The Effects of Music on Athletic Activity:
A Brief Overview of Various Studies

“While it is widely assumed that music significantly affects athletic performance and many athletes use music to enhance their achievement and motivation, …research involving music and athletic activity has yielded an inconsistent array of findings” (Becker, et al. 1043). Due to these inconsistencies, over forty-three extensive, related studies have been conducted and published in the past two decades in hopes of bringing clarity in answering the question if music does, in fact, affect athletic activity (Karageorghis, et al. 19).

Outside of athletics, numerous studies have been conducted regarding the physical effects of music. In her paper “Physical Effects of Music,” Agnes Savill overviews some of these effects widely acknowledged and accepted in medical circles. “Scientific tests reveal both slight and marked changes in the circulation and breathing” when any of multiple variations of music are played (Savill 16). Also, multiple investigations have shown that music-induced emotions can provoke “increased secretion of adrenalin from the suprarenal gland…in five minutes adrenalin can produce as much diminution of fatigue as rest can bring about in an hour” (21-22).

Knowledge and studies such as these from early on spurred questioning and studies about whether these physical effects of music would translate into physical/ athletic performance.

A stationary bicycling study done in 1990 by Schwartz, Fernhall, and Plowman yielded results that fast-tempo music had absolutely no objective effect on physical performance (312).

In opposition, a much more recent study completed in 2008 at Urmia University in Iran showed a direct correlation between music use and increased performance. In this study, twenty-four students, ages twenty to twenty-seven, volunteered to be a part of the Department of Physical Education and Sport Science research. The eighteen male and six female participants were broken down into “trained” and “untrained” groups based on their training history and predicted VO2max. The Bruce treadmill test was used; “this test starts with an incline of 40% and a rate of 2/74 km/hr, while every 3 minute, 2% is added to its speed until the subject is exhausted and unable of continuing the exercise” (Mohammadzadeh, et al. 70). The subjects were broken into halves, one of which performed the Bruce test while listening to music and the other performed the test without music. A second trial was completed in which the groups switched roles (those who had not listened to music did and vice versa). Performance, measured in time in minutes to exhaustion, was enhanced in both the trained and untrained groups. According to the mean, the trained group averaged 13.25 minutes to exhaustion without music and 13.4 minutes to exhaustion with the use of fast-paced music. The increase within the untrained group was far more substantial. While it took an average of 10.94 minutes for the untrained group to reach exhaustion without music, with the use of music, they were able to last on average 11.23 minutes (Mohammadzadeh, et al.).

Physiological performance is not the only manner in which scientists have hypothesized that music can affect athletic activity. For example, Copeland and Franks performed a study in 1991 that measured not only the physiological (specifically heart rate) effects of different types of music on treadmill endurance, but psychological effects were also considered. While no type of music showed significant effect of music on physical arousal or performance, the study demonstrated that soft, slow music had a relaxing effect…” (Copeland and Franks 100).

A 1996 study performed at Truman State University by Carla Hepler and Rachel Kapke confirmed Copeland and Franks’ findings. According to Hepler and Kapke, “research indicates that a relaxed and calm state of mind has a beneficial effect on exercise efficiency…music is often used to achieve this relaxed state of mind. It has the ability to create an arousal state in which individuals may narrow attention, focus inward, and thus block out distractions” (1). In their study, ten college students completed two, ten-minute walks on treadmills at 70% of “age-predicted” maximum hear rate. In one trial, each subject walked while listening to “relaxation music.” The other trial used no external intervention. During both walks, automated metabolic carts and Polar hear monitors were connected to each volunteer to measure metabolic function and heart rate accordingly. In conclusion, again, agreeing with Copeland and Franks’ previous work, “relaxation music did not significantly change the energy cost of walking, but it did produce a significantly lower cardiac stress” (Hepler and Kapke 1).

