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Learning through music - How do I learn?

Ariana Marshall
Nov 3, 2016
6 min read

Are you one of those people who can remember the lyrics to a song but can’t remember where you put your keys?

How is it that we can remember how to do the butterfly (dance) but we can’t remember how a caterpillar becomes a butterfly.

How is it that we can remember the melody of a song but we can never remember the name of the song?

It is because we have multiple intelligences and we retain what we learn most efficiently when our preferred intelligences are nurtured. When our preferences are nurtured, we actually enjoy the process of learning and applying information in our daily lives.

Mnemonics and Intelligence.

One of the ways we can continually learn efficiently is by using mnemonic learning strategies which appeal to our multiple intelligences.

We can still learn information if it doesn’t appeal to our preferred multiple intelligences but it is just more difficult for us. When we pay attention to these intelligences, we strengthen the causal link between learning and literacy i.e. daily life application of information.

This means that our ability to both retain information which is most relevant to our lives and then, apply this information in life whether in school, at work or at home – depends on tuning into our learning preferences.

We are all students of the world. Lifelong learning is necessary to cope with the volume of information which new technologies, old problems and new solutions create. We have made our world very complex and navigating it could be simplified only if we focus in on exactly what is most important in our lives. We can do this by refining the ways we use information on this life-long learning journey.

When Information Retention is Overwhelming

When I took my first ecology course in graduate school, the information we covered completely saturated my mind. It was overwhelming.

The overall theme was that - everything which happens in our environment is affected by everything else.

Great.

I was ready to quit on everything environmental science related at that point.

What was the point?

Luckily, there was a point to it all, completing my Ph.D. in environmental science strengthened my ability to learn how to learn, understand what I needed to learn when I needed to learn it and gave me practice applying what I learned time and time again.

Here’s an example.

We may study how Personal Care Products (PCP) end up in our oceans but to understand this “how” we need to consider –

How did these products end up there?

What chemicals are in these PCPs and how do these chemicals worsen existing environmental issues?

How long will the PCPs stay in the area where they were detected?

How will PCPs combine with other chemicals and compounds in the ocean?

How will PCPs affect organisms which are already affected by increasingly acidic oceans?

And finally, how will all of those considerations inform how PCPs affect an ecosystem’s health?

There you have the fur ball of multiple factors and types of information involved in understanding environmental issues.

This is only one environmental problem. As an environmental scientist there are a slew of other problems which either have synergistic or counteractive influence on the environmental issue we choose to study. In our example above we might have to also consider how increasing atmospheric temperatures influence the use and fate of the PCP’s.

The Keys

In that “Principles of Ecology” course I realized that it is impossible to retain the volume of the information we are required to read to stay informed about science advancements or create our original contributions to science from the questions we choose to research.

We do need to know how and where to find this volume of information though. When we learn both how to find the information we need more efficiently and how best we learn, we then refine how quickly we can do efficient research – whether it is to find the keys or graduate.

Music – The Universal Intelligence

There is one key which opens the doors to our intelligences and it is universal – music. At the same time, music has unique cultural and evolutionary differences depending on where it is created. However the effect of music is universal.

Music takes you back to a memory, into your feelings, out of your thoughts, forward to a vision, away from a situation or towards your focus.

I use music in 3 main ways -

As a mobilizer to overcome procrastination. I will chose to go to an event with music or play a particular playlist when I've finished a certain amount of work.
As an incentive. I'll listen to 3 songs then write a blog for about 30 minutes and then listen to a few more songs after that
As a focusing tool. When I have a lot on my mind and I want to focus, I'll listen to some music to quiet my thoughts and then work on the first "to-do" on my list.
As a method to clear my mind and relax after work.

Music does so much more for me, it motivates me, it releases "happy" hormones (especially if I try to dance and laugh at myself in the process) and it helps me manage stressful situations.

Music is one of the 9 types of ways we can learn through mnemonics – but perhaps it is the most popular form of mnemonics. We practice and experience mnemonics every day when we watch television, listen to the radio, listen to internet advertisements and then when we buy what we buy. Music is everywhere, from jingles to musical cues (Law and Order Dum-Dum) to the melodies and rhythm of voices in commercials especially if an accent is used which differs from the geography where you live e.g. the Geico Lizard.

Intelligence Discovery Tips

1.Think about which classes you’ve enjoyed the most and why.

If you haven’t enjoyed any of your classes then -

2.Think about which commercials you like and why.

If you still don’t have a sense of which of the multiple intelligences best fit you then -

3.Take this Multiple Intelligences Assessment. All of the questions are simple questions e.g. - Do you look forward to visiting the zoo?

4.Don’t let this Multiple Intelligences Assessment completely define your learning preferences, tune into what you do know and consider what has led you to that knowledge and why. In the process you can assess how best you learn.

5. Experiment with all types of mnemonics and see which works best for you consistently.

Ironically, my colleague Zakiya Hoyett who studied the environmental issue of PCPs was the first to introduce me to name mnemonics when we were studying how organisms are classified (Yes, this was basic biology but both us spoke mostly "chemistry" at the time so we had to find some creative ways to get the job done).

Name Mnemonics Example – Keeping Precious Creatures Organized For Grumpy Scientists Kingdom Phylum Class Order Family Genus Species.

No Need To Be Dragged

Once you feel like you are forcing yourself and dragging to complete your studying then you are probably not appealing to your preferred multiple intelligences. You will also probably never apply the information you've learned ever again in your life.

I don’t think I’ll ever apply differential equations to my life. I’ll just find a mathematician friend to help me.

If I had to rank my multiple intelligences music would be number one on my list, followed by kinesthetic, naturalistic and existential which would tie for second. When you read through the types of intelligences you may see some overlap and that is good because it means that if you chose to study focusing on two of these intelligences you can further reinforce your retention of information.

Throughout graduate school in environmental science verbal/linguistic intelligence with an overlap in visual/spatial intelligence was required most to complete the comprehensive exam stage and write peer-reviewed articles which included my dissertation project. If I did engineering in grad school, I would estimate that visual/spatial intelligence would be most emphasized but there would be overlap in mathematical/logical intelligence.

It's All You

It seems as though the world we live in requires all types of intelligences but each of us needs to realize which ones we are most comfortable with and then devise mnemonic strategies to aid us in our learning process. This is even more necessary when it comes to online learning where students are in control of the “how” and “when” of the learning experience. You are the only person who can actually apply what you learn to your life, so you are in charge of finding and using your multiple intelligences. Your learning, literacy and intelligence is yours to shape. Shape it with all of your senses and enjoy the ride in the process.

- Ariana Marshall, Ph.D.