MOZART - A FRIEND FOR YOUR MIND, HEART, AND BODY.
Forbidding, intimidating, snobbish - these are words often used to describe classical
music. But during the past decade, our brains and bodies have learned healthier ways to
eat, exercise and LISTEN. And it's been found that great music is important nutrition for
your mind, body, and emotions.
Without an enthusiastic music teacher, you may have found it difficult to approach Mozart
and his music. You might even suspect some people were given a special gene that allows
them to "understand" Mozart. Fortunately, this isn't true.
Mozart's music is accessible. More than that, it is one of the great treasures of the
world's artistic heritage - a gift we can all share, enjoy, and, as with every great work
of art, learn from. In his less than 36 years, Mozart wrote over 600 compositions for
piano, orchestra, choirs, and small ensembles. He was prolific in all the critical forms
of his day: chamber music, symphonies, masses, and opera.
Mozart grew from protégé to musical sage in a very few short years. He had an
interesting head start, for he began listening to his parents play the piano and the
violin months before he was born. Given this advantage, it is less than surprising that at
age four this child prodigy was already beginning to compose music, and play for all of
his father's important friends in the royal court throughout all Europe. Young Amadeus was
widely hailed as the greatest musician alive.
And yet, though his forms and tools were the height of beauty and refinement, Mozart is
often called the "Eternal Child". He was an intuitive vessel for genius,
naiveté, joy, and truth. His music is clear, filled with hope and sensitivity. And this
direct channel, a clear path to an essence we all share, was his true genius.
So there is no code to break, no secret charter you gave to have to benefit from Mozart.
Just let his music be with you in your home, car or office for a few days. Let hum speak
to your body, mind, and heart. He only asks you to listen.
Ah, Mozart!
All music has an effect on us. But, somehow, almost indescribably, Mozart has a simple and
remarkable way of speaking to us. He is clear, organised, efficient, and not overly
emotional. His music goes into our psyche in ways that are subtle and powerful. Even if
Mozart is not your favourite composer from an aesthetic perspective, his music provides a
positive environment where you can learn, relax and create your at your best. And that,
quite simply, is The Mozart Effect.
Dr. Tomatis and The Mozart
Effect
Two hundred years after Mozart's birth, a French physician, Dr. Alfred Tomatis, researched
the link between how children learn and their sonic environment. Tomatis discovered that a
child hears even before birth (Mozart's father knew what he was doing after all!), and
that this prenatal auditory experience is a critical facet of early childhood development.
His research has further shown that for people with learning disabilities and other
developmental disorders, Mozart's music can provide an audio "bridge" of sorts,
allowing many people to overcome previously impassable developmental blocks. "Mozart
is an excellent mother", Dr. Tomatis has been heard to say.
But this is hardly the only testimony to Mozart's rare powers.
In the early 1990's, as part of a research study by Drs. Gordon Shaw and Frances Rauscher
at the University of California at Irvine, a series of tests were given to students who
listened to Mozart's music. This work revealed that spatial intelligence, a critical
component of IQ, as measured on the famed Stanford-Binet scale, was greatly enhanced by
listening to Mozart for ten minutes before testing. Subsequent study revealed that young
children given basic music instruction outperform peers given computer or other forms of
training.
Focused listening, or what experts call auditory tracking, can literally change the way we
"organise" ourselves mentally. New tools which allow us to "look"
inside the functioning brain show that listening to music effects our sense of time,
space, and overall perception. Mozart speaks a special language for your mind and body.
Using and Enjoying the Music For The
Mozart Effect
Whether Mozart is new to you, or you bring to these recordings a trained musical ear
attuned to the subtleties of his genius, this music will have a variety of unique affects.
On the physical level, each of us listens and hears sounds in each ear a little
differently, thus no two people actually hears sounds in the same way. And since, as
Heraclitus the Greek philosopher said, "you can never step in the same river
twice", the same recording will effect you differently depending on the time of day,
how cluttered your mind is, the amount of time since your last meal, your posture, and a
variety of other factors.
The Music For The Mozart Effect series will not make you an instant genius, blissfully
content with the world, or a creative wunderkind. But Mozart can help move your mind and
body toward its own natural resources in these five volumes.
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