“Turn down the volume on that Music!”

Which fortunate parent of a teenager hasn’t at some time in desperation resorted to that simple command shortly to be followed by, “Anyway, I don’t know how you can revise with that din going on?”

I keep coming across teachers who argue strongly that for some children music is a great aid to learning.

I have been trying to put together the pieces of the musical jigsaw.  Some however are still missing so I’d welcome some help from readers of the Bulletin.  Let me explain.

It’s difficult for me anyway because I am one of those people whose musical intelligence is at the ‘working towards’ level.  Most of my family, friends and acquaintances either live for music or enrich their lives through it: some even make a living from it.  David Perkins, for example, the Head of the Birmingham Music Service, runs a cheerful generous band of such people whose infectious skill as coaches coupled with the perceptive eyes and ears of our primary teachers continues to ensure that if you are musically talented you stand much more chance of developing it if you live in Birmingham.  You’ll have the chance to take the opportunities the Music Service provides; and of course there are all the riches of the international standards of music on our doorstep in the Birmingham community.  Would that all the international role models in other fields emulated the CBSO members and others in the musical and artistic world who work in the schools alongside children and teachers and then invite them to their performances.  No wonder the Music Service wins all these national and international awards.

But it’s not the familiar territory of that sort of musical experience that intrigues me.  (Although it’s always fascinating to see how social and cultural influences affect the composition of Birmingham-wide ensembles, orchestras and bands.  For example why is it that to this day children in the Longbridge area are disproportionately represented in silver and brass bands while children form Warborne, Sutton Coldfield and Moseley are well represented in the symphony orchestra?  And what of the steel bands?  And how strong are the eastern traditions?  It’s all very difficult to aim for pluralist practice when spotting global talent!).

It is however a different musical connection to learning which fascinates me: not as the first lines of this column suggests ‘musak’, but the environmental musical influence which helps some people learn.

It was very early in my voyage of discovery round Birmingham schools that I found early years teachers using certain sorts of music to affect pupil behaviour.  “I find the children respond to the music I use in the classroom just as they do in Assembly and when we take them to the hall for music and movement sessions.  I use it in the classroom to practice listening, fine motor movement and as an aid to story telling with the whole class,” is how one reception class teacher explained it.  Then there was the secondary head teacher who, as so many do now, had employed a consultant to run workshops for youngsters in Year 10 and 11 to help them with memory development techniques associated with learning new material and revision.  “I make no bones about it.  Anything that seems to help I’ll try,” she declared when explaining that she now personally gave a tape of Baroque music to each Year 11 student every September.

The other day I came across a brief theatrical explanation of this use of music to aid learning.  According to Lozanov, a Bulgarian psychologist who had startling success in teaching students a new language, you can use what he calls ‘passive concerts (of Baroque music typically) both to consolidate the learning of language (and presumably other new material) and as a background which for many people aids learning.

His list of passive concert music is

Vivaldi:
Five concertos for Flute and Chamber Orchestra

Handel:
Concerto for Organ and Orchestra in B flat Major - Op. 7. No. 6

J.S. Bach:
Prelude in G Major,
‘Dogmatic Chorales’

Corelli:
Concerti Grossi, Op.6. Nos. 4, 10, 11 9 12.

J.S. Bach:
Fantasia for Organ in G. Major,
Fantasia in C Minor.

Couperin:
Sonatas for Harpsichord:
‘Le Parnasse’ (Apotheosis of Corelli)
’L’Estree’

J.E Rameau:
Concert Pieces for Harpsichord
‘Pieces de Clavecin’ No. 1 and No. 5

More contentiously he goes on to argue that one way of learning a new language is to create a play with words set out in both languages in text form.  The teacher then acts out the new language to an ‘active concert’.  The pieces for this concert are:-

Beethoven:
Concerto for Piano and Orchestra No. 5 in B flat Major.

Mozart:
Symphony in D Major, ‘Haffner’;
Symphony in D Major, ‘Prague’

Haydn:
Concerto No. 1 in C Major for Violin and Orchestra;
Concerto No. 2 in G Major for Violins and Orchestra.

Haydn:
Symphony in C Major No. 101, ‘L’Horioge’;
Symphony in G Major No. 84.

Mozart:
Concerto for Violin and Orchestra in A Major No. 5;
Symphony in A Major No. 28;
Symphony in G Minor No. 40.

Brahms:
Concerto for Violin and Orchestra in D Major op. 77.

Students are encouraged to use the earlier ‘passive’ concertos as useful for consolidating learning and as background to coursework completion.

I’m not sure what to make of all this.  If there is something in it, the implications for Birmingham (where so many children come from homes where there is a strong community language) are significant.  David Perkins and his team may point out that those who enjoy music will be busy listening to the concert.  Does that take me back to the familiar first sentences of this article?

All I know is that I met a group of Year 11 girls at a city-centre exhibition: they come from the school where the head teacher hands out the tape of baroque music.  So I asked them an innocent question to see if their impression corroborated their head teacher’s confidence: they were overwhelmingly enthusiastic.

I have written this piece to Vivaldi’s ‘Four Seasons’.  I didn’t especially listen and I’m not conscious of hearing it.  I suppose it‘s all down to each person’s preferred learning style.  Now there’s a whole other story …