Can Mozart Make You Smarter?

"Music and rhythm find their way into the secret places of the soul." While Plato reminds of us of musics' ability to transcend reality and logic, to speak to us in a dialect that only our hearts understand, scarcely a person exists that hasn't been touched in some way by music. Indeed, if there is any universal language, music would be it for all have experienced that feelilng of being "lifted up," even if the words are not understood. Some even say that music and spirituality are intertwined, and that the path to finding God can be found in the bars of a composition. No matter what it does or is considered to be, as Confucious so eloquently observed, "Music produces a kind of pleasure which human nature cannot do without." Where there has been people, music has coexisted, and we need it to continue for without it we would all be in danger of becoming robots operating by logic and necessity alone. We find an outlet, a means of expressing and finding ourselves, through music. Undoubtedly music is as critical to our well-being as a roof over our heads . . . but does it offer more to us than just the ability to feel? Does it, can it, actually help us to learn? The Mozart effect exploded in the early part of the 1990s. Upon being told that Mozart was shown to help increase IQ test levels, mothes everywhere rushed to Best Buy and Circuit City to find CDs for their kids to listen to. The study was highly publicized, and as a result, also highly capitalized. Numerous cd and dvd sets were successfully marketed to parents. Mozart probably hadn't gotten that much attention since . . . well, possibly never. Unfortunately, critics partially refuted the results due to improper re-testing that was performed; however, Mozart still has his believers and has been able to retain his popularity in the midst of skepticism. Many studies have been done on the effect that music has upon not only our brains, but also our well-being in general. In 1968, a college student by the name of Dorothy Retallack actually researched its effects on plants and found some surprising results. After subjecting several houseplants to specific genres of music, she documented her findings: jazz and classical seemed were found to bring favorable benefits as opposed to pop and country music. Most interesting of all, though, is the fact that the plants that were forced to "listen" to nothing but acid rock literally withered away and died! The fact that music does indeed hold an influence over us is undeniable. Because research has indicated that it is the tempo of the music, not the style, that actually aids in memory retention, a learning "system" called the Baroque method has been given rise. This is music that is heard at 60 BPM (beats per minute, or one downbeat every second). It is the slow, complex rhythm that stimulates and "warms up" the brain and in turn hugely increases information retention by simultaneously activating the left and right brain. Bulgarian psychologist George Lozanov was able to prove that foreign languages could be learned at a fraction of the normal time by using the Baroque method. Not only were his students able to memorize vocublary at least twice as fast as normal, but they also retained an amazing ninety-two percent. We often overlook the brain in our quest for health and fitness, but it should in fact be at the top of our lists. From the brain stems everything that we are, and if we neglect to care for it the "use it or lose it" phrase will become a reality. It needs to be fed new activity on a daily basis, for the habits that we form and act on consistenly offers it no food, in a sense. Seeing new places, learning a new skill, and listening to different kinds of music are all ways to strengthen and activate your brain. And since music is the easiest one to change for most of us, it's a pretty good place to start--the key is to listen to music that is complex and NOT repetitive because musical repetition has actually been shown to stimulate an anger response from the brain. While classical music is indeed a good choice, anything that meets those criteria will have the same effect; however, it is still a good idea to regularly introduce new music because it is in the processing that your brain grows and strengthens. So go ahead and pop in a Mozart cd. Seems like the child prodigy knew more than we even know yet!