onsets, and relatively bright timbre in a major mode. Most listeners hear this combination as expressing happiness. The melody both rises and falls repeatedly, adding complexity (Joplin, 2005).
The Carpenters (2000) excerpt below, on the other hand, illustrates relatively low pitch variability, mostly slow onsets, a slow base tempo, and darker timbre in a minor mode. These qualities taken together will more likely cue sadness or tenderness.
In addition to the cues outlined in figure one above, music sometimes cues fear, anger or violent feelings through "shock cords" (Goldmark, 2005). Shock cords are combinations of notes which, when played simultaneously, sound very discordant and unpleasant. The audio excerpt below gives an example of shock chords from the movie "Psycho" (Hermann, 2013). I mention these in connection with vocal emotions because they remind me of screams.
Mickey can send mixed signals
Tailoring music to language doesn't always involve pairing like with like. In fact cartoons often do the opposite, in order to create humor (Goldmark, 2005). A character giving a solemn speech, but interrupted by celebratory music, works as a gag through it's incongruity.
Mixed signals in the music itself, such as a fast tempo paired with a minor mode, often cue mixed emotions (Hunter, Schellenberg & Shimmack, 2010; Juslin &Laukka, 2003; Larsen & Stastny, 2011). The excerpt below has notes played in a minor mode - which usually express more sad, nostalgic, contemplative, or peaceful emotions - but played at a fast tempo, which usually expresses more lively emotions like happiness or anger. Thus it could well produce more complex feelings in a listener than its upbeat tempo and snappy melody might suggest (Casio Computer Company, Ltd., 2015).
Tailoring music to language doesn't always involve pairing like with like. In fact cartoons often do the opposite, in order to create humor (Goldmark, 2005). A character giving a solemn speech, but interrupted by celebratory music, works as a gag through it's incongruity.
Mixed signals in the music itself, such as a fast tempo paired with a minor mode, often cue mixed emotions (Hunter, Schellenberg & Shimmack, 2010; Juslin &Laukka, 2003; Larsen & Stastny, 2011). The excerpt below has notes played in a minor mode - which usually express more sad, nostalgic, contemplative, or peaceful emotions - but played at a fast tempo, which usually expresses more lively emotions like happiness or anger. Thus it could well produce more complex feelings in a listener than its upbeat tempo and snappy melody might suggest (Casio Computer Company, Ltd., 2015).
No matter the emotion, whether happy, sad, angry, fearful, tender, or something else entirely, listeners usually find more personal meaning in music the more different emotions it elicits (Craig, 2009). Most listeners find less meaning in music with consistent cues - that is, music which might be called one dimensional - even if it's fun to dance to. Thus personal favorites often have mixed cues.
This is true in spite of the fact that most listeners prefer music they categorize as happy, "dance-able," or upbeat (Leblanc, et al, 1988; Leblanc, et al, 1996). In fact a lot of people find music which evokes mixed and "negative" emotions of all stripes not just meaningful, but rewarding and need-fulfilling (Hunter, Schellenberg & Shimmack, 2010; Taruffi & Koelsch, 2014). Among the reasons offered for this seeming paradox are that supposedly less preferred sad music regulates emotions, elicits meaningful memories, and allows listeners to experience powerful feelings without “real world” consequences (Pogaceanu, 2013).
In Summary: Music and speech can both express and elicit anger, fear, happiness, sadness and tenderness via some of the same acoustic cues. But tailoring music to language doesn't always mean pairing like with like; humor, for example, can arise from incongruities between the two. Mixed acoustic cues in the music itself often lead to more complex - and personally meaningful - responses than does music with consistent cues. And many listeners find "negative" music rewarding, even when they prefer more upbeat music.
Emotions for Teachers
Music Selection
To the ESL teacher, both the cues music shares with language and the ones it does not can help guide the selection of specific music that will harmonize with specific target language and language-learning goals.
Since teachers select music for its effects on students, the first issue to settle is whether, and when, students should select their own music for learning. Student-selected music is likely to engage students the most. But there are reasons teachers need to at least guide the process, if not direct it - not least of which is my thesis that music should be tailored to language and learning.
Student-selected songs may contain language above the level of the students. And it's a good idea to avoid sexually suggestive, violent and controversial religious music (Ebong & Sabbadini, 2006; Hunter, Schellenberg & Schimmack, 2010; Lems, 2005; Tarrufi & Koelsch, 2014; Ulate, 2007; Woody, 2004).
