Cara Nissman. Boston Herald. Boston, Mass.: Nov 17, 2002. pg. 043
Dr. Alfred Tomatis began studying the effects of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's ordered music on children with developmental and learning disorders in France in the late 1960s, said [Don Campbell]. He found many children's speech and listening skills, emotional health and mental alertness improved after the youngsters listened to certain pieces.
"But the Mozart effect does not only reflect Mozart's music," said Campbell. "It's the importance of auditory stimulation and the importance of having an auditory environment for families in the home."
Not sure what to sing with your child? You can start with Don Campbell's "The Mozart Effect - Music for Children" and "The Mozart Effect - Music for Babies." The recordings are available through The Children's Group, 800-757-8372 or www.childrensgroup.com.
Full Text (829 words)
Copyright Boston Herald Library Nov 17, 2002
When her three children smack spoons against plastic cups in the kitchen or shake maracas in the living room, Sharon Kulik doesn't silence them.
"They're incorporating music into play and I enjoy chiming in," said Kulik, Medford mother of Bryce, 5, Seychelle, 4, and Quinlan, 1. "If they're playing dress-up and they're close to musical instruments, they make up a huge parade instead of a one-on-one tea party."
Don Campbell, author of "The Mozart Effect for Children" (Quill, $13.95), thinks parents should sing and play instruments with their children to encourage their brain development.
"What we do to stimulate the brain through music lasts a lifetime," he said. "Parents can increase verbal, emotional and kinesthetic (movement) intelligence with music. My work is to show how music actually is a form of nutrition for the brain."
Dr. Alfred Tomatis began studying the effects of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's ordered music on children with developmental and learning disorders in France in the late 1960s, said Campbell. He found many children's speech and listening skills, emotional health and mental alertness improved after the youngsters listened to certain pieces.
"But the Mozart effect does not only reflect Mozart's music," said Campbell. "It's the importance of auditory stimulation and the importance of having an auditory environment for families in the home."
Indeed, early childhood music educator Ruth Schechter encourages parents to expose their kids to diverse melodies.
"If they don't hear exotic rhythms - African, Arabic and Bulgarian - with irregular meters, they're not going to have an intuitive sense of it. The range of sounds they hear will make them more responsive and more open in the future," said Schechter, who teaches in Jamaica Plain, Brookline and the South End. "One of the real gifts of doing music with kids early is they just absorb it."
Starting early also teaches kids tolerance of people's differences, said Kulik.
"If you're aware of all types of music," she said, "you end up with a better understanding and appreciation for the different ways people express themselves."
By playing music before bedtime, parents can help kids relax into routines.
"You can make mundane things easier by making a song about something your child doesn't want to do," said Laura Sabini, director of Music Together
® of Cambridge and Brookline. "You can sing about taking a bath or washing your face or brushing your teeth. It makes it more fun for them."
Campbell said music also can motivate kids.
"Several studies have shown that playing Mozart seems to raise the IQ significantly if played 10 minutes before the task," he said. "You can stimulate the lazy student."
Kids can improve their motor skills and coordination by playing instruments and grooving to beats, said Kindermusik teacher Donna Cantera-Davis, owner of DCD Music Studio in Arlington.
"If children don't have the opportunity to explore ways of moving the body, they'll be really limited in how they control their hands to form letters to write," she said. "It's going to hold them back in terms of their ability to do intellectual things."
But parents shouldn't limit their children to CDs and music videos.
"Parents must sing and play and dance with their children," said Schechter. "Anything a parent does directly with their child is enormously better than any video or CD. It's face-to-face contact. And a parent's voice is a child's absolute favorite - it's heard for four months before they're born, in utero."
So what if you sound like an albatross with strep?
"It doesn't matter what your voice sounds like," said Cantera- Davis. "I sing to my son every night before he goes to sleep and it's the same lullaby I sang when I was pregnant with him. It's a comfort thing. A CD or `Sesame Street' doesn't allow for the same interpersonal relationship as mother and child singing together."
Yet Campbell warned against overwhelming a child with sounds.
"If a child is born into a home with a couple of siblings, computers, a TV, boom box and in their room there's a large air conditioner, this baby's going to be in auditory overload," he said. "In this day and age, a quiet environment as well as great stimulation are important."
Parents who can create a balance will compose a special connection with their kids.
"Parents are always looking for something to do with their kids," said Suzanne Bremer, a Somerville mom of a 2 1/2-year-old son. "We can't take the kid to see Martin Scorsese, but we can have Mozart playing in the house. It's part of our life we can share with our kid."
Not sure what to sing with your child? You can start with Don Campbell's "The Mozart Effect - Music for Children" and "The Mozart Effect - Music for Babies." The recordings are available through The Children's Group, 800-757-8372 or www.childrensgroup.com.
Caption: THEY'VE GOT RHYTHM: Music teacher Laura Sabini plays the drum with music students at Stella Bella Toys in Cambridge. Staff photo by Michael Fein