Stress management is a closely studied concept within sports psychology today. “Stress is an abstract concept that, in its broadest and most conventional use, describes the rate of biological wear and tear associated with life” (Williams 277). Since it is a biological concept, whether viewed as physiological or psychological, it only makes sense to assess and manage stress to improve athletic activity. Sports psychologists have researched and promoted multiple successful stress management procedures, some of which include “psych-up” time intervals, thought stopping sessions, and mental preparation strategies (Williams 290-291). Listening to music is an option within these categories. Furthermore, looking back to Savill, music is one of the “most potent agencies” for decreasing anxiety and stress and cultivating healthy emotions (23). If music decreases stress and decreased stress increases athletic performance, it follows suit that music has the capability to affect athleticism.

Along these same lines, specific studies have been created in looking at differences in effects of “positive” and “negative” music on mood and thus on athletic activity. According to Ferguson, Carbonneau, and Chambliss, “positive music” makes people feel happy, inspired, or content and has a fast-tempo and is loud. On the other end, “negative music” makes people feel sad, unmotivated, or discontent and has a slow-tempo and is soft (Ferguson, et al. 1217). In their 1994 study, the trio used fourteen subjects (four female and ten male) ages eleven to forty-five from two different Shotokan karate classes. Using the Kata Evaluation Scale, developed in 1984 based on a five point scale in which a one denotes “unsatisfactory” performance and a five denotes “excellent” performance, each subject performed a specified kata three times. Before each kata, the subject would listen to a one-minute recording of either positive music, negative music, or no music in random, unknown order. The mean score for the kata performed after the positive music was 33.6; the mean score for the kata performed after the negative music was only slightly lower at 33.5; the mean score after no music was listened to was only 24.2. (The ratings were completed by two experienced observers who were blind to the music order). Furthermore, each subject was required to complete a “post-experimental self-evaluation…. Eleven subjects said music made them feel more comfortable and ten reported feeling more relaxed” (Ferguson, et al. 1218).

Later that same year, scientists at Ursinus College “piggy-backed” off of Ferguson, Carbonneau, and Chambliss’ work, desirous of further studying the effects of varying music on athletic activity (Becker, et al.). Using a much larger and specified sample group than their predecessors, the group desired to see the differences in effect that frenetic music, mellow music, and white-noise had on stationary bicycling. The sixty volunteers (twenty children aged nine to eleven, twenty adults aged eighteen to fifty-five, and twenty seniors aged sixty to eighty; all three age groups containing equal number of males and females as well as equal number of active versus inactive subjects) each performed three randomized, two-minute trials on the bikes, each one preceded by one minute of listening to either frenetic music, mellow music, or white-noise. The trials were run again with the appointed sound concurrent with the exercise. (The first stage of the trials only included antecedent music/white-noise). Results showed that the mileage recorded after each trial in all music scenarios was substantially higher than the white-noise trials. In regards to music first affecting stress levels and then affecting athleticism, this study offers the benefit of results from both concurrent and antecedent music. “The positive influence of antecedent music cannot be accounted for by either a pacing effect of reduced distraction during exercise. Perhaps music provides more than merely a formal rhythm structure for exercise and a foil of distraction; the music selected may alter performance by affecting mood, confidence, self-esteem, or motivation” (Becker, et al. 1046).

A large factor in why studies regarding music’s effect on athletic activity is so inconsistent is the fact that its actual and hypothesized affects encompass multiple branches of effects. Furthermore, several personal variables of the individual subjects may play into inaccurate or inconsistent data. Earlier this year, Brunel University put out one of the most recent and in depth studies in this area of study by extending its hypotheses to include multiple branches and eliminate some of these individual variables. First, this study was very aware of and thorough in its music selection. Few studies up until this point had investigated the importance of the effect of synchronous music—“the use of synchronous music entails the conscious performance of repetitive movements in time with the rhythmical elements of music such as beat or tempo” (Karageorghis, et al. 19). Additionally, music in past studies had been chosen fairly arbitrarily without any “apparent consideration of the musical preferences and sociocultural background of the participants” (19). The Brunel University colleagues used an extensive music selection procedure including receiving feedback from 100 undergraduates on current music preferences. The top nine pop and rock songs were used for “motivational music,” and the bottom nine songs were used for the “oudeterous music.” The colleagues were also intentional about overcoming any possible limitations other studies had faced in the past by ensuring “gender compatibility” between the subjects and those running the experiments. Furthermore, this study looked at four different possible effects of music on athletic activity: “time to exhaustion, ratings of perceived exertion (RPE), in-task affect, and exercise-induced feelings states” (21). The study, as eluded to earlier, used two different types of music as well as a no-music control. “Motivational music” has a fast tempo (greater than 120bpm) and strong rhythm, “which increase energy and induce bodily action” (20). “Oudeterous music” lacks any motivational quality.

