Dr. Alfred Tomatis and Mozart

In April of 1991, I was very fortunate to study with Dr. Alfred Tomatis at the Tomatis Center in Phoenix, AZ. I attended a two-week seminar entitled "The Healing Power of Gregorian Chant." I had no idea how wonderful and enlightening this would be! It was Dr. Tomatis who told all of us (including Don Campbell) about the power of Mozart to help autistic children, people with a wide variety of emotional problems and learning disabilities to heal with Mozart violin concertos and Gregorian chant.

One of the things that Dr. Tomatis did so much research on was music and the unborn child. He was a great proponent of lullabies, especially for fussy, cranky babies. The album that I recommend is "Lullabies for Mother Baby Bonding" and includes a lullaby that Mozart himself loved!

Dr. Tomatis work is featured on many websites which I would urge you to check out. Just Google "Alfred Tomatis." His work is still not that well-known but I predict it will be one day.

Does Mozart's music make you smarter?

Saturday, November 18, 2006

Many of you have probably heard of "The Mozart Effect." The original research, done in California at UC Irvine, showed that Mozart's Sonata in D Major for Two Pianos helped highschool students score higher on the Scholastic Aptitude Test than students who listend to other music before the exam or those listened to nothing. This was exciting news and was widely reported in the media. Later, some marketers began suggesting that Mozart's music actually raised your IQ and "made you smarter." Not true. Neuromusicologists suggest that Mozart's music may help you to organize your thoughts and may be good to listen before or during a task. It's also beautiful, brilliant music. But it won't make you smarter! Sorry.