Still, teachers should always take students' likes and dislikes into account. Even if a student-selected song isn't appropriate for class, teachers can compromise by using short excerpts from the song for specific purposes,
Preferences
When emotionally underscoring learning without first consulting students about the music to be used, teachers are not totally in the dark about how students will like it. Rock and pop are “consistently well liked” among all age groups. Classical is also fairly popular. (Leblanc, et al 1996).
Many people are prejudiced against certain styles of music. Increasing familiarity with a song, however, can lead to a greater appreciation of it. Thus students may grow to like a song if it is played repeatedly. But many listeners appear to view these occurrences as exceptions, because increased familiarity often fails to reduce prejudice toward the style or genre that the song belongs to (Hargreaves, 1984; Margulis, 2013; Woody, 2004).
Listeners generally prefer music with a fast tempo. So much so that in a study of students whose ages ran the gamut from third grade to seniors in college, Leblanc, et al (1988), found that after a total accounting of all the pieces of music of various styles and tempos tested, not a single one of the 926 subjects did not like more of the faster songs than of the slower.
Tempo appears to have the most effect on music's emotional expressiveness, as well as best predicting responses. In the audio below is are two identical segments of "Silent Night" (Casio Computer Company, Ltd., 2015). The first has an upbeat tempo. The second has a much slower tempo. The first part of the recording sounds markedly more celebratory, the sort of thing shopping malls might play to keep their customers excited about buying Christmas presents. The second part sounds more contemplative, longing and sad, music one might encounter at a memorial. This morphing into something with an almost opposite feel was present in the other music I've tried tempo changes with.
This is true in spite of the fact that most listeners prefer music they categorize as happy, "dance-able," or upbeat (Leblanc, et al, 1988; Leblanc, et al, 1996). In fact a lot of people find music which evokes mixed and "negative" emotions of all stripes not just meaningful, but rewarding and need-fulfilling (Hunter, Schellenberg & Shimmack, 2010; Taruffi & Koelsch, 2014). Among the reasons offered for this seeming paradox are that supposedly less preferred sad music regulates emotions, elicits meaningful memories, and allows listeners to experience powerful feelings without “real world” consequences (Pogaceanu, 2013).
In Summary: Music and speech can both express and elicit anger, fear, happiness, sadness and tenderness via some of the same acoustic cues. But tailoring music to language doesn't always mean pairing like with like; humor, for example, can arise from incongruities between the two. Mixed acoustic cues in the music itself often lead to more complex - and personally meaningful - responses than does music with consistent cues. And many listeners find "negative" music rewarding, even when they prefer more upbeat music.
Emotions for Teachers
Music Selection
To the ESL teacher, both the cues music shares with language and the ones it does not can help guide the selection of specific music that will harmonize with specific target language and language-learning goals.
Since teachers select music for its effects on students, the first issue to settle is whether, and when, students should select their own music for learning. Student-selected music is likely to engage students the most. But there are reasons teachers need to at least guide the process, if not direct it - not least of which is my thesis that music should be tailored to language and learning.
Student-selected songs may contain language above the level of the students. And it's a good idea to avoid sexually suggestive, violent and controversial religious music (Ebong & Sabbadini, 2006; Hunter, Schellenberg & Schimmack, 2010; Lems, 2005; Tarrufi & Koelsch, 2014; Ulate, 2007; Woody, 2004).
Still, teachers should always take students' likes and dislikes into account. Even if a student-selected song isn't appropriate for class, teachers can compromise by using short excerpts from the song for specific purposes,
Preferences
When emotionally underscoring learning without first consulting students about the music to be used, teachers are not totally in the dark about how students will like it. Rock and pop are “consistently well liked” among all age groups. Classical is also fairly popular. (Leblanc, et al 1996).
Many people are prejudiced against certain styles of music. Increasing familiarity with a song, however, can lead to a greater appreciation of it. Thus students may grow to like a song if it is played repeatedly. But many listeners appear to view these occurrences as exceptions, because increased familiarity often fails to reduce prejudice toward the style or genre that the song belongs to (Hargreaves, 1984; Margulis, 2013; Woody, 2004).
Listeners generally prefer music with a fast tempo. So much so that in a study of students whose ages ran the gamut from third grade to seniors in college, Leblanc, et al (1988), found that after a total accounting of all the pieces of music of various styles and tempos tested, not a single one of the 926 subjects did not like more of the faster songs than of the slower.
Tempo appears to have the most effect on music's emotional expressiveness, as well as best predicting responses. In the audio below is are two identical segments of "Silent Night" (Casio Computer Company, Ltd., 2015). The first has an upbeat tempo. The second has a much slower tempo. The first part of the recording sounds markedly more celebratory, the sort of thing shopping malls might play to keep their customers excited about buying Christmas presents. The second part sounds more contemplative, longing and sad, music one might encounter at a memorial. This morphing into something with an almost opposite feel was present in the other music I've tried tempo changes with.
