The Mozart Effect
Watch Mini Mozart’s favourite Professor giving a slightly tongue in cheek explanation of The Mozart Effect.
Frances Rauscher, a renowned psychologist, made waves with the discovery that after two years of music lessons, pre-school children scored better on mathematical and spatial reasoning tests than those who took other extracurricular lessons.
The music lessons had to be interactive though for the Mozart Effect to be present which is why many of the Baby Mozart products have since been discredited – there’s no point simply listening to a CD!
The main difference between Mini Mozart and other music classes is that we only use Live Music and at least 2 musicians perform and interact with the children at every class. We are bombarded with so much ‘muzak’ and environmental noise these days that we have become accustomed to blocking out much of what we hear. Interacting with live musicians (as opposed to recorded music) redresses this and makes children begin to actually process what they’re hearing so that they are actively listening which aids their cognitive development.
The Method
We’ve borrowed a technique from the music business known as ‘sandwich programming’. For example at a typical Classical Music Concert at the Barbican or the Royal Festival Hall, you will often find the evening opens with an Overture that everybody knows and loves – Figaro perhaps. After the interval, you might find a familiar symphony; Beethoven or Brahms maybe. In between these crowd pullers, clever artistic planners will programme something more challenging that the audience doesn’t know – maybe a contemporary work or a piece by a less well known composer.
The idea is that on the way home, at the very least the concert goer will think – 2 out of 3 ain’t bad! At best, she’ll have had her musical experience extended and found something new and wonderful she never had the time or inclination to seek out before.
The bubbles, parachute, puppets and other props are our pre-school crowd pullers, and we ‘sandwich’ them with Mozart and Beethoven to prime the children’s ears for a lifetime of musical enjoyment and ownership.
The course has been constructed in a way that introduces children to the concepts of pitch, rhythm, dynamics and tempo through entertaining games and exercises with the emphasis being placed firmly on FUN!
