Music as a Prior Condition to Task Performance

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 17 trainable mentally retarded (TMR) students, 6 to 11 years of age, in two primary self-contained classes. Both groups of students received treatment and control conditions in reverse order over a 2-week period. Experimental conditions consisted of a brief taped story illustrated on a felt board with characters and scenes from the story, a short rest period paired with a relaxing music selection, and 5 minutes of individual number matching at the students'seats. Control conditions were identical 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.