FAQs
What is the purpose of the Baby Virtuoso?
How does Baby Virtuoso work?
Can babies understand music?
What is a musical interval?
Is there evidence that early listening exercises can help musical development?
Is this CD beneficial beyond musical development?
How should I play this CD for my baby?
What’s the difference between the hearing exercises on this CD and regular songs and music?
My baby doesn’t seem to be paying attention. Will she still benefit?
Why is there a blues track?
There is no musical talent in my family. Should I even bother?
I recognize melodies in some of the hearing exercises. What are they?
Can you tell me more about the theory of the hearing exercises?
I’ve heard the pentatonic scale is easy for children to process and mimic. Does Baby Virtuoso use the pentatonic scale?
What is the purpose of Baby Virtuoso?
Baby Virtuoso is a tool for the early development of musical language. It is designed to provide the musical building blocks that lay a foundation for musical fluency later in life.
How does Baby Virtuoso work?
The musical patterns in this CD are intended to exercise the ears and stimulate the structures of the brain related to musical processing in the same way that repetitive playing of scales exercises the fingers for a pianist.
Each "hearing exercise" track presents different musical building blocks in order of progressively higher information content. The exercises are compositions that use variations and musical ideas created from the harmonic interval being studied in that track. Included between the “hearing exercise” tracks are fairly simple, classical music compositions that solidify the previous musical concepts.
Can babies understand music?
No. That’s why it makes sense to stimulate the music processing areas of the brain with simpler building blocks of music rather than with complete musical compositions. Harmonic hearing can develop before babies can recognize melodies. There have been several studies that indicate babies absorb musical information and that exposure to music stimulates brain development. Read about these studies in More Info.
What is a musical interval?
Intervals define the harmonic relationships that form the tonal basis for music. An interval is the difference in pitch between two notes. For example, the simplest interval is an octave which is obtained by doubling the pitch. Intervals can be, for instance, categorized as major or minor which describes the tonal quality of the interval. Several intervals played together define chords.
Is there evidence that early listening exercises can help musical development?
Yes, there has been a good deal of research that demonstrates the connection between early exposure to music and development in areas of the brain related to musical processing. It’s known that specific pathways and structures in the brain develop in response to specific stimuli. Conversely, in the absence of these stimuli, the associated areas and pathways wither and disappear. Read about these studies in More Info.
Is this CD beneficial beyond musical development?
Yes. Even if your child does not become a musician, there is a lot of evidence to suggest that musical stimulation promotes development of motor skills. This is because the portion of the brain that controls motor coordination, the cerebellum, also is responsible for maintaining musical timing…it’s the brains metronome. Read about these studies in More Info.
How should I play this CD for my baby?
There’s no right way, and each baby will respond differently from other babies and the response will change over time. Nonetheless, we have some suggestions for how to use Baby Virtuoso. The simplest thing to do is to play the CD all the way through (and perhaps repeat once). Another approach is to start by playing and repeating tracks 1 – 4 for the first month. For the next four months repeat tracks 1 – 7. After that, include tracks 8 and 9.
Track 10 is really a bonus track (a very nice version of Brahms’ Lullaby) that you can use anytime to soothe your baby.
What’s the difference between the hearing exercises on this CD and regular songs and music?
Music is too complex for newborns. When a baby is less than a year old, her brain isn’t organized enough to make sense of what she’s hearing, so music sounds like cacophony. This CD focuses on specific building blocks and tools (such as scales) to help your baby’s brain recognize musical intervals and harmonic.
My baby doesn’t seem to be paying attention. Will she still benefit?
If your baby occasionally notices the music and pays attention even briefly then you can expect her to benefit. Just like babies absorb language passively and one day they just surprise you by saying something, babies also absorb musical information passively.
Why is there a blues track?
Most of modern Western music is based on the major and three minor scales developed in the earlier tracks of this CD. However, a great deal of popular music—rock, blues and jazz—is based on standard blues scales and chord progressions. Therefore, it is beneficial for your baby to be exposed to this type of harmonic arrangement.
There is no musical talent in my family. Should I even bother?
Absolutely. All humans have an innate musical ability. However, these abilities can atrophy quickly as we grow up if they are not exercised. Your child will not develop musical skills without exposure to music. All of the great musicians—from Bach and Mozart to the Beatles and Led Zeppelin—were immersed in music from early childhood.
I recognize melodies in some of the hearing exercises. What are they?
There are some musical quotations in the hearing exercise tracks:
Track 2 ― Strauss Also Sprack Zarathustra and Beethoven Symphony No. 9
Track 8 ― Beethoven Symphony No. 5 and Brahms Piano Concerto No. 1
Can you tell me more about the theory of the hearing exercises?
The tracks in Baby Virtuoso are designed to develop recognition for the western scales (the major and minor scales) so that the intervals constructed from these scales become as natural as words in a spoken language. Early and repeated exposure to musical intervals establishes the building blocks necessary for musical fluency later in life (in the same way that English speakers can hear the difference between ‘r’ and ‘l’ but Japanese speakers cannot since they weren’t exposed to these basic sounds early in life).
Each track presents a theme such as scales, chords, and arpeggios. The theme is presented as a series of variations which typically traverse the circle of fifths so that the interval relationships are emphasized rather than the actual notes. In some cases in the more advanced tracks, jumps across the circle of fifths are employed to produce some harmonic dislocation. The hearing exercises emphasize consonant intervals (intervals that are “pleasing” to the ear). The more advanced exercises include some dissonance (which adds drama and tension to music).
Another important aspect of the hearing exercises is that they are played with a very steady beat. Musical rhythm is coordinated in the cerebellum (the metronome of the brain) which is also responsible for precise motion control. Research in brain development has shown that musical stimulation helps develop the cerebellum. The steady beat enhances this development.
I’ve heard the pentatonic scale is easy for children to process and mimic. Does Baby Virtuoso use the pentatonic scale?
The pentatonic scale is easy for children to process and mimic because it is constructed from the perfect fifth interval (but with the notes re-arranged to fit into an octave). The perfect fifth is the simplest relationship between notes that are not related by an integer frequency multiple. The Orff system utilizes the pentatonic scale due to its simplicity. Baby Virtuoso focuses on the common Western scales and does not use the pentatonic scale, per se. However, the second track uses perfect fifths and the blues and jazz track uses a scale which is an augmentation of the pentatonic scale.