Introduction

Many people play competitive sports, whether collegiate or professional. The main concern for an athlete is achieving peak performance. Numerous studies aim to identify the factors capable of improving performance. Music, specifically, can be useful in a pre-game routine for a competitive athlete. This paper will examine past literature, categorize the ways in which  music can enhance performance (arousal regulation, dissociation, synchronization, and attainment of flow), and make recommendations for the direction of further research. 

Definitions 

Competitive sports refers simply to sports that involve competition between athletes. The term usefulness refers to the ability of a factor to improve the performance of athletes. Pre-game routine refers to the period before a competition. 

Influence of Music During Sports 

There are four main ways that music can influence performance: arousal regulation, disassociation, synchronization, and attainment of flow. (Karageorghis & Priest, 2008, 2012)

Arousal regulation happens when music alters emotions and physiological arousal, resulting in music being used to hype up or calm feelings (Bishop et al., 2007). To define it in simpler terms, arousal regulation determines how ready one is to perform in an athletic setting. Having too little or too much arousal can, depending on the sport at issue, greatly affect the performance of an athlete. Music can be used to hype up an athlete, or to calm nervous feelings. 

Yamamoto et al. (2003) explored the use of stimulative music prior to an all-out cycle sprint on a stationary bike. Participants were split into two groups: one listened to slow music, and the other listened to fast music. Both groups listened to the music for 20 minutes prior to the cycle sprint. They monitored plasma epinephrine levels and found that there were lower plasma epinephrine levels in those who listened to slow music and high levels for those who listened to fast music. These epinephrine levels demonstrate arousal and indicate the body is preparing itself for physical exercise. Eliakim et al. (2007)  compared the use of stimulative music and the absence of music. The study found that music did not have an ergogenic effect, but did raise hate rate, indicating an increase in arousal. 

Both studies conclude that pre-task music can have an impact in preparing the body for exercise and changing arousal. Despite the common misconception that loud music is needed to prepare an athlete for competition, there are many athletes that use soft music to calm nerves. A’ja Wilson, an American professional basketball player, explained her own use of music to affect arousal levels: “I use music to rev me up sometimes, but majority of the time I use it to calm me down, because I’m probably flustered and nervous heading into the game. It helps put me in a mood to tune out the world” (Knight, M., 2021). 

Music can also divert the mind from feelings of negativity, nervousness, and fatigue, especially when the music is chosen by the athlete whose performance is at issue. When listening to music during exercise, happier moods, like vigor, are heightened, and negative emotions of depression and anger are assuaged” (Bishop et al. 2007) Music can divert the mind from negative emotions, which psychologists labeled dissociation. Elliot et al. (2005) showed that music did redirect the participant’s attention from the internal cues associated with exercise and fatigue in the early stages of a 20 minutes cycle trial, but the impact lessened as time went on. The intensity of the cycle trial did not change. Despite music dissociation seemingly having a smaller impact on exercise, it is still helpful in boosting the athlete’s mood and rerouting the brain to see the training as fun. ​​In general, music dissociation has a larger impact on low and moderate exercise intensities. With high intensity exercise, the feeling of fatigue outweighs the impact of the music (Elliot et al., 2005). 

Music has rhythms and beats; when listening to music, the listener naturally follows the beat and overall feel of the song. This explains why music also boosts synchronization in athletes, ultimately giving athletes more endurance. Bacon et al. (2008) determined that participants who cycled in time with music required 7% less oxygen to do the same routine as participants with asynchronous music. Simpsons S & Karageorghis (2006) found that motivational music improves running speed by ~ .5 s in a 400-m sprint, compared to a no-music control group. Nicole Sifuentes, an Olympic Track and Field runner, says that he uses music to set a pace for running. (Bess & Briggins, 2016) 

Achieving a good mental state where an athlete feels prepared to go into a tournament is important. Music can help an athlete attain the flow, find their flow state and intrinsic motivation. Pates et al. (2003), using a single-subject, multiple-baselines design, examined the effects of pre-task music on flow states and netball shooting performance of three collegiate players. Two participants reported an increase in their perception of flow, and all three showed considerable improvement in shooting performance. The researchers concluded that interventions including self-selected music and imagery could enhance athletic performance by triggering emotions and cognitions associated with flow (Pates et al. 2003). Sekou Kaba, Olympic Track and Fielder, uses music to get into the mood before a game (Bess & Briggins, 2016). Cycler Kate O’Brien likes to start with calmer songs and transition into something more dance-like or electronic as the warm up progresses. 15 minutes before the race, she puts on something orchestral. She states that this routine helps her focus and feel less jittery. (Bess & Briggins, 2016)

