Japanese Philharmonic prescribes classical music medicine

A new initiative from the Japanese Philharmonic Orchestra sees their audiences 'prescribed' certain pieces of classical music to suit their needs, winning a prestigious award along the way.

The Japanese Pill-harmonic aims to cure all musical ills with a custom-prescribed piece of classical music. Concerned by falling concert attendance and general engagement with their audience, the orchestra has commissioned a series of pharmaceutical 'pills' for listeners to take.

Each pill is actually a micro SD card pre-loaded with specially selected classical music, prescribed for particular ailments. Those wishing to have younger-looking skin will be given Vivaldi's Four Seasons, people having trouble sleeping are given Mahler's Symphony No. 10, and those who wish to enhance their appetite will be treated to Rossini's music from The Barber Of Seville.

Slightly strangely, constipation sufferers will hopefully recover thanks to the sounds of Brahms' Symphony No. 1.

A spokesman from the orchestra explained the project: "We started prescribing classical music as an alternative medicine – namely, Japan Pill-Harmonic. The ‘pills’ are actually classical music data, put in small packages that looks like an envelope for prescription drugs. Different ‘pills’ are prescribed for each ‘symptom’ – like sleeping, vitamin effects or stomachache."

"People are healed by listening to the prescribed classical music data in micro-chips on the device they prefer."

The project has since been named a Gold Winner at the Cannes Lions Design Awards.

Classical music makes New Zealand hens lay larger eggs

A New Zealand vineyard has discovered that playing classical music to its resident hens has made their eggs noticeably larger. 
 


The Yealands Wine Estate 's owner, Peter Yealands, initially started playing classical music on his estate in an attempt to make his wine-producing vines stronger and less prone to disease, but he discovered that it actually made the estate's resident hens lay larger eggs instead.

He told Stuff.co.nz: "There's a line of thought among a few cranks like me that plants respond to music." But when he began playing the works of Mozart, Bach and Strauss in the hen houses, he noticed a remarkable change in the size of eggs they were laying.

"I've weighed the eggs singly and by the dozen to compare them and there is a 19 per cent difference," claims the vineyard's resident bird expert Peter Funnell. "I've never seen anything like this. Apart from the music, I really can't explain why these chooks are producing such big eggs."

According to the estate, eggs produced in hen houses with no music played into them tended to weigh 52 grams each, while eggs laid in the house with classical music were closer to 62 grams each.

Suggestions for more hen house repertoire include Oeufenbach, Beethoven's Eggmont Overture and the complete works of Pecktor Berlioz.