Every 15 minutes of the day, the Chapel’s 24-bell Roosevelt Family Carillon rings out, announcing the time.
Three times a day, the tower c

himes out the Alma Mater, marking the start, middle and end of the school day.
Despite the dozens of times the bells ring in a single day, resonating and spreading their song across campus, most students don’t notice them, hardly giving them, at the most, a quick glance before they continue on their path to wherever their schedule requires them.
Still, even if the bells aren’t noticed by most, the constant presence of music on campus hints at a deeper connection: one that’s engrained into the human psyche. Music might not always demand the attention of its listeners, but it’s always somewhere in the background, subconsciously shaping personalities, influencing thoughts or changing moods.
For board-certified music therapist Katie Lopez, music has always shaped who she is. Even before she got her professional degree from Texas Woman’s University, music played a large role in her life.
“As a kid, (music) was not only my identity, but it was also the way that I expressed myself,” Lopez said. “Because when you’re a teenager, you sometimes don’t have all the maturity and ability to express these very complex emotions, especially as you’re becoming an adult and being faced with the things that make you who you are.”
Now, Lopez specializes in using music to help patients with cognitive impairments, such as autism or Down syndrome. Music therapy, as she defines it, is the use of music as a dynamic force of change to address non-musical goals in people’s lives. By approaching problems with evidence-backed practices, she aims to improve the brain’s cognitive abilities that may be impaired when patients first come to her.
“Music helps you form your identity, who you are and what you value, but it also helps with memory, learning and academic skills,” Lopez said. “It connects with our brain on a different level with sequencing, the ability to put things in order and recognize patterns. It also increases your brain’s neuroplasticity, which is the ability for your brain to learn more information.”
Additionally, Lopez utilizes the unique characteristics of music to further help her patients. When neural pathways are damaged, she uses music to create new ways for the brain to think and process information, essentially creating new routes to the same destination.
“Music is also one of the only things we do that crosses the hemisphere of your brain,” Lopez said. “Everything else is located within certain sections of certain halves of your brain, but music interacts with both hemispheres in multiple parts at the same time. It also increases the white brain matter that connects the two halves of the brain, increasing your brain’s ability to communicate with itself.”
Listening to and creating music releases dopamine, the neurotransmitter associated with
pleasure and the brain’s reward system. The growing brain is especially sensitive to these changes, making music potentially very impactful for children and young adults.
“Adolescent brains are more altered by dopamine dynamics than they are in adulthood,” Lopez said. “Music releases dopamine that can help you relax or help motivate you; it’s very adaptable to what you need it to be: it’s a regulatory stress reliever.”
Over the years, junior Sebastian Martinez has listened to a wide variety of music, from his dad’s nostalgic music to current hits that top the Billboard charts, and it’s become an essential part of his day.
“My day feels kind of empty without some sort of background noise,” Martinez said. “Music helps me stay moving, stay focused. You can get over things by listening to music. It helps you connect and relate to something while keeping your mind off of (issues). It’s therapeutic.”
A regulatory stress reliever, an energy booster or just something to help alleviate the monotony of hours of driving, Martinez’s music gives him whatever he may need in a situation.
“Music definitely helps me cope with stress,” Martinez said. “If you play upbeat music, you’re going to feel better about yourself; it has a pretty big impact on how you think and feel throughout the day.”
And Martinez doesn’t stop listening to music when he gets out of the car and opens up his homework; instead, he swaps out whatever high-energy music, often rap, he was listening to for quieter, more instrumental songs.
“I actually have set playlists where the music is less stimulating and quieter for when I’m really locked in,” Martinez said. “I still enjoy listening to the music, but it’s not overstimulating to the point where I can’t focus.”
Although it may seem counterintuitive to have music playing while working, Martinez’s methods are rooted in human evolution. As Lopez points out, music in its simplest form, a constant rhythm, is inherently familiar to every human, and that natural connection gives certain music its calming effect.
“Rhythm is very grounding,” Katie said. “The theory behind it is that when you’re in your mother’s womb, the only thing you have is darkness and a heartbeat, so from the very beginning of your existence, your life is tied to this constant beat. The reason we have such a strong response to beat and rhythm is that it’s deep inside our subconscious.”
But every person is different. Junior Tony Lu, although he spends hours a week practicing on his piano and working with the chamber music club, often can’t listen to music while he’s working.
“When I was younger, my parents didn’t like me listening to music because they thought it was distracting for me, so I never really got into the habit of listening to music while studying,” Lu said. “I definitely tried experimenting with it, but it depends on what I’m doing. A lot of things require me to go very deep and use 100% of my mental bandwidth, so I can’t have music.”
Instead, Lu listens to music less often but at extended lengths of time, choosing a movie’s soundtrack or a longer classical composition to listen to unwind or relax after a long day. Although he recognizes that classical music isn’t nearly as common as other genres like rap or pop among students, he encourages everyone to give it a try.
“I think about music as telling a story, and that’s why I’m into classical music,” Lu said. “People complain about classical music because the pieces are 20 to 30 minutes long, but it’s sort of like reading a novel. You have a theme and a character, and maybe there’s this bright moment or a dark moment: in many ways, it’s very literary.”