Thus teachers might convert a piece of music students don't like into something they'll want to dance along with, simply by using a faster version. The free program Audacity allows users to modify the tempo and other acoustic properties of music. Many electronic keyboards, which can have a wide selection of pre-recorded tunes programmed into them, also have controls for adjusting tempo.
Music for learning
Accounting for student preferences is just one consideration in selecting music for classroom use. The music can’t conflict with learning goals, and ideally it enhances them.
Background music played while students read can distract them (Kang & Williamson, 2014; Patel, 2008; Poulin Charronat, et al 2005). If it is not to distract, background music generally should not contain vocals, should not be too complex, not too fast, not too loud, and it should be tonally stable (Boyle & Coltheart, 1996; Kang & Williamson, 2014).
Though several very technical factors can go into what makes music "tonally stable," for most purposes it's enough to know that tonal stability means the music does not contain many large pitch changes, nor tonic chord changes. I discuss tonic chords on the Pitch page (Patel, 2008).
If played at low volume, baroque music, such as the excerpt of J.S. Bach’s (2009) First Piano Concerto below, can produce beneficial vocabulary acquisition and reading performance effects (de Groot, 2006; Kang & Williamson, 2014).
Music for learning
Accounting for student preferences is just one consideration in selecting music for classroom use. The music can’t conflict with learning goals, and ideally it enhances them.
Background music played while students read can distract them (Kang & Williamson, 2014; Patel, 2008; Poulin Charronat, et al 2005). If it is not to distract, background music generally should not contain vocals, should not be too complex, not too fast, not too loud, and it should be tonally stable (Boyle & Coltheart, 1996; Kang & Williamson, 2014).
Though several very technical factors can go into what makes music "tonally stable," for most purposes it's enough to know that tonal stability means the music does not contain many large pitch changes, nor tonic chord changes. I discuss tonic chords on the Pitch page (Patel, 2008).
If played at low volume, baroque music, such as the excerpt of J.S. Bach’s (2009) First Piano Concerto below, can produce beneficial vocabulary acquisition and reading performance effects (de Groot, 2006; Kang & Williamson, 2014).
But research is mixed on whether, when and how background music of any variety improves reading performance (Anderson & Fuller, 2010; Boyle & Coltheart, 1996; Butzlaff, 2000; Carlson, et al, 2004; Kang & Williamson, 2014; Li & Brand, 2009; Moreno, 2009).
Still, non-distracting music played both during learning and during test taking on the same material can significantly improve test performance. This may be due to the shared and enriched context for learning and retrieval (deGroot, 2006).
Even though music doesn’t always improve studying effectiveness, many students regularly study with music on. They feel the music does improve their learning (Anderson & Fuller, 2010). Vocal music that students enjoy, and that they pick themselves, often distracts them the most. The distraction appears to come not from overlapping processing in the brain, but rather from competing demands on listeners’ limited attention.
Yet not only adults, but even children, often show great insight into the kind of music that is appropriate to their own learning, and their choices can reveal a lot about them to teachers. For example, Jill Ostrow (personal communication, March 24, 2015), speaking of her multi-age elmentary school students, said, "What I learned, was that the different students wanted, requested, different types of music during different times of the day. For example, during writing and reading workshop, they often played ... very calm and quiet jazz, instrumental, or alternative music. During math, however, they would want something more “boppy” as they described it. This might be more upbeat jazz ... International music, etc. During a project they’d want more pop music, rock, something with more texture. Something to sing or hum to. They’d often choose classical music during art type projects - painting, drawing, creating, etc. I found these differences in music throughout the day quite telling and very interesting."
Picking music from the students’ home culture when possible is very desirable. Even if it isn’t in English, using familiar music during breaks, at celebrations and for background music can lower anxiety levels, welcome students to class, and show respect and appreciation for their culture (Speh and Ahramjian, 2009). For example, Lems (2005) used Chopin with a variety of Polish English learners, and had positive responses from students without exception.
Some of the music from different cultures has different effects on listeners than those I discuss in this project. This is due in large part to the different pitch scales those cultures employ. It is also partly due to the way different listeners' cultures have conditioned them to hear music (Patel, 2008). In this project I stick to Western music, both because it is the most researched kind, and due to space and time constraints. But a researcher could make a valuable contribution to mickey-mousing in ESL by exploring the classroom implications of properties non-Western music shares with both English and other languages.
