We want to wish all of our readers a Happy Father’s Day! Father’s are the ones who told us “the world is our oyster” and “we could be any occupation we wanted to as long as we worked hard to accomplish it!” Remember your beloved father and start his Father’s Day 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 preventing 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 July 2009 newsletter.https://www.madelinefrankviola.com/
Can you name a Statesman who was a political leader , Governor of Virginia,a self taught trial lawyer, orator,musician and father of 17 children? Need another hint? In a speech denouncing the 1765 Stamp Act he said, “If this be treason, make the most of it and Give me liberty or give me death.”
Patrick Henry (B. May 25, 1736 in Studley, Virginia- D. June 6, 1799 in Red Hill, Virginia) was a storekeeper, farmer, public speaker, lawyer, a leader for 30 years in Virginia politics ,1st and 5th Governor of Virginia (re-elected as Governor 5 times). As a child his favorite subjects were math and reading. He played the flue and the violin was married twice and was the father of 17 children, a grandfather, and a great grandfather.
http://www.redhill.org/biography.html
http://www.notablebiographies.com/He-Ho/Henry-Patrick.html
Madeline’s Musical One Minute Radio Show for June 2009.
What did Patrick Henry think about music and what musical instruments did he enjoy playing?
Click here to listen to the One Minute Radio Show for June 2009
Question of the Month
Can you name a famous author, two painters, two scientists and a comedian who were musicians and fathers?
Author, Laurence Edward Alan “Laurie” Lee , painters, Thomas Gainsborough and Henri Matisse , scientists Albert Einstein and Paul Ehrenfest , and comedian Jack Benny were musicians and fathers.
“Amateur String Players: Pleasure Seekers” (Dec. 2008) by Martin Boyd from The Strad Magazine. Famous authors, Thomas Hardy and Laurence Edward Alan “Laurie” Lee played the violin at village concerts. Painters, Thomas Gainsborough and Henri Matisse
Edward Alan “Laurie” Lee was born on June 26, 1914 at 2 Glenview Terrace, Slad Road, Uplands, Stroud, Gloucestshire and he died Littlecourt, in Slad on May 13, 1997. He was a poet, author of “Cider with Rose”, his autobiographical trilogy, violinist, father of two daughters and a grandfather. Laurence Edward Alan “Laurie” Lee played the violin at village concerts (Boyd, 2008, p.358). “Music remained a solace throughout Lee’s life; he was not only a skilled performer on violin and classical guitar, but also an extremely knowledgeable musicologist, with a particular love of classical music and jazz. He published anthologies of his journalism (I Can’t Stay Long, 1975) and poetry (Selected Poems, 1983), and a tribute in prose to his wife and daughter.”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laurie_Lee
Thomas Hardy was born in the community of Higher Bockhampton, near the town of Dorchester, in Wessex, England, on June 2, 1840. He died on Jan. 11, 1928. He wrote “Far from the Madding Crowd”. He was the oldest of four children of Thomas and Jemina (Hand) Hardy. From his father, a bricklayer and violinist he learned to enjoy the violin and from his mother he learned to love reading. Thomas Hardy was a third generation musician on his father’s side (Boyd, 2008, pp.358).
http://wps.ablongman.com/long_kennedy_lfpd_9/0,9130,1489987-,00.html
Thomas Gainsborough was born in Sudbury, Suffolk, England on May 14, 1727 and died on August 2, 1788. He was a portrait and landscape painter of 18th century Britain, a fine musician and the father of two daughters. Thomas Gainsborough played the violin and the flute very well and “there were times when music seemed to be his employment, and painting his diversion, wrote William Jackson, composer and organist. Gainsborough was a connoisseur of fine instruments” ( Boyd, 2008, p.358).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Gainsborough
Henri Matisse was born December 31, 1869 in northern France and died on Nov. 3, 1954 in Cimiez, France. He was a painter, sculptor, musician and the father of three children. His father was a merchant and his mother was an amateur painter. Henri Matisse played the violin as a child and as an adult says, he “took violin lessons for a year and often spent six hours a day playing. The result is that now I and on occasion my friends can get some enjoyment out of my playing (Boyd, 2008, pp.358-359).”
http://www.notablebiographies.com/Ma-Mo/Matisse-Henri.html
Benjamin Kubelsky, better known as Jack Benny, was born on February 14, 1894, in Waukegan, IL and died of on December 26, 1974, in Beverly Hills, California. He was the son of Meyer and Emma (Sachs) Kubelsky and married Mary Livingstone, an actress whose original name was Sadie Marks. Their daughter is Joan Naomi a writer and she has four children.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Benny
Jack Benny, the comedian of radio and television, studied violin as a child and had thought of a career in music (Boyd, 2008, p.359). He discovered his natural affinity for comedy when he was drafted into the Navy during WW1 and used his violin to entertain shipmates which generated laughter.
