Habits - Music in the Classroom?

This is part of "The Habit Project" and will focus on my thoughts on letting students listen to their music (sometimes) in the classroom during class.

In reading chapter 7 of "The Power of Habit" one of the questions being asked was - "how do you make a song into a hit?"... 

The short answer: By dressing something new in old clothes, and making the unfamiliar seem familiar.

In 2003 they had a song that they *knew* would/should be a hit song, "Hey Ya!" by OutKast. The problem was that it was too different from other songs that were popular so when they played it on the radio the listeners would often turn off the unfamiliar sounds... The solution was to "sandwich" the song with a more mellow, predictable, song on both sides... two songs that "stuck".... It took several months on the radio, but over time people started turning off "Hey Ya!" less and less... As they became familiar with it, more people liked it.... It became a habit....  Eventually the song sold 5.5 million albums and won a Grammy.

Two lessons from this particular example:

(1) Most students don't completely like school work. But if we can wrap it up in something familiar it might be easier to consume. Eventually they may become more comfortable with doing the work.

(2) Music is a big deal to students. I am not sure if the current generation of teachers (myself included) has a grasp of how engrained the whole idea of "always listening to music" our students have become. With the increase in cellphone use the past two decades, it is a permanent part of student's lives that we should learn how to harness its energy.

I want to wrap my classroom in a cloak of music that the students are used to listening to....

Related: I started googling up some other information on music use in the classroom.... I didn't find a whole lot, but here are two relevant pieces:

(a) "Should You Let Students Listen To Music in Your Classroom" - Nancy Barile

(b) "The Benefits of Study with Music" - Florida National University

My ideas for music in the classroom:

I think I am going to try using music on a more regular basis in my classroom. This will partially be used as a reward (students who are mis-using cellphone privileges will be tracked, and THEY will not be allowed to listen to music.). My idea is to add a FOURTH color to my cellphone circles... Right now I have Red (NO PHONES), Yellow (Phones when DONE with your work), and Green (Class is over, you can take out your phones)… I will add BLUE with a MUSICAL NOTE on it.... When I hang up the blue circle I will play quiet background music into the classroom and students will be allowed to use their own headphones and "set it and forget it" on their cellphones, if they wish. Obviously the students music may not be loud and they can not disturb other students. Also: the students need to be proactively working on their classwork while listening to music.