You Are the Music: How Music Reveals What it Means to be Human (13 page)

As far as we can tell, learning of this kind at any age has the potential to alter the brain as well. The academic and author Steven Mithen
⁵⁸
decided to take up singing lessons as an adult and was interested to see the effect this might have on his brain.
⁵⁹
He contacted a colleague and neuroscientist, Larry Parsons, who agreed to scan Mithen before he started singing training and after a few months of lessons. The scans showed a significant difference in areas such as the auditory cortex and early parts of the frontal cortex. More recent studies of adult
musical training have shown similar effects, with the most notable brain changes being to the structure and function of the auditory and motor cortices. These shifts look like the beginnings of the complex auditory-motor representations that we see in the brains of highly trained musicians.
⁶⁰

Music, it seems, has the potential to mould the brain in multiple ways at any age.
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In this chapter we have explored the musical adult and revealed that the normal progression of musical learning through exposure, which goes on mostly behind the curtain of our consciousness, gives us an in-depth understanding of the music of our culture. In rare cases this typical development does not happen; adults with congenital amusia live with the everyday consequences of a music processing difficulty. If we choose to boost the typical path of musical development by taking on music education then our brain moulds itself in accordance with our new skills and this has consequences for the way that we think and behave in a variety of non-musical situations.

There are critical periods for learning about music but our flexible brains are still very much capable of learning in adulthood and music education at any age has many positive benefits both for expanding our minds and for our well-being, as we shall discuss in Chapter 8. Now that we have set the stage for our musical adulthood, let’s take a look at how we react to music in the real world, starting with adults at work.

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The myelin sheath is a protective layer that coats the outside of a neuron. It is essential for the proper functioning of the nervous system.

Chapter 5

Music at work

‘I think the most important thing about music is the sense of escape’

THOM YORKE

The majority of us will work for most of our lives in order to earn a living, to provide for ourselves, our future and our loved ones. Work is and always has been an inextricable part of human life in every culture.

Sometimes, work is a pain. You may be one of the lucky individuals who adores their job but even then there will be days when the necessity of an occupation grates on your nerves. On such occasions, we look for a way to dull any negative impact and make difficult work time pass more enjoyably. One of the great escapes from work-related tedium and stress, across the ages, has been music.

Music has been a feature of physical work for hundreds if not thousands of years, serving a number of functions including synchronising movement, creating social bonds, relieving boredom and enabling communication. There are traditions of work songs that span a multitude of cultures and languages, including military marches, sea shanties, industrial folk songs, cowboy cattle calls, and agricultural work songs. Venezuelan work songs (such as Cantos de pilón) are an excellent example: these traditional folk melodies are often sung as an accompaniment to activities such as milking cows, harvesting coffee and producing cornflour.

Work music has the power to engage our mind, absorb our perception of time and lift our spirits. All of this makes music an ideal accompaniment to both physical and low attention demanding chores, which would otherwise be draining and tedious.

The history of the relationship between music and work in the modern age begins with studies of music in factories during the post-war period. These early psychological studies of the impact of music on worker responses, lead directly into the modern and ongoing controversy over whether we should have access to music at work: what are the benefits of being able to tap into music while at your desk, doing deliveries, or preparing food, and what kind of music should we be hearing? Is music actually good for productivity?

The use of music is not restricted to private work settings but is also prevalent in more public, commercial work environments: in our shops, bars, restaurants, garages, airports … in fact, nearly everywhere we spend our hard-earned money we are surrounded by music. Why is music played in the commercial working world? How does it affect the way that we behave in these places? Do we really spend more, walk faster, or eat greater amounts?

History of music at work
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Some of the first psychological studies of music in the workplace took place around the time of the Second World War when the modern factory conveyor belt assembly line used so successfully by Henry Ford earlier in the century really came into its own on a worldwide basis, triggering an age of mass production. In this period before the widespread adoption of automated handling systems there were plenty of repetitive, tedious yet essential jobs along the production line that required a careful human eye and hand.

