How Does Classical Music Make You Smarter?

Perhaps the most tangible benefit of music education for students is the increase in their performance in the classroom. People often say, “Music makes you smarter,” but where is the evidence? As South Dakota State University’s Professor Kevin Kessler eloquently stated via email, “How were you

The human mind is constantly processing and picking up information. Music is an ordered and predictable sequence of sounds. When the brain hears music, it tries to decode it. In decoding those symbols and patterns, it sets up “neural highways, or synapses” , to receive and examine data. These pathways then can be used for remembering other symbol-oriented information, such as language and math. Like a muscle, the brain becomes stronger the more it is worked, and these workouts are achieved by listening to classical music. Mozart’s music is exceptionally difficult to decode, therefore the brain must work harder, thus making one smarter.

In modern society intelligence is highly competitive and subject to scrutiny; therefore, it is understandable that a child’s intelligence is a primary concern for many parents. The Mozart effect, popularised in the 1990s, resulted in many parents believing that simply exposing their child to music composed by Mozart would improve their intelligence (Campbell, 1997). The claim was founded by research published in the journal Nature, which suggested that spatial reasoning could be temporarily enhanced by listening to one of Mozart’s compositions for ten minutes (Rauscher, Shaw & Ky, 1993). It will be argued that there is not sufficient evidence to support the claim that playing Mozart to babies will increase their intelligence. Firstly, the

The article Is Music Really Good for the Brain, by Jennifer Vose, provokes the question whether or not music is good for the brain. Some say they have been captivated by the Mozart effect, which is “the belief that listening to Mozart's music, in particular, can lead to enhanced intellectual and cognitive capabilities.” It is also said that “if we listen to music, like that of Mozart, we might do better in school, be more productive and creative at work, or even become smarter.” Therefore, many people persistently count on Mozart to advance their mental capabilities. Some may say music has no effect on academic achievement or intelligence at all, but statistics have proven that music improves self esteem, confidence, and lifts your spirit.

This an area of the brain, associated with cognitive arousal and complex visual transformation processes involved with mental rotation of three-dimensional shapes and similar difficult spatial tasks (Chabris, C. 1999). Thus extrapolating that the Mozart effect does not ‘make babies smarter’, it only marginally improves a participant’s spatial intellect immediately after music stimuli. This collaboration of studies provides a broad scope of multiple findings which can account for any anomalies or outliers within individual study findings, however it also inhibits specificity of the results as there is no control of experimental procedures. Further limitations are the varying ages of participants and measurement of results. Ultimately, however, this meta-analysis significantly indicates that even if listening to Mozart was an effective cognitive enhancement, the benefits would only have a moderate effect of a short duration. A more detailed study supported this meta-analysis via its focus on child development and the lack of validity and longevity with the Mozart effect. Dubbing the Mozart effect “another quick fix” it concluded that Mozart, whether played to or taught to children does not exhibit any long term benefits for cognition (Jones, S. 2002).

The search of information of this study yield the correlation between music education, musical training, and musical experience of children and the ability that music have on the enhancement of children learning ability in the areas of auditory perception, reading related skills, verbal and nonverbal reasoning. The participants in this research are children between the ages of 3 to 10 year old and are all elementary school aged children.

The mind is greatly impacted by music by showing healthful changes (www.bellaonline.com/articles/). Doctors now use music for their patients’ treatments in order to help them stay healthy (www.bellaonline.com/articles/). Heart patients acquired the same benefits from listening to classical music for thirty minutes as they did from anti-anxiety medication (www.bellaonline.com/articles/). Musical therapy has been used to help people with heart problems, which worked quite effectively. (www.bellaonline.com/articles/). People who have had migraines frequently, were trained to use music and relaxing procedures to reduce their headaches. Studies have also shown that music helps students with their intelligence levels (www.bellaonline.com/articles/). A majority of students had higher test scores than others because they listened to Mozart before their exam. People who listened to classical music for an hour and a half while revising manuscripts increased their accuracy by 21% (www.bellaonline.com/articles) (Mish 725.).

