Abstract

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Symmetry: Culture and Science
Volume 35, Number 3, pages 245-248 (2024)
https://doi.org/10.26830/symmetry_2024_3_245

MODELS WITH SYMMETRY: FROM MOZART EFFECT TO OPTIMAL LISTENING

Vladimir Gueorguiev^1*, Maria Laura Manca²

¹ University of Pisa, Pisa, Italy
Email: georgiev@dm.unipi.it

² University of Pisa, Pisa, Italy
Email: laura.manca@unipi.it

^* corresponding author

Abstract: The report is devoted to analyzing how SYMMETRY plays a crucial role in two biomathematical models. As starting point we begin with Mozart effect. Experimental observations on humans, after listening to Mozart sonata for two pianos in D major (K448), firstly reported by Rauscher, Shaw, and Ky (1993). They made the surprising claim that, after listening to Mozart's sonata for two pianos (K448) for 10 minutes, normal subjects can improve the spatial reasoning skills. The term "Mozart effect" date back to the French otolaryngologist and psychologist Alfred A. Tomatis, who in the book "Pourquoi Mozart?” describes his experience in the treatment of a wide range of developmental disorders, such as autism or Down syndrome. With a rehabilitative technique called the "Tomatis Method”, based on Mozart's music, important therapeutic successes would be obtained. Tomatis claims that Mozart's music favors complex brain activities such as maths and chess, improving spatial - temporal perception. Recall that K 448 is a sonata in D Major for two pianos, written in 1781, composed by 3 movements, the first and third being fast and brilliant, while the second one is “Andante”. As a natural tool to analyze this Mozart’s sonata we have chosen a frequency analysis of the most frequent notes appearing in appropriately chosen part of the sonata. Then we study the corresponding transfer of these data to a subset of integer numbers (modulo 7 or modulo 12). The statistical analysis we propose gives an idea how frequently consecutive Fibonacci numbers (modulo seven or modulo 12) appear in the chosen part of the sonata.

References:
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Tomatis, A. (1994) Pourquoi Mozart? Fixot, 204 pp.