Unfortunately our minds are not designed to carry out the
same series of actions repeatedly for hours on end; boredom, lethargy and lapses in concentration are inevitable consequences of such work. Knowing this full well, factory managers began to investigate ways to enhance active productivity (increased speed and/or larger outputs) as well as minimise errors on production lines. One of the first ideas was to study the effects of piping music into the factory floor space.

The British government introduced music in armament factories in the later stages of the Second World War
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and one of the first studies in this area was carried out in a fireworks factory.
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These, as have several similar papers since, found a small (typically below 10 per cent) but significant increase in measures of productivity during repetitive jobs in the presence of music compared to silence.

As much as number crunchers would like to count every firework and relate this directly to ‘productivity’, it is also vital to consider indirect measures of productivity, such as worker well-being. Workers reported feeling less boredom and fatigue on days when music was played.
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It may be more difficult to quantify the impact music has on productivity as it relates to well-being, but it seems clear that improving wellbeing can have an effect on outputs and profits as happier workers are more likely to support their team and less likely to be absent.

Why and how may hearing music influence productivity? We will go into this question in more depth soon when we dive into the psychology behind background music but the chief candidates for the increase in music-related productivity in these early studies were: 1) a boost in rhythmic synchronisation, which enhanced speed and hence regularity of output, and 2) physical responses to music such as singing and moving to the beat. These latter reactions were thought to contribute to increased energy levels, buoyed by positive impacts on physiological measures such as heart and breathing rate.

This is human science, however, so nothing is 100 per cent effective. It is important to stress that not everyone likes music at work. Up to 10 per cent of workers would much rather be left in silence and some studies have shown that quality of work can be adversely affected by music when people feel this way.
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As we shall see later, the more complex the work is, the more likely it is that music will act as an unhelpful distraction and consequently will hinder rather than help productivity.
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Overall however, the message from the early studies was that for simple repetitive jobs music is better than nothing.

The results from these factory studies began to reveal the effects of music on monotonous jobs and I certainly can agree, from my experience of cleaning windows as a young chambermaid, that music can be invaluable when it comes to engaging the mind during boring physical work. However, the kinds of roles that were put under the spotlight by these early factory studies are rapidly disappearing from the modern workplace thanks to mechanisation. We need to also look at environments where the majority of workers are engaged for at least part of their life – the office.

Music in the modern office

Should you listen to music while you work in an office? This was the subject of a study by Greg Oldham
⁷
who looked at the use of stereo headphones in a multi-purpose office building in the US, where people were engaged in over 30 different jobs. Over four weeks he and his team tracked the progress of 75 individuals who typically brought in their own music and listened to it through headphones, and compared it to that of 181 people who did not tend to listen to music.

The music group had significant improvements in performance (rated by the employers), better opinions of work (less likely to be planning to leave), satisfaction with the work
environment and better mood states, being more relaxed and enthusiastic.

An obvious problem with this study is its ‘quasi experimental’ nature – people were not
randomly
assigned to the two groups (music or no music), meaning it is hard to conclude that music listening was the thing that influenced their responses. All we can assume is that people who like to listen to music at work find it helps with their productivity and work satisfaction. So let’s think about what happens if you take music away from these kinds of people.

Teresa Lesiuk asked what happens when you remove a music-lover’s music in an office setting.
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She followed the working lives of 56 software developers from four different companies across two different cities. The study itself was a time-based intervention whereby Lesiuk monitored reactions to music for two weeks, then removed the music for one week, and finally reintroduced it again for a final week.

During the music weeks the developers could choose from a wide range of tracks from a 65-CD library and could listen in the privacy of their booths. They had to avoid music completely in the middle ‘no music’ week.

In the weeks when the developers had access to music they measured significantly higher on mood. There was a noticeable dip in mood in the ‘no music’ week that then rebounded again when music was reintroduced in the final week. Quality of work was also rated as lower in the ‘no music’ week, and rebounded when the music came back.

