He felt, as many before him, that music and the reasoning intellect were linked. Music and his scientific work...were 'born of the same source.'" (Dowd, 2008) a report conducted by the German Ministry of Education in 2007 while failing to uphold music having a long-term influence on intelligence did state findings of a "link between musical training and IQ development." (Dowd, 2008) Dowd additionally reports that "...brain mapping has revealed that professional musicians have more grey matter in their right auditory cortex than non-musicians, as if practicing an instrument flexed a muscle in the brain." (2008) Dowd states: "It seems increasingly likely that the long-term practice of playing music, rather than merely listening, can have the kind of impact suggested by the Mozart Effect. Einstein, after all, organized his mind by playing the violin, not listening to a recording." (Dowd, 2008)
III. ANCIENT and NEW UNDERSTANDING of VIBRATION and MUSIC
The work of Bangerter and Heath (2005) entitled: "The Mozart Effect: Tracking the Evolution of a Scientific Legend" examines the place of 'The Mozart Effect' in terms of how ideas are spread through the culture or how those ideas are diffused within society and moreover how ideas are diffused through culture across a period of time that defies experimental study. Bangerter and Heath state specifically:
All evidence suggests that ME [the Mozart Effect] has become a scientific legend. It seems to be a circumscribed manifestation of a widespread, older belief that has been labeled 'infant determinism' [citing Kagan, 1998], the idea that a critical period in early development has irreversible consequences for the rest of the child's life. It is probably also anchored in order beliefs in the beneficial powers of music (e.g., soothing the savage beast)." (Bangerter and Heath, 2005; p. 11)
The work of Melanie Braun entitled: "Exploring the Efficacy of Vowel Intonations" relates a study conducted for the purpose of exploring "...the Rosicrucian teaching that intonations formed from vowels, consonants, and specific musical tones are truly beneficial to the persons intoning and hearing them - in fact, even capable of stimulating and affecting cells and centers in the body, and in the space in which they are intoned." (2005; p.1) Braun writes that it is taught in the ancient mysteries that in the beginning:
the Creative Force 'spoke' and this sound, this vibration, this Word, became the unit of all existence: "The six days were created [through the Word] being lights emanating from the Word and illuminating the world." As created being, we embody this primeval sound in our physical, mental, and spiritual selves. Our very bones, blood vessel, and nerves are singing the song of the universe: "From the deepest interior of the atom there are shrill tones dozens of octaves above the highest tones of a violin. This is the music of the atomic nucleus...this is the symphony of life, this unimaginably complex tapestry of music that is sounding within us every moment of our life." (Andrews, 1996; as cited in Braun, p. 2)
Braun writes that traces of vocal expression "are first found in our animal forebears: studies of animal behavior show that 'vocalizations reflect changes in the signaler's affective state, emotions and motivation..." (Braun, 2005; p. 12) Laws of music were found engraved on temple walls...in ancient Egypt..." (Braun, 2005; p.13) the Egyptians believed that "a word or vibration is capable of actually disintegrating matter, due to the relationship of the vibrations of that word with the vibratory state of the matter involved. This was central to the soul of Egyptian magic." (Braun, 2005; p.13) Braun relates that the ancient Egyptian ritual for preserving the Pharaoh's influence after death consisted of a musical enchantment: 'The Hierophant made the seven notes [which corresponded to the astral waves of the seven planets] resonate magically...and then the atmosphere of the tomb was animated by lines of subtle energies [forming] a wondrous fluidic spiral..." (Godwin, Mystery, pp. 70-71; as cited in Braun, 2005; p.13)
This certainly brings to mind the DNA and the spiral within the human DNA. Hebrew letters and words are taught in study of the Kabbalah to be sound that "when properly manipulated' can bring one to ecstasy." (Braun, 2005; p.13) the first principal in Rosicrucian teaching holds that everything is vibratory in nature, from the lowest cell to the densest matter to the most transparent space. Indeed, this is a law of physics. Sound is the articulation of vibration, heard by human beings at certain auditory levels. Each sound also has its counterparts in harmonics of overtones, vibrating sympathetically...
Mozart Effect by Don Campbell, published by HarperCollins in 1997 and again in 2001, posits the theory that listening to Mozart's music can help to boost one's IQ. The theory is based on interviews and studies conducted by researchers, from which Campbell produces the general notion that music has a "healing" quality to it and can be used to improve one's overall life.[footnoteRef:1] Campbell points to the 1993 study by
Music on Emotions and Behavior Music and education Psychological implications The effect of music on word recall Several studies have been dedicated to the study of the effect of music on the memory. Most of the studies have been dedicated to the analysis of the way the human mind processes information. The brain has been indicated to be made up of a very complex system of neurons that is actively involved with the
Schikaneder was both an actor and a producer in Vienna for a playhouse that traditionally catered to "lowbrow" audiences (Loomis 2). Mozart's brand of comedy was just the thing for Schikaneder's theater. But "lowbrow" was merely one aspect of Mozart's comedic ventures: they could be equally stunning, poised, high-minded, honest, and full of common sense at the same time. Like the man, they resembled a mystery that could not
Mozart wrote the work with the help of a friend and fellow composer, Lorenzo da Ponte (real name Emmanuele Conegliano). He and da Ponte wrote the opera very quickly, as one of his biographers notes, "The writing must have been mainly done in six weeks - the figure given in da Ponte's memoirs - starting in mid-October. It seems that rather than compose the work straight through Mozart set
Mozart's Don Giovanni a group of villages are busy celebrating the marriage of Zerlina and Masetto. As Don Giovanni and Leporello admire the girls involved, Giovanni begins to grow very interested in Zerlina: "What have we? Well, now! Some honest rustic folk; and lots are lovely!" In a ploy to win her favor, Don Giovanni invites the party to his castle to eat and drink. Once there, he detains Zerlina,
One of the concerts attended for this assignment took place over Thanksgiving weekend. It was entitled, suitably enough, A Mozart Thanksgiving. It featured the work of Jeffrey Kahane, who both conducted and played the piano. The concert was held over a three-day period beginning on November 25 and concluding on the 27th of November. The concert took place in honor of the Thanksgiving holiday at Jones Hall for each of
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