The Reading / Listening - Music and Memory - Level 1

A study found that the energy of music affects our memories. Researchers looked at the memories people had after listening to music. A music psychologist said the tempo and mood of songs affected what people remembered about their past. She said high-energy music made people remember funny and happy events. However, slower and acoustic music brought back memories of calmness, sadness, and even romance.

In the study, 233 people listened to songs from their childhood. The researchers said the feelings people had about music affected their memories. They said how much a person liked a song changed what memories they had. One researcher said acoustic songs brought back memories that contained "complex emotions like romance". The research will be put into a database of musical memories and uploaded onto a website.

Try the same news story at these levels:

    Music and Memory - Level 0 Music and Memory - Level 2   or  Music and Memory - Level 3

Sources
  • https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1094542
  • https://cosmosmagazine.com/health/body-and-mind/songs-memories-emotion/
  • https://www.earth.com/news/how-music-tunes-the-emotions-in-our-memories/


Make sure you try all of the online activities for this reading and listening - There are dictations, multiple choice activities, drag and drop activities, sentence jumbles, which word activities, text reconstructions, spelling, gap fills and a whole lot more. Please enjoy :-)

Phrase Matching

Paragraph 1

  1. Researchers looked
  2. a music
  3. the tempo and
  4. what people remembered
  5. high-energy music made
  6. funny and happy
  7. slower and
  8. memories
  1. people remember
  2. acoustic music
  3. at the memories
  4. of calmness
  5. psychologist
  6. mood of songs
  7. events
  8. about their past

Paragraph 2

  1. songs from their
  2. the feelings people had
  3. how much a person
  4. changed what memories
  5. acoustic songs brought
  6. contained complex emotions like
  7. a database of musical
  8. uploaded onto
  1. liked a song
  2. memories
  3. childhood
  4. back memories
  5. a website
  6. they had
  7. about music
  8. romance

Listening — Listen and fill in the gaps

(1) _________________________________________________ that the energy of music affects our memories. Researchers (2) _________________________________________________ memories people had (3) _________________________________________________ music. A music psychologist said the (4) _________________________________________________ of songs affected what people remembered about their past. She (5) _________________________________________________ music made people remember funny and happy events. However, slower and acoustic music brought back memories of calmness, sadness, (6) _________________________________________________.

(7) _________________________________________________, 233 people listened to songs from their childhood. The researchers said the feelings people had (8) _________________________________________________ their memories. They said how much a person liked a song (9) _________________________________________________ they had. One researcher (10) _________________________________________________ brought back memories that contained "complex (11) _________________________________________________". The research will be put into a database of musical memories (12) _________________________________________________ a website.

Put a slash (/) where the spaces are

Astudyfoundthattheenergyofmusicaffectsourmemories.Researcher
slookedatthememoriespeoplehadafterlisteningtomusic.Amusicpsyc
hologistsaidthetempoandmoodofsongsaffectedwhatpeoplerememb
eredabouttheirpast.Shesaidhigh-energymusicmadepeopleremem
berfunnyandhappyevents.However,slowerandacousticmusicbroug
htbackmemoriesofcalmness,sadness,andevenromance.Inthestudy
,233peoplelistenedtosongsfromtheirchildhood.Theresearcherssaidt
hefeelingspeoplehadaboutmusicaffectedtheirmemories.Theysaidh
owmuchapersonlikedasongchangedwhatmemoriestheyhad.Oneres
earchersaidacousticsongsbroughtbackmemoriesthatcontained"co
mplexemotionslikeromance".Theresearchwillbeputintoadatabaseof
musicalmemoriesanduploadedontoawebsite.

Student survey

Write five GOOD questions about this topic in the table. Do this in pairs. Each student must write the questions on his / her own paper. When you have finished, interview other students. Write down their answers.

(Please look at page 12 of the PDF to see a photocopiable example of this activity.)

Discussion — Write your own questions

STUDENT A’s QUESTIONS (Do not show these to student B)

(a) ________________

(b) ________________

(c) ________________

(d) ________________

(e) ________________

(f) ________________

(g) ________________

(h) ________________

STUDENT B’s QUESTIONS (Do not show these to student A)

(i) ________________

(j) ________________

(k) ________________

(l) ________________

(m) ________________

(n) ________________

(o) ________________

(p) ________________

Free writing

Write about this topic for 10 minutes. Comment on your partner’s paper.

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Answers

(Please check your answers against the article above.

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