Building your baby's brain with Beethoven, Bach, Mozart

By Ida Indawati Khouw

JAKARTA (JP): Young couple David and Endah were not fans of classical music - they sometimes even teased others who had a zeal for this kind of music as having an "old fashioned" way of life.

But now the music is heard almost every day coming from their house in the Kemang Pratama housing complex in Bekasi, about 40 kilometers east of here.

The couple started collecting CDs of the great composers like Bach, Beethoven and Mozart last year shortly after their first son Billy was born. The new parents now play the music to wake their son up or even as background music when he is playing around.

"We read that this kind of music is good for the growth of the childrens' brains and that's why we play the music even though we are not lovers of it," said David.

So far, Endah said, they haven't proved whether Billy's intelligence has been influenced by the classical music, "but for sure he shows a reaction everytime he listens to the music."

For lay people like them, it is not easy to select the music which is most suitable for the "brain's development", but this problem has been solved thanks to cassette and CD producers who have compiled certain classical music recordings for this purpose.

Some of the companies which produce such compilations are Sony, Polygram and Philips, according to Sudiarto, an employee of Duta Suara cassette and CD shop in Central Jakarta.

Just go to the shop's classical music section and you will find certain cassettes and CDs with pictures of babies on their covers.

Sudiarto said that he sells quite a lot of these cassettes and CDs. "Some of them have even reached the best selling category, meaning we have sold more than 10 pieces in a week," he said, referring to the cassettes Build Your Baby's Brain Through the Power of Music and Build Your Baby's Brain Through the Power of Mozart, both released by Sony.

Staff member of the promotional department of Sony Music Entertainment Indonesia, Sundari, said that the company had released five volumes of the classical music for babies series, which includes pieces by the great composers like Bach, Beethoven and Mozart.

She said that Sony in Indonesia have been importing the cassettes and CDs since 1998. "That's why we are not involved in the music selection process. We just receive the product from Sony's Southeast Asia head office in Hong Kong."

Sundari also said that the series has been received enthusiastically by people to the point that within two years sales have exceeded 100,000 copies.

"Of course it (the selling rate) is great for the classical music category due to its segmented position in the market," she added.

This kind of music is not only good for babies but also for pregnant women, which is reflected in the popularity of series like Philips' Mozart for Mothers-to-be and Madamaya Utama Record's Untuk Ibu Hamil (For Pregnant Women), Metode Mendengar Musik Klasik (The Method of Listening to Classical Music), Membuat Bayi Cerdas Sejak di Kandungan (Making Baby Smart While in the Womb).

Membuat Bayi Cerdas is even enclosed with notes from prominent psychologist S.C. Utami Munandar, expert on public health Hardywinoto and physician Suharwan Hadisudarmo. They share a belief in the importance of music for children's early development.

Munandar said that the psychological condition of pregnant women is influential in the growth of the embryo. "That's why it is important for pregnant mothers to be in a calm, happy and comfortable condition.

"(The condition) is created, among other things, through listening to classical music," she said.

Indeed, researchers have shown that music plays a great function in the development of personality, creativity and in improving the brain's analytical thinking abilities.

That's why lecturer of music education Widia Pekerti, whose thesis is about the influence of integrated music and math teaching systems, hailed the release of the cassettes and CDs on classical music for children.

According to her, classical music has a regular form which creates stability and composure in humans.

"The most suitable music is that in which the regularity is similar to that of the heartbeat, like baroque music which has a steady tempo from the beginning to the end," said the lecturer at the drama, dance and music department of the Jakarta State University.

Widia, who also teaches at several other universities, said that when the musical tempo is the same as the heartbeat it influences the nervous system and results in greater composure.

"The condition of people who naturally have a peaceful disposition and whose emotions are usually under control will automatically become less stressed. People who are usually stressed will have it decreased," said the mother of two who also educated her children through music.

Her research, conducted in 1997 at Regina Pacis elementary school in Jakarta, showed that the students who received integrated music and math teachings got higher marks for their math compared to those who followed a conventional math teaching system.