WARNING! This website is no longer actively maintained. It is an archive of 2 years work by Doug Belshaw who now blogs at dougbelshaw.com...
I play music in every lesson right from the start. The type of music obviously depends on the class, activity and mood of the pupils, but I always begin with some type of theme tune whilst pupils write down the date, title and aims of the lesson (see the audio page).
Over the last year or so I have found that there are a number of albums which not only go down well with the pupils but are conducive to them working well. Fortunately, these are albums which I enjoy listening to, so it’s the best of both worlds! On a more pedagogical note, we are trying to create safe yet challenging learning environments for pupils. We have all heard of the Mozart Effect, yet this can be reduced to the more simple statement that some (even most) pupils work well to unobtrusive music with minimal lyrical content.
Here are some which I have found to be especially effective:
Bach - Toccatas & Fugues [import]
Mozart - Eine Kleine Nachtmusik
Boards of Canada - The Campfire Headphase
Peace Orchestra - The Peace Orchestra
Susumu Yokota - Sakura
Bonobo - Dial ‘M’ For Monkey
Brian Eno - Ambient 1: Music For Airports
Plastyc Buddha - Throwing Stones in Placid Pools [import]
Ralph Myerz and the Jack Herren Band - A Special Album [import]
Robert Miles - Dreamland
While these are available in CD format from Amazon (click on image) and other retailers, I get all of my music now from the download site, AllofMP3.com. Using a loophole in Russian copyright legislation they manage to avoid giving the money to the ‘middlemen’, meaning that artists get royalties and you get albums in MP3 format for around $1.20 per album! I’ve used it for the last few months and highly recommend it - in fact my iPod is now too small for my digital library… 
I’d be interested to hear from other people albums/tracks which work particularly well in enhancing the classroom environment! 
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