Rather than passively listening to music, Rauscher advocates putting an instrument into the hands of a youngster to raise intelligence. She cites a 1997 University of California, Los Angeles, study that found, among 25,000 students, those who had spent time involved in a musical pursuit tested higher on SATs and reading proficiency exams than those with no instruction in music.
Despite its rejection by the scientific community, companies like Baby Genius continue to peddle classical music to parents of children who can purportedly listen their way to greater smarts.Chabris says the real danger isn't in this questionable marketing, but in parents shirking roles they are evolutionarily meant to serve. "It takes away from other kinds of interaction that might be beneficial for children," such as playing with them and keeping them engaged via social activity. That is the key to a truly intelligent child, not the symphonies of a long-dead Austrian composer.
See what we're tweeting about
8 Comments
Add CommentI don't think it has anything to do with Mozart. I think it has to do with exposing a developing brain to non-noise patterns that encourage hook-ups that are successful in processing the non-noise problems encountered in later life.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisOf course listening to Mozart or other high-quality music will help a developing brain (fetus or college student), although the size of the effect would be debatable. Yes, this is a non-scientific comment. But I am against the anti-music backlash. It has been shown that playing classical music out loud keeps hoodlums away from buildings, they hate the orderliness of the classics. So, isn't the reverse true? Can we not create a sense of beauty and order that enhances life? I think so - science will need to learn how to measure it.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisMy last child was one of Zell Miller's experimental children. She received the Build Your Baby's Brain CD at birth, and I played it a lot. It was relaxing for both of us. As a mother of four, I'll take any form of legal relaxation I can get! Look, I don't know all the dynamics that go into birth order, or any of that, but I will tell you-- she is the "smartest" test-wise of all of them. She has been "labelled" highly gifted and goes to the toughest gifted magnet elementary school in Virginia. She gets Straight As there. I was baffled at first- what did I do differently? All four of my daughters were "labeled" gifted to some extent. But this one blows them all away-- she is "highly gifted" and is working on analogies not unlike those on my graduate school admission tests. What was the difference? I was asked. All I could think was those CDs. All the girls were breastfed, all talked to. (Her sister suffered through my beginning violin lessons while in the womb.-- she's now a cellist. Hmmm
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisplay the baby some math rock! example: cinemechanica and hella trust me it will make them happy. classical music makes smug babies
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI agree with the article and the comments that followed it. After two kids who were exposed to a variety of music during their "formative" years, I know that any kind of music from classical to rock music all play a role in development.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI feel that with so much background noise in our world that just about "any kind of background-music" would be preferred to listening to the clutter of everything else around us. Yes, even that humdrum Muzak is better than listening to the sounds of pencils being sharpened and food being eaten.
However, thrash, speed or death metal can wait until they're old enough to choose these specifically to drive the parents crazy!
Not that's there's anything wrong with those types of music, I'm just saying . . . Let's not go completely nuts or anything!
--
Edited by musicbylen at 03/20/2008 2:40 PM
I personally like classical music, as well as classic rock and rap. My kids listen to some Beethoven and Tchaikovsky as well as Bon Jovi, ACDC, DMX, Nas, Snoop Doggy Dogg (something about his voice seems to soothe my kids), Eryka Badu, Mary J Blige, Alicia Keyes, etc. My babies seem to like it all when I match it to their mood... Slow boring stuff for when they are tired to exciting guitars and kick it beats when they are hyper.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisSleep Bug generates ambient sounds and gives you the possibility to add sound effects.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThere is a classical scene there with classical music and different sound effects like violins, cello, drums and solo violin. My 2 year old son loves this and you should try it too.
With 19 different scenes you will love this app. Dream yourself away to the beach, on a train, childhoods music box, jungle, forest, zen garder, weather and many more.
Hey there is even a horror scene if thats your thing :)
Look for sleep bug in app store or windows phone marked.
www.sleepbug.net
The late professor Tomatis himself made a clear distinction between the "Mozart effect" and the "Tomatis effect". Tomatis used Mozart music because over the years he tried all sorts of musics and came to the conclusion that Mozart worked the best with his therapy, by far. I note that none of that information made it to this article and it is sad that Scientific American did not do a more thorough research on the subject. As it appears that Mozart music has positive effects on the brain and the psyche, these effect are not permanently modifying the listening pattern itself. The "Tomatis effect" is a serious training that exercises the tiny muscles of the middle ear, using a special device (the Electronic Ear) with filters and a process known as the "switch effect" or "gating", by which the tiny muscles inside the middle ear alternatively and randomly contract and relax, and as they become stronger and more flexible, are better able to activate the mechanism that controls the tension of the ear drums. Many of us live in environments bombarded with all sorts of sounds and if we lose or have never acquired the ability to filter out the not-so-important sounds in order to be able to focus on the important ones, we become stressed, tired and confused... Only imagine not being able to distinguish (or locate) the sound of a car as you are about to cross the street... This is a very small description of the Tomatis effect, but it is worth researching it. There are unfortunately not many therapy centers in the US that use this technology; one of the reasons, I think, being that the Tomatis heirs have tried to make it a lucrative business, and their course and equipment are very expensive. There is therefore a lot to do to help promote the work of Tomatis and make the treatment more affordable....
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this