Doctors say: Play Babies Mozart in the Womb

... not Adele

Unborn babies prefer Mozart to Adele, say doctors. Picture: Getty

By Maddy Shaw Roberts, ClassicFM London

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A new study has found foetuses prefer listening to classical music over contemporary pop songs.

Research by fertility doctors shows that overall, babies prefer listening to classical music than pop songs in the womb.

Beethoven’s ‘Ode to Joy’ from his Symphony No. 9 and Bach’s Sonata for flute, among others, elicited the happiest responses.

Read more: Does playing Mozart to your unborn baby really make it smarter?

Meanwhile, songs like Adele’s ‘Someone Like You’ and Queen’s ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ saw the lowest level of response.

Scientists at the Institute Marques in Barcelona studied the mouth and tongue movements of over 300 unborn babies, aged between 18 and 38 weeks.

The foetuses were exposed to a range of 15 songs which fell into the following categories: classical, traditional world music, and pop or rock.

Classical music caused the greatest level of reaction (84 per cent), followed by traditional music (79 per cent) and pop or rock music (59 per cent).

Researchers said it is very unusual for these movements to happen during the second and third trimesters of pregnancy without a stimulus such as music.

Unborn babies don’t react well to Adele’s ‘Someone Like You’. Picture: Getty

The study proves that music is capable of stimulating neurological activity, triggering areas of the brain linked to language and communication.

Dr. Marisa López-Teijón, Director of Institut Marquès, told The Telegraph: “Music is a form of ancestral communication between humans, the communication through sounds, gestures and dances preceded the spoken language.

“The first language was more musical than verbal, and it still is; we still tend instinctively to speak in a high pitched voice, because we know that newborn perceive those better, and this way they understand that we want to communicate with them.”

Dr López-Teijón’s team also tried playing classical music to embryos which have undergone IVF fertilisation.

They said it increases chances of success by up to five per cent.

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Beyonce is actually a mezzo-soprano

Fact: Beyoncé is actually an insanely good operatic mezzo-soprano in disguise

By Daniel Ross, ClassicFM London

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Beyoncé Knowles is an uncompromising vocal actress who has been using operatic techniques throughout her career - and this is how she does it.

When we think of Beyoncé, we think of the voice. Pure, powerful, aggressive when necessary and plaintive when wounded. This is not a revelation - people have been nuts over her voice for years. 

What’s surprising is that, whether she’s conscious of it or not, Beyoncé’s voice is an almost perfect opera soprano - it’s just that she’d probably never use it for opera. Let’s take a look at some examples of how Bey’s voice actually has its roots in the classical tradition:

Character

One of Beyoncé’s strongest traits is her commitment to character. No matter the size of the venue, she maximises every emotional gesture, and not just in her voice. She’s playing to every seat in the house, fully aware that there’s a whacking great LED screen projecting her image to anyone with eyeballs. 

Here she is singing ‘1+1’ live on telly in America, absolutely embodying her character - it’s essentially a one-sided love duet, during which she KNEELS ON THE PIANO LIKE A LEGEND:

You know else embodies their characters like this? The greats:

Range

Queen B’s range is really something, and we’re used to hearing her rocketing up to the very limits of her soprano range. But what about the very bottom end of it? In the opening verse of ‘Halo’ she effortlessly shoots down to a low C sharp as if it’s nothing:

At the other end of the scale, listen to how Cecilia Bartoli supports herself at the extremes of her register:

Stagecraft

When you’ve got fireworks going off, dozens of TV cameras pointing at you and co-stars to interact with, most of us would probably forget to sing. Or, more accurately, curl up under the stage and do a solid hour of fear-crying. But not Beyoncé - here she is literally in formation as she performs ‘Formation’ for a TV audience of approximately everyone on Earth who ever lived:

So in Puccini’s La Bohème, this set-piece from the end of the second act uses the exact same skills. All the singers integrate with dozens of extras, a whole marching band and complex ensemble singing without breaking a sweat.

Attitude

This is a more nebulous one, and it’s an absolute cop-out to put it down to ‘star quality’ or ‘the x-factor’, but Beyoncé has what Maria Callas has, what Joyce DiDonato has, what Montserrat Caballé has - attitude. The kind of attitude where you can headline Glastonbury while pregnant, where your voice sounds as slick on record as it does when someone’s filming you on their phone.

Here’s Joyce DiDonato still performing WITH A BROKEN LEG:

So, Beyoncé, we salute your technique, your voice and, most of all, your attitude. You’re already doing what so many operatic sopranos should be doing already.

via GIPHY

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