The genius Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and the healing power of his music. On January 27 he would have become 250 years old. Would have? In the entire culture of our world he seems to be livelier than ever before. Elvis is alive, Wolfgang Amadeus more than ever! No musician before Elvis has been that much elevated up to a pop-icon than the pale, lankly Johannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus (“Amadé”) Mozart (27.1.1756 until 5.12.1791).

At the age of eight, being an infant prodigy, he filled half Europe with enthusiasm playing the piano. At the age of fourteen he was celebrated as a highly gifted composer who seems to have his genial ideas directly from heaven.

He died impoverished, grave and bones still are not clearly identified. In the Mozart year 2006 everything what can be sold around his name is placed on the market, from candy, clothes and trashy souvenirs to thousands of cultural and media events, opera performances, concerts, symposiums, stage plays – focal points of the happening are cities which have to do with Mozart’s story, like Salzburg, Vienna, Augsburg, Paris, London, Prague.

Life and Work

Mozart’s life, his personality and also his music are no closed book. All of that is well delved into. There are so many public available documents, correspondence, newspaper cutups, statements of contemporaries - actually that should result in a clear, unbroken picture. But until today the conceptions of the researchers engaged into Mozart widely diverge. Alone about the cause of his early death there are 200 different theories. The issue here should be the healing effect of his music. So is it important whether Mozart himself lived healthy and what caused his death? Devoutly catholic or freemason, gambler or womanizer – is that important in view of the quality of the music? Yes and no. Yes, because everything is connected with each other. Each “Mozart impacts with a power others do not have” (A. Tomatis) note, which Mozart wrote, is inevitably conditioned also by his momentarily psychical constitution, his entire life situation, the culture of his time etc. No, because we will never be able to entirely understand the over-all context and therefore depend on speculations. And no because in a way as it is with no other famous composer, Mozart’s music is running on its very own rail besides or above his real life with all its emotional heights and depths. He created enthralling works like „Missa solemnis“ (KV 337) in verifiable emotional and social downs, and deeply serious, abysmal works like the symphony in G minor (KV 183) without any signs of crises on the biographical level.

The Secret of Music

How can somebody at the age of eleven have already written 50 outstanding music works, thereunder symphonies, concerts, sonatas and spiritual works? At that time and still today this is a sensation and an enigma. And how easygoing ingeniously Mozart outflanked the many at that time much more famous colleagues, for example the piano virtuoso Muzio Clementioder or the composer Antonio Salieri. Mozart was outshining them all by far! In the movie “Amadeus” from Milos Forman this is shown in a very rousing way. One wants to jump up and shout: “Bravos Amadeus!” What makes his music so exceptional? What makes it different from other works of his epoch, the classical period with its clear rules for form and harmony of compositions, where the romantic idea of the genius was not known yet? “Actually, Mozart has not invented anything new anywhere” is the opinion of musicologist Ulrich Konrad. “For that he found astonishing combinations within the usual and used them in such a fitting way that for this time it sounds unique, and not seldom egregiously.” Mozart described his ideal simply like this: “The middle-thing – the truth in all things.” This means nothing less than finding the middle of everything. Equalization, harmony, beauty.

Music and Health

Mozart himself probably did not think of a “healing effect” of his music. The combination of music and health was not popular at this time – in relation to the entire cultural history more an exception. Mostly from the shamans of primeval times to the old advanced civilisations in China, India, Egypt, Greece or America until the Middle Ages music mainly was meant to serve health and social weal or religion. Entertainment and esthetic values came last. Mozart composed music by order of aristocracies. The music should serve their prestige, it should entertain them or make them feel godly-loyal. Often he composed totally against the ideas of his orderer, but his success proved that he was right. Until today the style epochs in Europe change faster and faster: romanticism, impressionism, expressionism and modernity. Now we came up to a point again where music (and art in general) increasingly is rated – and bought - by its value for our health and our inner and social well-being. Lo and behold: Mozart is one in first rank! The crime rate sinks in underground railways playing Mozart music. In hospitals his compositions relieve pain, reduce fear and stress and create a friendlier atmosphere and a heartier relationship between staff and patients. Most astonishing might be the effect of his music on the brain. The nerve cells get activated to link new connections. Brain researchers call this “plasticity”. It means an increased learning ability and brainpower. According to this the one who is listening to Mozart developes more intelligence. And this concerns all human stages of development, from the embryo until old age. All of these are new scientific findings. Most of them are due to the researches of one man.

