The Mozart Effect - What is It?

A book has been written by a man named Don Campbell which is called The Mozart Effect.  The book contains condensed information from many studies throughout the world on the beneficial effects of certain types of music.  Reading this certainly would make a person think that good music is truly good for us - just as it was for Saul when he had 'problems'.

The following information is taken from an advertisement from their public website.

Just a few of the benefits named here are:  improved test scores; learning time cut; hyperactive children calmed; errors are reduced; creativity and clarity are improved; physical healing of the body is faster; both sides of the brain are integrated for more efficient learning and IC score's are raised 9 points.

In 1996, the College Entrance Exam Board Service conducted a study on all students taking their SAT exams. Students who sang or played a musical instrument scored 51 points higher on the verbal portion of the test and an average of 39 points higher on math.

Major corporations such as Shell, IBM, and Dupont, along with hundreds of schools and universities use music, such as certain Baroque pieces, to cut learning time in half and increase retention of the new materials.

According to the research outlined in the book, musical pieces such as those of Mozart, can relieve stress, improve communication and increase efficiency.  Creativity scores soar when listening to Mozart.

In the work place, music "raises performance levels and productivity by reducing stress and tension, masking irritating sounds and contributing to a sense of privacy, says Campbell, author of The Mozart Effect.

Mr. Campbell has compelling new evidence to show how music, used properly, has calmed students with such problems as ADHD and even helped autistic children.  He says that "43 of the world's largest industrial companies provide music to their employees."  Dupont used a music listening program in one department that cut its training time in half and doubled the number of people trained.  Another corporation using music found that clerical errors decreased by one third.

Dr. Georgi Lozanov, the renowned Bulgarian psychologist, developed a methodology for teaching foreign languages that used Baroque music with a pattern of about 60 beats per minute.  Students learned in a fraction of the normal time.

Dr. Lozanov has proven conclusively that by using certain Baroque pieces, foreign languages can be mastered with 85-100% effectiveness in 30 days, when the usual time is 2 years.

These special music pieces, recorded at just the right temp, activate the left and right brain for the maximum learning/retention effect.  The music activates the right brain and the words your child is reading or saying aloud activates the left brain.  This increases the learning potential a minimum of five times according to the research.

When your body hears the even, one  beat per second of Baroque music, your heart rate and pulse relax to the beat.  When you are in this relaxed, but alert state, your mind is able to concentrate more easily.  Music corresponds to and affects our physiological conditions.  During heavy mental work, our pulse and blood pressure rises, and it is usually more difficult to concentrate in this state.

Certain Baroque and Mozart music pieces have been especially selected for their beat pattern to reduce your blood pressure and pulse rate and increase your ability to learn at the same time.

This music can be found in the these three volumes.

Volume 1 -  Strengthen the Mind, Music for Intelligence and Learning
Best for studying.  Primes your ear and brain.

Volume II  - Heal the Body
Best used for reducing stress, tension and accelerating physical healing.

Volume III  - Unlock the Creative Spirit - Music for Creativity & Imagination
Designed to help you access your creative voice.  Personal expression, whether in the form of journaling, drawing, painting or simply letting the imagination frun free, is an important part of mental and spiritaul health.  Mozart can provide a pathway to your personal creativity, unlocking waves of images and impressions and amplifying the expressive inner voices.

Reviews:

Don has been releasing a secret known for ages:  Music is not just entertainment.  It is medicine for body and soul.  This is an excellent guide to the wide-ranging power of music to inspire, educate and heal.

Don shows how music transcends mere entertainment to bring about healing and wholeness.  He reveals how music is one of the most transformative forces in human experience and how it literally has life and death potency.

Of Interest:

Preschoolers who studied piano performed 34% better in spatial and temporal reasoning ability than preschoolers who spent the same amount of time learning to use computers.  Neuroligical Research, Feb 1997

Listening to music can increase levels of interleukin-1 in tehblood from 12.5 to 14%. Interleukins are a family of proteins associated with blood and platelet production,lymphocyte stimulation and cellular protection against AIDS, cancer, and other diseases.  Michigan State University

For the unborn child, classical music, played at a rhytym of 60 beats per minute, equivalent to that of a resting heart, provides an environment conductive to creative and intellecual development.  The Secret Life of the Unborn Child

There are symposiums and seminars planned all across the nation and the world, well into 1999.  This is a teaching / movement that is growing like a snowball rolling down a hill.

(end of book quote)


In a quick summary, what is The Mozart Effect?
Good music is replacing the Holy Spirit!
The world has "discovered," through the wonderful wisdom of man, what the King James Bible has said for hundreds of years.
Music will effect the body, soul & spirit of man.

That should be nothing new to a Bible reading Bible believer.

Note:  We have said for years that rock music goes AGAINST the normal pulse of the body.  Now, here they are saying that music that matches the body pulse is GOOD for our body.  Wouldn't you think that they must agree that music against the body pulse would be BAD for our body.  Duh!  They have now proven what we have been saying for years in regards to syncopation, chant, and that old up-beat/off beat concept.

There is the great story about David and Saul in I Sam 16:14-23.  Saul, who was sick, called for David, who was a cunning musician.  David came and, through his music, made Saul refreshed (mental), well (physical), and the evil spirit departed from him (spiritual).

So what is the problem?
Good music affects man in all three areas - body, soul and spirit.
Isn't that a good thing?

Before we answer that, let's next read a little about Mozart himself.


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