We want to wish all of our readers a Happy Passover and a Happy Easter! Remember to start your day right by listening to Classical music which has the power to improve your mood, make you smarter, help you work faster with more accuracy, improves health and healing, grows healthier plants in fewer days, increases sales in stores, soothes your mind and prevents crime. If school cafeterias and school buses played Classical Music, the students would be calmer and more focused without violent tendencies.
If anyone has an experience they would like to share with our readers on the benefits of classical music please send it and it will be include it in the May 2011 newsletter!
Article for April 2011:“Stress Relief Through Time Management” by Madeline Frank, Ph.D. How do you deal with stress at work? Have you ever thought of organizing, prioritizing and managing your time?
http://madeline-firstimpressions.blogspot.com/2011/03/stress-relief-through-time-management.html
Madeline’s One Minute Musical Radio Show for April 2011:
How did Classical music play a part of Gaston Julia’s life as a mathematician and what instrument did he play?
https://www.madelinefrankviola.com/madelines-one-minute-radio-show/
Question of the Month: Who was Gaston Julia?
Gaston Julia was a mathematician, developed fractals, and was a lifelong musician playing the violin and piano. Gaston Julia’s parents were Delorès Delavent and Joseph Julia. Gaston was born on Feb 3, 1893 in Sidi Bel Abbès, Algeria a French Algerian town. Gaston’s father was a mechanic repairing agricultural machinery. When he was very young Gaston became fascinated with mathematics and music.
At the age of 5 he studied with Sister Theoduline who taught him “to always aim at being top in everything he did”. Her principles were a guiding force for him in his life. She explained to Gaston’s mother the importance of education and even though the family was poor they did their best to financially pay for his education. At seven he attended the Brothers of the Christian Schools where his teachers recognized his academic abilities and encouraged Gaston’s parents to try for a scholarship so he could continue studying in high school.
http://www-history.mcs.st-and.ac.uk/Biographies/Julia.html
At the age of eight, in 1901, Gaston’s family moved to Oran where he attended Lycee in Oran. Gaston’s parents said he was ready to be in grade 5, but the teachers said he had no knowledge of German and the other students had studied the language for a year and Gaston was behind. At this point, Gaston asked that the teachers “give him a month” to catch up and allow him to stay in the class. He studied on his own to catch up and they agreed for him to stay in the class.
Gaston studied hard and “by the end of the year he was the” top student in the class in all subjects including German. “He graduated with distinction in the baccalaureate examinations in” mathematics, science, philosophy and modern languages. In 1910 he won a scholarship to attend the Lycee Janson-de-Sailly in Paris to study higher mathematics. Gaston found it to be very different in Paris then in the country where he was raised. It was not easy in Paris for him and then he contracted typhoid fever. By November of 1910 “he was he was well enough to embark on a course which normally took two years but which he had to complete in the remaining eight months.” During this time he played on a violin his “mother had given him, and it was during this time that he fell in love with the music of Bach, Schubert, and Schumann. Throughout his life these continued to be his favorite composers.” Gaston sat for the entrance examinations for both “École Normale Supériore and the École Polytechnique and placed first in both entrance examinations. He could choose either university but decided to enter the École Normale” because “it was the stronger of the two establishments for mathematics.”
http://www-history.mcs.st-and.ac.uk/Biographies/Julia.html
In 1911, Julia entered the École Normale Supériore and “had just completed the examinations for his first degree in mathematics when political events in Europe interrupted his studies.” In July 1914 a declaration of war was called, and “Germany declared war on France” on August 3rd. On August 4th “Julia received his call up papers” training “with the 57th Infantry Regiment at Libourne”. He was promoted to corporal and then to sub-lieutenant. “He saw action on the western front with the 144th Infantry Regiment when sent to the Chemin des Dames ridge.” On January 25, 1915 “they launched a strong attack on the French lines where Julia and his men had just arrived” and were “under violent bombardment” when , Julia, 22 years of age, was “struck by a bullet in the middle of his face causing a terrible injury.” He could not speak ” but wrote on a ticket that he would not be evacuated. He only went to the ambulance when the attack had been driven back. It was the first time this officer had come under fire.” Julia had many unsuccessful and painful operations to try and repair the damage. By 1918 he was wearing “a leather strap across his face”. For the rest of his life he would wear it.
http://www-history.mcs.st-and.ac.uk/Biographies/Julia.html
“Between these painful operations he continued his mathematical researches often in his hospital bed. He undertook research at the Collège de France, beginning in 1916, and in 1917 he submitted his doctoral dissertation Étude sur les formes binaires non quadratiques à indéterminées réelles ou complexes, ou à indéterminées conjuguées. The examiners of his thesis were Emile Picard, Henri Lebesgue and Pierre Humbert, with Picard as president of the examining committee.”
Julia married in 1918 Marianne Chausson, one of his nurses who had taken care of him at the hospital. “Marianne was the daughter of the romantic composer Ernest Chausson.”
