Music as a prior condition to task performance

Journal/Book: Journal of Music Therapy. 1984; 21: Silver Spring, Maryland, USA. National Association for Music Therapy. 133-145.

Abstract: The purpose of the study was to examine the relationship between a passive music-listening activity, designed to facilitate concentration and relaxation, and subsequent performance of a specific classroom task, matching numbers. Subjects were seventeen trainable mentally retarded (TMR) students, six to eleven years of age, in two primary self-contained classes. Both groups of students received treatment and control conditions in reverse order over a two-week period. Experimental conditions consisted of a brief taped story il- lustrated on a felt-board with characters and scenes from the story, a short rest period paired with a relaxing music selection, and five minutes of indi- vidual number-matching at the students' seats. Control conditions were iden- tical but without the music. Results were not significant for number-matching comparisons overall. The older group of students exhibited significantly less behavior during the music/rest than during the rest phase.

Keyword(s): music-listening-activity, relaxation-training, academic-ability, mental-retardation, developmental-disabilities, elementary.

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