My mom used to have listen to classical music when I was a baby. She said that it made me shut up. Either I really liked it or I was bored. She insisted though that it was very effective to calm me down, but not always because sometime I would cry as if I was feeling for the music. This culture have run in our family for over many generations. My uncles also do the same thing to my baby cousins. And my grandmother used to do it to her kids, to my mom and to my uncles. They insist that it really has good positive effects for cognitive development. In short it makes babies grow up and develop smart.
My baby like most type of music. As long as they sound good and peaceful then she will falls asleep. But still her number one favourite is when I personally sing to her. She usually will sing along (cooing) with me until she falls asleep. I like humming when I'm working on my laptop and she is playing by my side, and she is humming along too
I think music does help in stimulating the brains of babies and even adults, especially classical music, although I admittedly have never really looked into it myself enough despite the wealth of resources we have now so I do still take it with a grain of salt. I suppose I'd look it up when I have children of my own and it becomes more important to me, but as it stands, it does already sound like it makes sense to me. I myself am very easily calmed by classical music as an adult, so I don't see how it should be that much different for an infant since music can be understood and appreciated by anyone who can hear it.
I'm sure music is stimulating but I don't like how stereotyped the classical music thing is, maybe cause I find most pieces the opposite of calming. I doubt it makes much of a difference in intelligence and I think it's just a way of making more sales. I just don't believe it's that beneficial or proven, but I don't deny how music can affect our mood and emotions.
When the boys were young and had trouble sleeping I would play a classical cd or a natural sounds like the ocean hitting the rocks to help them relax and get to sleep. I have read that playing classical music when you are studying helps to retain the information you just read.
This has always been a debatable topic. Scientists have released results of different studies relating each type of music to a specific effect on the brain waves. There are some styles of music compositions that are good for mental development such as those made by Bach and Mozart mainly because of the patterns and sequences within the music which the human brain easily responds to. Not all classical music has this effect, though. Beethoven and Stravinsky compositions may bring different reactions and are definitely not as calming for children as some may think. I do not mind playing classical music to my children since I'm a musician but if I do it purposely for my kids' mental development, I would choose milder baroque music or shorter works of Mozart and Haydn.
