Effects of music towards mental concentration

Abstract

Mental concentration is the ability to focus the mind and is one of the most important abilities students should possess. This research is carried out to investigate improvement in the students' concentration during study. Research done by others states that healthy food and meditation can help improve mental concentration. Based on our observations of students in SMK Infant Jesus Convent JB, most of the students prefer listening to music while studying. Further investigation was carried out to find whether background music played by different classical instruments and in different tempos affect the mental performance of students. The methodology named Einstein's Beat" was conducted involving 50 participants from SMK Infant Jesus Convent JB in solving different types of tasks when specific music was played. The results state that music played by piano in the tempo of 70 - 90 beats per minute will give the students the best concentration during study."