We wish all our readers a very Happy and Healthy Thanksgiving. Classical music has the power to motivate, inspire, educate and soothe pain. No one is immune from the power of music. Many of the world’s scientists, medical doctors, mathematicians, writers, and teachers have studied and played musical instruments since they were children. These eminent individuals have integrated music into their thinking process. This is the 255 anniversary of Mozart’s birth. Classical music has tremendous healing power. In newspapers across the United States, music is being used to help patients relax after having surgery, help critically ill patients in intensive care units to mend, volunteer musicians are playing concerts at the bedside of patients, patients with Parkinson’s are improving their balance and movement through learning to dance the Tango and students do their homework after school, while listening to classical music in the background.
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 December 2011 newsletter.
November’s article of the month:
“Are You A Problem Solver or A Complainer?” by Dr. Madeline Frank
http://ezinearticles.com/?Are-You-A-Problem-Solver-or-A-Complainer?&id=6577181
http://madeline-firstimpressions.blogspot.com/2011/09/are-you-problem-solver-or-complainer.html
For other articles by Dr. Madeline Frank click on the following link:
http://ezinearticles.com/?expert=Madeline_Frank
Dr. Madeline Frank’s new book “Leadership on a Shoestring Budget” is now available
through amazon.com. Click on the following Amazon.com link to order your copy of
“Leadership On A Shoestring Budget”
Madeline’s Musical One Minute Radio Show for November 2011
How did Classical music play a part of Dr. Max Born’s life as a physicist and mathematician and what musical instrument did he play? Click here for your Radio Show
https://www.madelinefrankviola.com/madelines-one-minute-radio-show/
Who was Dr. Max Born?
Dr. Max Born was the physicist and mathematician who taught 9 Nobel Prize winners before he won his Nobel Prize in Physics in 1954 “for his fundamental research in quantum mechanics.” He was married to Hedwig Ehrenberg on August 2, 1913 and they had 3 children. Their oldest was Irene Born Newton -John. She has 3 children. Her youngest is pop singer Olivia Newton-John. Dr. Born’s son, Gustov Born, is a Pharmacologist and has 5 children including his daughter Georgina Born who is a British anthropologist, cellist, and pianist. Dr. Max Born was also a fine pianist who played duets with his friend Albert Einstein on violin. He also played two piano concertos with Werner Heisenberg.
Max Born was born on Dec 11, 1882 in Breslau, German Empire, now called Wroclaw, Poland, to Gustav Born, his father, an anatomist and embryologist and Margarethe ‘Gretchen’ Kauffmann Born, his mother, was “from a Silesian family of industrialists. It was from his mother that Born inherited his love for music.” Max Born has a younger sister born two years after him. At an early age Max began to study the piano. His mother passed away when he was 4 years old.
http://www.vigyanprasar.gov.in/scientists/mborn.htm
As a young child he spent a year at home being tutored privately due to illness caused by asthma and colds that “continued to afflict him throughout his life.”
http://www.vigyanprasar.gov.in/scientists/mborn.htm
Max Born attended preparatory school for two years then attended “the Wilhelm’s Gymnasium in Breslau. At the Gymnasium, Born studied a wide range of subjects including mathematics, physics, history, modern languages, Latin, Greek, and German.” While attending the Gymnasium his interests were in the humanities.
http://www.vigyanprasar.gov.in/scientists/mborn.htm
Teachers and Classmates who inspired and encouraged Max Born’s interest in mathematics and science:
Max Born in 1901 attended the University of Breslau where he “followed his father’s advice” and took a wide range of courses that included physics, mathematics, chemistry, astronomy, logic, zoology, and philosophy. While attending Breslau University, his mathematics teachers were London and Rosanes. “It was Rosanes, who introduced Born to the idea of group theory and matrix calculus, which Born later used successfully to solve physical problems. London’s lectures on definite integrals and analytical mechanics were clear and lucid.”
http://www.vigyanprasar.gov.in/scientists/mborn.htm
Born became interested in mathematics because of the excellent teachings of Rosanes and London. Several of his classmates awakened his interest in science and astronomy. Born,”in his later life acknowledged his debt to Otto Toeplitz for the first introduction to these pathfinders in mathematical science’.” Toeplitz whose father was a mathematician and teacher introduced Max Born to the mathematicians Cauchy, Legrange, Euler, and Riemann. Another of Max’s classmates, Lachmann opened his eyes to astronomy.
