Study Halls Gone HIP! Beyond Classical Music Playlists for Studying
The idea of Study Halls Gone HIP - my Spotify playlist series of classical music composed pre-1800 by historically-informed performance (HIP) groups and individual instrumentalists - stems from my vacation in South Korea in October 2024.
I learned that the country takes a few hours of pause on the day of the national high school exit examination, the College Scholastic Ability Test or CSAT. In Korean, it's called the Daehak Suhak Neungnyeok Siheom, or Suneung.
Floridians who attended 3rd-10th grade between 1998 and 2014 (me notwithstanding) might be familiar with the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test (FCAT). In the 2000s, 10th graders were obliged to pass the reading and math portions of it in order to obtain a diploma.
Being more rigorous than the FCAT, the CSAT's scoring has been an indicator of Korean teen examinees' adulthoods, from the colleges they'd attend after graduating high school to their job prospects. Those with the highest scores are most likely to be enrolled in the top post-secondary institutions, namely either the Seoul National, Korea or Yonsei universities.
Once they graduate from them, those successful adults would snag jobs with family-owned business conglomerates called chaebols.
On the day of the CSAT, airports - including Incheon International outside of Seoul - would reschedule flights to afternoons and evenings and delay the rest of the morning flights as much as 35 minutes so the din of overhead aircraft won't detract examinees' attentions. Cars refrain from honking for the same reason.
In contrast, FL businesses - even within 3 miles of a school - would do business as usual on FCAT examination dates.
While most FL millennials would increase vocab and drill on algebra problems to the strains of, well, Flo Rida, South Korean teens studying for the CSAT wouldn't only stay from Flo Rida. They compiled blacklists of songs that severely detract their concentration, usually K-pop earworms.
Songs they have blacklisted through out the years, during the weeks and days leading up to the date of the CSAT, include Aespa's "Next Level," BTS's "Go Go," Momoland's "Bboom Bboom," Pinkfong's "Baby Shark" (patooie), Red Velvet's "Dumb Dumb" (ironically a smart move to blacklist it), SHINee's "Ring Ding Dong," PSY's "Gentleman," and Super Junior's "Sorry Sorry."
In 2024, the determined South Korean teens annexed to the pre-CSAT music blacklist the infectious duet between Blackpink lead singer RosĂŠ and Filipino-American pop star Bruno Mars: "APT." (Aptly, my Cebu Pacific flight from Manila landed in Incheon on the first day of the tour around Seoul, on the day after it was released.)
"Iâm worried the song might pop into my head during the exam," student Nam, then 18, groaned to The Korea Bizwire, "Adults might laugh at such concerns, but when youâre facing such a crucial test, it becomes a real source of anxiety."
"I avoid cafes playing pop music and stick to quiet study spaces," Choi, also 18, remarked, "Iâve even deleted music apps like YouTube Music and plan to stay away from songs until after the CSAT."
But South Korean teens weren't the only ones fearing for their concentrations - and exam marks - via trying to keep "APT." out of their systems and minds. In Malaysia, a student wrote the song's lyrics instead of an essay about the novel Tawanan Komander Caucasus (English: The European Commander's Prisoner).
"We have tried our very best to provide an excellent educational platform for the children," the teacher bewailed on the onscreen captions of her TikTok reel, "but this is how they'd repay us. I'm very disappointed."
"If only you were as diligent in writing essays as you are in writing the full lyrics of this song, your teacher would be proud of you," she admonished her students.
That got this classical music fanatic thinking: as well as those do-not-play lists, why not ALSO compile playlists for not only students in Korea studying for the CSAT, but for ALL STUDENTS AROUND THE WORLD?
Hence, the Study Halls Gone HIP Spotify playlist series was born on Christmas 2024.
Many experts agree that classical music is THE BEST genre to listen to whenever youths would study. The best forms of them are instrumental excerpts (like overtures from operas) and whole pieces (like sonatas). For instance, a 2023 French study found that university students who listened to a one-hour lecture where classical music was played in the background scored significantly higher on a pop quiz than those who only listened to the lecture itself.
In my series of playlists, my selections span between the Medieval and pre-1800 Classical eras. Think not only the Mozart piano sonatas (played on replica fortepianos, no less) and a ton of Johann Sebastian Bach played by period orchestras. (I even included the Brandenburg Consort's take on the Air from his Orchestral Suite in D Major, BWV 1068, in the first one!) You'll encounter some John Dowland, William Byrd, Francois Couperin, and Luigi Boccherini, too.
And here's a taste of what you'll hear in my studying-friendly playlists:
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