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On January 15, 1895, in his presentation to the Sanpetersburg public, Swan Lake had its first worldwide success (a pity that Chaikovsky, author of the music, had died two years earlier), and in May 2018 had its first success with an audience that, although still incapable of applauding and pirouetting, did not stop being positively stimulated and reacting to the composer's work from the comfort of their mothers' wombs: 48 fetuses among women in the third trimester of pregnancy at the University Hospital of Bydgoszcz, in Poland.

Putting music to unborn babies is not new to any present or future mother who remembers the famous and non-existent Mozart Effect, used some time ago by the Disney company to sell millions of compact discs with a Mozartian potpourri supposedly intended to increase the intelligence quotient of their children to levels that, had it worked, would have made it impossible for Trump, Bolsonaro and others to be presidents of their respective countries.

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At the time, the problem was that the original scientific article on which the Mozart Effect preachers claimed to be based did not speak of an increase in intelligence by listening to Symphony No. 1. 40 (or some other work of this musician), it was not about unborn and, if the effect to which it did refer is verified, this one not even --- Quiet as swans --- But let us assume the risks (we do not believe, or at least we do not expect, that Disney will flood us again with Baby Einstein products) and let us speak here of the Tchaikovsky Effect: within their mother, the fetus is able to recognize sounds, and there is even evidence that infants who, in their fetal life, heard pop music from a television program followed by their teleaddicts (perhaps only interested) mothers moved more when they heard that music and experienced changes in their heart rate and behavior up to 4 days after birth.

In the case of the 48 pregnant women, the researchers recorded fetal movements and uterine contractions (in medical jargon: cardiotocographic parameters) using ultrasound in the absence of music and compared these measurements with the results after fifteen-minute music-therapeutic sessions in which they listened to chaikovskian fragments of Swan Lake or Sleeping Beauty. The musical exposure of mother and fetus to Swan Lake caused a decrease in uterine contractions, while the movements of their children within them increased markedly compared to sessions without music. Since, in addition, the accelerations (heart rate elevations) and variability (irregular heart rate) of fetals increased, and both are signs of well-being of unborn babies, this means that the music therapy was positive for both mother and child (unless the former does not like Tchaikovsky, but apparently this did not happen with any of the participants).

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Sleeping babies

By opting for Sleeping Beauty - much less energetic and much closer to a lullaby - the effect on contractions was the same, but the movements and accelerations of the fetuses decreased (possibly because more than one was reassured by the rhythm of this piece of music or even fell asleep).

The authors of the study also point out that the Chaikovksi Effect -in fact, of any other relaxing classical music- can be used to prevent premature births in women at risk of suffering from anxiety and fear, by reducing the number of contractions they experience and, in the case of tranquilizing ballets such as Sleeping Beauty, to take advantage of it in cases of fetal tachycardia caused by maternal anxiety. But for those pregnant women who relax too much with Tchaikovsky, a single warning: do not try this music therapy while driving.

Source The Universe/GDA

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