CHAPTER 1

THE PROBLEM AND ITS BACKGROUND

This chapter consists of background and purpose of the study, theoretical

framework, conceptual framework and model, statement of the problem, hypothesis,

scope and limitation and definition of terms.

INTRODUCTION

Music is an art form and cultural activity whose medium is sound organized in

time. The common elements of music are pitch, and the sonic qualities of timbre and

texture. Different styles or types of music may emphasize, de-emphasize, or omit some

of these elements. Music is performed with a vast range of instruments and vocal

techniques ranging from singing to rapping; there are solely instrumental pieces, solely

vocal pieces (such as songs without instrumental accompaniment), and pieces that

combine singing and instrument.

Listening to music for relaxation is common among students to counter the

effects of stress or anxiety while completing difficult academic tasks. Some studies

supporting this technique have shown that music as motivation promotes cognitive

performance while other studies have shown that listening to music while engaged in

complex cognitive tasks can impair performance.

Human beings have always enjoyed a special relationship with the organization

of audible sound we call music. Indeed, music is our oldest form of expression and we
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know of no culture or civilization to have existed without some form of music-making.

Through the passage of time, the roles and functions of music have represented

manifold expressions to people, and in the present day music is interested and readily

available to all who seek it. People, when listening to music, may have a series of action

that can be a combination of tapping, nodding, swaying, clapping, stamping and many

more. It thought to be as a form of entertainment, however, it can be used to affects

behavior. It can increase productivity and minimize boredom. As future educators, tells

that music as motivation has an impact to the cognitive process of a certain students.

With the used of music as motivation in learning of students, that a certain subject area

can be interested with the use of this motivation.

Living in the 21st century, students today are immersed with more and more

technology that allows them to have easier access to different types of media,

especially for students in the Philippines. For example, a typical student may not only

have television sets, CD players, and computers with Internet at home, they may also

have cell phones and portable MP3 players or i-pods where they can listen to music

(and sometimes watch videos) when they are away from home. For decades, various

researchers have studied the relationship between listening or playing music, and

learning mathematics. This relationship is very broad because there are many different

types of music as well as many different areas of academic achievement. In most of

these research areas, there have been positive correlations between listening, playing

music and learning mathematics.

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Playing music brings a relaxing and attracting way of learning of students. Music

can increase productivity and minimize boredom. The main goal of the study is to know

the effectiveness of music to learning of students.

BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY

Music is most commonly accessible through sources of entertainment such as

television, YouTube, Spotify, CDs and FM radios. Music is usually played in public

places like hospitals, stores, transportation centers, playgrounds, and also in official

ceremonies. The effects of music have been of interest to various groups like the

therapist and psychologist. Psychologists hypothesized that music can be used to treat

people with psychological problems. Therefore, music has played an important role in

our society. It has not only been limited in treating psychological problem but also used

to see its relationship on various performances.

Music had been part of people's lives from generations to generations. It affected

the body unconsciously and consciously. People, when listening to music, may

have a series of action that can be a combination of tapping, nodding, swaying,

clapping, stamping and many more. It thought to be as a form of entertainment,

however, it can be used to affects behavior. In addition, music can be used as a form

of therapy for a mental illness such as anxiety. It can increase productivity and

minimize boredom. Music could affect emotions, it can also help to relieve the person of

their own tensions and frustrations.

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Nowadays, many students listen to music while studying. And most people

believe that watching television and listening to music distracts students. We have

stereotypical sense that listening to music decreases the focus on learning of students.

This raises us a question on how instrumental music effects one’s learning during the

study.

Instrumental music had been around for centuries, it wasn't usually on the top of

a composer's list of favorites. During the period of Renaissance, music came as an

important part of education, and with this, instrumental music finally earned a high

place. Prior to this time, vocal music was far more important, and instruments were

used as an accompaniment, rather than as a main focus. Instrumental music did exist

before the Renaissance period and it played a different role. During the Late Middle

Ages and early Renaissance, the instruments played along with the vocal part of a

song, playing literally the same notes. The instrument was not seen as a key

component, but more as a friendly guide, so the singers didn't sing too much off key.

This was most often an organ, a lute, or a viol, which was a six-stringed instrument

played with a bow, kind of like a cross between a guitar and a violin.

The Institute of Education and Kevin Rogers, of Hampshire Music Service, show

that young people playing a musical instrument enjoy greater progress and better

academic outcomes than those who do not, with the greatest impact for those playing

the longest (Hallam, 2017).

Many students listen to music to ease the emotional effects of stress when

engaged in complex cognitive processing, such as studying for a test, completing

homework assignments, or while reading and writing. This practice is so common that it
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would be beneficial for grade 11 Stem students to understand the role that music plays

on cognitive performance. Engagement with music can create positive and lasting

effects on brain function

(Kang, & Williamson, 2014), increases attention, provides inspiration and

motivation, and facilitates a multi-sensory learning experience

Some students are really depending on the instrumental music cause if we hear

musical instruments it's very relaxing. And due to the increasing popularity of personal

digital devices, many students listen to music while they study. It is however a

controversial issue whether music listening is helpful to study performance.

Einstein once said: “Life without playing music is inconceivable to me. I live my

daydreams in music. I see my life in terms of music... I get most joy in life out of music”.

And as it turns out, Einstein was onto something: many studies show a correlation

between musical training and academic success, in both children and adults.

