The Mozart Effect

So, since a new version of Microsoft word has come into my life, (love at last) I have been going through archives of my past writing endeavors. I stumbled across an essay report I wrote in college, highlighting my learning's from a book I read called "The Mozart Effect", By Don Campbell. This book talks a lot about what you read in my previous post, A Breakthrough in Modern Medicine, the significant and sometimes not so obvious effects music has on our lives. If you have the time, read the essay through and comment about what you think. Also if you have more time, (yeah right) I suggest you read this book. It will challenge your thoughts about music and introduce you to a very wonderful world, where the music never stops. But if you have only a few minutes of free time left after you read my essay, please PLEASE comment!!! I want to know what you think and your ideas on this very dear to my heart topic. So here it is, THE MOZART EFFECT.





The Mozart Effect

April 30, 2006





Why is it that teenagers form mosh pits at concerts? Why do hymns make the toughest people cry? Why do certain songs seem to make people momentarily leave this world and enter another? All these questions are just more pieces to the giant jigsaw puzzle known as the science of music. Music can unlock a part of our brain that nothing else can. It has the power to change our lives without us even knowing it.


In his book, Don Campbell says, "Sound has many mysterious properties. It can, for example, create physical forms and shapes that influence our day-to-day health, consciousness, and behavior." (33) There are many things that our bodies need to stay healthy and fully functioning. When a baby is born, it is almost immediately put into his or her mother's arms. Various studies have been conducted finding out that without the touch from the mother, the babies will grow up underdeveloped or even die at a very young age. The human touch is a necessary part of our existence just as music is.


"For centuries, men have used music to help them at work. In ancient Babylon, a musician played the horn while slaves dragged huge statues into place. In Russia, men chanted as they hauled barges on the Volga. In Africa today, a drummer accompanies every kind of labor – in the village, on the docks, in the fields." (Siegmiester 3) One of the effects of listening to music is that it helps people do things with more enjoyment. Think about it. Why do people buying a car make sure that the vehicle is supplied with a high quality cd player? And if it isn't, why do they put one in right away. Because listening to music while driving makes a potentially boring task of driving fun and actually exiting. Whenever you walk into construction site of some kind, there will be at least one radio or CD player blaring. Why? Because listening to the music has the effect that the work really isn't so bad. Music can do that!


Music can define so many different things. Cultures, races, genders, personality types, even genders. An elderly person would most likely be listening to something like old time crooners such as Frank Sinatra and Judie Garland; where as middle aged individuals would be listening to the Beatles; Peter, Paul and Mary and Bob Dylan. Thumping beats of hip-hop music from Eminem, P-Diddy and others; as well as the smooth beats from pop stars like Mariah Carey, Rihanna & Jesse McCartney, guitar rifts from rock bands like Reliant K, The Fray or Rooney all define music of today's youth. Classical music usually is associated with the more affluent, educated society and Jazz is usually a sign of the more artsy, bohemian person. While I don't like to put people into stereotypes, it seems to be the reality of today's world.


Listening to music also unites people. Two people never having seen each other before can walk into a party and start grooving to the music together just because they recognize the music. At a game, when the national anthem is sung or played, nobody has to tell anyone what to do; hats come off, everyone is standing, and the song starts working that magic of uniting a nation. At churches, when certain hymns are sung or played, no matter what age, everyone sings their heart out no matter who they are.


"Our Ability to listen can be affected by our day-to-day health and state of mind, and can, in turn, have an effect on those states. Sometimes the mere memory of sound can produce the Mozart Effect. Oliver Sacks, the celebrated neurologist and author, was hospitalized after a climbing accident in Norway with neural damage and partial paralysis. He had "forgotten"how to walk, and was afraid of losing his "motor identity." To speed orthopedic recovery during his weeks of hospitalization, Sacks chose to listen to a violin concerto by Felix Mendelssohn. Awakened by the music one morning, he rose from his bed and walked across the room to turn down the tape. To his amazement, he discovered that the recorder wasn't on. Then he realized that he was walking for the first time since his accident. By listening to the music in his mind he had been transported. The imagined sounds served as a leg for him to stand on. (Siegmiester 45)


Music can also have negative affect if abused. The teenagers that listen to music about sex and drugs are the most likely to act on what they are hearing in the music. People can't understand why teenagers struggle with drugs and premarital sex but do not make the connection that it is the music they are listening to that is inspiring this type of lewd and lascivious behavior.


An elderly woman sits in an old rocking chair that used to be the resting place of her now deceased husband. She pulls up the blanket that he always used to keep him warm and held it up to face and took in a long breath; savoring every moment of his smell as the tears of wonderful memories begin to wash over her thin cheeks. She reached over to the radio situated on the table next to the chair and switches it on. The song that her husband proposed to her so many years ago was playing. A smile comes across her face as the song comforts her. As the ship began to disappear into the depths of the Atlantic Ocean; the band began to play old beloved hymns comforting the doomed passengers of the Titanic. Music is a force of nature. Its powers are unimaginable. Music can take us from the depths of the deepest depression to the heights of joy in a very short amount of time. Music can plummet us into the deep melancholy, or stir us to action. Music can change our lives, even without us knowing it.





Don't forget to comment!!!!!




Works Cited




Campbell, Don. The Mozart Effect.

New York: Avon Books, 1997.



Siegmiester, Elie. Invitation to Music.

New York: Harvey House, Inc, 1961.