Music produces reorganization of brain function, and such change can be detected by analysis of the electroencephalogram (EEG, "brain waves"). Russian investigators have provided the first evidence of these processes in children. Writing in the journal Human Physiology (1996, volume 22, pages 76-81), T. N. Malyarenko and his co-authors played classical music one hour per day over six months to four year old children in a preschool setting.

A control group had no exposure to music but simply the normal classroom sounds. The classical music group had an increase in a part of the alpha rhythm frequency band and, greater similarities ("coherence") between different regions of the cerebral cortex, most pronounced in the frontal lobes. Greater coherence is thought by some workers to indicate better "cooperation" among brain regions but others view it as typical of increased relaxation.

A particularly noteworthy aspect of this report is that the EEG changes occurred in a passive listening situation, in which the children were not required to pay attention to the music. Whether the effects are specific to a particular type of music remains to be studied. Also needed are controls for mere exposure to novel sounds.