On Sat, May 3, 2008 at 4:36 PM, Dave Seidel wrote: > Agreed. This music is very much bound to a particular (Euro-centric) > musical tradition. I might accept the idea that if a person had a It's true that the music is from one tradition, but it is also true that the consonances of what's traditionally called tonal music are based on physical truths... The major triad, any modulation by a fifth, a 9th, or a major third, none of these things are just by chance or just "learned", and most of them are not unique to European tradition. Actually, when one studies the tunings of Indian music it can be a bit of a disappointment to learn most of the notes are similar to Western ones, just tuned more accurately (e.g. Pythagorean third is not mixed with major third in the same scale; but both are used in similar ways as in Western music, but they're not equated). And, at least in the Carnatic ragas I looked at, the scale step equivalent to SOL is never violated; there are alternate tunings for all other notes, but there is always a perfect fifth above the "tonic". In other words, Western music implemented its consonances because they sounded good, not the other way around. IMO they stopped too soon, though; the upper harmonics offer a bounty of harmonic richness few care to explore. With all the research that's been done on pattern perception, Gestalt, Law of Pragnanz, saying that listening to music can't develop a child's brain is like saying that solving geometric puzzles can't develop a child's brain, or learning multiple languages, or chess. In order to hear the patterns in the music, the brain has to exercise its pattern recognition ability (a truism). Perhaps this doesn't increase intelligence- Nik Lygeros, among others, says that thinking can be learned, but intelligence can't- but I don't doubt that it helps develop whatever other quality it is that makes people sharp. > background in this music (meaning: some training or education, or at least > immersion) that listening to it might have some beneficial effects, because > then the listener had some cognitive and perceptual preparation. But if you For a 2-year-old? I think the contention is that listening to certain music *is* that kind of education. If anything, I'd say the focus on Mozart is because his music is so often melodically simple and straightforward, meaning the parents won't object to it. As my father says, it's good for 3-year-olds because even a 3-year-old can understand it. > are from a completely different musical culture, I don't expect it would > mean very much at all, and might even be perceived as cacophonous (no > offense to cacophony). I don't think that's possible. "Boring", maybe, but cacophonous? I don't mean to bash Mozart, I do enjoy his music sometimes, it's just not the most exciting for me. > Personally, as someone who grew up in the States and heard both classical > and folk music all the time growing up, it was years before I was able to > listen music from the classical era with any interest at all -- it just left > me cold. For me, Stravinsky was the way in, and I worked both backward and > forward from that. There will never be an Oprah Book Club book about it, but I suspect Stravinsky has a similar effect, but only for more intelligent children. Or perhaps they chose Mozart because Stravinsky would frighten the parents. Can't have the kids burning down the playpen. Thanks to Dad, my way in was all Zappa (literally from infancy), and later Zappa was a way in to Stravinsky. Thanks Dad! -Chuckk > > - Dave > > > Pedro Ferreira wrote: > > > I think that _teaching_ music to kids is a great way of stimulating > > their intelligence and the development of their abilities, but I find > > it hard to believe that the simple fact that they just _listen_ to > > music will make them smarter. Maybe your intelligence actually > > increases (for a limited amount of time) in response to sound > > frequencies: you can stimulate it artificially by other known means, > > though with no permanent results. However, all the hype around this > > effect seems to be a huge load of BS (actually, the "Mozart effect" is > > widely known as a classical example of a scientific myth). > > In any case, teach your kids the practice of listening to good music > > :). It won't hurt them for sure... > > > > Cheers, > > > > Pedro > > > > > > > > Send bugs reports to this list. > To unsubscribe, send email sympa@lists.bath.ac.uk with body "unsubscribe > csound" > -- http://www.badmuthahubbard.com