Integrating Music and Performance in the Language Classroom

February 2025

This month’s issue was published in collaboration with JALT’s PIE SIG. Together, we examine the different ways we can use music in our classrooms. From the analysis of song lyrics to writing and performing music, there’s much our students can learn from music!

“Where words fail, music speaks.” – Hans Christian Andersen

APA reference for this issue

(author). (2025). (article title, sentence case). MindBrainEd Think Tanks: Integrating Music and Performance in the Language Classroom, 11(2), (pages)

Watch before you read...

We took a first gander at the intersections between music and language a long time ago in December 2018. This month, we’ve joined forces with JALT Performance in Education SIG (PIE SIG) to explore more connections between music, dance, creativity, and the language classroom. In the Main video, Stefan Koelsch analyzes the similarities and differences between music and language, and foregrounds the ways in which music facilitates social bonding. In the More video, Michael Spitzer points out the relationship between music and body movement and touches on the positive effects music has on our brain and general wellbeing. Then, Afon (Mohammad) Khari introduces this issue.

In the Think Tank, David Kluge explains how he uses music to structure his classes and signal transitions and different activities. Next, William Tiley connects his foray into composing with fostering students’ creativity. Tim Murphey introduces a special playlist our readers contributed to, while Amanda Gillis-Furutaka shares a lesson in which students examined racial stereotyping and vulgar language through music. Then, Kim Rockell recounts his journey as a musician and language teacher, and William Kumai describes how he introduces topics in his discussion class by singing and playing the electric bass. Finally, David Kluge details how he combined language, culture, music, and dance in a special rap and hip-hop unit.

In the Plus section, Mirela C. C. Ramacciotti summarizes key contributions of two developmental psychologists.

Our Thoughts on Music

Have you ever wondered why a particular song can instantly transport you back to a distant memory? Or why certain melodies make you feel energized, while others bring a sense of calm? Music is everywhere—in the rhythm of a conversation, in the soundtrack of a favorite memory, in the quiet hum of a morning routine. It is a universal human experience, transcending culture and history, yet deeply personal in its impact. More than just an art form, music shapes the way we think, feel, and interact with the world, engaging our brains in ways that science is only beginning to fully understand. In this issue, we explore the relationship between music and performance through the lens of brain science and psychology.

Think Tank Articles

An hour and a half into the movie Pretty Woman, the wealthy Edward Lewis has taken lady-of-the-night Vivian to a Verdi opera. She very demonstrably becomes emotionally involved in the story. It’s a very memorable scene. After the opera, an elderly woman talks to Vivian:

Old Lady at Opera: Did you enjoy the opera, dear?

Vivian: Oh, it was so good, I almost peed my pants!

Old Lady at Opera: What?

Edward Lewis: She said she liked it better than Pirates of Penzance.

Creativity is a funny thing. Even after years of playing bass guitar in numerous bands and projects, the nature of creativity has remained fairly elusive, like an intangible force that has to be captured like lightning in a bottle. Even my own creative output felt like the manifestation of sudden moments of inspiration drawn from the ether rather than a controlled and manageable process. Against this backdrop, I decided that after years of being a sideman or part of a band, it was time to try taking centre stage and making an album of my own music.

I did my PhD on the use of songs in language learning over a 7-year period in Switzerland (of course, with a bit of skiing too!). In my research corpus of the top 50 songs in a hit parade from England, I found that the top three words in the corpus were “you,” “love,” and “I,” quite often in the opposite order and together: “I love you.” It was quite rare for there to be actual names of people and places, and usually no times or dates. Thus, we started calling songs “ghost discourse,” which was language that could fit in almost any situation because it named no names, times, or places. You sing it in your time and place imagining your people and conditions. Songs can set you free, or at least your imagination. Pop songs become the “motherese” of adolescence and continue throughout our lives.

Editors’ Note: This article contains strong language.

I have been teaching Japanese university students about British culture for 32 years using mass media (mainly films, popular music, and SNS) as my source material. Much of the language used in these media products is not found in English language textbooks, making it hard for students to understand. Japanese subtitles and translations also do not render the power of the original language because, in most cases, there is no equivalent expression in Japanese.

