Education - The Album

I have often spent time thinking about how the addition of music to adverts, films, TV, etc can make you love or hate what you are watching no matter what it is. 

Last night I watched Bridget Jones with some friends and comments were made about how apt the choice of music was and how it made us sympathise with the characters more. The comment was made of "wouldn't it be brilliant if music started playing in real life that was completely relevant?"

I think that this is an incredibly interesting point and for a few minutes I thought about how the addition of music to my everyday, mundane tasks would make everything seem more enjoyable! I am certain that I am not the only person to hold this view; it was even mentioned in the 2010 number 1 single "Billionaire" by Travis McCoy who, when listing his biggest dreams, stated "everywhere I go I gunna' have my own theme music."

The addition of music in everyday life is not something which is merely for entertainment purposes. Music has been used to calm children with behavioural disabilities,to send children to sleep, to inspire and even to help with education.

It is no secret that both adults and children often struggle to memorise a great deal of information, and it is especially difficult to retain this information for long periods of time. Songs are often used to teach primary children about the basics whatever subject they are studying and this has been the practice for decades. The two videos below are examples of how music has been used as a teaching aid. The first is from the 1970s, the second video is from September 2010.





Children learn better when they have a song to help them learn, but I do not think that music should be limited to primary education. Using my own ecperience I know that I can remember the lyrics to practically hundreds of songs, and even after years have passed I would still be able to remember the lyrics, and I know a lot of people who are the same.

I think it would be fantastic if educational songs were made for people of all ages, and if they were as catchy as the songs in the charts then I think it would be an incredibly successful teaching method.

So the next time you are singing along to a song, it might be interesting to think about how you manged to learn the lyrics so easily, and apply this method to your work!