"John Smyth" <[log in to unmask]>

>Dubiousness of the the study aside, what bothers me about the Mozart
>Effect is its researchers' attempt to "medicalize," if you will, the act
>of listening to a certain type of music.  It shifts people's attention
>away from music's inherent value and emphasizes the incidental.

While I agree with you to some extent about the "medicalization" of music,
there is a benefit in terms of keeping it in public education.  I was
fortunate to grow up overseas and went to mostly British schools.  One
of the characteristics I can use to describe the difference between the
education I received and US education, especially as time has moved on, is
that US education has progressively stressed the "tangible" applications
of ed., i.e., job related, economic, vocational, and not necessarily
accomplished that.  The education I received recognized the "intangible"
qualities of education, a knowledge of culture and history, literature,
etc.....the "tangibles" are a natural by product as they are the tools of
literacy.

In these times when education is being stripped down due to budget cuts,
rationalizing music in scientific terms can serve as a weapon for its
retention.

Roger Bogda