Is Mozart making you smarter?

When it comes to giving out study advice, it is common to hear someone say: "you know, listening to Mozart can increase your IQ average by about a half point!" Where this piece of sage advice has come from I have no clue. The question that I would put forward is this: is it really true that one can increase one's ability to absorb and understand more information while listening to Mozart or any piece of classical music for that matter? I would suggest that it actually decreases your ability on the basis of the fact that it draws your attention away from the subject matter at hand.

Think about it this way. If one were to attend a stage production of William Shakespeare's Hamlet, then is it safe to say that one could increase one's ability to apprehend and make use of English language? Certainly the opportunity is there, but the mere coincidence of attending a Shakespearean production does not guarantee one will be thinking and writing in Shakespearean language when all is said and done. Certainly if one gave do preparation by studying the play beforehand and learning something about stage production, one could certainly benefit to a greater degree.

Now let's put this in another way. Let's grant that attending a Shakespearean production increases one's intelligence level, but could we also say that attending that same Shakespearean production while reading a different book during that production would increase one's ability to apprehend the subject matter within the book? Certainly not. It would not only be difficult to read within a dark theater, but it would also be extremely difficult to pay attention to that book while a play is going on. The same holds true for listening to classical music while studying. I would argue that without a doubt it is beneficial to listen to classical music, especially if one is given due consideration to the arrangement and performance of the music. However, listening to Mozart while trying to memorize geometric formulas or Greek participles is distracting and it gets in the way of learning. Why? Because classical music extremely interesting to listen to whether one has a good ear For it or not. The reason classical music is so detrimental to the act of reading is because it is so beautiful!

The problem is that it uplifts your mood in such a way that you feel more intelligent and to a certain extent it does help you become more intelligent, but not with the process of trying to analyze information. The reality is that classical music can be beneficial for one's thinking but it's a particular kind of thinking. Classical music assists one in the process of synthesizing information and not analyzing information. Analysis is the process of breaking apart an entire unit of information into its component parts, but synthesis is the process of putting that information together in a new or original manner. So, in other words, if you put on a Beethoven record while trying to read your physics textbook, then your brain is the one to try to start synthesizing information rather than trying to analyze information. The music will put you in a relaxed state of mind where you will be able to play with previously acquired ideas, but it will not help you acquire new ideas. You can see how listening to music while studying can be detrimental, but listening in order to relax and think can be beneficial.

Let me put forward one final argument or rather one example. In my experience, I have noticed that there are many successful teachers that habitually listen to classical music. In my opinion, there is nothing more inspiring than passing by a professor's office restore is partially closed and in which there is the gentle sound of Mozart. However, I have further noticed that many of the same professors are not actually reading or studying at the same time. Very often they are cleaning their office for organizing the books! I've also noticed a negative example. When surveying a library, which I regularly study yet, I have noticed handfuls of graduate – yes, not college but graduate – students sitting at their desks with their books clutched in hand an iPods at their side piping in music directly to their ears! Now, I could partially by the argument that they were simply trying to block out the noise, if perhaps they were sitting in the middle the Starbucks, but they weren't. Anyway, you don't have to take my word for it. Just try for yourself. Try to study one hour with music in the background – pick your poison – and then try to see how much you can remember by writing down everything important you try to study on a piece of paper. And then taking another block of time and study without music, and then try to see how much you can remember by writing down everything important on each paper. And then compare the difference – chances are, you'll probably be able to write down more information from the time without music than with.