Move Over "Mozart Effect". "Schoenberger effect" gaining steam in music for babies market.

Composer Thomas Schoenberger's original music said to have effect on babies behavior.Is it infant hypnosis or an unsolved mystery?

This story embodies all the elements of an old Twilight Zone episode.Reports of a man who writes melodies that seem to change behavior in humans...very young humans.Babies that gurgle and coo whenever they hear the bewitching melodies of a certian composer.Parents who would swear on stack of bibles that "something" happens to their kids when they listen to this man's music. Sound Orwellian? Is the Government conducting new behavioral experiments using post "Mozart Effect" psychology?? Not exactly. The music Californian Thomas Schoenberger writes for babies sounds more at home in the parlors of Europe than likely to be picked as the theme to "I was a remote controlled zombie"

Schoenberger, a resident of Napa Valley, says he is "pleased " with the attention his CD is getting. As far as the numerous claims that his music seems to mesmerize children ( the reports of this phenomena are growing) Schoenberger dismisses it as 'urban legend". I write in an 18th century style.Western children are ingrained to this type of musical melodic genre.It's all about imprinting. If they react to it with pleasure, that's a wonderful response. I won't knock it.Maybe the reactions that these parents say their children have has to do with babies that naturally have an affinity for music in the first place.I will leave it to the neuro-biologists to put an auditory scalpel to my pieces". A humble svengali?

The three parents this reporter talked to were adamant about their babies reponsiveness to Schoenberger's Ultimate Baby CD. Jennifer Gray says that her 2 year old Samamtha becomes "hypnotized" everytime the CD is played.

" Only two baby products cause her to either sleep or calm down.. One is the Baby Mozart videos and the other is this CD".

Tim Landis reports that his son Willy waves his hands everytime dad puts on The Ultimate Baby CD.
"If it just happened once or twice, I would consider it a fluke" says Landis, a Washington-based attorney. "But Willy gets animated everytime we listen to Schoenberger's music. It started when Will was only 9 months old and we bought "Music for Infants ( Schoenberger's first CD) Wife Carolyn agrees."There is something about the rhythms and melodies in the CD's that just makes babies come alive. I have bought 4 CD's and gave them to other mothers. They all told me that their babies reacted with either calmness or smiles. Something is going on with this man's music" Although the "Mozart Effect' has it's fans and cynics,recent studies have made a clear connection between infant temporal activity and 18th century melodies.The fact that Schoenberger composes "new" classcal music separates him from the multitude of baby CD's that offer re-packaged classical pieces, created by long dead masters. His practice of composing melodies that never exceed 2 minutes in length is also unique. Schoenberger says he keeps his pieces brief
in order not to "overstimulate" a baby's psyche.

Schoenberger is not lacking for attention on a national level either.An article on the "Schoenberger effect" is due later this month in the San Francisco Chronicle. Schoenberger's "Ultimate Baby Cd" has also won the Top 100 Baby Product's award from respected national toy reviewer Dr. Toy. Even Time Warners media giant Parenting Magazine plans a featured review of the CD in their March 2003 issue.
Schoenberger recently signed a national distribution deal with Media Corp Worldwide and at the time of this writing, an infomercial is being produced to market the CD's nationally.According to Production director Earl Pardo, the company has plans for a national rollout in spring 2003.

Look for the signpost up ahead..you have just entered "the Schoenberger Zone"

Robert Stark
Indie Music Scene
Los Angeles