Music has a positive effect on the brain, activating the amygdala. The amygdala is the part of the brain that helps process emotions. When listening to music that holds memories, it can trigger the amygdala helping to bring up the memories and emotions attached with it. Corianne Rogalsky, an assistant professor of speech and hearing science at Arizona State University, noted that “When the amygdala is active it increases our ability to consolidate memories, which is why when we hear that emotional song before the big game…..you sort of trigger emotionally that part of your brain…It only takes our brain a matter of a few seconds to hear those notes and instantly start thinking of those emotional memories again” (White, 2019). Many professional athletes who use music in their pre-game routine describe the same phenomenon. Bruce Wettstein, Olympic skateboarder, states that she uses music to “conjure such happy memories” and “keep [her] grounded” (Vulpo, 2021). Tamyra Mensah-Stock, an Olympic wrestler says that she uses music as “a reminder to go out and give everything I have in that moment” (Vulpo, 2021).

Further Directions 

There are still many aspects of music’s effect on athletic performance that have not been fully explored. Future experiments should identify the types of music that work best to raise arousal levels and promote flow state. They should also try to determine whether music has a bigger impact when used to hype up athletes, as opposed to calming them down. This impact may change depending on the sport (Knight, 2021).

Conclusion

There is a scientific consensus that music has a positive effect in enhancing performance of an athlete during a pre-game routine by changing levels of arousal, diverting the mind from negative emotions, improving synchronization, attaining the flow state, and giving athletes motivation from memories. These results are important to help athletes find a way to enhance their performance and achieve a better mental state before and during competition. 

References 

Karageorghis, C., & Priest, D. L., (2008). Music in sport and exercise : An update on research and application. The Sport Journal. from http://thesportjournal.org/article/music-sport-and-exercise-update-research-and-application/ 

Karageorghis, C. I., & Priest, D. L. (2012). Music in the exercise domain: a review and synthesis (Part I). International review of sport and exercise psychology, 5(1), 44–66. https://doi.org/10.1080/1750984X.2011.631026

Karageorghis, C. I., & Priest, D. L. (2012). Music in the exercise domain: a review and synthesis (Part II). International review of sport and exercise psychology, 5(1), 67–84. https://doi.org/10.1080/1750984X.2011.631027

Bishop D. T., Karageorghis C. I., Loizou G. (2007), A grounded theory of young tennis players’ use of music to manipulate emotional state. Journal of Sport & Exercise Psychology; 29: 584–607.

Yamamoto, T., Ohkuwa, T., Itoh, H., Kitoh, M., Terasawa, J., Tsuda, T., Kitagawa, S., & Sato, Y. (2003). Effects of pre-exercise listening to slow and fast rhythm music on supramaximal cycle performance and selected metabolic variables. Archives of physiology and biochemistry, 111(3), 211–214. https://doi.org/10.1076/apab.111.3.211.23464

Eliakim, M., Meckel, Y., Nemet, D., & Eliakim, A. (2007). The effect of music during warm-up on consecutive anaerobic performance in elite adolescent volleyball players. International journal of sports medicine, 28(4), 321–325. https://doi.org/10.1055/s-2006-924360

Knight, M. (2021, August 4). The Music Keeping Team USA pumped. The Music Keeping Team USA Pumped. from https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-features/olympic-athletes-pregame-music-playlist-interview-1202177/ 

Elliott D, Carr S, Orme, D. (2005), The Effect of motivational music on sub-maximal exercise. European Journal of Sport Science 5: 97-106.

Simpson S And Karageorghis C., (2006), Effects of Synchronous Music on 400 Metre Sprint Performance. J Sports Sci; 24(10): 1095- 1102.

Bess, G., & Briggins, J. (2016, August 3). Here's what Olympic athletes listen to before they compete for gold. Here’s What Olympic Athletes Listen to Before They Compete for Gold. from https://www.vice.com/en/article/wnyzjx/rio-olympics-athlete-warm-up-playlist-canada 

Pates, J., Karageorghis, C. I., Fryer, R., & Maynard, I. (2003). Effects of asynchronous music on flow states and shooting performance among netball players. Psychology of Sport and Exercise, 4, 413–427.

White, N. (2019, November 25). Music does more than hype athletes, it helps prep the brain for action. from https://globalsportmatters.com/health/2019/11/25/music-does-more-than-hype-athletes-it-helps-prep-the-brain-for-action/ 

Vulpo, M. (2021, July 15). Team USA's olympic athletes share the music that will leave you feeling like a Champion. Team USA's Olympic Athletes Share the Music That Will Leave You Feeling Like a Champion., from https://www.eonline.com/news/1288973/team-usas-olympic-athletes-share-the-music-that-will-leave-you-feeling-like-a-champion

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