Intelligence and Classical Music:

Have you ever wondered if there TRULY is a correlation between Classical music and the stereotypical intelligent/sophisticated people who listen to it?

According to studies, there is definitely credibility to those claims and actual explanations as to why.

Todays blog is both a informative and entertaining piece that I spent a great deal of time

researching and consolidating what I thought would be fun for most.

Here is a paste of my research:

In several experiments, music has been shown to actually make people "smarter," increasing performance on IQ and aptitude tests.

In a famous experiment known as the "Mozart Effect" Study, University of California at Irvine psychologist Frances H. Rauscher and her colleagues conducted a study with 36 undergraduate volunteers.

"They studied the effects on a few dozen college students of listening to the first 10 minutes of the Mozart Sonata for Two Pianos in D Major (K.448)," says Stanford professor of Psychology Russle Fernald. "They found a temporary enhancement of spatial-temporal reasoning, as measured by the Stanford-Binet IQ test." The participants scored an average of 10 points higher on their IQ tests after having listened to Mozart.

The reason Mozart's symphonies have the ability to improve IQ scores is that music activates the "temporal" lobes of the brain, according to William J. Cromie's article, "Music and the Brain," which appeared in the Harvard University Gazette in February.

"The temporal lobes are involved in processing music and memory," Cromie Writes, "Certain types of music may activate the temporal lobes and help them learn, process and remember information. Music opens new pathways into the mind."

However, Fernald explains that "there are two sides of the Mozart effect," for "No one else has been able to duplicate their results." According to Fernald, some psychologists maintain that the entire study was a fluke.

New research also suggests a strong link between intelligence and musical ability. According to Carl Amen's article from BrainPlace.com, an online psychology resource, the College Entrance Examination Board in 1996 reported that students who play an instrument scored roughly 50 points higher on the verbal section of the SAT and 39 points higher on the math section than the national average. The reason for this phenomenon, Amen writes, is that "Learning a musical instrument, at any age can be helpful to develop and activate temporal lobe neurons. As the temporal lobes are activated in an effective way they are more likely to have improved function overall." Danielle Schmidt, a Paly Senior, played several instruments including the cello and guitar as a child. "I think that my musical background has somehow given me knowledge that makes me better able to deal with school," Schmidt says.

Kathy Yoshimura, a professor of psychology at the University of Texas who has dedicated a Website to the study of music and the brain, has a scientific explanation for Schmidt's observation. In her article about music and intelligence, Yoshimura explains why musical children often earn higher test scores. Because brain development is incomplete at birth, she says, early experiences that stimulate the brain enhance its neurological growth. Thus, when a child's brain is stimulated by listening to or playing music, certain areas of the brain are strengthened; studies show that these areas are often the same areas utilized in abstract reasoning.

Also, according to Yoshimura's article, stimulating the brain is only one way that music can increase intelligence. Music may also increase intelligence by the type of interests, attitudes, and discipline it promotes in children. Some experts hold the opinion that music gives children the self-confidence to achieve, which spreads to other areas of education other than music.

The Above research and excerpts are Quoted from

Verde Magazine, June 1st 2004

I have a fascination with the great composers and particularly Mozart and Beethoven.

This "sweet tooth" for the keyboard sound led me to become interested in the synthesizer at a very young age and is the core reason I am a Eurodance Music Addict to this day and CANNOT get it out of my system.

The late 60s and early 70s brought the Moog synthesizer to the rock music world through artists such as Deep Purple, Iron Butterfly, The Doors, YES, and just about any "acid rock" group that was out to give people an aureal high.

The following is a paste from Wikipedia about the synthesizer and its effect on our culture today:

The synthesizer has had a large impact on modern music over the past forty years.[3] The first significant influence of the instrument came during the 1970s and 1980s. Wendy Carlos's Switched-On Bach (1968), recorded using Moog synthesizers, influenced numerous musicians of that era. Switched-On Bach is one of the most popular classical music recordings ever made, and the first to go Platinum.[4] During the late 1960s, hundreds of other popular recordings used Moog synthesizers. The Moog synthesizer spawned a subculture of record producers who made novelty "Moog" recordings, using synthesizers to create new sounds to draw attention and sales. Musicians such as Richard Wright of Pink Floyd used the Moog and other synthesizers extensively.

The synthesizer's notable influence during the late 1970s and 1980s led to mainstream popularity among renowned music artists. The first major artists to fully use the synthesizer included Wendy Carlos,[4], Emerson, Lake & Palmer, Jean Michel Jarre, Pete Townshend, Arthur Brown, Giorgio Moroder, Vangelis, Larry Fast, Tangerine Dream, Kitaro, Stevie Wonder, Peter Gabriel, Kate Bush, Kraftwerk, Ultravox, Frank Zappa and Yellow Magic Orchestra. English musician Gary Numan was influenced by Kraftwerk, Ultravox and David Bowie. Numan's 1979 hit Are 'Friends' Electric? used synthesizers heavily.[5] Numan continued to use synthesizers throughout most of his career, including the 1980 hit Cars.[6]
Both the Roland Jupiter-4 and Jupiter-8 synthesizers were used by New Wave band Duran Duran during the early 1980s.

The influence of synthesizers on the Synthpop movement in the United Kingdom during the 1980s was evident from its usage by Nick Rhodes, keyboardist of Duran Duran, who used Roland Jupiter-4 and Jupiter-8 synthesizers.[7] The emergence of Synthpop, a subgenre of New Wave, can be largely credited to the synthesizer. It lasted from the late 1970s to the mid 1980s. The influences of synthesizer technology and Germanic ambience of Kraftwerk and of David Bowie during his Berlin period (1976-77) were both crucial in the development of the synthpop genre.[8] By 1981, many artists had adopted the synthpop sound and experienced chart success, such as Depeche Mode, Visage, Japan, OMD, and Ultravox.[8] Duran Duran and Spandau Ballet were classed as leaders of the genre in 1981. Many other acts followed, including Soft Cell, Culture Club, Eurythmics and Blancmange, by which time synthesizers were one of the most important instruments within the music industry.[8]

The synthesizer introduced many recognizable sounds in the 1980s. OMD's Enola Gay (1980) used a distinctive electronic percussion and synthesized melody. Soft Cell used a synthesized melody in their 1981 hit Tainted Love.[9] Other chart hits include Depeche Mode's Just Can't Get Enough (1981),[9] and The Human League's Don't You Want Me.[10] The sounds varied between artists and songs, but all were distinctively produced using synthesizers.