Desirous to eliminate any possible variables, guidelines for the participants were strict and monitored:

There were two experimental conditions and one control condition scheduled at the same time of day for each participant over consecutive weeks. Conditions consisted of walking at 75% maxHRR during synchronous motivational music, synchronous oudeterous music, and a no-music control. Participants were required to follow identical patterns of activity and diet, and not to engage in other vigorous physical activity before the trial on each test day. Further, they were asked to refrain from eating a meal within the 2 hr. before testing. The order of conditions was randomized for each participant and they engaged in the experiment individually in the presence of a same-sex experimenter (Karageorghis et al. 25).

The results of this study are found in the table on the following page (28). While the experimental conditions did not significantly impact RPE or exercise-induced feeling states, endurance was increased in both music conditions, motivational more so than ouderterous. The in-task affect was also improved by motivational music.

Until, as with Brunel University, variables are intentionally avoided and multiple dependent measures—such as physiological, psychological, emotional, RPE, and in-task affect—are taken into consideration within each study in this area, results will continue to be inconsistent. Overall, the more thorough studies completed, the more data will be available to piece together what will some day be tangible and accurate effects of music on athletic activity.

Works Cited

Becker, Nancy, Stephanie Brett, Catherine Chambliss, Kelly Crowers, Pamela Haring, Cathy Marsh, and Roberta Montemayor. "Mellow and Frenetic Antecedent Music During Athletic Performance of Children, Adults, and Seniors." Perceptual and Motor Skills 79 (1994): 1043-046.

Copeland, B. L., and B. D. Franks. "Effects of Types and Intensities of Background Music on Treadmill Endurance." The Journal of Sports Medicine and Physical Fitness 31 (1991): 100-03.

Ferguson, A. R., M. R. Carbonneau, and C. A. Chambliss. "Effects of Postitive and Negative Music on Performance of a Karate Drill." Perceptual and Motor Skills 78 (1994): 1217-218.

Hepler, Carla, and Rachel Kapke. "Effect of Music on Cardiovascular Performance During Treadmill Walking." IAHPERD Journal 29 (1996). Spring 1996. Truman State University. 2 Apr. 2009 <www.iowaahperd.org/journal/j96_walking.html>.

Karageorghis, Costas I., Denis A. Mouzourides, David-Lee Priest, Tariq A. Sasso, Daley J. Morrish, and Carolyn L. Walley. "Psychophysical and Erogenic Effects of Synchronous Music During Treadmill Walking." Journal of Sport & Exercise Psychology 31 (2009): 18-36.

Mohammadzadeh, Hasan, Bakhtiyar Tartibiyan, and Azhdar Ahmadi. "The Effects of Music on the Perceived Exertion Rate and Performance of Trained and Untrained Individuals During Progressive Exercise." Physical Education and Sport 6 (2008): 67-74.

Savill, Agnes. "Physical Effects of Music." Music & Letters 39 (1958): 16-28. JSTOR.

Schwartz, S. E., B. Fernhall, and S. A. Plowman. "Effects of Music on Exercise Performance." Journal of Cardiopulmunary Rehabilitation 8 (1990): 312-16.

Williams, Melvin H., ed. Ergogenic Aids in Sport. Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics, 1983.