From Henry Law
Is it only Mozart’s music that boosts brain power, or can Gregorian chant do
the same
(6 November, p 34)?
In Chant by Katherine Le Mée, the story is told of French ear
specialist Alfred Tomatis’s visit to a Benedictine monastery in France in the
early 1960s. At the time, the Second Vatican Council had just recommended
replacing chanted Latin with the vernacular for prayer.
He found that monks who had survived on the customary three or four hours
sleep a night were now tired and prone to illness. Putting it down to too little
sleep, the abbot allowed more—but to no avail. The introduction of meat
into the monks’ vegetarian diet didn’t help either.
The situation deteriorated until 1967 when Tomatis was invited back to the
monastery. When he arrived, seventy of the ninety monks were lying listlessly in
their cells. He found that as well as suffering from fatigue, the monks’ hearing
was also impaired. His treatment was a device called an Electronic Ear, which
was supposed to improve hearing. He also recommended the restoration of daily
chanting.
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Within nine months the monks had experienced an extraordinary recovery. Most
were able to return to the extended periods of prayer, limited sleep and
demanding physical work that had been part of their routine for centuries.
Brighton
