The Power Of Mozart: he's a health fad

Time Europe ^ | 1/07/06 | Peter Gumbel

[Republicanprofessor]

The Power Of Mozart: The legendary composer is not just for listening to anymore — 250 years after his birth, he's a health fad.

Katia Eliad, a Paris-based artist, was stuck in a rut. She felt blocked in her creativity, out of touch with herself and for some inexplicable reason unable to use green or blue in her abstract paintings. So last spring, she started an unusual treatment: daily two-hour sessions of Mozart's music for three weeks at a time, filtered through special vibrating headphones that sometimes cut out the lowest tones. The impact, she says, was dramatic. "I'm much more at ease with myself, with people, with everything," says Eliad, 33. "It feels like I've done 10 years of psychoanalysis in just eight months." Blue and green are back in her palette. As for Mozart, "he's become like a grandfather who calms you when you wake up in the middle of a nightmare."

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was born 250 years ago, on Jan. 27, 1756, and lavish celebrations are being planned around the world to celebrate his anniversary. This year will be filled with his music, but it will also be a time to re-examine the contradictions and conflicting interpretations of his brief 35-year life. He has been cast in many roles: the infant prodigy paraded around European courts by his father, Leopold; the foulmouthed brat whose letters attest to a fondness for off-color practical jokes. One widespread misconception has him buried in a pauper's grave in Vienna's St. Marx Cemetery.... Fervent admirers have argued that he was divinely inspired, but some modern psychologists detect an infantile-regressive personality. And if he were alive today, says Herbert Brugger of the Salzburg tourism office, he would be "a pop star — somewhere between Prince, Michael Jackson and Robbie Williams."

[Republicanprofessor]

A long article but fascinating, with many anecdotal experiences.

[Republicanprofessor]

Classical music ping.

Let Sitetest know if you want on or off this classical music ping list.

[saveliberty]

I recall long ago, a study was done of college students. One test group listened to classical music for some amount of time (sorry I am not sure if it was 30 minutes or an hour) before going to class. Another didn't.

The results were that the group that listened to classical music had better grades.

[Syberyenta]

"and for some inexplicable reason unable to use green or blue in her abstract paintings."

UH-huh. I'd suggest 'Tryopenin'

[Reaganesque]

"...he's become like a grandfather who calms you when you wake up in the middle of a nightmare."

I empathize with that comment. In some of my darkest hours, Mozart's music has realy lifted my spirits. Most classical music does that for me but, there's just something about Mozart that is particularly healing.

[Republicanprofessor]

I love Bach too. I know the polyphony is really busy and all, but there is something incredibly uplifting about Bach. Sometimes Mozart can be a bit calmly repetitious, whereas Beethoven can also just blow me away.

Music is not my strength, and I'm curious as to why it is always Mozart they study (and not Bach or Beethoven). Or maybe I'm missing something (or, more likely, a great deal). What do you music folks think?

[Dante3]

Please include me in the ping.

[Dante3]

Good question. I've wondered about it also.

[starbase]

We all know of the Mozart Effect (short term increase in mental clarity), but I've read that a back rub or meditation give the same effect as well. I suppose anything that channels thoughts along a given stimulus is a focusing factor.

[Aggie Mama]

Well, they were about 20 yrs apart in age--think how much different 20 yrs made in music from the 60's to the 80's last century.

I actually prefer Mozart. To me it's all about the resolution of the chords. It's impossible to write about, but you know it when you hear it. Eine Klein Nachtmusik is a perfect example. The first movement is played so often that I think people don't really hear it. The forth movement shows it much better. Ave Verum Corpus is another piece that I think is just so profound.

I always played Mozart to my kids when they were newborns and there was just something magical about the way it soothed them when they were crying, immobile in the back seat of the suburban.

[The Great RJ]

I would imagine that there is some music that has the opposite effect...draining the brain of intelligent thought. The music of 50 Cent, Brittany Spears and anything played on MTV immediately comes to mind.

[FostersExport]

“Well, they were about 20 yrs apart in age--think how much different 20 yrs made in music from the 60's to the 80's last century.”

Actually I think of this the other way round. When people say modern music is just a rehash of the 80s, 70s or 60s I just say that the leap between 60s and 80s music was uncommonly fast because of the technological developments. Now the pace of change has calmed down.

I find the Mozart effect intriguing. I’m not really for the idea of forcing it down kids throats though (I’m not talking about the kids with problems mentioned in the article, mind). Music shouldn’t be made a chore; people should learn to appreciate it themselves.

[FostersExport]

PS, I don't include playing Mozart to newborns as 'forcing it down their throats'!

[MSSC6644]

Music shouldn’t be made a chore; people should learn to appreciate it themselves

It's impossible to appreciate anything you don't experience. To truly appreciate anything, understanding it, on an intellectual level, is essential. By playing the music, and later, by creating opportunities to understand its intricacies, one helps people better appreciate what they are hearing.

Those who give the gift of classical music to their children should be applauded.

[sitetest]

Thanks for the ping!

[Jim_Curtis]

She felt blocked in her creativity, out of touch with herself and for some inexplicable reason unable to use green or blue in her abstract paintings.

What would have been one of the greatest satirical quotes ever...

[Republicanprofessor]

I always played Mozart to my kids when they were newborns and there was just something magical about the way it soothed them when they were crying, immobile in the back seat of the suburban.

I expect that some of this effect was also upon the person driving the suburban. If the parent is calmed, I think the children are also calmed.

I don't see this as "cramming music down the throats" of your children. I do much the same thing, only I also often play CDs on how to listen to the music (to educate me as much as them). So they are actually learning something as we drive (if they are not listening to the Rolling Stones on their on MP3 when they've had enough of music education).

[Republicanprofessor]

I would imagine that there is some music that has the opposite effect...draining the brain of intelligent thought. The music of 50 Cent, Brittany Spears and anything played on MTV immediately comes to mind.

You may be right about that. I also wonder if there are studies of violence connected with music.

[Reaganesque]

People study Mozart for many reasons but one of the biggest is that he was a prodigy. Not only did he write great music but did so from a very early age and had the ability to simply write out entire symphonies and operas from what was in his head without any corrections evident on the manuscripts. Additionally, he accomplished all of this before he was 35 years old. I mentioned in another thread about Mozart that 1960s satirist Tom Lehrer once said of him: "It is people like Mozart who make you realize just how little you have accomplished in your life. For example, when Mozart was my age, he had been dead for six years."

As to his music, there is just a simple elegance and, at times, power. I too, like Beethoven and his powerful work along with Handel, Tchaikovsky, Bach and so on, but if you really want to be blown away, listen to either Don Giovanni or Mozart's Requiem (K.626). He died after writing the Lacrimosa section of the Requiem and the end to Lacrimosa features a prolonged and grand "Amen". Truly breath taking.(no pun intended)

[Dante3]

I read of a high school science fair project in Virginia in the '90s where the student apparently showed that heavy metal makes killer mice. He had to cut his project short because mice exposed to hard rock all killed each other. Those exposed to classical music did not. He found other differences also.

I vaguely also recall a study quite a while back that indicated Vivaldi's Four Seasons was effective in reducing stress.