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iQuestions Faculty, Ted Baehr 
 
 
Question: 
 
My son insists on listening to his iPod while doing homework. Is that a 
problem? 
 
Answer: 
 
That is a very good question about the influence of music.  
 
It’s absolutely true that children when they’re doing their homework 
really want distractions. They don’t want to focus on their homework. 
They’re looking at the TV, they’re watching the computer, they’re 
listening to music.  
 
We know that some music can have a detrimental effect. It breaks 
their concentration, and it gets them to pick up on the subliminal 
subtext that just keeps them from learning what they’re studying.  
 
We understand that. There have been a lot of studies on that. The 
University of Toronto has done a lot of studies on that.  
 
On the other hand, we know that there is music— because of the 
rhythm and the meter— that helps encourage children to calm down, to 
relax, to pay attention to what they’re studying.  
 
It’s called classical music. Not all classical music falls into this 
category, but music that is soothing, calming, relaxing, and helps 
them to focus. 
 
This isn’t something you have to be condemning people for, as if they 
are fuddy-duddies. This is something that’s very clearly tested by 
 
 
hundreds of studies that show that children need to be directed to 
choose the good. 
 
The problem is that logical mathematical learning is a complex process 
within the brain that takes focus, determination, and attention. When 
you hear the clunk or something going on in the background it breaks 
that focus. Of course, some of those concepts like E=mc2, Einstein’s 
famous law, are very complex and when you break the pattern you’re 
not really getting it.  
 
You need children to learn. We know that in the United States children 
have gone from being some of the best learners thirty years ago, to 
having some of the most difficulty.  
 
I was head of the TV center in the City University in New York, and we 
had a lot of students who were functionally illiterate. Part of that 
comes from the clutter that’s distracting them from their studies. 
 
If you want them to listen to music, suggest that they listen to music 
that is positive, uplifting, calming, and soothing to their soul, so they 
can really pay attention to those logical mathematical learning 
processes that are important for building the foundations of their 
knowledge, wisdom, and understanding.  
Baehr -2- 
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