What is superlearning?

Superlearning is a style of accelerated learning that pairs a relaxed, focused state of mind with slow baroque music, usually around 60 beats per minute. It grew out of Georgi Lozanov's work in Bulgaria and became widely known through the 1979 book Superlearning.

From Super Learning Music, publisher of the album High Performance Superlearning & Relaxation Music · Updated October 2026

Where superlearning came from

The ideas behind superlearning come from suggestopedia, a language-teaching method developed by the Bulgarian psychiatrist and educator Georgi Lozanov in the 1960s and 70s. His classrooms used comfortable chairs, a friendly but confident teacher, plenty of repetition, and "concert sessions" in which new material was read aloud over slow baroque music.

The goal was a state Lozanov called relaxed alertness: calm enough that you are not anxious, alert enough that you are paying attention.

In 1979, the writers Sheila Ostrander and Lynn Schroeder published Superlearning, which brought these ideas to a general audience in the West. The name stuck, and "superlearning music" came to mean slow, steady baroque pieces for study and relaxation.

Why baroque music at 60 beats per minute?

Slow movements (the largo and adagio sections) of baroque composers such as Bach, Handel, Vivaldi and Telemann often sit at around 60 beats per minute. Superlearning advocates chose this music because it is:

• Steady: an even, predictable pulse with no sudden changes.
• Slow: close to a resting heart rate, which suits calm, unhurried work.
• Instrumental: no lyrics competing with the words you are trying to read.

What the evidence says

We would rather be straight with you than oversell. The strongest early claims for suggestopedia, such as learning hundreds of words a day, were never backed by well-controlled studies. Reviewers in the late 1970s criticized the research for weak methods and poor controls.

The popular "Mozart effect" idea, that listening to classical music makes you smarter, has also not held up. A large 2010 meta-analysis found little or no lasting effect on reasoning ability.

What is well supported is less glamorous:

• Practice testing (quizzing yourself) and spacing your study over days are two of the most effective study techniques known, according to a major 2013 review of learning research.
• Lyrics in background music tend to get in the way of reading. Instrumental music is the safer choice if you like sound while you work.
• Routine matters. Anything that helps you sit down and stay with your work, including a familiar piece of music, makes that work more likely to happen.

How to use superlearning today

1. Set up the space. Clear the desk, put your phone in another room, and start the music quietly.
2. Take two minutes to settle. Breathe slowly and let the steady tempo bring your pace down.
3. Study in focused blocks of 25 to 50 minutes, with short breaks.
4. Test yourself at the end of each block: close the book and write down what you remember.
5. Review across days, not just the night before. Spaced review is where most long-term memory comes from.

Used this way, superlearning music works as a cue: when it starts, you work. That is a modest claim, and an honest one.

Sources

Dunlosky, J. et al. (2013). Improving students' learning with effective learning techniques. Psychological Science in the Public Interest, 14(1). · Pietschnig, J., Voracek, M. & Formann, A. (2010). Mozart effect–Shmozart effect: a meta-analysis. Intelligence, 38(3). · Scovel, T. (1979). Review of Suggestology and Outlines of Suggestopedy. TESOL Quarterly, 13(2). · Ostrander, S. & Schroeder, L. (1979). Superlearning.