Re: Barney, the Beatles, and Bach: The Effect of Music on Children

Mary,

There isn't much reliable scientific info written on the web about the relationships between mood and music, unfortunately (or perhaps very fortunately - you're truly a scientific pioneer!!). So I've posted what I could find!

Here are a few scientific articles about the relationships between mood and music. You’ll probably have to go to a medical school library to find these journals; if there’s no med school library close by, or it doesn’t have these journals, go ask your local librarian about an InterLibrary Loan (ILL).

Smith JL, Noon J, Objective measurement of mood change induced by contemporary music. Journal of Psychiatry & Mental Health Nursing 1998 Oct 5:5 403-8

McCraty R, Barrios-Choplin B, Atkinson M, Tomasino D, The effects of different types of music on mood, tension, and mental clarity. Altern Ther Health Med 1998 Jan 4:1 75-84

Robazza C, Macaluso C, D'Urso V, Emotional reactions to music by gender, age, and expertise. Percept Mot Skills 1994 Oct 79:2 939-44

Here’s an article that looks at the effect of music on a person’s immune system (I’m not sure if that’s what you’re looking for, but I thought it might be interesting. Especially considering that a person’s mood definitely affects his/her immune system and health – that’s something for you to look up!) http://ww w.heartmath.org/ResearchPapers/HZandIgA/iga1.html

And here’s an website about music therapy – the way people use music to help people who are sick and/or depressed: http://www.musictherapy.org/

These are just some starting points – be sure to scour the web using things like yahoo! – they can be really useful. I hope these bits of info are helpful! Best of luck on your project!

-Alex