During that time it was common practice to move from one University to another. Born in 1902 attended the University of Heidelberg and then attended the University of Zurich in 1903 where he had ” his first course in advanced mathematics given by Adolf Hurwitz (1859-1919). After coming back to Breslau University, he was told by his classmates Toeplitz and Hellinger of the great teachers of mathematics, Christian Felix Klein (1849-1925), the founder of modern geometry unifying Euclidean and non-Euclidean geometry; David Hilbert (1862-1943), who originated the concept of Hilbert Space; and Hermann Minkowski (1864-1909), who developed the mathematics that played a crucial role in Einstein’s formulation of theory of relativity at the University of Gottingen.” Born moved to the University of Gottingenso that he could “attend lectures by these great scientists. At the Gottingen University, Born served as an Assistant to David Hilbert. He attended lectures by Klein and Carl Runge (1856-1927) on elasticity and a seminar on electrodynamics by Hilbert and Minkowski. Klein was annoyed with Born because of Born’s irregular attendance at his lectures. Born then attended Schwarzschild’s astronomy lectures.”
http://www.vigyanprasar.gov.in/scientists/mborn.htm
While a student at Gottingen University, Max Born “had the opportunity to go for walks in the woods with Hilbert and Minkowski. During these walks, all matters of fascinating subjects were discussed in addition to mathematics including problems pertaining to philosophy, politics and social. Born was also interacting with non-mathematicians like Courant, Schmidt and Caratheodory.”
http://www.vigyanprasar.gov.in/scientists/mborn.htm
While “at the University of Gottinger” Max Born “wrote his dissertation, 1906, on the stability of elastic wires and tapes, under the direction of the mathematician Felix Klein, for which he was awarded a doctorate in 1907.”
http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/74253/Max-Born
Dr. Born in 1915 “was appointed as Professor (extraordinarius) at the Berlin University to assist Max Planck. At the time Albert Einstein was also at the Berlin University. However, soon he had to join the Army. He was attached to a scientific office of the Army, where he worked on the theory of sound ranging.” During this time he also worked “on the theory of crystals, which led to publication his first book entitled “Dynamics of Crystal Lattices” summarizing a series of investigations that Born had initiated at Gottingen.”
http://www.vigyanprasar.gov.in/scientists/mborn.htm
After WW1 in 1919, Dr. “Born was appointed Professor at the University of Frankfurt-on-Main, where a laboratory was put at his disposal. Here Born’s assistant was Otto Stern, the first of Stern’s well-known experiments, which were awarded with a Nobel Prize originated there.”
Born in 1921, returned to the University of Gottingen as Professor of Physics where he stayed for 12 years, interrupted only by a visit to USA in 1925. Among his collaborators at Gottingen were Pauli, Heisenberg, Jordan, Fermi, Dirac, Hund, Weisskopf, Oppenheimer, Joseph Mayer and Maria Goeppert- Mayer.” During this time, ” Born’s most important contributions to physics were made. He published a modernized version of his book on crystals. Assisted by his students he undertook numerous investigations on crystal lattices, followed by a series of studies on quantum theory. Born corresponded with Einstein on the subject and the Born-Einstein letters were published in 1971.”
http://www.vigyanprasar.gov.in/scientists/mborn.htm
“Born’s proposition of probability meant that the determinism of Newton’s classical physics was no more valid. There is no predetermined way in which absolute prediction can be made, as in classical physics. Everything depends on probability. A similar idea is embodied in the uncertainty principle of Werner Heisenberg. But Bohr, Sommerfeld, Heisenberg and many others took Born’s ideas seriously and they continued the exciting work of trying to get all pieces to fit.”
http://www.vigyanprasar.gov.in/scientists/mborn.htm
During this time Dr. Born developed his “Born Approximation, for solving problems concerning the scattering of atomic particles. Born and J. Robert Oppenheimer introduced a widely used simplification of the calculations dealing with electronic structures of molecules”. Their work was called the “Born-Oppenheimer theory of molecules” which “deals with interatomic forces.”
