The findings that started the hype around the "Mozart Effect" were the results of experiments that Frances Rauscher and her colleagues Gordon Shaw and Katherine Ky conducted with college students. After they listened to Mozart's sonatas the students had a temporary gain in spatial reasoning skills.
Products for people of all ages including children still in their mother's womb were marketed by Don Campbell and others as the way to use the "Mozart Effect" to raise smarter children and become a smarter adult. No research has shown that just listening causes a permanent change in brain function.
Gottfried Schlaug found evidence that professional musicians, especially those who began studying music before age 7, have different physical brain characteristics than adults who similar non-musicians. Current research findings indicate that studying music and playing it is the way to improve brain function.
Recent Studies
Music effects several regions of the brain including those that sights, sounds, emotions and memories. The following studies appear to back up this statement:
- In 2006 the German Research Ministry funded research by scientists in the fields of neuroscience, philosophy, psychology and education to determine if there is a measurable improvement in cognitive thinking connected to listening to Mozart's music. The results reported by Ralph Schumacher declare that there is no lasting improvement to intelligence from listening to music. However, he suggested that the effect of learning to play a musical instrument may be worth further study.
- Glenn Schallenberg a psychologist at University of Toronto has been studying the effect of music instruction on IQ scores. In 2004 he found that 6-year-olds who learned to play keyboard or had voice lessons showed a gain of 3 points in their IQ.
- Gottfried Schlaug, a Harvard neuroscientist is working with patients who have suffered strokes and Parkinson's disease. Stroke victims can sing or rhythmically chant phrases when they can't speak them. Gottfried Schlaug says "after just a few minutes with therapists, who asked them to sing phrases and tap their hands to the rhythm, the patients could sing "Happy Birthday," recite their addresses, and communicate if they were thirsty."
- Nina Kraus, Auditory Neuroscience Laboratory, University of Illinois has found musicians can hear the relevant sounds above din—this skill is used to hear a conversation in a noisy room and to concentrate when surrounded by distractions. Applying this skill to learning in group situations like the typical classroom increases a student's chances of focusing on the task at hand in spite of distractions.
So, while it is clear that music has an effect, only in using music as a basis for teaching skills (i.e. learning to play an instrument, or sing) has long term benefits.
Music and Young Children
Teachers of primary grades traditionally use music to teach young children.
Many children first learn the alphabet and other information ("30 days hath September...") by singing it, rather than reciting it. Children who learn to perform music at an early age train their brains to memorize, coordinate hand movements and patiently strive to play the piece perfectly. This mental exercise carries over to all learning tasks and leads to greater success in school.
Listening to Music
Listening to music effects the emotional state of people of all ages - especially when listening to music that they appreciate. Improved mood increases a person's ability to concentrate, increases self-confidence and may lead to improvement in the ability to solve complex problems. The effect of listening to music is short-term, but not insignificant.
References:
www.latimes.com, "Playing Along with the Mozart Effect" by Melissa Healy (accessed March 29, 2010)
health.howstuffworks.com, "Top Ten Brain Myths" (accessed March 29, 2010)
news.nationalgeographic.com, "Music Boosts Brain's Language Skills" (accessed March 29, 2010)www.nature.com, "Mozart doesn't make you clever" by Allison Abbott (accessed March 29, 2010)
Kathleen Sonntag - A native Californian, I now live in Carmel on the central coast. Having escaped from Silicon Valley where I managed engineering projects, ...