Discovering preferences
In practice, teachers need to experiment with different kinds of music (Murphey, 1992; Ohlhaver, 1998). I have an ongoing homework assignment that asks students to bring me the names of songs and artists they like. I construct activities around these songs. Though some songs have been liked more than others, the response to music-assisted learning in general has been universally positive. For me, student tastes in music are the departure point. In addition, students get to know each other better by learning about each others’ music.
Murphey (1992) discusses fun ways to discover student preferences in music. In one of these activities, students fill out cards with their favorite song, favorite style, favorite group, and an "oldie but goodie" - either group or song - that they especially like. Classmates circulate with the cards pinned to their shirts and ask classmates one question about their card. Or, the teacher hands out the cards randomly, and classmates write questions on the back; the author answers them as homework. Later, students write paragraphs about each other based on the cards and the answers provided. By collecting the cards when the activities are finished, the teacher gets a quick sense of the class' musical tastes.
This activity is especially appropriate early in semesters, when students are getting to know each other. If students didn't write their names on the cards, but instead wrote secret code names, classmates could try to guess who the author was (ibid).
These early stages of a class are also a good time for the class to brainstorm ways they could use music to learn English. This gets students involved in directing their own learning ... and provides ideas to teachers. Students prepare for brainstorming by filling out a questionnaire on the different ways they use music in their lives: How often do they listen to music? For what purposes? In what contexts? Students also generate their own questions for classmates (ibid).
And the more students can be co-opted into helping teachers find music and lyrics, the better. Any materials students bring to class are that much less of a burden on the teacher.
An important additional point is made by Lems (2005). Teachers should rely heavily on their own tastes in music. Enthusiasm for a song can be contagious, and teachers are likely to craft lessons more carefully when they care about the music they're using.
An apprenticeship to Mickey
Cartoons are an extremely rich source of music which has already been emotionally mickey-moused to its content. Cartoons from the classic era of characters like Donald Duck, Mickey Mouse, Tom and Jerry, and The Roadrunner were often paragons of the integration of content and music (Goldmark, 2005). These cartoons also provide visual support to learners, as well as relatively simple language, making them ideal for explaining new concepts concretely.
One problem with cartoons, however, especially those from the days when mickey-mousing was very common, is the prevalence of possibly offensive material in them. Violence is the most prominent example. As Goldmark (ibid) puts it, "... attempted murder and involuntary man-slaughter occur in almost every cartoon ..." He points out that female characters in the old cartoons were relatively rare, and when they did appear they were often stereotyped. Furthermore, the stereotyping of minority-ethnicity characters, most notably African Americans, was both common and egregious.
Although I've met several immigrants who use cartoons to learn English, when using cartoons in class the danger of offending an adult student is greater than that of offending a child would be. Adults have more entrenched identities than children do, and more often feel threatened by challenges to the beliefs underlying those identities (MacKeracher, 2004).
Nonetheless, cartoons are the ultimate tutors in the art of mickey-mousing music to content. When vetted carefully, cartoons have great potential as materials for teaching languages even to adults. In addition, adult students, like children, greatly appreciate comic interludes.
In Summary: Teachers need to direct the selection of music appropriate to learning, but must discover and use student tastes in music - especially since learners often have great insight into their own needs. Many people are prejudiced against certain styles - often due to unfamiliarity. With repetition, students may come to appreciate unfamiliar music. Fast tempo appears to have the most effect on the character of a piece of music, and on how much listeners like it. Though many students study with music playing, it is unclear when, and to what extent, music enhances or impairs reading comprehension. Distracting music is usually music students like. Distracting music usually has vocals, and is tonally unstable, loud, complex, and fast. Cartoons offer a rich source of content that's emotionally underscored by music in very effective ways.
Activities
In order to design learning underscored by music for emotional effect, teachers have to look not so much at the language being targeted, but rather at the typical emotions that accompany the ways students will use that language.
For example, if teachers want to stimulate very diverse responses in students while they free write, thereby eliciting a wide variety of very creative and personalized work, playing background music with a variety of mixed cues works well. Murphey (1992) suggests turning on music just before students file into class each day. They journal about the music for a few minutes every class as a warm up. These journals tell teachers what effects music is having on the students. Regular use also helps establish the kind of routine that is so important to English learners (Herrell & Jordan, 2008).
If students are Westerners, then because nostalgia is their most common response to "sad" music, that music works well with personal narrative writing about childhood. Since Easterners’ most common response to "sad" music is a feeling of peacefulness, music with cues to "sadness" works well when they describe a landscape or write about any tranquil subject.