During the school day, this calming effect can be extremely helpful, allowing students to complete their tasks more efficiently and separate themselves from outside distractions.
“School is a very overstimulating environment, and music can be used as a tool to help you ground yourself and redirect your brain away from the overstimulation and toward studying,” Lopez said. “Some people really need music to study because it can help calm their brains and give them something to focus on.”
Additionally, music gives students the opportunity to express themselves in ways that aren’t often possible in academic settings. Director of Upper School Choir and Director of Libraries Tinsley Silcox has noticed that the unique opportunities music offers have been beneficial for his students.
“There are a lot of ways to express oneself through music on subjects that you may not be able to in any other form,” Silcox said. “Think about how many people can stand up in front of a room of people and give a personal testimony about their religion or the first time they kissed someone. That’s really hard, but we sing about it every day.”
To help students feel more focused or comfortable, the Cecil & Ida Green Library offers students the opportunity to use library-administered headphones for academic work. The only place that allows all students to use headphones, the library is a useful resource for students, but Silcox maintains that it is strictly for academic purposes.

“Whatever enhances the use of the library space for academics is what I’m looking to do whenever I talk to students about the use of headphones,” Silcox said. “If you’re in the library and you need to listen to music to take a break, you can come up to the desk and ask for a pair after we’ve had a conversation about how you’re going to use them.”
Listening to music in other places on campus, however, comes with its obstacles. With the prevalence of technology like AirPods, whose noise-cancelling technology can completely isolate students from their outside environment, music can become a distraction in the classroom, potentially taking away from the lesson being taught.
“If you’re in the middle of a classroom lecture, you are going to have divided attention,” Lopez said. “There have been many studies that show we are not as good at multitasking as we think we are, and, particularly when the music is in your ear, especially with sound-cancelling technology, it can be a tool (used) to tune out your teacher. It’s so easy for us to lock in with our devices and just isolate within ourselves.”
To help avoid these issues, the school strictly regulates the use of earbuds, only allowing students to use them for specific, pre-approved cases and only for academic purposes. Assistant Head of the Upper School Jason Leneau holds firm that, although students like listening to their music, holds firm on the fact that its use must be managed in the students’ best interest.
“We recognize and value the benefits of music for mood, focus and motivation, and the restrictions are not about denying those benefits but about fostering a community that promotes interpersonal connection,” Leneau said. “During the school day, especially in hallways and common spaces, students need to be aware of their surroundings, engaged with peers and responsive to faculty and staff. The limits ensure that music enhances student life without replacing meaningful interaction or creating safety risks. A clear, uniform expectation protects the environment we all share, and it reinforces the value we place on being fully present during transitions, interactions and learning moments.”
Still, though, Martinez believes that listening to music, specifically with AirPods, should be allowed. Although he’s aware of the risks that they come with, he prefers them over being distracted by his environment.
“The concern is valid, but from personal experience, AirPods help me focus a lot on my work,” Martinez said. “I think that most of the students can balance being present in the real world and being immersed in their music. I can have conversations with people with AirPods in; I don’t think it makes that big of a difference.”
Unable to use AirPods or headphones, Martinez plays music over a speaker while making his pottery in the ceramics studio, collaborating with the other people in the room to create an environment where everyone can focus on their craft while also bonding over a shared experience.
“In the studio, I always put on music,” Martinez said. “Sometimes ceramics can be very repetitive, and you can feel like you’re doing the same thing over and over again. It helps you get into the rhythm and focus on something else.”
Lopez believes that this sharing of music can be very meaningful, but the limited number of spaces where students can freely listen to music without being disruptive makes it harder to pull off.
“Inviting people into your experience, listening to the same music where each of you has an earbud, that’s connecting over a shared experience,” Lopez said. “Some of my best memories are (me and my friends) putting on a song and singing together. It’s a really powerful experience, but you have to invite people into it.”
Without zones where music is permitted, students are forced to either find different ways
of staying focused or to simply deal with the distractions. Because music is so ingrained into the daily lives of many, however, it can be difficult to work without it.
“To take (music) out of the world, I think our brains would need a different structure,” Lopez said. “We would need a different brain that doesn’t have the ability to process metaphor or add external meaning to abstract and concrete concepts. It’s an issue of our brains being so used to music as a coping mechanism that when you take it away, you now lack that dopamine that music brings.”
Despite the restrictions on listening to music while at school, Martinez is confident that music will maintain its position in his life as a tool to focus, an outlet for creativity and a way to connect with those around him.
“Music definitely has a place on campus,” Martinez said. “I think music will be with me forever: it’s one of the best forms of self-expression. For me at least, it plays a part in every day, whether it’s studying, being with friends or going on a road trip. It’ll always be there.”
Although students aren’t able to put in their headphones whenever or wherever they want or have an AirPod in while walking through the quad, music still remains an important part of the school’s culture, and a useful tool for many when it is allowed.
“We’re a musical community,” Silcox said. “We don’t even think about the fact that we’re hearing music sometimes. After graduation, when the seniors are still on stage, the first thing that happens is that they start singing. They put their arms around each other and sing the Alma Mater.”