Learning to play an instrument stimulates the brain, improving functions like

memory and abstract reasoning skills, which are essential for Math and science. Using

musical instruments help us develop our social skills like joining in a musical group

develop relationships with different kind of people. Musical instruments also help us to

make us calm and it has a unique effects on our emotions.

The study focused on the effectiveness of instrumental music to grade 11

students' learning whether it is positive or negative to the stem students.

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THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK

The Theory of Motivation by Jones (2008), the theory stated that worries how the

student is going to learn and not so much what the student is going to learn. It focuses

on several of methods designed to ensure learning in the classroom take place in a

safe, constructive and effective way. It attempts to address how to get to the end result.

This theory can help our study in terms of motivation that deals with creating a new form

of motivation which is the music it helps the students for them to know the discussion of

the topics, can help to boost their interest in subject areas for them to learn.

The Instructional Design Theory by Jones (2008) stated that the idea that a

student will learn when the lesson is design in a way that relates to the students’ needs

and a student can easily relate as use the material provided for the lesson. This theory

can help our study, which learners can relate when the lesson was well-attracted and

organized. In music, learners can easily understand the knowledge by memorizing

words or lyrics.

A Transcultural Theory by Klopper, C. and Power, B. (2012) Research has found,

however, that instrumental music educators have largely neglected conceptual teaching

and learning. In this paper, I draw on the writings of Confucius and John Dewey to

construct a transcultural theory of thinking for instrumental music education. As I shall

show, this theory comprises three facets, namely, experience, reflection, and

imagination. This study grounds thinking in instrumental music education by learning on

the philosophical insights of two major philosophers, one each from Asia and the West.
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CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK

The particular study focused on effectiveness of instrumental music to learning of

Grade 11 SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY, ENGINEERING AND MATHEMATICS

students.

The first box shows the input of the study, the researchers selected Grade 11

SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY, ENGINEERING AND MATHEMATICS students of

Sumulong College of Arts and Sciences as their experimental group.

The second box presents the process, the experimental group will have lecture,

pre-test, music to their learning and post-test.

The third box presents the output which shows the effectiveness of instrumental

music to learning of selected grade 11 SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY, ENGINEERING

AND MATHEMATICS students.

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CONCEPTUAL MODEL

INPUT PROCESS OUTPUT

• The • The • Effectiveness
researchers experimental of
selected group we will Instrumental
grade 11 stem give them Music to
students. lecture, pre- Learning of
test, music to Selected
their learning Grade 11
ad post-test STEM
students

FEEDBACK

Figure 1. Conceptual Model Showing the Effectiveness of Instrumental Music to

Learning of Selected Grade 11 STEM students in Sumulong College of Arts and

Sciences S.Y. 2019 – 2020

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STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

The study attempts to identify whether instrumental music is effective to learning

of the selected Grade 11 SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY, ENGINEERING AND

MATHEMATICS students.

1. What is the profile of the respondents in terms of:

1.1 Age; and

1.2 Sex;

2. What are the scores of experimental group as revealed by the pre-test and post-

test?

3. Is there a significant relationship between use of instrumental music to learning

of students?

HYPOTHESIS

The study tested the null hypothesis the there is no significant difference

between the pretest and posttest mean scores of the respondents.

SCOPE AND LIMITATIONS

In this research the researchers will focus on determining the effectiveness of

instrumental music to learning of the selected Grade 11 Science and Technology,

Engineering, Mathematics students S.Y. 2019 - 2020. The study will be conducted in

Sumulong College or Arts and Sciences. This institution is a non-sectarian university

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accredited by the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA). The

institution is named after Lorenzo S. Sumulong who is from a well-known family of

Antipolo City: the Sumulong family. The researchers started to conduct this research on

the month of July 2019. This research aims to give students a knowledge about on how

effective is listening to instrumental music while they are studying. The researchers will

collect the data using primary data set through the distribution of questionnaire and the

research design that will be use is survey.

SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY

This study aims to explain the effectiveness of listening to instrumental music to

student’s learning. It aims to point out particularly adverse effects it poses to student’s

daily lives. To provide much help, this study would like to give enlightenment to the said

phenomena. We would like to provide, through this research, information about the

effects of instrumental music to students learning.

Teachers. The result of this study can help in providing strategies and

approaches in discussing lessons

Students. They can benefit our study in a way that they are the one who’s being

emphasize in this study. They are the one who can give the real importance of our study

because most of them are still studying and listening to music

Parents. The result of this study can help to monitor their children about the

academic performance in school

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Administrators. The school will also benefit in our study because they can

assess the students who are academically challenged.

Other Researchers. The result of this study will serve as basis to conduct similar

studies.
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DEFINITION OF TERMS:

For clarification of the study, the researchers conceptually and operationally

defined the following terms:

Effects. This refers to the results of given action in study.

Experimental Group. This refers to the group of persons that expose to the music.

Grade 11. This refers to the young persons of under the care of teacher and serves

as our respondents.

Music. This refers to the strategies that can be used to motivate the students.

Motivation. This refers to the process or tool to boost the self-esteem of the

students.

Posttest. This refers to a criterion-referenced test for knowledge or performance

based largely on what has been taught or on the specified objective of the

programmed lessons. It is administered soon after a student’s finished reading the

program lesson.

Pretest. This refers to a criterion-referenced test for knowledge or performance on

which the students know about the subject matter for the programmed lessons

before taking the programmed materials.

Quantitative Analysis. It refers to the numerical description or quantity of a certain

studies.