New age music, especially that with nature sounds, is a good fit to this kind of landscape-description activity for all learners; its contemplative feel can match the tranquil feelings many people get from natural beauty. This music rarely has noticeable melodies, which might be catchy. Thus it does not "catch" our minds so much as liberate them. This kind of low-complexity music has been found to assist in second language learning (Kang & Williamson, 2014).
Below is an excerpt from a new age piece with soft instrumentals and the sound of running water (Sleep Music System, 2010). Senior citizens in a tai chi class I teach feel music like this both relaxes and recharges them. This is analogous to the interplay of yin and yang, or receptive and productive energy, so integral to the practice of tai chi. Language students could listen to this music as a class is coming to a close, to wind it down; students not only release stress, they feel recharged. In addition, guided imagery enhances the stress-reducing effects of music (Taruffi & Koelsch, 2014). So to amplify the effects, teachers use guided meditation recordings, or themselves help students to imagine restful nature sanctuaries while new age music is playing.
Still, non-distracting music played both during learning and during test taking on the same material can significantly improve test performance. This may be due to the shared and enriched context for learning and retrieval (deGroot, 2006).
Even though music doesn’t always improve studying effectiveness, many students regularly study with music on. They feel the music does improve their learning (Anderson & Fuller, 2010). Vocal music that students enjoy, and that they pick themselves, often distracts them the most. The distraction appears to come not from overlapping processing in the brain, but rather from competing demands on listeners’ limited attention.
Yet not only adults, but even children, often show great insight into the kind of music that is appropriate to their own learning, and their choices can reveal a lot about them to teachers. For example, Jill Ostrow (personal communication, March 24, 2015), speaking of her multi-age elmentary school students, said, "What I learned, was that the different students wanted, requested, different types of music during different times of the day. For example, during writing and reading workshop, they often played ... very calm and quiet jazz, instrumental, or alternative music. During math, however, they would want something more “boppy” as they described it. This might be more upbeat jazz ... International music, etc. During a project they’d want more pop music, rock, something with more texture. Something to sing or hum to. They’d often choose classical music during art type projects - painting, drawing, creating, etc. I found these differences in music throughout the day quite telling and very interesting."
Picking music from the students’ home culture when possible is very desirable. Even if it isn’t in English, using familiar music during breaks, at celebrations and for background music can lower anxiety levels, welcome students to class, and show respect and appreciation for their culture (Speh and Ahramjian, 2009). For example, Lems (2005) used Chopin with a variety of Polish English learners, and had positive responses from students without exception.
Some of the music from different cultures has different effects on listeners than those I discuss in this project. This is due in large part to the different pitch scales those cultures employ. It is also partly due to the way different listeners' cultures have conditioned them to hear music (Patel, 2008). In this project I stick to Western music, both because it is the most researched kind, and due to space and time constraints. But a researcher could make a valuable contribution to mickey-mousing in ESL by exploring the classroom implications of properties non-Western music shares with both English and other languages.
Discovering preferences
In practice, teachers need to experiment with different kinds of music (Murphey, 1992; Ohlhaver, 1998). I have an ongoing homework assignment that asks students to bring me the names of songs and artists they like. I construct activities around these songs. Though some songs have been liked more than others, the response to music-assisted learning in general has been universally positive. For me, student tastes in music are the departure point. In addition, students get to know each other better by learning about each others’ music.
Murphey (1992) discusses fun ways to discover student preferences in music. In one of these activities, students fill out cards with their favorite song, favorite style, favorite group, and an "oldie but goodie" - either group or song - that they especially like. Classmates circulate with the cards pinned to their shirts and ask classmates one question about their card. Or, the teacher hands out the cards randomly, and classmates write questions on the back; the author answers them as homework. Later, students write paragraphs about each other based on the cards and the answers provided. By collecting the cards when the activities are finished, the teacher gets a quick sense of the class' musical tastes.
This activity is especially appropriate early in semesters, when students are getting to know each other. If students didn't write their names on the cards, but instead wrote secret code names, classmates could try to guess who the author was (ibid).
These early stages of a class are also a good time for the class to brainstorm ways they could use music to learn English. This gets students involved in directing their own learning ... and provides ideas to teachers. Students prepare for brainstorming by filling out a questionnaire on the different ways they use music in their lives: How often do they listen to music? For what purposes? In what contexts? Students also generate their own questions for classmates (ibid).
And the more students can be co-opted into helping teachers find music and lyrics, the better. Any materials students bring to class are that much less of a burden on the teacher.
