Mozart 'makes maths easier' (WOLFGANG AMADEUS ALERT)

The Daily Telegraph ^ | October 19, 2002 | Paul Stokes

[MadIvan]

Mozart has brought a dramatic improvement to maths lessons at a primary school.

Teachers have also noted better behaviour, motivation and speed of learning amongst four- to 11-year-olds in a year-long pilot scheme to assess whether listening to music stimulates the brain in an academic context.

As one test, one Year 6 class was played Mozart during maths lessons for a term while another was taught normally.

Pupils subjected to the background music performed 10 per cent better than their counterparts.

Doulla Simon, the head teacher, said: "We have found that Mozart symphonies which have complicated note patterns stimulate mathematical thinking. The music reaches certain parts of the brain which other composers do not."

Before yesterday's assembly at Windhill School in Mexborough, South Yorks, Vivaldi's Four Seasons could be heard from the new £1,000 audio system provided by Doncaster education authority.

Tapes and CDs are played through lessons and break times, mostly classical and many supplied by the teachers although the pupils' favourite music is accepted if deemed suitable.

The project is an adaptation of the accelerated learning programme for schools developed by the educationalist Alistair Smith.

Chopin and Brahms are also used for assemblies, Beethoven is used as a calming influence and when pupils are given time to sit and think alone they can listen to Samuel Barber's Adagio for Strings.

However, pop music is also used to accompany more active moments, such as moving tables for group work.

One 10-year-old, Gabrielle Axe, said: "Pop gees us up, classical calms us down. Music is better when you are moving and gets you to walk instead of run."

Paul Sydney, a music teacher, said: "It is early days yet but they respond to the music, they settle better and it creates an atmosphere. It gives them a different attitude and heightened awareness."

And when a teacher wants a classroom tidied up, the perfect choice of music has been found to be Rimsky-Korsakov's Flight of the Bumble Bee.

[St.Chuck]

As for Mozart - they have found that playing it to young children, even playing it around pregnant mothers, is good for babies overall health and intelligence. The man was obviously writing with God's assistance.

Who is they? Last I heard this legend has been debunked.

[The Red Zone]

Music is a very mathematical art. The acoustic frequencies and musical intervals of harmony, the timing of rhythm, all represent mathematical relationships and logical thinking. The best organist one of my friends knew -- he could keep three lines of counterpoint going at once without missing a beat -- was a math major in college.

[irv]

everything thinks they need background music.

I always have. Wagner and Beethoven, mostly. Occasionally Jethro Tull.

[Prodigal Son]

Sounds like a good theory.

[Cvengr]

I used to work with some MDs who had performed some research o the issue with some psychiatrists. In a nutshell, they believed that near shortterm recall, such as memory of events or training within a 6 week period, tended to be reinforced by similar environment.

So if you always studied by music, your best response in testing would be with a music background.

Since most examinations aren't conducted with the same music background, their recomendations were to study without music. However, if one was studying 18hrs a day for several months straight, the theraputic and relaxing effect of music in and of itself might prove more beneficial than study in dead silence.

[ConservativeDude]

My two-year-old son has recently shown an alarming affinity for Beethoven....

I think I need to back track and take him through Bach and Mozart before "progressing" to Ludwig van....Beethoven is just so...intense, dramatic, expressive. I think he/I need to enjoy some of the joy and beauty in the first two of the big 3 before experiencing (notice I did not say "enjoying") Beethoven....