Get inspired by how Sam, a teacher based in California, uses music to regulate his students - and himself - and build a positive learning environment throughout the school day.
Walk into my classroom before the first bell and you'll probably hear music before you hear me. When I first started teaching, I spent a lot of time thinking about how to make my classroom quieter. What I eventually realized was that silence isn't always the goal. Calm is.
Students walk into our classrooms carrying all kinds of energy. Some are excited after recess. Some are worried about a test. Others are replaying a disagreement from lunch or still waking up after a rough morning. Before I teach a single lesson, I'm already working with twenty-four different emotional starting points.
Then it hit me. I use music to regulate myself every single day. It's there during my morning commute, while I'm planning lessons, and after school when I need to decompress. If music helps me reset, why wouldn't it help my students? That's what led me to Mood Magic Music and Classroomscreen.
There is certainly no shortage of "calming classroom music" on YouTube. I've tried plenty of them. The problem is that many of these videos are surprisingly overstimulating. Bright animations, dramatic scenery, familiar movie soundtracks, and recognizable melodies can quickly become distractions rather than supports. Not the mention that broadcasting content from youtube can pose a litany of other distractions like potentially inappropriate comments, ads, or a video ending and jumping to the next random video Youtube has cued.
Mood Magic feels different. Their music is intentionally composed for classrooms. The melodies are predictable, peaceful, and unobtrusive, allowing them to become part of the environment rather than the center of attention. The accompanying visuals are equally thoughtful. Their mascot, Mely, quietly models exactly what I hope my students are doing: reading, writing, thinking, and creating. Rather than pulling students' attention toward the screen, the videos gently nudge it back toward their work.
tip:
You can check out Mood Magic Music's website here: https://www.moodmagicmusic.com/.
I’ve also become increasingly intentional about how I use Mood Magic at the very start of the day.
Classroomscreen has become one of my favorite teacher-tech resources, and it has changed the way I use my smart board. Unlike Google Slides, Classroomscreen acts as an interactive whiteboard that lets you edit your screen live using a library of widgets. You can choose from premade templates or design and save your own. Best of all, I can embed Mood Magic YouTube videos directly into my screen. This means I can display instructions, list necessary materials, set a timer, and play calming music all at the same time. No more switching between browser tabs or worrying about random YouTube videos popping up.
Each morning, before my students enter the classroom, I already have my Morning Meeting screen projected. Classroomscreen offers a fantastic Lo-fi Morning Meeting template, which inspired me to create my own. My screen includes our morning agenda, daily announcements, classroom expectations, and one of two Mood Magic videos playing softly in the background.
Cozy cafe
Cozy cafe
One of my favorites is Cozy Cafe Lounge Music for Study & Classroom Focus. There is something about the steady, predictable rhythm of lo-fi music that immediately shifts the energy in the room. It feels familiar in a way that does not belong to school alone.
tip:
Classroomscreen uses this playlist in the Lofi morning meeting template!
The soft beat and cafe atmosphere seem to meet students where they are. For some, it eases the anxiety of the morning. For others, it signals something simple and reassuring: today is going to be okay.
These morning choices matter more than I originally realized. They shape the emotional entry point of the day. Instead of students walking into a blank or chaotic soundscape, they enter a space that already has intention built into it.
The morning routine is just one layer of how music shapes our day. As the schedule shifts into writing and independent work, Mood Magic continues to play a quiet but consistent role in how the classroom functions.
During Writer’s Workshop, I’ll dim the lights, start Mood Magic’s “Calm Focus Classroom Music | Studying, Reading & Writing with Mely” playlist, and let students settle into what we call Independent Writing Time. These are the moments when students are drafting essays, responding to prompts, or journaling quietly on their own. It is a structured, focused writing time where the expectation is simple: your voice on the page, not in the room.