http://www.vigyanprasar.gov.in/scientists/mborn.htm
Dr. Born and his family fled Germany in 1933 for England. At the University of Cambridge he was the Stokes lecturer for three years. He “worked in the field of nonlinear electrodynamics, which he developed with Infeld. During the winter of 1935-1936, Born spent six months at Bangalore at the invitation of C. V. Raman.”
http://www.vigyanprasar.gov.in/scientists/mborn.htm
Quote from Dr. Born:
Born said: “As I had no other job, I was willing to accept Raman’s offer namely, a permanent position at his institute, if he could obtain the consent of the Council. Then he insisted on my attending the next faculty meeting which had to decide on bringing my appointment before the Council. The English professor Aston (who had joined around the same time) went up and spoke in a most unpleasant way against Raman’s motion declaring that a second rank foreigner driven out from his own his country was not good enough for them. I was so shaken that, when I returned home, I simply cried.”
In 1936, Dr. Born worked at the University of Edinburgh as the elected “Tait Chair of natural philosophy”. In 1936 “he became a British subject.”http://www.vigyanprasar.gov.in/scientists/mborn.htm
A research student of Dr. Born’s describes how he worked with his students at Edinburgh:
“When Born arrived in the morning he first used to make the round of his research students, asking them whether they had any progress to report, and giving them advice, sometimes presenting them with sheets of elaborate calculations concerning their problems which he had himself done the day before…The rest of the morning was spent by Born in delivering his lectures to undergraduate honors students, attending to departmental business, and doing research work of his own. Most of the latter, however he used to carry out at home in the afternoons and evenings.”
http://www.vigyanprasar.gov.in/scientists/mborn.htm
Dr. Born “collaborated with Pauli, Heisenberg, Fermi, Dirac, Raman, and Oppenheimer among others, while also writing and speaking frequently on the social responsibility of scientists.” (Born-Einstein Letters, 1916-1955: Friendship, Politics and Physics in Uncertain Times by Albert Einstein and Max Born. Translated by Irene Born.)
http://www.macmillanscience.com/1403944962.asp
http://www.aip.org/history/newsletter/fall2002/maxborn.htm
http://www.spaceandmotion.com/physics-quantum-mechanics-max-born.htm
Dr. Max Born’s awards and prizes:“Born was awarded Fellowships at many scientific academies-Gottingen, Moscow, Berlin, Bangalore, Bucharest, Edinburgh, London, Lima, Dublin, Copenhagen, Stockholm, Washington, and Boston. He was awarded honorary doctorates from a number of universities including Bristol, Bordeaux, Oxford, Freidburg/Breisgau, Edinburgh, Oslo, and Brussels.
Dr. Max Born was awarded “the Stokes Medal of Cambridge, the Max Planck Medal of the German Physical Society, and the Hughes Medal of the Royal Society of London. He was also awarded the MacDougall-Brisbane Prize, the Gunning-Victoria Jubilee Prize of the Royal Society, Edinburgh and the Grand Cross of Merit with Star of the order of Merit of the German Federal Republic.”
In 1953 Dr. Born retired and returned “to his native country and settled in Gottingen. In 1954 he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics “for his fundamental research in quantum mechanics, especially for his statistical interpretation of the wave function.” Dr. Born shared his Nobel “Prize with Walther Wilhelm Georg Franz Bothe (1891-1957).”
http://www.vigyanprasar.gov.in/scientists/mborn.htm
In Nancy Greenspan’s biography of Max Born, “The End of the Certain World,” she reminds us that he was the “teacher of nine Nobel physicists” and that he waited “more than twenty years to receive” his Nobel Prize. “His Wunderkind, assistant Werner Heisenberg received his Nobel Prize in 1933.”
Max Born’s daughter, Irene Born Newton-John, describes to Nancy Greenspan “her father’s loving nature and brilliant mind.” Nancy Greenspan also wrote the book, “But God Does Play Dice: The Life and Science of Max Born” published in 2004 by Perseus Publishing.
http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/physics/laureates/1954/born-bio.html
Dr. Max Born died on January 5, 1970 in Gottingen Germany his “tombstone displays his fundamental equation of matrix mechanics that is pq-qp = (h/ 2??i.”
“Parents in Action: What Music Can Do For Your Kids” (September 29, 2011) from ABC Action News. The benefits of learning a musical instrument for improving your child’s academic work.