An important additional point is made by Lems (2005). Teachers should rely heavily on their own tastes in music. Enthusiasm for a song can be contagious, and teachers are likely to craft lessons more carefully when they care about the music they're using.
An apprenticeship to Mickey
Cartoons are an extremely rich source of music which has already been emotionally mickey-moused to its content. Cartoons from the classic era of characters like Donald Duck, Mickey Mouse, Tom and Jerry, and The Roadrunner were often paragons of the integration of content and music (Goldmark, 2005). These cartoons also provide visual support to learners, as well as relatively simple language, making them ideal for explaining new concepts concretely.
One problem with cartoons, however, especially those from the days when mickey-mousing was very common, is the prevalence of possibly offensive material in them. Violence is the most prominent example. As Goldmark (ibid) puts it, "... attempted murder and involuntary man-slaughter occur in almost every cartoon ..." He points out that female characters in the old cartoons were relatively rare, and when they did appear they were often stereotyped. Furthermore, the stereotyping of minority-ethnicity characters, most notably African Americans, was both common and egregious.
Although I've met several immigrants who use cartoons to learn English, when using cartoons in class the danger of offending an adult student is greater than that of offending a child would be. Adults have more entrenched identities than children do, and more often feel threatened by challenges to the beliefs underlying those identities (MacKeracher, 2004).
Nonetheless, cartoons are the ultimate tutors in the art of mickey-mousing music to content. When vetted carefully, cartoons have great potential as materials for teaching languages even to adults. In addition, adult students, like children, greatly appreciate comic interludes.
In Summary: Teachers need to direct the selection of music appropriate to learning, but must discover and use student tastes in music - especially since learners often have great insight into their own needs. Many people are prejudiced against certain styles - often due to unfamiliarity. With repetition, students may come to appreciate unfamiliar music. Fast tempo appears to have the most effect on the character of a piece of music, and on how much listeners like it. Though many students study with music playing, it is unclear when, and to what extent, music enhances or impairs reading comprehension. Distracting music is usually music students like. Distracting music usually has vocals, and is tonally unstable, loud, complex, and fast. Cartoons offer a rich source of content that's emotionally underscored by music in very effective ways.
Activities
In order to design learning underscored by music for emotional effect, teachers have to look not so much at the language being targeted, but rather at the typical emotions that accompany the ways students will use that language.
For example, if teachers want to stimulate very diverse responses in students while they free write, thereby eliciting a wide variety of very creative and personalized work, playing background music with a variety of mixed cues works well. Murphey (1992) suggests turning on music just before students file into class each day. They journal about the music for a few minutes every class as a warm up. These journals tell teachers what effects music is having on the students. Regular use also helps establish the kind of routine that is so important to English learners (Herrell & Jordan, 2008).
If students are Westerners, then because nostalgia is their most common response to "sad" music, that music works well with personal narrative writing about childhood. Since Easterners’ most common response to "sad" music is a feeling of peacefulness, music with cues to "sadness" works well when they describe a landscape or write about any tranquil subject.
New age music, especially that with nature sounds, is a good fit to this kind of landscape-description activity for all learners; its contemplative feel can match the tranquil feelings many people get from natural beauty. This music rarely has noticeable melodies, which might be catchy. Thus it does not "catch" our minds so much as liberate them. This kind of low-complexity music has been found to assist in second language learning (Kang & Williamson, 2014).
Below is an excerpt from a new age piece with soft instrumentals and the sound of running water (Sleep Music System, 2010). Senior citizens in a tai chi class I teach feel music like this both relaxes and recharges them. This is analogous to the interplay of yin and yang, or receptive and productive energy, so integral to the practice of tai chi. Language students could listen to this music as a class is coming to a close, to wind it down; students not only release stress, they feel recharged. In addition, guided imagery enhances the stress-reducing effects of music (Taruffi & Koelsch, 2014). So to amplify the effects, teachers use guided meditation recordings, or themselves help students to imagine restful nature sanctuaries while new age music is playing.
Music with cues to more energetic emotions, on the other hand, increases students' alertness. So more lively music played during a "brain break" changes the mood when students are dragging.
The subject of brain breaks ties in with the fact that in order to mickey-mouse music to language learning, the music doesn't necessarily have to parallel and reinforce the language being used. Playing music which diverges emotionally or cognitively from the prior language activities truly "breaks" the track students' language use was on. This gives a mental and emotional "break" to students in the literal meaning of the word. This situation serves as a reminder that the point of mickey-mousing is to exploit music-language similarities in order to musically underscore language learning activities - not necessarily to reinforce the the language with music. Nonetheless, the central focus remains the same; teachers need to understand the characteristics music shares with language even to create divergence between the two.