The Mozart effect is a phenomena whereby listening to ten minutes of Mozart’s music, a person’s spatial IQ is boosted by 8-9 points (on the Stanford-Binet IQ Scale), in comparison to listening to ten minutes of a relaxation tape or silence (Rauscher, Shaw and Ky, 1993). This literature review critically assesses the key works and concepts concerning the Mozart effect, specifically its methodologies, its limits, and finally, alternative theories. While some academics argue that ‘listening to Mozart makes babies smarter’ is a valid claim (___,__;____,__), others denounce it (___,__;___,__). While the Mozart effect does show temporarily increased spatial IQ, it does not support the claim that ‘listening to Mozart makes babies smarter’. When

The explanation for the findings of the Mozart effect was that students who listened to Mozart for ten minutes prior to abstract spatial testing temporarily improved their spatial intelligence scores. Indeed, the findings supported this proclamation because the I.Q. scores were eight to nine points higher than when students listened to relaxation tapes or sat in silence (Rauscher, et al.,

music of Mozart may produce an increase in your IQ and performance in certain types of mental tasks.

Music has become an outlet for many individuals and has been a way to relieve stress; but, there is much more within the body that is being affected by the sounds that people call music. The Mozart effect is the claim that listening to Mozart’s sonatas allowed individuals to perform “significantly better [in] spatial reasoning” (Jenkins 1) than individuals who listened to relaxation instructions “designed to lower blood pressure” (Jenkins 1). This phenomenon is described as the Mozart effect and is being studied by many neuroscience firms and research groups to better understand why the increase performance in the brain occurs. Many scientists are skeptical of these initial studies over the Mozart effect because they do not think that they are stated in the proper fashion. The initial studies assume that listening to the sonatas of the late composer will increase your intelligence when the reality is “that the effect is limited to spatial temporal reasoning and that there is no enhancement of general intelligence” (Jenkins 1). Although this is disappointing to some, the reality is that the brain is improved by music, it may not be able to improve a significant amount in intelligence but it does improve the

I believe that music can help everyone, Mozart was a genius. He made amazing peaceful music. Even throughout the years women have believed that playing Mozart for unborn child can improve their intelligence. Why can’t that still work for us now? I know that music helps me engage in my work, but I feel that listening to loud pop music can get very distracting. After reading through the variety of articles I believe that classical music does improve test score. Towards the end of this paper I have switched over to classical. I quite enjoy listening to the background noise instead of the loud, upbeat music I usually listen to. Not only does Mozart improve test scores it is also very calming and lessens anxiety. I will definitely be tuning into Spotify's classical radio

Dr. Bales’ article, “The Role of Music,” explains that babies are born with billions of brain cells called neutrons that form connections with other neutrons to enhance the bodies functioning and thought processes, and listening to music helps strength those connections and stimulate different operations of the brain. “The Role of Music” goes on to suggest that musical genres such as classical music is connected to the area of the brain that deals with spatial reasoning; thus, after listening to a classical song, task that involve spatial thinking such as jigsaw and crossword puzzles become periodically easier to complete (Bale, Diane). However, Dr. Bales’ article studies continue to reveal that if a musical skill, like playing the piano, is nurtured for at least six months the ability to solve puzzles and other spatial task increases by thirty percent. It is important to expose babies to music at an early age to increase their chances of positive, cognitive growth to occur. In the development of a new life, with a new mind, music creates new pathways in the brain that stimulate various functions and functioning.

Countless studies have proven time and time again that a student’s performance in school is greatly increased when they learn to play an instrument. The studies discuss the “Mozart Effect,” which says that listening to Mozart’s music can increase a child’s ability for spatial reasoning, as well as help brain development. The studies also cite the fact that many of history’s most intelligent men, like Albert Einstein and Benjamin Franklin, played one or more musical instruments. These studies are wrong. Students should not be required to learn an instrument, because it does not help them perform better in school.

Although many, one positive way music education is beneficial to students is that it has a large impact on brain stem growth. With the incorporation of music in a student’s daily life, the brain stem’s responses become more robust (Brown). Therefore, the amount of brain stem growth correlates with recent musical training. As stated by Brown, an adjunct professor at the University of Baltimore, “student’s that are involved with a large amount of music will see more gains in brain stem growth”. Furthermore, the neural changes that occur in students as adolescents stay with them into adulthood (“Music Matters”). This allows students to be more prepared once they go into the workforce as adults. Along with the brain stem’s responses being more robust, it’s sensitivity to sound increases (“The Benefits” 1). This is abundantly evident from early on, as mother’s sing to their infants to facilitate brain stimulation and development. Enrichment through music, starting at a young age, seems to improve individuals speech sound development and use of more advanced vocabulary. Adolescents’ language also improves with the use of music in a student’s academics (Miller 46). Luehrisen