“Baby Mozart’ is a collection of Mozart’s compositions, adapted for babies, toddlers, and children. The slow tempo of the songs, as well as the calming sound of the music box, will soothe your loved ones in no time. Mozart’s music is perfect for your kid’s development, stimulating the brain activity, boosting creativity, and increasing the IQ. Studies have shown that the effects of listening to classical music are highly beneficial, especially in early childhood.
Research regarding the effect of music on 272 premature babies and their parents was conducted by the Beth Israel Medical Center’s ‘Louis Armstrong Center for Music and Medicine’. In their study, researchers found that the sound of the parents singing lullabies had the strongest impact of slowing a premature baby’s heart rate into a more relaxed state. It also led to an increased length of time that babies were quiet and alert. The music therapy was found to decrease the stress levels of the parents, as well.
Music seems to prime our brains for certain kinds of thinking. After listening to classical music, adults can do certain spatial tasks more quickly, such as putting together a jigsaw puzzle.
Why does this happen? The classical music pathways in our brain are similar to the pathways we use for spatial reasoning. When we listen to classical music, the spatial pathways are "turned on" and ready to be used.
Why classical music? Works by composers such as Bach, Beethoven, or Mozart are different from music such as rock and country. Classical music has a more complex musical structure. Babies as young as 3 months can pick out that structure and even recognize classical music selections they have heard before. Researchers think the complexity of classical music is what primes the brain to solve spatial problems more quickly. So listening to classical music may have different effects on the brain than listening to other types of music.
This doesn't mean that other types of music aren't good. Listening to any kind of music helps build music-related pathways in the brain. And music can have positive effects on our moods that may make learning easier.
Learning to play an instrument can have longer-lasting effects on spatial reasoning, however. In several studies, children who took piano lessons for six months improved their ability to work puzzles and solve other spatial tasks by as much as 30 percent. Why does playing an instrument make such a difference? Researchers believe that musical training creates new pathways in the brain.
When we listen to music, incredible things occur within our brain and in turn, other bodily structures. Since these effects are both measurable and identifiable, music can be used for a number of therapeutic applications. What’s even more amazing is that music has the ability to stimulate all areas of the brain. Within one study, researchers developed a new method that allowed them to see how the brain processes different aspects of music. For the first time, the researchers revealed how various networks are activated while listening to music. From emotion to motor function, creativity to memory, we are now learning the complexity of music and how it affects us.
