The Mozart Effect

Why Mozart?

In an instant, music invokes the capacity to move us, energize us, enlighten us, and allow us to interpret problems; we are constantly surrounded by it, day in and day out. Don Campbell, author of The Mozart Effect: Tapping the Power of Music to Heal the Body, Strengthen the Mind, and Unlock the Creative Spirit, describes “The world [as] inherently musical” (Campbell 10). The study of music and its effects on the brain has received considerable international attention, recent studies has proven that composer, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, is the most effective in achieving positive results for spatial awareness and brain development, thus the name the “Mozart Effect. Since groundbreaking neurological research and behavioral case studies have linked brain development to musical studying, many inferred that this was the “window

The brain is composed of three major parts: the cerebrum, cerebellum, and brainstem. The cerebrum is the most substantial part of the brain, made up of both the right and left hemispheres, performing tasks such as: interpreting senses, speech, movement, feelings, and comprehensions of analytics. The cerebellum is located beneath the cerebrum, functioning to coordinate muscle movement and maintain the body’s balance and posture. The brainstem acts as the transmitter connecting the cerebrum to the cerebellum to the spinal cord and is made up of the midbrain, pons and medulla; think of the brainstem as the conductor of the orchestra. The brainstem is in charge of many mechanized functions such as: breathing, digesting, maintaining heart rate and body temperature, coughing, sneezing, swallowing, vomiting, and sleeping cycles. There are two hemispheres of the brain, the right and left, which are conjoined by multiple fibers called the “corpus callosum that delivers messages from one side to the other” (Hines). Interestingly, both