Beethoven And Mahler: Behaviour Control

Tom Service is a 33-year-old classical music critic. For 25 years of concert-going he found himself to be amongst the youngest in the audience.

But there is something else that is strange:

“I've noticed that bus and train stations now pipe canned classical music, day-in, day-out, through their speakers as a way of stopping young people hanging around. So toxic have the associations become, that this experiment actually works: there is evidence that playing Beethoven and Mahler has reduced antisocial behaviour on the transport network.”

He went on:

“An entire generation, aged between 10 and 30, seems radically disenfranchised from classical music. How, and when, did this happen?”

What has happened to the free CD of Mozart babies get? What has happened to the Mozart Effect? Admittedly it was only Beethoven and Mahler, both my favourite composers.

Then in Finland:

“A couple of years ago, I saw a class of seven-year-olds in Helsinki enthusiastically learning Finnish and maths by performing sophisticated little songs with astonishing tuning and rhythm. And this wasn't a music school - just a typical Finnish state primary. Finland only developed its curriculum in the postwar period, but it works: today, the Finns are classical music world-beaters, and their education system has produced more great instrumentalists, conductors and composers per capita than any other country on earth.”

Esa-Pekka Salonen is of course the Principle conductor of the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra and Finland’s most famous music export in recent times.

Now, my daughter is a Mathematician and whenever she had any problems in working through some of her research she would play the piano for an hour. It works for her.

I was at a concert recently and a large numbers of players in the orchestra were Koreans. Well apart from steel, the Koreans are now into golf and music in a big way. The LPGA is certainly dominated by Koreans. Could it be that music gave them the edge in golf as well, not just the chopsticks?

Tom again:

“Here is a ready-made answer to the problems of renewing classical music's role in society. Make them statutory requirements for every local authority, and give them the responsibility for rebuilding the network of classical musical possibility that used to resound throughout the country.”

And perhaps throw in golf for good measure.

Tom Service’s last words:

“We've already lost one generation - we can't afford to lose another.”

Dr Am Ang Zhang