Music and reading
Because the research is mixed on whether background music improves reading comprehension, I would hesitate to use music when the whole class is reading. If I did, it would be at a very low volume. In spite of the possibility of distraction, if my classroom were equipped for it I might experiment with allowing those students who want to, to wear headphones while reading.
Requiring students to pass a comprehension test on the books they read with their favorite music on, and comparing the results to musically-unaccompanied reading, assesses how much the music is distracting them. Students writing reflections after both music-accompanied and non-accompanied reading self-assess the effects of the music. The buy-in this would encourage in students, so important to adults, might even be worth some loss in reading efficiency.
Here again divergence between music and language can be more effective than parallelism. Because the research indicates that music with vocals often distracts students who are reading, teachers or students normally need to select background music which doesn't share with the reading material the characteristic of having words. Otherwise music and language conflict. This impairs both.
The choice between using music with shared cues and music which diverges from the target language boils down to: Does a teacher want to reinforce the language with parallel information, or would the parallel information likely overload the student? In both cases the appropriate music - or silence - provides synchronized underscoring, or mickey-mousing, just of different kinds.
When music mirrors vocals
The areas where the emotional expressiveness of music overlap with that of speech further boost the effectiveness of many language activities in ESL. Teachers only need to ensure that the musical cues mirror the vocal cues likely to accompany the given activity. That produces true mickey-mousing.
So background music sharing characteristics with the vocal expressions appropriate to the scenarios students are imagining enliven dialogue and story writing. Music which could be expected to cue fear or violence, such as the excerpt below from Stravinsky's (1991) "Rite of Spring, Sacrificial Dance," underscores students writing dialogues about people in conflict. As further multimodal underscoring, before starting the text writing, students could draw pictures as they listen to the music, describing how they visualize the participants acting.
The subject of brain breaks ties in with the fact that in order to mickey-mouse music to language learning, the music doesn't necessarily have to parallel and reinforce the language being used. Playing music which diverges emotionally or cognitively from the prior language activities truly "breaks" the track students' language use was on. This gives a mental and emotional "break" to students in the literal meaning of the word. This situation serves as a reminder that the point of mickey-mousing is to exploit music-language similarities in order to musically underscore language learning activities - not necessarily to reinforce the the language with music. Nonetheless, the central focus remains the same; teachers need to understand the characteristics music shares with language even to create divergence between the two.
Music and reading
Because the research is mixed on whether background music improves reading comprehension, I would hesitate to use music when the whole class is reading. If I did, it would be at a very low volume. In spite of the possibility of distraction, if my classroom were equipped for it I might experiment with allowing those students who want to, to wear headphones while reading.
Requiring students to pass a comprehension test on the books they read with their favorite music on, and comparing the results to musically-unaccompanied reading, assesses how much the music is distracting them. Students writing reflections after both music-accompanied and non-accompanied reading self-assess the effects of the music. The buy-in this would encourage in students, so important to adults, might even be worth some loss in reading efficiency.
Here again divergence between music and language can be more effective than parallelism. Because the research indicates that music with vocals often distracts students who are reading, teachers or students normally need to select background music which doesn't share with the reading material the characteristic of having words. Otherwise music and language conflict. This impairs both.
The choice between using music with shared cues and music which diverges from the target language boils down to: Does a teacher want to reinforce the language with parallel information, or would the parallel information likely overload the student? In both cases the appropriate music - or silence - provides synchronized underscoring, or mickey-mousing, just of different kinds.
When music mirrors vocals
The areas where the emotional expressiveness of music overlap with that of speech further boost the effectiveness of many language activities in ESL. Teachers only need to ensure that the musical cues mirror the vocal cues likely to accompany the given activity. That produces true mickey-mousing.
So background music sharing characteristics with the vocal expressions appropriate to the scenarios students are imagining enliven dialogue and story writing. Music which could be expected to cue fear or violence, such as the excerpt below from Stravinsky's (1991) "Rite of Spring, Sacrificial Dance," underscores students writing dialogues about people in conflict. As further multimodal underscoring, before starting the text writing, students could draw pictures as they listen to the music, describing how they visualize the participants acting.
Music which shares cues with vocal expression can underscore role plays too. Celebratory music, like the John Phillip Souza march (2009) in the audio below, sets an atmosphere for role plays about parties, parades or reunions.
