Chapters with Listening Guide Repertoire, CW Links, and Quizzes:
Chapter 04
Chapter Goal
- To highlight our important and ever-changing relationship to music as we move through life’s stages.
CW4.1 Articles about Music, Pregnancy, and Babies
Some of these articles you can find in your university or local libraries. Others can be found on-line through the links.
- Arya, Ravindra et al. “Maternal Music Exposure during Pregnancy Influences Neonatal Behaviour: An Open-Label Randomized Controlled Trial,” International Journal of Pediatrics 2012.
- Bachai, Sabrina. “Playing Music While Pregnant May Help Your Child’s Hearing,” Medical Daily. 2013.
- Lai, Rosalind. “Wagner for the Womb,” Principles of Neural Development. 2011.
- Swaminathan, Nikhil. “Fact or Fiction?: Babies Exposed to Classical Music End Up Smarter,” Scientific American 2007.
CW4.2 Singing to Babies
Here are a few articles about the positive effects of singing to babies. See your local librarian for a more extensive bibliography.
- Brandt, Anthony et al. “Music and Early Language Acquisition,” Frontiers in Psychology 2012.
- Moore, Kimberly Sena. “Does Singing to Your Baby Really Work?: The science behind infant-directed singing,” Psychology Today 2011.
- Trehub, Sandra. “Musical Predispositions in Infancy,” Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences. Vol. 930. Pp. 1-16. June, 2001. [Abstract]
- University of Montreal. “Singing calms baby longer than talking,” Science Daily 2015.
CW4.3 “Ah vous diras je maman”
This 18th-century folk tune has been used as inspiration for many Western art music composers.
Here are several examples to look up on YouTube.
- Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Twelve Variations on “Ah vous dirai-je, Maman” (K. 265 / K. 300e) (1781 or 1782)
- Johann Christoph Friedrich Bach, Variations on “Ah vous dirai-je maman” in G major (Wf XII: 2) (BR A 45) (1st publ. ca. 1880)
- Joseph Haydn, Symphony No. 94 (Surprise Symphony), second movement (andante) (1791)
- Jean-Baptiste Cardon (1760–1803), Variations for harp on “Ah! vous dirai-je, maman”
- Theodor von Schacht, 3rd movement (Allegretto con variazioni) of his clarinet concerto in B flat major)
- Franz Liszt, Album Leaf: “Ah! vous dirai-je, maman” (1833) (S.163b)
- Johann Christian Heinrich Rinck, Variations and finale for organ on “Ah! vous dirai-je, maman,” op. 90 (pub. 1828)
- Adolphe Adam, from the opera Le toréador (1849 )
- Camille Saint-Saëns, The Carnival of the Animals (1886), 12th movement (Fossiles) briefly quotes the tune about 25 seconds into the piece.
- Ernő Dohnányi, Variations on a Nursery Tune, Op. 25 (1914) about 3 ½ minutes into the piece.
- Erwin Schulhoff, Ten Variations on “Ah! vous dirai-je, maman” and Fugue
- John Corigliano, The Mannheim Rocket, about 3 ½ minutes into the piece.
CW4.4 Music and Aging
Research has shown that senior citizens with Alzheimer’s disease or other types of dementia benefit from listening to music that was important to them in their youth. They become more social, less confrontational, and much happier. Some are even able to reduce their medications and/or engage in conversations, even when they had been silent for years. (http://musicandmemory.org/music-brain-resources/current-research/)
Realizing this, the organization, Music & Memory, headed by Executive Director Dan Cohen, began the “iPod project” in 2008 by distributing 200 iPods to four long-term care facilities in New York City. The project has since spread worldwide. Residents are given iPods that contain music chosen specifically for them—music of their youth and young adulthood. The 2014 documentary, Alive Inside, follows numerous patients who have “come alive” by listening to their special music.