I sing and play songs with an electric bass guitar in a university elective discussion class to introduce topics that students will talk about in small groups. The bass guitar playing and singing touch upon the performance aspects of language instruction; the ensuing discussions incorporate a complex adaptive systems approach centered on emergent L2 arising from collective behavior (Holland, 1995; Larsen-Freeman, 1997). In this article I will apply this approach to both individual students and groups. The mind with its myriad interconnections is a complex adaptive system, for example, as modeled by neural networks (Rumelhart et al., 1986). Baicchi (2015) states that for the complex adaptive systems approach, students are “system agents interacting in the communicative environment where human cognition and language encounter [each other]” (p. 3) and meaning construction is “the outcome of complex synergistic dynamics across language levels and between neurophysiological and cognitive abilities” (p. 3). In this article, I touch upon aspects of both music and neurolinguistics in an English language learning setting.

Undissuaded by cognitive psychologist Stephen Pinker’s dismissal of music as “auditory cheesecake” (Cooney, 2009), I find Mithen’s theory of “Musi-language,” which places music at the foundation of human language development (Mithen, 2006), much more appetizing. And as a professional musician, the presence of music in the language classroom has always been a “no-brainer.” Not limited to trained musicians, the benefits of musical approaches are available to all. It may be true that in highly industrialized societies roles become increasingly specialized such that professional musicians develop complex skill sets, setting them apart from those who identify as “non-musicians.” Nevertheless, song, dance, and body-percussion–“physically mediated musical activity” (Rockell, 1999)–is readily accessible. I am personally convinced that music is a universal human capacity, as emphasized by Blacking in his seminal How Musical is Man? (1973). Music is present amongst all peoples, avoided only where it is censured for ideological reasons, and not for lack of inherent musicality in a particular group of people.

With over 40 years of teaching experience at the secondary and tertiary level in the U.S. and in Japan, I have wondered the same thing that Bertholz does: Why do so many teachers ignore the kinesthetic aspects of learning? The majority of the teaching profession seems to treat students as unembodied intellect. Still ignored today are early twenty-first century neurolinguistic concepts such as embodiment (Kiverstein & Miller, 2015) which addresses using the body in learning and multimodal learning (Kinsbourne, 2003) which focusses on the strengthening of memory through using multiple channels to learn something. We seem to disregard what we see and what we hear: when we see effective learning, we see students moving their bodies, and we hear the buzz of excited learning and exploring; we see students glowing with the pride of successful learning, and we hear the joy in their voices. I see and hear these successes with all kinds of Performance in Education (PIE) activities (e.g., readers theatre, speech, debate, puppetry, and various other PIE activities.) Most relevant for this issue of Think Tank, I have seen such success in units on hip-hop that I have taught over the years.

Think Tank Plus

Have you ever wondered where the ideas of “learner development” and “age appropriate” come from? These concepts did not always exist. There was a time when it was believed that children were just little adults. So, you could teach any learner at any age, any content, and if they were smart, they would learn it. But now we know that the brain does not have the structures to learn certain things until certain ages, such as not being able to learn to read before age 5.

Become a Think Tank star! Here are some of the future issue topics we are thinking about. Would you, or anyone you know, like to write about any of these? Or is there another topic you’d like to recommend? Do you have any suggestions for lead-in, or just plain interesting, videos? How about writing a book review? Or sending us a story about your experiences? Contact us.

Need more inspiration for your classes? These songs, written or adapted by teachers and students, bring neuroscience to life through music! Whether you’re looking to engage learners with catchy mnemonics or creative explanations of brain functions, this collection turns complex concepts into memorable melodies.

The MindBrained Think Tanks+

is produced by the Japan Association for Language Teaching (JALT) Mind, Brain, and Education Special Interest Group (BRAIN SIG). Kyoto, Japan. (ISSN 2434-1002)

Editorial Staff

Stephen M. Ryan Curtis H. Kelly Julia Daley Afon (Mohammad) Khari

Heather Kretschmer Marc Helgesen Nicky De Proost

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Integrating Music and Performance in the Language Classroom

February 2025

Watch before you read...

Our Thoughts on Music

The Musical Mind Afon (Mohammad) Khari

Think Tank Articles

Muzak for the Classroom? David Kluge

Capturing Lightning – A Novel Approach to Harnessing Creativity William Tiley

Language Teachers’ Music Playlist Tim Murphey

Be bold, be realistic, and teach about profane language and racial stereotyping using pop music! Amanda Gillis-Furutaka

Playing the Bass in Discussion Class William N. Kumai

Teaching Language Through Music: Reflections of a Professional Musician Kim Rockell

Zip-Zap! Hip-hop! Rap! Walk the Talk then Dance It! David Kluge

Think Tank Plus

Great Ideas from the Brain Sciences: Learner Development Mirela C. C. Ramacciotti

Call for Contributions: Ideas and Articles Think Tank Staff

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