Classical Music Can Change Your Life!

Music has been scientifically proven to improve brain function, promote relaxation, and recognize mathematical structures to music just by listening! Your brain does a heavy mental workout as it recognizes tone, notes, time signatures, and patterns through electrical waves. 

Here are some classical music CD's at Aurora Public Library that can give your brain the workout it needs to stay sharp!

1. The A to Z of Classical Music
   Call Number: CD CLASSICAL A
2. Relaxation
   Call Number: CD NEW AGE RELAX
   Description: Naxos Special Projects brings listeners the Relaxation Collection. Listen with eyes closed and immerse the mind in the waves of some of the most tranquil pieces of classical music.
3. 50 Classical Masterworks
   Call Number: CD CLASSICAL FIFTY
   Description: A collection of the most essential masterworks of classical music. Enjoy fifty favorite melodies from the world's best composers in outstanding interpretations by the greatest artists, including the Vienna Philharmonic, Berlin Philharmonic, Gustavo Dudamel, Martha Argerich, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau and more.
4. Calming Classicals With Nature Ambience
   Call Number: CD NEW AGE CALMI
   Description: Take the mind on a journey to nature, any time, any place.

Listening to classical music can also be effective, but playing classical music does the most beneficial work for the mind. Playing instruments increases cognitive function because it requires you to use every part of the brain simultaneously, giving your brain a consistent workout. Studies have shown students who played instruments regularly scored higher on IQ tests, had increased motor function, and "enhanced vocabulary and nonverbal reasoning".

Here are some classical music CD's for children:

1. My first classical music album
   Call Number: J CD CLASSICAL MY
2. Classical Music Nursery Rhymes
   Call Number: J CD POPULAR CLASS
   Description: Majors for Minors: Classical Music Nursery Rhymes presents 20 nursery rhyme favorites with arrangements inspired by classical music. "London Bridge," "Yankee Doodle," "Mary Had a Little Lamb," and "Oh Dear, What Can the Matter Be" are some of the singalong favorites that get the symphonic treatment here. Though the arrangements don't recall any specific style or era of classical music, they do manage to differentiate each of the rhymes' sing-song melodies. And while the album's reliance on synths gives it a somewhat cold, digital feel, Classical Nursery Rhymes is a lively, playful collection overall.
3. Baby Play
   Call Number: J CD CLASSICAL BABY
   Description: 13 joyful tracks that are perfect background music for the developing mind of a playing toddler.

You can find the Adult CD's on the shelves behind the main computer area on the first floor. The Juvenile CD's can be found on the shelf in front of the Multi-Purpose program room on the second floor!

For more information: BBC Music Magazine, National Library of Medicine