The Tomatis-Method

Alfred Tomatis (1920-2001), doctor for otorhinolaryngology (throat, nose, ears) and surgeon, was one of the most innovative and most effective researchers of hearing. With his method worldwide hundreds of Tomatis-Institutes treat today an astonishing large field of problems which all have to do with disorders of hearing and its connected brain regions. During one of the basis methods the “patient” hears music through special headphones where deep frequencies are filtered out. According to Tomatis especially high frequencies would activate the brain, activate hidden, covered potentials and should even clear embryonic traumas. And doing so we do not sense subconsciously but being totally awake and “active”: We listen! How did Tomatis hit on this method? By the amazing discovery that already the embryo in the womb can hear. More than fifty years ago this was an outrageous statement among experts. At that time it was proceeded from the assumption that we can hear only through our ears. The ear takes in sound waves from the air and processes them in the inner ear. But Tomatis could prove that we also hear a considerable part through the vibrations of the bones. When the today worldfamous Gérard Dépardieu was a young actor he was in despair of his stumbling, bumpy voice and lack of concentration. Therefore he went to Tomatis who was already famous at that time. Soon it was detected that Dépardieu’s right ear could only hear very undifferentiated and distorted (much too loud). This hearing impairment, which was also caused by an unhappy childhood in a difficult family background, had affected his voice and also his nerves. “Do I need surgery, do I have to take medicine?” “Nothing like this” Tomatis smiled. “Only listening to Mozart!” After a couple of months hearing training his problems were gone. Dépardieu spoke free and fluently, with a clear and calm voice, self-confident and likeable at the same time.

The Mozart Effect

End of the nineties the book “The Mozart Effect” (German book title: “Die Heilkraft der Musik” - literally: the healing power of music) of the composer and music psychologist Don Campbell became a bestseller in the USA. The book is based on the findings of Alfred Tomatis and caused a real barrage of new foundations of associations and institutes. Already in the eighties Prof. Joachim-Ernst Berendt was publishing the work of Tomatis in Germany with books like “Nada Brahma”.

Tomatis certifies Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s music the best therapy successes, whether in Tokyo, Cape Town or Amazon. Mozart would „impact with a power others do not have. He has a liberating, stimulative and, I even want to say: healthful effect, which makes him the superlative of the superlatives. His efficiency exceeds by far what we find at his predecessors … contemporaries or successors.” Many scientists who are working in sound research, hearing psychology, neurology etc. confirm that some characteristics of Mozart’s music have a stimulating effect on our intelligence and creativity and the corresponding brain regions: The playful flowing melodies, the clear structure of the form or the prefered use of bright sounds (flutes, violins) – but above all the rhythmical variability of Mozart’s music would be responsible for this. An amazing effect – not only of the music of Mozart – on the brain is the stimulation of many new contacts between the neurons. These synapses build up an enormous network in the brain. Concretely this means for us: higher brainpower, increased learning ability, increased ability of decision-making, more intuitive powers, alertness and creativity. The American psychologist and composer Joshua Leeds, one of the developer of “The Listening Program” gets to the heart of it: For the nervous system sound is just as important as food for the body. Frances H. Rauscher and his team of the university California, Irvine, found in a study that 36 participants of a spatial IQ test could improve by several points after 10 minutes listening to Mozart’s D major sonata for two pianos (KV 448). That was in 1993 and overnight it set off the “Mozart-Effect”-boom. The theoretical physicist Gordon Shaw attended the experiment and he said: “Mozart music can ‘warm up’ the brain. We assume that differentiated music can facilitate complex mental processes as they are needed doing hard mental work like in mathematics or playing chess.” In the meantime Prof. Dr. Hans-Ulrich Balzer, researcher on the Salzburg University Mozarteum, proved by chrono-biological analyses that listening to Mozart’s music leads to an astonishing quick synchronization with body-own rhythms. As the steering of the rhythms happens through processes taking place in the brain Balzer’s observations are also going in line with the discovery of Wolf Singer, the famous German brain researcher, who found out that the brain is working in a rhythmical tact and operates like an orchestra. It does not matter whether Mozart had pimples or nervous convulsions, his music helps our potential, our mental-emotional development – and this verifiable better than for example loud rock music. Even plants grow faster and turn towards the loudspeaker when Mozart music is played. When “Heavy Metall” music is played they turn away. But we are no plants. Also aggressive, loud music can be used for therapeutically reasons. And: music has many levels. One of them concerns our health. Esthetics and realization are other regions. They are connected with each other, but they also should be differenced. Who is listening to Mozart or to other music only in terms of health reasons is blinding out a lot. “Music must always continue to be music” Mozart said. It stands for itself as an own enigma with an inexhaustible potential.

Author: Christian Salvesen
Source: www.visionen.com