The Mozart Effect Essay

This article reveals how Don Campbell, the author of “The Mozart Effect,” believes that listening to music can

His music has a considerable influence on our ethics, in his works Mozart reflected his feelings and social values of Classical Era. “The association of ethics and music dates back at least as far as Ancient Greeks” in which it is argued that music has power over social morals (Leon). Music by genius composers like Mozart has a considerable influence on ethics. His music has heeling and educative properties, based on some studies Mozart’s music can be even used in music therapy. In some research made by Cobussen and Nielsen, they believe that music has the capacity to influence moral attitudes and behavior. The argument made by Cobussen and Nielson that music can shape moral behavior is based on the idea that music is affective, inducing physical and emotional responses from listener. Mozart was and still an influence on our Ethics, his music is powerful in our

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.

This paper discusses Mozart's life, his compositions and his importance to the world and the world of music. It explains how Mozart's music is still some of the most popular classical music played today and his life is still studied because his music is so well known and liked.

The effects of Mozart on today’s society can be seen just about everywhere. In marketing, they play music to make the consumer want to buy their product. In restaurants, they play music to help the customer feel relaxed in their establishment. People listen to music while driving cars. It seems that music permeates almost every aspect of our everyday lives. When people think of the birth of modern music, they often think of classical music. And when people think of classical music, they think of Mozart. During the 18th century, the musical genius Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart composed a total number of six hundred and fifty works. When he was younger, he toured Europe with his father, Leopold, and his sister, Nannerl, playing for Europe’s elite of the time. He put forth some major musical contributions that shape modern music today (Fiero 324,326). Classical music is the great grandfather of all modern music. Some people enjoy

Other elements to consider within this discipline would be visual and sound equipment. Positive subliminal learning stimulation, such as it is claimed by the theory of the Mozart effect, could be provided.

In order to understand, one must understand the history of the myth. The term “Mozart Effect” is commonly used to discuss the general correlation between Mozart and increased intelligence. However, this term is applicable to many different tests and relationships. For example, the Mozart Effect can be used to describe the relationship between listening to Mozart while in the womb and increased intelligence. While this is a common myth, it is not the myth discussed in this paper. I will be addressing the “Mozart Effect” based on Dr. Gordon Shaw’s theory of the Mozart Effect, which states “listening to classical music makes you smarter.” After conducting a study in which college students took an IQ test before and after listening to Mozart’s famed “Sonata for Two Pianos in D Major,” Shaw claimed that the student’s IQ increased by “as much as 9 points.” This conclusion sparked many tests, ranging from

Music can be beneficial to people through several ways, but music can also have positive effects on the mind. In the novel, The Mozart Effect for Children, by Don Campbell, music is discussed as being a voice in which someway every child, adult or human being can understand. Music allows people to sing along to the lyrics, move or dance to the beat, and match the melodies. The use of music can often be used to explore and discover the beauty in which music holds. The interaction of music with the mind can be shown through the use of vibrations, patterns, and rhythms (Campbell 8). This shows that music has a way to communicate with everybody and can make people included. Music has the effect of making everybody come together and act like

(2001) explained that the “Mozart effect” is due to arousal and mood improvement. The arousal-mood hypothesis proposes that listening to music, affects people’s level of arousal and mood, which in turn influence performance on different cognitive tasks (Husain, Thompson, & Schellenberg, 2002).

Aheadi, Dixon, and Glover were able to identify the benefits of musical training in a study involving the Mozart effect. Aheadi et al. state that, “Evidence suggests musical training can lead to long term enhancement of intelligence” (Aheadi, Dixon, and Glover, 2009, pg. 1). The results in this study showed that musicians had a higher overall performance compared to non-musicians. In a 1998, study completed by Overy, they were able to show that musical training tends to lead to increased intellectual abilities. They extrapolated that musical training improves cognitive functioning in attention, coordination, language, and concentration (Overy,

The “Mozart effect” was a study that was conducted at the University of California in Irvine, California. The “Mozart effect” was developed by Dr. Gordon Shaw in the early 1990's. Dr. Shaw's theory was that if you listen to classical music the resultant would be a smarter you. (Fowers, 2000). The study was conducted by gathering students to volunteer to take part in an experiment. The volunteers were given headsets to listen to either white noise, relaxation music, or Mozart for ten minutes. (Jensen, pg. 25). Once the ten minutes had passed the volunteers were asked to perform a variety of spatial skills. The results were that the students who were listening to Mozart were more proficient on the spatial skills test than the other two groups. (Jensen, pg. 25).

Therefore, I had evidence that music has positive effects, but I wanted to test the

As mentioned in Nedra Floyd-Pautler’s “Playing music keeps your hearing sharp” published on April 2, 2012; due to the brains’ elasticity, instrumentalists and those with musical talent posses the ability to shape their brain to develop positive cognitive skills. In a recent study disclosed by Nina Kraus, PhD, and her team at Northwestern University’s Auditory Neuroscience Laboratory, it was concluded that musical training optimizes the physiology and biology of the human brain. Musicians advance in a selection of advantages allowing them to better articulate speech, language, and emotion. Another being the capability to distinguish time changes in another’s pitch. The positive outcome of a musically trained brain demonstrates a rapid process

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 phenomenon that occurs when individuals listen to the two piano sonata. The stated results are individuals that are able to remember information easier. There are two studies that were conducted in associated with the Mozart Effect. The first study was dedicated to spatial skill performance and its neural pathway relation to music. The other study was dedicated to challenging the first study due to the argument that any type of music that is appreciated can cause the same memory effect. The second study was based on an experiment with unborn mice that heard Mozart’s piano sonata K448. The other part of the study was related to the effects of Mozart’s piano sonata K448 on patients who were suffering from epilepsy. The overall conclusion is that Mozart’s piano sonata K448 has positive effects on both animals and humans.