One of the largest effects in the study was that of measured time-on-task: people took much longer to accomplish their jobs when their beloved music was taken away. Although this study lacks a proper control group, it seems clear that when people are used to being able to listen music in the workplace, removing it can trigger negative effects associated with psychological withdrawal.

Following on from this research, Anneli Beronius Haake conducted the first large-scale studies to chart the way that music is used in UK office settings and how it makes people feel. The conclusions from her research help to highlight how music has multiple pathways to increasing work satisfaction and productivity.

Firstly, Haake carried out a survey of the listening practices of 295 individuals who worked within computer-based UK offices.
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Their occupations spanned administrative and management roles, as well as media and cultural services, medicine, science and technology, and teaching. She looked at how people chose to listen to music and what functions people felt music served. She also asked questions about what type of music people liked to listen to in the office and what reasons, if any, would put them off listening to music in this context.

The most popular workplace artists were Arctic Monkeys, The Beatles and James Blunt, a result which reflects the UK sample. The most popular work music genre was classical, with rock, pop and indie falling into a close second place. The least popular work music genres were soul and funk. Radio stations were also mentioned frequently as popular ways to listen to music in the office, with BBC stations taking most of the top spots.

Haake argued that the sheer variety of work-based music listening habits supports the idea that there is no typical best ‘office music’. Therefore it is probably a bad idea to simply pipe music into a general office space containing many individuals who have different tastes, preferences and personalities.

People in this survey were listening to music for 36 per cent of their working lives, using headphones on 86 per cent of occasions. No one individual factor, including age, gender, stress levels or occupation, predicted music listening habits. One exception was that people who felt more stressed were more likely to report that music was relaxing. Music listening
in the modern office environment is therefore a largely private pastime (hence the headphones) that each individual tailors in keeping with present demands and that can help manage stress.

Building on these results, Haake conducted interviews in order to understand how different situations and motivations influence music listening choices at work. One idea that came across strongly was that music creates an ‘auditory cocoon’ for people, isolating them from potential sources of stress and giving them a sense of escapism to a personal space within a public environment.

I often think of this cocoon idea when I see people charging around the London underground with headphones attached to their heads. Music in this case provides a welcome illusion of detachment; minimising the sounds of other commuters, tube trains flashing through tunnels and suitcases banging on escalators. Haake’s office survey found that this self-created musical bubble can be especially useful in the workplace as it not only blocks stressful sounds but also replaces them with a source of inspiration and creativity. By these methods music can aid concentration, boost task performance and reduce the potential negative psychological impact of a long work day.

We must also consider the downside to music in offices. Some people in Haake’s survey believed that music listening was viewed as unprofessional and avoided listening at times when they could be seen by senior colleagues or clients. This idea seems to underlie the misunderstanding that someone who is listening to music cannot possibly be working to their optimum. This is not true. In an open office situation it is important to be considerate to others and ‘present’ in the work space, but we should also accept that private music can be helpful. And as we have seen above, removing music as an option for someone who is used to its presence is probably going to do more harm than good.

There is a delicate balancing act to be achieved between the potential for music to distract or enhance performance. The key message is that music
can
help an individual in certain work situations. The important thing is to be consciously aware of the choices that we make. Since the effects of music are highly individual, each of us has to acknowledge when music is helping and when it is hindering – for optimal work success we must always employ ‘smart music listening’.

Is background music good for work?

Studies of music in the workplace draw heavily from literature on the general effects of background music, and it is here that we find answers to the questions of why and how music affects us in the workplace. Understanding these forces is an important step in developing ‘smart music listening’ techniques.

The types of study I will discuss in this section are not overly concerned with the work environment. They are relevant, however, as they tackle the question of whether music can aid cognitive or motor performance in all kinds of arenas such as studying, reading, problem solving and everyday tasks such as driving.
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Most importantly, these studies are carried out in a controlled, scientific way so we can look carefully at the effects of music as we try to carry out other simultaneous tasks.

At the heart of all of these studies are a handful of mechanisms which hark back to the ‘Mozart effect’ (see Chapters 2 and 3): psycho-physiological arousal, cognitive engagement and mood effects.