Nicholas J. Yasillo wrote:

>>Does exposure to "classical" music enhance development in other cognitive
>>areas? Is math and spatial reasoning enhanced by learning about music at a
>>very young age? Does early training in music shape a child's brain in
>>beneficial ways?
>>
>>The (some would say) very convincing arguments presented by authors Francis
>>Rauscher, Gordon Shaw and Martin Gardiner (among others) would say so.
>>Despite some recently published work that challenges the "Mozart Effect",
>>most open minded persons would probably conclude that the jury is still
>>out.

I would like to know a bit more about this and just how scientifically it
was done.  Was there a proper control group? Was the test conducted across
all socio-economic groups? Were checks made for a pleceabo effect caused by
increased parental expectation among the groups exposed to the music? How
big was the sample size? Were the results statistically significant?

There is so much pseudo science around nowdays that one remains
unconvinced.

>>On the other hand, I suspect that anyone on this list would believe
>>that exposure to "good" music at an early age should be beneficial
>>to any child, if only to develop an appreciation for the music that
>>we all love.

I tend to agree with this.  But there is also research that purports to
show that exposure to excessive background noised (TV,radio etc) inhibits
a child's language development.

Deryk Barker adds:

>Having done two years (out of three - it's a long story) of a mathematics
>degree at Cambridge - wherein lurk some people who are seriously good at
>hard sums - my observation was that most mathematicians - or 'prentice ones
>anyway - were interested, often to the point of obsession, in any two and
>often all three of music, chess and bridge. ...
>
>But music and chess are both often taken up at a very early age indeed.
>So I cannot help but agree with your proposition:

I have a degree in Maths and love chess.  But, I had no interest in
classical music until I was 36.  In my school one would have been 'beaten
up' for taking an interest in Beethoven over the Beatles.

So once again as in all discussions of the kind I feel obliged to point out
just how important the general background of the child is.

If we want to spread the Classical music word then we have to reach a
situation where working class parents are quite happy to have classical
music playing in their homes.  That day is a long way off.

Again from Deryk Barker:

>Although I suspect that the chief benefit comes from a more active
>participation than simply listening.  Which is why I'm not that surprised
>that the Mozaetr Effect has been at least partially debunked, because it
>was probably measuring the wrong thing. ...

You're absolutely correct here about participation.  There is a lot of
research to support this.

You're right again about IQ.

The annuls of psychological research are full of examples of dodgy,
sometimes faked, work.  Although I don't wish to imply that this is
true in this case I would urge extreme caution.

I wonder what the IQ of Newton, Beethoven etc was....

Bob Draper
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