They have been talking about the charitable influence of musical works of high classics on human consciousness for a long time. However, there are classic melodies that have a certain healing effect or even increase the mental capacity of a person. Such musical "medicines" include the works of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.
For example, in 1993, cognitive development specialist and former cellist Francis Rauscher and UC physicist Gordon Shaw announced that Mozart's K.448 sonata significantly improved memory and improved spatial awareness. They conducted a study on experimental rats, then on students, and now they came to this conclusion.
This statement of scientists was picked up by businessmen who used it for advertising purposes to more successfully sell the records of the great maestro. This is how the concept of the "Mozart effect" was born. After that, some praised and used it, others tried in every possible way to prove that it was nothing more than a myth.
Chinese professor Yao Dezhong with a group of fellow scientists (University of Chengdu) decided to put an end to this dispute, that is, to check whether the Mozart effect actually exists, or whether it is Rauscher and Shaw's inventions for the sake of advertising.
Mozart effect confirmed
Researchers in China followed the same path as scientists of the last century, that is, they conducted experiments on laboratory rats, and then on students. Only they increased the number of subjects, somewhat complicated the experiment, and also used the most modern (much better than in the last century) equipment for obtaining and analyzing data. The subjects were divided into three groups: the control group, then the one that played the K. 448 Mozart's sonata, and, finally, the third group that listened to this melody in a mirror performance, that is, from the end to the beginning. And so for several days for half an hour each time.
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This study confirmed that the "Mozart effect" exists. A group of laboratory rats and students, under the influence of the immortal work of the great maestro, became more capable than the control group to perform many tasks on mental abilities and spatial orientation. But the third group, on the contrary, showed worse results than the control. From this, scientists concluded that Mozart's music promotes an increase in the number of neutrons in the brain, which cannot be said if you listen to this therapeutic one in the opposite direction.
Mozart and other classics as healers
As one of the participants in this experiment, Professor Xia Yang, noted, it must be assumed that other classical works, not only by Mozart, but also, say, Beethoven, Bach, Chopin, Tchaikovsky, Rachmaninoff, and so on, have a beneficial effect on the human brain. … And, possibly, they produce a therapeutic effect, but no one has yet conducted such large-scale studies - that's all.
By the way, we add that the famous (and now scandalous) French actor Gerard Depardieu was a stutterer from childhood. He allegedly got rid of this serious shortcoming when he wanted to become an actor, with a French speech therapist-defectologist, who used Mozart's music for this. But it is not known whether this is so, and if so, what kind of works of the great composer was used by this "musical medicine man"? We can only say with complete confidence that listening to Mozart, like other classics, is not only pleasant, but also useful. As for the "Mozart effect", the musician MS Kazinik told the world about it best of all. However, judge for yourself …