I love music. Always have. It undoubtedly gave enhanced my moods either one way or another or took me to another almost magical spiritual level. I studied with music on, despite everybody around me telling me not to. Of course, their well meaning comments had no basis on fact or evidence just repeating what theyd been told somewhere.

Similarly ‘The Mozart Effect’ - pushy mums have been desperately trying this to ensure their offspring maximises their potential in the academic sphere - and what better to convince them than high brow culture? The crux of the idea is “your child can increase their intelligence by listening to Mozart’s music”.

Mother of one Shradha Sarogi explains why she chose to live by it: “‘My father reads a lot of books on child psychology. He told me to listen to Mozart because it’s very important. Especially when I was pregnant.”

“I got the music because I read that the beats of Mozart coincide with the heartbeat of the foetus. So it makes the child intelligent”

Of course, this theory has now been well and truly debunked. In fact, think about it, it would also mean any 60bpm music would do the trick

More modern research suggests it is effective to learn to play the instrument rather than just listen to it. The  emotional pull alongside the mechanical efforts of playing an instrument create an effective bridge between the the sides of the brain and hence create effective connections. There is some evidence to support the theory regarding the two hemispheres of the brain (Logic and art) though not as great as some writers suggest

From a purely academic view point Dr. Alexandra Lamont from the University of Keele firmly states: “There’s no evidence that just listening to music has any effect at all”.

So keep studying but lay off the mozart unless you happen to like it of course..