In 1998, most parents bought Baby Mozart on video, not on DVD. Toddlers watched puppets and toys spin to classical music, and at the end of the video, producer Julie Aigner-Clark appeared with her young daughters. and everyone could see the video for what it was: a mother's project that would allow kids to be exposed to classical music. There was a sense that Baby Mozart was a secret society among mothers; the videos enthralled babies long enough for parents to straighten up the living room.
Eleven years later, The New York Times announced that Disney, who bought the Baby Einstein rights from Aigner-Clark in 2001, would issue refunds for the videos. Reporter Tamar Lewin noted, "They may have been a great electronic baby sitter, but the unusual refunds appear to be a tacit admission that they did not increase infant intellect." ("No Einstein in Your Crib? Get a Refund" The New York Times, Oct 23, 2009.)
The Baby Mozart Effect
The Mozart Effect was an exciting topic in the early 1990s; a variety of research showed differing participant responses to classical music. The actual research didn't matter; people read into the studies what they wanted to find: that classical music might make people smarter. Hospitals were giving classical music tapes and CDs to new parents, and Julie Aigner-Clark's Baby Mozart video had people opening their wallets and asking each other, "Why didn't I think of that?" What seemed most amazing was that people who had only been exposed to classical music in elevators and commercials were now filling their homes and lives with Mozart and Bach, because Aigner-Clark sold not only videos, but music CDs.
Music and IQ
People are now reading Mozart Effect research with their eyes and not their imaginations, and they see that the direct correlation between classical music and intelligence is not as concrete as Disney's marketers presented. However, playing music does seem to affect IQ, in a bit of a chicken-and-egg arguement. Are intelligent children attracted to playing music, or does playing music unlock a child's potential?
In 2006, C. Munsey of The Monitor on Psychology noted interesting research being published in The Journal of Educational Psychology. Munsey wrote, "Organized music lessons appear to benefit children's IQ and academic performance – and the longer the instruction continues, the larger the effect." ("Music Lessons May Boost IQ and Grades" Monitor on Psychology V. 37, No. 6, page 13. June, 2006.)
Children who listened to classical music and enjoyed it might move on to the next step of wanting to create it, which would require organized music lessons, one of the oldest forms of educating the gifted and talented.
Who Really Gained Benefits From Baby Einstein?
Ignoring the obvious financial windfall for Julie Aigner-Clark, Disney, and the other companies involved with producing and selling Baby Einstein products, the parents who used Baby Einstein discovered benefits as well. Parents gained an extra twenty minutes while their toddlers were entertained. Parents focused on a goal for their children: to enjoy being exposed to art that might make people smart.
David Sedaris Captures the Baby Einstein Phenomenon
In one memorable scene of Baby Einstein, an incredulous David Sedaris realizes his brother, Paul, is buying videos for his unborn child when he calls the author from a video store, saying, "The next time he called he was at the counter of a toy store charging a set of Baby Einstein videos. 'I don't care if it's a boy or a girl, but this little son of a bitch is going to have brains.'" ("Baby Einstein", Dress your Family in Corduroy and Denim, 2004.)
Would that father have bought classical art and music for his family if it wasn't packaged as the seeds of genius? Would he take his children to performing arts centers for the sake of art alone? The videos and music might not benefit babies, but they surely benefited the older children and parents of the household who were exposed to the master art contained in the series.
Eventually most kids are exposed to art and music through centers, field trips, and other school events, but Baby Van Gogh inspired parents to look at fine art with their children as they learned colors. Baby Shakespeare exposed parents to Shakespeare they might not have heard since high school language arts classes, and older siblings may have been inadvertantly exposed to poetic images meshed with lines from Shakespeare. Baby Mozart's soundtracks filled homes and minivans, exposing families to some of the most beautiful melodies ever composed.
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