“Your Health: Keep Cool In The Queue” (September 27, 2011) by Dr. Pam Spurr from the Express.co.uk.“Listening to Classical Music can ease pressure in a jam. Music to your ears Classical music has been shown to have a soothing effect on mood across many situations.”
http://www.express.co.uk/features/view/273849
“Home Is Where the Heart Is… And If Laughter Why Not Music: Bach or Beta Blockers?” (September 28, 2011) from the HealthCanal.com. Dr. Hans-Joachim Trappe, an organist and cardiologist at the University of Bochum in Herne, Germany has been investigating and “found that music with faster tempos resulted in increased breathing, heart rate and blood pressure, while slower music caused declines in heart rates.” Dr. Trappe “believes that classical music offers the ideal therapy for patients with hypertension and increased heart rates. He is now planning a prospective study – “Bach or beta blockers” – in which patients with hypertension will be randomized to one or the other and followed with continuous blood pressure monitoring.”
Dr. Trappe says, “Music as therapy would be an option for all since it has been reported that musicians and non-musicians alike showed similar qualitative responses.” In May he “made an organ recording for the German Heart Foundation in St Sulpice, Church, Paris.”
http://www.healthcanal.com/blood-heart-circulation/21280-Home-where-the-heart.html
“Dance Class Helps People With Parkinson’s” (September 26, 2011) by Joette Giorgis from thetcpalm.com/news. Joette Giorgis and Bette Cushman teach a dance class for people with Parkinson’s. Ms. Giorgis, who has Parkinson’s, read in 2008 how “dancing was good for people with this disease. She was surprised to find that she could dance and that the dance steps she had learned as a child came back to her easily, even though she has difficulty walking and uses a cane. Different muscles are used in dancing than in walking, and also there is a unique relationship between music and Parkinson’s disease. Parkinson’s disease is caused by the loss of dopamine in the brain, and it has been documented that music can act as a natural dopamine replacement and enables people with this disease to move in ways they are not otherwise able to.”
Both Ms. Giorgis and Ms. Cushman attended a dance training class, Dance for PD, through an outreach of the Mark Morris Dance Group so ” they could share their love of dance with other people with Parkinson’s disease.”
http://www.tcpalm.com/news/2011/sep/26/dance-class-helps-people-with-parkinsons-disease-1/
“Our Musical Guardian: Living Legend Richard Nunns” (September 25, 2011) by Vicki Anderson from thePress.co.nz. “The gently smiling Pakeha of Scandinavian descent is considered our greatest living authority on taonga puoro – Maori traditional instruments. Music is his life and although his long struggle with Parkinson’s disease sometimes makes it difficult for him to tie his shoes or cut up his food, he can play the most intricate of instruments.”
http://www.stuff.co.nz/the-press/entertainment/christchurch-music/5671375/Our-musical-guardian
Evidence & Articles supporting the benefits of classical music in your daily life, in the Public School Classrooms, and while doing homework after school:
Mrs. S teaches 7th grade Math at Davis Middle School in Hampton, VA.: “Students perform better on tests and quizzes while listening to Mozart Symphonies in the background.”
Mrs. C’s high school math class in Colorado: “The students asked for music in class. I told them I would play only Mozart. At first they objected but soon decided they liked the music, because it made them feel better and able to focus more on their lessons. Consequently, not only did the grades get better, so did the discipline. Then the students began requesting Mozart.”
Mrs. G had her fifth grade students listening to classical music, played softly, while the children did creative writing assignments and when they did problem solving in math. It created a calm atmosphere conducive to problem solving and creative thinking as well as an appreciation of music that they might not have experienced. The results were so good that she incorporated this into her teaching for the last five years of her teaching career.
Mrs. JC had her fourth grade reading class of 22 students, listening to Mozart and other classical music during class for the entire school year .The children have consistently made 100’s on tests and work. These are just average students not exceptional.
Mrs. J has 4 children, ages 19, 16, 12 and 8 who have been listening to Mozart and other classical music while doing their homework after school since March 05. She has seen them become more focused and relaxed, finishing homework quicker, with more accuracy which has led to higher grades.
Northside Middle School in Norfolk, Virginia is using classical music in halls and class rooms with very good success. “Classical Music Plays at Norfolk School”
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” by Dr. Madeline Frank 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