How could classic music make us smart?
Some people claim that classical music can affect one’s intelligence(especially baby/kid) but they couldn’t prove/explain how it works,even scientist support this fact that’s why many people believe their child getting smarter because the scientist said so,does it works psychologically,biologically,systematically,or else?(or this is just a rumor?).
Observing members:
0
Composing members:
0
23 Answers
Probably just a rumour, they have to come up with something every so often to keep themselves in work.
Not sure…maybe it’s because classical music tends to have more structure,movement, and overall complexity, and more instruments of range? compared to say modern music?
but thats just my thought on it, and yes I have heard this before, good question! I am stumped as to the real answer though.
Listening to Classical music made college students “smarter” when played for them before being given a test. They were able to better recall things that they had learned earlier. This effect lasted like half an hour, though. (Sorry, can’t cite the study, not enough time to replicate the Google-Fu.)
Somehow, this finding was extrapolated to making babies permanently smarter. It didn’t really work that way, though. After Disney started giving out refunds for unsatisfied parents for their Baby Einstein stuff, though, it came out that this stuff (at least the baby Einstein videos) produced slightly less intelligent kids because parents thought they could just dump the kids in front of the video on TV and not do anything else to, you know, stimulate their brains or interact with the kids.
So, I don’t think it really works. ;) Smart people may be more likely to listen to Classical music, or perhaps Classical is listened to more by smart people, but it doesn’t seem to work the other way around.
I’ve read of the “Mozart effect” on infants and the studies done with college students. I don’t know much about the strucyure of the study or sample size. It may well be as @laureth claims that people of high intelligence are drawn to classical music. Even within the genre there is such a wide variation. When engaged in intellectual activity, J.S.Bach or Telemann in the background is a requirement. Depending on my mood, I “need” Brahms, Sibelius or Vaughn Williams.
My “gut instinct” is that this type of music doesn’t make people “smarter”. Those who are drawn to this type of music, as I have been since childhood, use it’s structures as intelluctual stimulus. Others could just as easily use AC/DC or Aerosmith, IMHO.
Another classic example of snobbery when it comes to the arts.
@stranger_in_a_strange_land “use it’s structures as intelluctual stimulus”
I think you have a good point there, you need to be doing something maybe in order to utilize the subconscious effect that the music is having on your brain.
It’s like getting all warmed up for a run or workout then doing nothing.
Not sure if thats a good way to put it..?
The study was done using Mozart, and showed more of the brain was active ½ hour after listening to Mozart.
The music is quite complexed, so it is possible.
The strange thing about the “Mozart effect” is that his music was not the finest in terms of structure. The learned counterpoint techniques of J.S.Bach and Telemann should have produced an equal or greater effect, just my guess.
@Steve_A You’ve got it. I used to use it that way, now it’s only purpose seems to keep me from sinking even deeper into depression.
@ucme My remark was not intended to disparage other musical forms. Other people seem to get the same effect from other genres (Aerosmith, etc).
@stranger_in_a_strange_land Sorry, to hear that,even deeper you say though.Are you ok?
But If I were to suggest something do you play anything? playing and listening can be great therapy works for me! (apologize for going off-topic here)
Classical music is VERY complex.
Looking at the sheet music is like looking at a mathematicians chalk board.
There are things going on in classical music that become almost visual, reaching out to our other senses and parts of the mind that seem un-aware to us.
If you truly focus on listing to it. It makes your mind work. In an wonderful and magical way.
I am not making this up, its 100 percent true. I’ve been involved in the agriculture my entire life in some form or another. Years and years ago someone conducted a study to see if music affected dairy cows in any way. They measured milk output while the different kinds of music were played. Rock music resulted in the lowest milk output, classical and country the most milk output. I can see all of you staring at your screens and thinking I should get some professional help, but that is the 100 percent true story. I couldn’t make up something like that if I tried.
@Steve_A Just sinking and fading out. I used to be a competant classical guitarist; an injury to my left hand makes that impossible now.I never really had the speed or dexterity to be considered good. My only difference was that I could sight-read and didn’t require tablature.
@stranger_in_a_strange_land Have you considered songwriting/composing I would love a better ability to read music, I can but its painfully slow for me.Check out noteflight.com free online notation I wrote a piece in D major or as one person told it was in E harmonic minor because of some sharps.
Anyways….you could sing eh?or something that does not require hands as much?
@Steve_A I lack the creative skills in that area. I could play what others wrote. My voice is horrible and being autistic I could never teach.I’ll check out your piece,
It’s not only classical music. It’s intelligent music in general. But most research results seem to be preliminary, as explained here
http://www.pbs.org/kcet/closertotruth/explore/show_07.html
and I quote: “Music’s inherent symmetry and organizational principles tap into a deep human need to order, or manage, our environment. Its nonverbal essence may enable physical, mental and emotional benefits beyond aural enjoyment, because the plasticity of the brain, active during infancy and early childhood and even into adulthood and old age, may be stimulated by music, yielding richer, healthier, better functioning brains.”
or this article http://www.naturalnews.com/024286_the_brain_mood_brains.html
and I quote: “Researchers have discovered evidence that music stimulates specific regions of the brain responsible for memory, language and motor control. They have located specific areas of mental activity linked to the emotional responses elicited by music (...). They exposed young adult mice to music with a slow rhythm for 21 consecutive days. The music-exposed mice showed increased brain-derived neurotrophic factor in the hippocampus. Music affects mood, concentration, creativity, and influences the ability to learn. Music and rhythm is essential to the developing brain as it helps to create and strengthen more neural connections that allow for auditory processing. The act of processing music stimuli elaborates these neural connections in the brain, influencing processing quality of auditory stimuli over the lifetime.”
I’m sure that a lot of it is purely sociological. It seems to me (that is, my own experience is) that only intelligent and relatively mature people listen to classical music in the first place. (Please note that I am specifically not saying that people who listen to other music are not also intelligent and mature!)
If a child is around intelligent and reasonably mature people for very long, some of that rubs off.
It’s a correlation. Not causation.
Smart people just tend to like classical music.
I feel like I read someplace that it’s not necessarily classical music but music with shifts in melody, tone, etc. So you can play drums or rap music or classical music and it would all have the same positive impact on babies – not necessarily making them smarter but to stimulate their senses
Actually there is non-classical music which is more intelligent than some classical music. A lot of Haydn’s work is for simple entertainment only. And there are other classical composers like him. Today this might qualify as elevator music. Or to be played in a hotel lobby. This doesn’t mean Haydn didn’t write some ingenuous work which comes close to what Mozart or Bach wrote.
Thanks so much for all of you for all your contribution to this issue my friends!,I know it’s still controversial and a rumor for some people but from some studies and research as some of you told me,I personally believe the ‘constructive effect of the classical’,seems like classical really affect people but not every kind of people,although further absolute research is needed,thanks again!.
Answer this question 
This question is in the General Section. Responses must be helpful and on-topic.
Composing members:
0
