Classical Music and its effects on the Neonate

In Today s society music is very diverse. It produces feelings and emotions sensed by all walks of life. Different styles of music tend to give different ideas and impressions to people. It affects everyone it comes in contact with, and it is more powerful than we are willing to understand.

Classical music is known as being a form of music that is thought to help the cognitive (right) side of the brain develop. It has been said that music making, itself, has the ability to increase one s brain capacity and resources by strengthening the connections between the neurons. And it has been proven that even the neonate will react to music. Classical music especially has a positive effect on neonatal development.

In the Irish Journal of Psychology, (1991, 12, pp. 95-107) Petter G. Hepper studied music and its effects on the neonate. He found that the neonate, two to four day old, remembered a tune that was played to him as a fetus (Still in the womb, un-birthed). Upon hearing the song the neonate s movements and heart rate would change. Another astounding fact discovered was that the fetus twenty-nine to thirty weeks old showed certain behavioral responses to songs played to him in his earlier stages of development. In both of these cases there were specific behavioral responses to certain tunes the baby was previously exposed to. Therefore, his results suggest that the learning and remembering of a melody can take place as early as the third trimester of pregnancy.

Studies have also been done to show that children who as neonates were exposed to classical music did better in school. Reading and math were the top two subjects. Notice that both of these subjects have to do with cognitive thinking. First grade children were tested in math and reading, and those who were taken aside to listen to classical music did better than those who weren t. The same children were retested the next year and still did better in both of the subjects. Neonates exposed to classical music sometimes develop faster and are more advanced in reading, writing, math, and phonics skills than those who are not exposed.

Overall, classical music has an enormous effect on neonatal development. It causes one to think; it turns the neurosynaptic cleft on and forces it to transmit information from the right side of the brain to the left side of the brain. Classical music has a more powerful affect on the neonate than I think we will ever know. I believe the facts about the effect of classical music are true. It was quite difficult to find many examples directly related to the neonate except for those in this report. I did however come across several studied done on kids and teenagers. I wasn t surprised to find that heavy rock music had a negative effect on kids. Ages 6-17 were the most affected by this type of music. I also wasn t surprised to find that these results were the exact opposite for classical music. I thought that it was interesting to learn that the math-learning center, here at Shasta College, plays classical music. Just more evidence to show that classical music really can help.