Loving music in the classroom.

Educators need to understand cognitive development and be able to link current brain research to classroom instruction to be effective teachers.According to Given (2002) there are five natural learning styles in the brain which are emotional, social, cognitive, physical and reflective. She explains that these all play an important role in the development of an effective classroom but highlights that there are just two which seem to be most necessary which are the emotional and the social systems.
In saying this, it makes sense that as Learning Managers we must ensure that we provide an emotionally safe classroom for all students. This can be linked to Marzano & Pickerings (1997) Dimensions of Learning when they discuss that teachers must create a balanced classroom climate which is underpinned by positive attitudes and perceptions. Some students have difficulty articulating their ideas, feelings and/or opinions orally through a discussion. Therefore Learning Managers should encourage these students to come up with other ways to express themselves. This could be done through the use of music in the classroom. Given (2009) explains that 'teachers need to allow for the differences in their classrooms to help students feel that their varied viewpoints and different ways of solving problems are acceptable'. By encouraging this, teachers are creating an emotionally safe and comfortable classroom climate which is encouraging and supportive for all learners.

Sprenger tells us that emotional memory strategies are by far the most effective and insists that music in particularly can be very powerful in gaining emotional memory. Music can be incorporated to assist students in making meaning of content. For example, when discussing the 'diggers' and Australian war history, the Learning Manager could play 'I was only 19' to the students. This is in aid of provoking feeling and emotion and can result in the students becoming engaged and using their emotional memory to learn and retain information.

Music can also be used for more entertaining and simple tasks such as in students free time, art activities as well as when transitioning into new tasks.



Given, B. (2002). Teaching to the Brain's Natural Learning Systems. Alexandria: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.


Sprenger. M (1999). Learning and Memory: The brain in action. Retrieved 15 August 2009 from
http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=OjZR-1O5_yoC&pg=PA76&lpg=PA76&dq=using+music+in+classroom+%2B+feelings+%2B+emotions&source=bl&ots=A8IjkQBOJd&sig=jw5iN2m50pmCZhabQRojGHfij3g&hl=en&ei=NOiISu_AJI36kAXsiZ29Bw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=8#v=onepage&q=&f=false