Tuesday, December 8, 2009

The Mozart effect

Why is it always Mozart?

Seems like any time scientists discover a link between music and some measurable form of well-being, the music is his. Mozart makes you smarter. Mozart improves your memory. Mozart promotes good health.

According to the latest such report, Mozart's music may help slow the metabolism of babies born prematurely. This could mean they'd gain needed weight more quickly.

Cool. But why Mozart and not, say, Brahms? Why not Beethoven, Bach, Chopin, or Debussy?

The researchers themselves say it's not yet clear whether the benefits come from Mozart specifically, or music in general. But ...
They do, however, point to a previous study of adults with seizures that found that compositions by Mozart, more so than other classical composers, appeared to lower seizure frequency. It's possible, according to Lubetzky's team, that the proposed Mozart effect on the brain is related to the structure of his compositions.

Compared with other famous composers, they explain, Mozart's music tends to repeat the melodic line more frequently. Other researchers have speculated that this more-organized musical structure may have greater resonance for the brain.
If the speculation proves correct, it has interesting implications. Find out what about Mozart's music produces the Mozart effect, and composers can incorporate it into some of their own works, on purpose.

It'd be fun to hear what today's aspiring Mozarts think up.

4 comments:

John Wenger said...

I want to comment on comments. I have thought of leaving comments on past blogs, but I couldn't find anything that said "click here to comment," so I gave up. This time I clicked on "0 comments," and lo and behold I found that this was the way to comment. herebyI suggest that you have something that specifically asks for comments.

John Wenger said...

I never typed "herebyI..."; I typed, "I hereby..." How messed up is this?

Jannie Funster said...

Mozart got me off the heroin!

:)

Mr. Mirage said...

I'm thinking that if it is the repetition that is working the Magick, then we should have children listening to Phillip Glass more often.