Julia at the age of 25 “published his 199 page masterpiece Mémoire sur l’iteration des fonctions rationelles which made him famous in the mathematics centers of his day.” His paper was published in the ” Journal de Math. Pure et Appl. 8 (1918), 47-245, concerned the iteration of a rational function f. Julia gave a precise description of the set J(f) of those z in C for which the nth iterate f n(z) stays bounded as n tends to infinity.” He was awarded “the Grand Prix of the Academy of Sciences for” his remarkable work.
Julia wrote “6 volumesof his collected works ” on mathematics published from 1968 through 1970. He wrote the Prefaces to each volume. ” Volume 1 contains a list of Julia’s 232 publications from 1913 to 1965. These 232 publications consist of 157 research papers, 30 books, and 45 articles on the history of science or miscellaneous topics.”
Through the years he was professor at many top mathematical institutes including the Sorbonne, École Polytechnique, École Navale, and the Peccot Foundation. Throughout his mathematical life Julia was honored with “many honors for his outstanding mathematical contributions.” On March 5, 1934 Julia “was elected to the Academy of Sciences”, in 1950 he “was elected President of the Academy” and officer of the Légion d’Honneur. In Sweden he was”elected to the Upsal Academy , in Rome to the Pontifical Academy , and he was elected “President of the French Mathematical Society.”
http://www-history.mcs.st-andrews.ac.uk/Biographies/Julia.html
In 1970 Mandelbrot realized through his computer graphics the beauty of Julia’s work in fractals while working at IBM’s Watson Research Center. “This led to the first computer programs to print graphics.”
http://www-history.mcs.st-and.ac.uk/Biographies/Mandelbrot.html
Gaston and Marianne Julia “had six children: Jérôme, Christophe, Jean-Baptiste, Marc, Daniel, and Sylvestre.” He was a lifelong musician. Gaston Julia died on March 19, 1978 in Paris, France at the age of 85.
“Listening to Music Can Prompt the Brain to Send Positive Signals Throughout the Body” (Feb. 28, 2011) from the Washington Post. “Researchers have now proved that listening to your favorite melodies and harmonies can trigger the brain to release large amounts of dopamine, a chemical that sends “feel good” signals to the rest of the body and plays a role in both motivation and addiction.” In January 2011 a study was published in “Nature Neuroscience” using “brain scans to show that college students released significantly more dopamine when they heard their preferred music (which ranged from Beethoven to Led Zeppelin to the Israeli trance band Infected Mushroom) as opposed to someone else’s tunes.”
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/02/28/AR2011022806231.html
“Music Therapy” (March 15, 2011) from the Journal On Line,www.journal.com.ph. “A study among college students with sleep problems found that those who listened to classical music for 45 minutes before bedtime for three weeks had better-quality sleep and fewer depression symptoms.”
“Music for a lifetime: ‘Music in Our Schools Month’ Sheds Light On The Benefits of Music Education” (March 6, 2011) by Megan Gloss from the Th OnLine.com. “Roosevelt Middle School recently conducted a study that examined Iowa Test of Basic Skills scores of students in its music programs and found that they performed consistently higher than those not involved in music.” Daniel Norman, band director at Roosevelt said, “Music benefits students in such a positive way. In band, we always talk about working as a team. There is no second string instrument. Everyone is a first string. Understanding that and encouraging students to pull their own weight gives way to strong leadership skills, a good work ethic and a sense of accomplishment — skills needed to be successful in life.”
http://www.thonline.com/article.cfm?id=313794
“Lifting Spirits Through Music” (March 9, 2011) by Steve Lopez from The Los Angeles Times. Gupta and Dellinger played a concert for the patients at L.A. County Department of Mental Health. Lisa Wong, clinical program director said, “In the words of Plato music gives soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination and life to everything.” Wong introduced musicians Gupta on violin and Dellinger on viola. Gupta said “Music isn’t just something that makes us feel good …I believe it is therapy.” Dellinger said ” music was my savior .” He said he keenly understood “the healing power of music.”
http://www.latimes.com/news/columnists/la-me-0309-lopez-20110308,0,1325583.column
For more scientific evidence, medical evidence, test results, and true stories of the world’s scientists, medical doctors, and mathematicians who have studied and played musical instruments since they were children read “The Secret of Teaching Science & Math Through Music” by Madeline Frank, Ph.D. Click on the link:
https://www.madelinefrankviola.com/the-secret-of-teaching-science-and-math-through-music/
“Musical Notes On Math” teaches your child fractions and decimals, the fun way, through the rhythm of music, Winner of the Parent To Parent Adding Wisdom Award. For more information click on the following link:
https://www.madelinefrankviola.com/musical-notes-on-math/
For Tips on how to use “Musical Notes On Math” click on the following link:
https://www.madelinefrankviola.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/pg47.pdf