Soundcheck

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Music and the Infant Mind

Thursday, July 24, 2008

Are you paying attention to how you bounce that baby on your knee? If you want him to be a country star, bounce him to the two-step. If a waltz is more your preference, then rock him to sleep on every third beat. On today's show, we look at the effects of exposing different music, and rhythms, on developing brains with a brain researcher and a music writer-dad. Also: composer Joshua Camp shares his new composition honoring Brooklyn’s Prospect Park.

Online Poll! Be sure to vote for the hottest song of the summer. Tune in Friday, July 25 to hear the results.

Your Baby's Brain on Music

Your baby is home from the hospital: What music will be his first? Mozart to make him smarter? Schoenberg to make him a radical? Bulgarian folk songs' spirited rhythms? Music critic, and father, Jeremy Eichler spent a year playing different music for his infant son. He joins us, along with Laurel Trainor, Director or the Auditory Development Lab at McMaster University in Ontario.

Our blog: John Schaefer weighs in on the use (and abuse) of music for your baby

Weigh in: If you’re a parent, tell us how used (or abused) music and rhythm with your baby.

"Can't Get It Out of My Head: A Father's Yearlong Quest to Grasp the Infant Musical Mind" by Jeremy Eichler

Camp Appeal

Think the first radical musical work of the twentieth century -- Charles Ives' "Central Park In the Dark" -- minus ragtime, plus reggaeton. That's how composer Joshua Camp describes his new piece in honor of Brooklyn's Prospect Park. He joins us to talk about the piece, and will bring a band with unusual instrumentation to perform it live: two trombones, two violas, a violin and a vibraphone.