Cuttings

Mozart 'makes maths easier'

Daily Telegraph
By Paul Stokes
Daily Telegraph 19/10/2002

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.