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 This website is no longer actively maintained.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...
One of Howard Gardner’s multiple intelligences* is ‘musical intelligence’: to be a successful learner some people need to be stimulated by music. I suppose I’m one of these people, as I listen to music as often as possible and sometimes find it difficult to study without some kind of ambient noise. Since beginning my teaching career I’ve used music in various ways in lessons. Let me highlight some of the most effective ways I’ve used audio in my lessons… 
Something I always do is to get students to write down the date, title and lesson objective/aim before a particular piece of music ends. In KS3 I reward those first finished (neatly) with a stamp that says something like ‘Mr Belshaw says well done’ - this gets them up and ready for learning, whilst also focusing them. In KS4 I try to have the music related to what we’re studying - however tangentially - and they have to discover the link. For example, I played Wiki Wiki Wild Wild West by Will Smith when we were using our wiki to add information about the American West and Burn Baby Burn when we were doing about Mary I. If you use AllofMP3.com for your music downloads, each song costs you a pittance… 
During lessons I find that music by Bonobo, Boards of Canada, Susumu Yokota, Brian Eno as well as the rest of the music I’ve mentioned in this post are useful whilst students are working. I really don’t like a silent classroom unless they’re doing a test (or I’m covering another teacher and have some marking to do!) Recently I’ve also discovered that the Groove Salad radio station within iTunes is also fairly useful and available to anyone who’s installed the software!
(other options including downloading the Last.fm player and typing in the name of the type of artist to whom you want to listen)
In the Audio part of the Resources section of this site you will find some theme tunes that I use for high-impact things. For example, playing the Countdown theme during the last 30 seconds of an activity really gets them going, or Mission Impossible during a Whiteboard Challenge plenary session. 
Finally, if you want to take this even further, you could download the Sound Machine Application from chrismoyles.net. Chris Moyles is a Radio 1 presenter who uses sound effects quite often in his programme. This can be customised so that you can assign a sound to the function keys (F1-F12). It’s Windows-only though, unfortunately.
If you use music and sounds in any other ways in your lessons, please share it with everyone in the comments section below! 
* There’s a good multiple intelligences test you can use with students here…
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One point to bear in mind: musical intelligence can work the other way, too. I rate fairly highly in this point and, if I am breathing, am usually to be heard singing… even when I'm not aware of it.
However, my love of music means that I can't concentrate on learning if there is music playing, because I want to listen to the music. So I up the level of my focus on the music and close out whatever it is I'm supposed to be learning. The use of baroque music like Pachelbel and Bach are supposed to be perfect for increased alpha waves. However, I find myself getting stressed to the point of anxiety when listening to baroque while learning, as I try to listen and learn at the same time.
A fair point, Karyn, and there did used to be one student in a Year 10 class who requested that I didn't play music. Once I'd had a bit of a chat with her it became evident that music that changes often was off-putting to her, whilst background, fairly cyclical/repetitive music was alright. She seems to be OK with it now!
don't think you've been to allofmp3 in a while Doug - it's no longer possible to refill your balance since Visaand Mastercard made a unilateral decison to withdraw their service.
Noel, I actually refilled my balance last week using an XROST prepaid iCard, redeemable at AllofMP3.com and payable by Visa through BT Click&Buy!
Lots of good links and ideas. Thanks. I'm interested in multiple intelligences theory, but am still somewhat sceptical. Some people work well with background noise, but not everyone; some find noise, even music, distracting when they're trying to concentrate. My father always had the radio on when he was working, whereas I myself prefer quiet when I need to do concentrated mental work.
I often play background music in my EFL classes, but not all students appreciate it.
Hi Doug, we use music / sound in a range of situations. Soft ambient tracks when students are working on their assignments. Some bright and upbeat tracks when the students are working collaboratively.
Mobile phone ring tones make great quiz buzzers and doorbells. In a class role play we use a doorbell to bring a new 'theme' or 'term' to the party. For those of you who are old enough its 'Whats My Line.'