The audio above was intended for a marching band. This brings up the important point that ceremonial music, or any music which is well-known to native speakers, such as wedding marches, Christmas carols, and famous advertising jingles, is likely to be emotionally appropriate to its subject. Lems (2005) points out, "All of the forms of music around the world suit their culture to a T, because the cultures create and adapt them constantly."
So because a lot of culturally significant music appropriately underscores the ritual associated with it, comparing and contrasting the emotional and vocal cues in U.S. music and music from students' home countries helps students more wisely choose music to underscore their own learning.
The cues speech shares with music also tie music to rhetoric (Juslin & Laukka, 2003). Students learn to add expressiveness and rhetorical flourishes to their conversations and presentations, if the teacher asks them to “Talk the way this music sounds.” So to prepare students for extemporaneous public speaking, teachers show easy to understand music videos in which the actions and words of the singers harmonize especially well with the musical cues. The class, or groups of students, discuss the different ways the music fits the gestures of the singers or actors - or cartoon characters.
Students practice these rhetorical skills when storytelling or re-telling, during expressive reading, or when performing plays. Presentations offer especially appropriate times for students to choose the music they feel best complements their expressive intent. To encourage active listening by the rest of the class, the student audience fills out questionnaires after the performances, listing one new thing they learned, one thing they disagreed with, and one thing they especially enjoyed (Murphey, 1992).
No matter the effect music is used to create, Lems (2005) recommends creating an atmosphere especially for the listening experience. That is, the environment should be mickey-moused to the music and learning. This means adjusting the lights, putting up visuals on a screen, and even creating a “campfire circle” of chairs if it seems to fit. Emotionally powerful music is effective music for language learning (Ohlhaver, 1998). So it's important to release the music’s full emotional potential. Co-opting students into the decisions about what ambiance underscores what music and language, in turn releases their full potential as independent learners.
In Summary: Emotionally targeting language with music requires examining the emotions that are likely to accompany the ways students are using the language. So music with mixed cues, because it is ambivalent and open to interpretation, leads to creativity in free writing. Music which shares acoustic cues with language is especially helpful for complementing writing, role plays and dialogues, as well as in teaching rhetoric. Music traditionally associated with cultural rituals most likely emotionally fits those rituals. Teachers should be careful about playing music during reading. But "mood music" can recharge and/or relax the class. However music is used, teachers release its full potential by creating an atmosphere suitable for it. Students in turn realize their full potential as independent learners by participating in discussions and decision making about emotionally mickey-mousing music and other modalities to language and learning.
So because a lot of culturally significant music appropriately underscores the ritual associated with it, comparing and contrasting the emotional and vocal cues in U.S. music and music from students' home countries helps students more wisely choose music to underscore their own learning.
The cues speech shares with music also tie music to rhetoric (Juslin & Laukka, 2003). Students learn to add expressiveness and rhetorical flourishes to their conversations and presentations, if the teacher asks them to “Talk the way this music sounds.” So to prepare students for extemporaneous public speaking, teachers show easy to understand music videos in which the actions and words of the singers harmonize especially well with the musical cues. The class, or groups of students, discuss the different ways the music fits the gestures of the singers or actors - or cartoon characters.
Students practice these rhetorical skills when storytelling or re-telling, during expressive reading, or when performing plays. Presentations offer especially appropriate times for students to choose the music they feel best complements their expressive intent. To encourage active listening by the rest of the class, the student audience fills out questionnaires after the performances, listing one new thing they learned, one thing they disagreed with, and one thing they especially enjoyed (Murphey, 1992).
No matter the effect music is used to create, Lems (2005) recommends creating an atmosphere especially for the listening experience. That is, the environment should be mickey-moused to the music and learning. This means adjusting the lights, putting up visuals on a screen, and even creating a “campfire circle” of chairs if it seems to fit. Emotionally powerful music is effective music for language learning (Ohlhaver, 1998). So it's important to release the music’s full emotional potential. Co-opting students into the decisions about what ambiance underscores what music and language, in turn releases their full potential as independent learners.
In Summary: Emotionally targeting language with music requires examining the emotions that are likely to accompany the ways students are using the language. So music with mixed cues, because it is ambivalent and open to interpretation, leads to creativity in free writing. Music which shares acoustic cues with language is especially helpful for complementing writing, role plays and dialogues, as well as in teaching rhetoric. Music traditionally associated with cultural rituals most likely emotionally fits those rituals. Teachers should be careful about playing music during reading. But "mood music" can recharge and/or relax the class. However music is used, teachers release its full potential by creating an atmosphere suitable for it. Students in turn realize their full potential as independent learners by participating in discussions and decision making about emotionally mickey-mousing music and other modalities to language and learning.