The Mozart Effect: Boost or bust?

Will classical music transform your toddler into a genius?

By Washington Correspondent Stephen Sackur

Not since the great potty-training war of last year has there been such rancour in the high-pressure world of American child-rearing.

A father's dilemma for Stephen Sackur: Mozart vs Postman Pat for his three children?

For those of you who missed it, the potty schism involved two aggressive teams of academics.

One side concluded children could and should be trained early because it boosted their self-esteem.

While the other lot insisted that every child should follow its own course, even if that meant school-age kids waddling into class wearing monster-size diapers, I mean nappies, at the age of five.

Imagine the scandal when it turned out that the supposedly independent advocates of the latter approach were actually funded by the nappy manufacturers. The story made it onto the front-page of the New York Times.

More kiddie controversy

Now parents, still reeling from the difficulty of deciding which side to support in the nappy showdown, face another moment of truth.

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Should they be rearing their little darlings on a musical diet of Mozart, Beethoven and Brahms?

And if they don't, will their kids sue them later in life for wilfully failing to maximise their intelligence?

The roots of this dilemma can be traced back to a letter published in the scientific journal Nature six years ago. Three academics described how a group of students was asked to perform a set of simple tests - first after a period of silence, and then after ten minutes spent listening to Mozart's sonata in D minor for Two Pianos.

Guess what? The students performed better after Mozart. Their IQ scores jumped by 10%.

The conclusion seemed obvious; Mozart makes you brainier.

Cashing in on the classics

A couple of years ago a best-selling book turned the theory into a fad.

"The Mozart Effect - tapping the power of music" threatened to make Wolfgang Amadeus more popular than the Spice Girls; suddenly classical music wasn't the preserve of a middle aged, snobby elite.

It was a passport to self-improvement, a bit like one of those Jane Fonda workout videos, or the F-plan diet.

Then, of course, Americans took this trend to its logical conclusion. If classical music is good for the brain - caressing the cranium and stimulating the synapses - then obviously it should be force-fed to babies along with their mothers' milk.

Politicians jump on the bandwagon

In the last 12 months even the politicians have jumped on this particular bandwagon.

The Governor of Georgia promised that all new mums in his state would be given a free classical CD. In Florida a new law requires all publically-funded preschools to play the classics for their kids.

One of the gurus of the movement is John Flohr, a mild mannered professor of music at a Dallas University.

When I caught up with him he was attaching a bizarre yellow bonnet to the head of a reluctant four year old boy, Carson.

Inside the headgear were dozens of electrodes wired to a computer.

Mr John, as he's known by the kids, put some Handel on his CD player and watched as Carson struggled with a series of jigsaw puzzles.

The computer tracked the boy's brainwaves. I watched as jagged lines marched across the screen.

It meant nothing to me, but Mr John was adamant that his years of research showed the music was having a measurable effect, making the brain more efficient, its connections faster.

Will force-feeding them the classics make them smart?

I returned from Texas deeply troubled. As I approached my own front door in Washington DC. I could hear sounds from within.

The stereo was on. "Shake, shake, shake your sillies out," a man was singing. "Wiggle your waggles away". Judging from the commotion my toddler twins were jumping up and down with excitement.

Later that night I had to have a serious talk with my wife. "How come my kids aren't humming any of Mozart's piano concertos?" I asked.

"Why do we play them Postman Pat singing 'The wheels on the bus', when a couple of hours of Beethoven a day could turn them into world-beaters."

She looked at me with pity in her eyes, but agreed to try the cassette I'd brought back with me from Texas.

The Mozart Effect it was called. On the back it promised to improve your child's motivation and poise and to do wonders for the brain.

Sure enough, on our next family outing, we put the tape on in the car.

The verdict? 'Boring!'

Within 30seconds Michael, aged 20 months, announced, "Dont like it. Boring." Leila his twin sister simply burst into tears.

Sadly, my kids don't seem to realise what's good for them.

After weeks of trying, I've given up on our daily dose of classics for tots. It's all together too stressful.

Let the backlash begin

And it may be that I'm not alone. The backlash against this latest hot-house approach to child-rearing is about to begin.

A book soon to be published here entitled "The Myth of the First Three Years" challenges the idea that all the crucial stages of brain development take place in the early years of life.

Constantly exposing toddlers to the great composers and dragging them round art galleries to see the worlds finest paintings - and some parent actually do this - can be counter-productive goes the argument, it can overload the senses.

So its time to heave a huge sigh of relief. For just a few minutes, American parents are going to be allowed to relax, which reminds me. Where did I put that Postman Pat tape?