What I appreciate most is its restraint. The music is not trying to entertain my students. It is a soft, gentle melody. Soothing. Ambient. Just enough sound to fill the room without competing for students' attention. In many ways, it prevents students from filling the silence with other kinds of noise. Instead of hearing whispered conversations gradually snowball into full discussions, the room settles into a quiet rhythm of typing, pencils scratching, and thoughtful work.
During these moments, I notice something important happening with student focus. Planning what to write, holding a thought across sentences, resisting distractions, and staying with a task over time are all heavy cognitive lifts for young learners. The steady background music doesn’t do any of that work for them, but it does seem to take the edge off the cognitive load. It gives just enough structure to help students organize their thinking and stay with it longer than they might in complete silence.
It also acts like a cue for sustained attention. Students begin to recognize that once the music starts, we are not in a stop-and-go mode anymore. We are in writing mode. Questions slow down. Bodies settle. More often than not, they are able to stay with their ideas for longer stretches without constant redirection.
Even after lunch or recess, I have found that this calm soundtrack helps lower the emotional temperature of the room before we dive into the next lesson. The music creates a predictable atmosphere that students begin to associate with focus. When they hear those first few notes, they know it is time to write.
example:
One unexpected benefit is that the music regulates me too. When the classroom feels calmer, I teach more calmly. I speak more softly, redirect less often, and find myself enjoying the rhythm of the lesson instead of constantly trying to control it.
No playlist will magically eliminate off-task behavior. But I have learned that the sounds filling a classroom matter just as much as the words spoken inside it. Sometimes the most powerful classroom management strategy is not saying something louder. It is creating an environment where you do not have to.
The class has just erupted into a raucous zoo of noise. Close friends are chit-chatting, work partners are giggling, and pencils roll off tables with a soft but distinct clack. Teachers, we know this scene. Whether it's a catchy call-and-response or the calm ding of a chime, most teachers have a rich repertoire of auditory signals that can cut through the chaos and redirect students' focus.
Some of the most successful cues I use are paired with a visual or physical signal: the ring of a chime and a "Quiet Coyote" or the classic clap-and-response.
As effective as these strategies are, they all rely on one thing: a teacher who is actively monitoring the room. I've found that when I'm conferring one-on-one with a student during writing, working with a small math group, or writing something lengthy on the board, those are often the moments when classroom volume begins to creep upward.
One tool I have found incredibly helpful is a digital sound meter. My favorite is the Sound Level widget built into Classroomscreen. The widget allows students to see how loud the classroom has become and can be set to play a gentle ding whenever the class exceeds a predetermined noise level. You can adjust the sensitivity, mute the sound if needed, and even track how many times the class has gone over the limit throughout the lesson. I use this widget all the time.
example:
Near the end of math class my students are usually working in partners or small groups on practice problems. As I circulate from table to table checking work, this is when the room naturally starts to get louder.
Even with clear expectations displayed on the board, conversation has a way of gradually snowballing, especially when students are seated with friends. With the sound meter, I simply set the noise threshold, remind students of the expectation, and let the widget do its job. Eventually the chatter rises until... ding. Most students immediately notice, gently shush their partners, and bring the volume back down without any intervention from me.
I'm a big believer in logical consequences. If one table consistently earns four or five dings, that's valuable information. Rather than viewing the sound meter as a punishment, I see it as feedback. It helps students self-monitor while helping me determine whether a group is ready for collaborative work or whether it may need a different seating arrangement. In that sense, the tool doesn't just manage noise. It teaches awareness.
At first glance, a sound meter might seem like a small addition to a classroom. But I've found that one gentle ding can often accomplish what five reminders from the teacher cannot. When students can hear and see the expectations, they become active participants in maintaining the learning environment instead of simply responding to it. That's a win for everyone.
Hi there! I currently teach 4th Grade at Brawerman Elementary School. I have been working in Education for over 6 years. I have taught in both LA and NY and have experience in curriculum development and lesson planning.
Samuel Fisher Korobkin
Teacher/Actor based in Los Angeles, CA.
Thanks for reading!
Share us on social media:
