Why Video Game Music Help us Study Better
- 3 days ago
- 4 min read
By Sabrina Whenman & Julia Scarfe
Julia
Video games rarely lack a soundtrack, whether it be victory music or exploration music. Different genres of games have different styles of music, whether it be music played entirely on synths, dramatic orchestral vocals or punk rock, music affects the ultimate feel of a game. But listening to video game music on its own is still a great experience, as the music is manufactured to affect your mood.
Personally, listening to classical music when I'm studying is slightly mind-numbing, the repetitive cacophony of strings and piano all blurs together and I end up not being able to focus. However, it’s somehow different with video game music, specifically the music composed by Toby Fox, creator of indie games Undertale and Deltarune.
I was first introduced to the games by a friend who played Deltarune, was then surprisingly well educated on the lore of Undertale, and it spiraled from there. Along with my general introduction to Toby Fox, when I started listening, I realised that I had heard snippets of these songs before, namely Megalovania, Fallen Down and It’s TV Time! which i’ve seen used as backing music in videos quite a lot. While these songs are great, I typically don’t listen to them while studying (with the exception of Fallen Down sometimes) as they’re a bit too loud and obnoxious to study.
Here’s links to the three songs if you would like to listen to them!
I’m not claiming to be an expert on psychology and the effects of music on the brain, because I'm not, I'm just stating what works for me, and it turns out to be the soundtrack of ‘having a bad time’ (Undertale reference).
Now to actually answer the principle of this article, how video game music has helped me study better. I live in a household with 4 other people, which gets quite loud and distracting at times, not particularly conducive to productive study, so I opted for drowning them out with music, and through not quite extensive research of searching spotify every afternoon I finally found this music, and it miraculously worked.
Toby Fox’s music is well written and well composed, so I recommend you check out his music, although it may not be for everyone.
Sabrina
While it seems silly to listen to video game music while studying, I find that it has a certain quality to it that helps me focus. Think back to any game you’ve played, you might not notice the quiet music in the background but when you get to a high-stakes point in the game you might start to hear more intense music, sometimes called ‘boss fight music’. Anyone who’s played a video game knows that the moment this music starts playing, you have to focus. My theory is that by listening to this music while studying, you can trigger the same reaction.
Personally, I listen to Mario Kart music (linked at the bottom of the article). Last year when I was studying for my maths test I wanted to see what everyone was talking about with their study playlists and classical music but I was pretty sure that pop or classical music weren’t going to work for me.
Here’s what I knew:
Anything slow or ‘boring’ would let my mind wander and I would eventually get sidetracked.
Music with lyrics, especially songs I like, would make me more focused on the words than what I was supposed to actually be doing.
I needed something instrumental but fun and interesting to listen to.
So I went onto Youtube and searched ‘fast study music’ and after scrolling through videos of “Classical Music for when you’re on a deadline” and “lo-fi study beats,” I saw the perfect video “Mario Kart Music to Study/Work FAST” and the rest is history.
I would assume that most people know what Mario Kart is or have even played it before, if you haven’t, it’s a series of go-kart racing games made by Nintendo based on the Mario franchise. The music is fast-paced and fun to listen to; it’s rhythmic and uses a variety of instruments, some of the main ones being: guitar, trumpet, violin, drums, saxophone, trombone, and piano. Together this creates a ‘Mario Kart’ feel but also to illuminate unique characteristics for each of the different races and characters.
It doesn’t even just help for studying, I’m using it to write this article, I listen to it during art as some fun background music, it helps block out noise in class, and as a bonus it’s always fun to show people what I’m listening to when I get asked.
I think I could safely say that any studying I’ve been able to do since term four last year can be attributed to listening to Mario Kart music or any other video game music that I’ve been introduced to because otherwise I don’t think I would have been able to sit down and focus for long enough to get through any revision. I would 100% recommend that everyone has a go at listening to this while studying, especially if you haven’t been able to find music that helps you focus like I did.
Overall, we found that video game music has helped us study better because of both the upbeat energy and interesting use of instruments, and the way we react to the music, making it better for focusing and getting study done.