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.

During my first year teaching I received a letter in the mail that set my
teeth on edge--preliminary notice that all music teachers were going to be
laid off.  A veteran teacher pulled me aside and explained that it was all
a game: the district wanted to see if parents and teachers would fight to
keep the program, otherwise....  This went on six of the seven years I
taught.

Part of our offensive was handing out flyers during "recruitment" day that
celebrated all the benefits of music education--benefits similar to those
purported by the Mozart researchers--and finally, way down at the bottom of
the list was something like, "music delights with neat sounds." Should it
be about anything more than that?

John Smyth