Albert Einstein began the violin at 5 years of age. His mother, a pianist, arranged for violin lessons and after he heard Mozart’s violin sonatas, music “became both magical and emotional to him”. (Phillips, 2007, p.2) His first accompanist was his mother. Einstein later said, “Mozart’s music is so pure and beautiful that I see it as a reflection of the inner beauty of the university itself.”
http://www.pvso.org/news/phillipskeynote.html
Einstein’s piano accompanists included Albert Hurwitz, a math professor who played Corelli, Handel and Schumann with him; Paul Ehrenfest, (Boyd, 2008, p.359). Ehrenfest was (1880-1933), a Austrian physicist and mathematician who contributed to the development of statistical mechanics and was the first to explain Max Planck’s “Quantum Theory” and it’s importance. He was a devoted father of four children, two daughters and two sons and his students called him “Uncle Socrates”. He and Einstein played Brahms together and Einstein gave him a fine piano.
http://www.norskfysikk.no/nfs/old/epsbiografer/EHRENF~1.PDF
Einstein also played with Austrian concert pianist Arthur Schnabel (Boyd, 2008, p.359).
At 13 “an examiner praised Einstein’s “deep understanding” for a Beethoven Sonata. “Einstein regarded music as an ‘inner necessity’. He called his violin ‘my old friend’. (Boyd, 2008, p.359)
http://www.thestrad.com/downloads/Strad199804Amateurs.pdf
Einstein was the father of three children, a daughter and two sons, grandfather, and great grandfather.
http://wiki.answers.com/Q/Does_Albert_Einstein_have_any_living_grandchildren
“Baroque Music Boosts Radiologists’ Mood and Cognition” (April 24, 2009) by Lynn Shapiro from theDot Med.com news. ; “Radiologists’s Productivity Improves With Baroque Classical Music” (April 26, 2009) from Research News.
“Baroque Classical Music in the Reading Room May Improve Mood and Productivity” (April 22, 2009) from the Medical News Library: Newswise. “Baroque classical music in the reading room can help improve radiologists work lives, potentially improving diagnostic efficiency and accuracy, according to a study performed by researchers at the University of Maryland in Baltimore, MD, Harbor Hospital in Baltimore, MD, and the University of Pennsylvania Health System in Philadelphia, PA. Eight radiologists participated in the study and rated their mood, concentration, perceived diagnostic accuracy, productivity and work satisfaction on a seven point scale”. Sohaib Mohiuddin, MD, and Paras Lakhani, MD, lead authors of the study said, “The greatest positive effects were noted with regard to mood and work satisfaction, with 63% and 50% of respondents reporting a positive impact.No participants indicated a negative effect on mood, perceived diagnostic accuracy, productivity or work satisfaction. Only one participant (12.5%) indicated a negative effect of music on concentration.”
Dr. Mohiuddin said, “Given the increased workload of today’s radiologists, we were interested in looking at environmental factors that could improve the work environment for today’s busy radiology reading rooms.” Dr. Lakhani said, “Other studies have correlated baroque classical music with improved spatial reasoning, attentiveness and concentration and personally, I have found that listening to music aids my concentration and interpretative abilities.” On Monday, April 27, 2009 their study was presented.
http://www.newswise.com/articles/view/551509/
http://www.dotmed.com/news/story/8878/
http://www.medindia.net/news/Radiologistss-Productivity-Inproves-With-Baroque-Classical-Music-50484-1.htm
“The Songs They Can’t Forget” (April 23, 2009) by Sara Davidson from the New York Times. Alicia Clair, a music therapist at the facility played a popular tune by Sinatra to help Tom remember. He was a World War 11 vet with dementia who had enjoyed ballroom dancing. “As Sinatra began singing, Elsie opened her arms, beckoning. Tom stared a moment, then walked over and began leading her in the foxtrot. Ms. Clair said, “They danced for thirty minutes!” After they finished dancing, Elsie, Tom’s wife, “broke down and sobbed.” Elsie said,”I haven’t been held by my husband in three years. Thank you for bringing him back.” Ms. Clair, a professor of music therapy at the University of Kansas says, “Music can reach people with Alzheimer’s disease. Music has the power to bypass the mind and wash through us, triggering strong feelings and cueing the body to synchronize with its rhythm.”
http://newoldage.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/04/23/the-songs-they-cant-forget/
“Burning Passion:” Doctor Fulfills His Love for Music with University of Michigan-Flint Degree After Years of Practicing Medicine” (April 30,2009) by Beata Mostafavi from the The Flint Journal . “But the doctor also has been known to wake the neighbors with midnight piano performances of Rachmaninoff classics. The New Orleans native and classical music devotee started playing piano at age 8. But medicine won out over his dream to be a concert pianist.” Dr. Boycee says, “Music is a spiritual experience. It brings me to a greater realization of self,” he said, adding that his success is “the fact that in this time in my life the opportunity presented itself to fulfill a burning passion and I took it.”
http://www.mlive.com/news/flint/index.ssf/2009/04/burning_passion_doctor_fulfill.html
“Learning with Music” ( April 28, 2009) by Clif Sain from the News-Leader.com, Springfield ,Missouri . Jason Huneycutt, Nixa choral director “says one of the major benefits of learning music is that it uses both sides of the brain. The right brain and the left brain work together. Some of the highest learning goes on with music. That’s because the right side is stimulated by the music itself, but the left side is needed to understand the mathematical precision of music or to play an instrument.” He also says, Music “especially helps struggling students. For many students who struggle, when they have music, I’ve seen their grades go up, especially at-risk students.”
http://www.news-leader.com/article/20090428/NEWS05/904280313
This June if you have a question about the power of music for education and healing … what would your specific question be? Click on the link below and look on the left side to where it says ask Madeline a question: https://www.madelinefrankviola.com
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..” (Dec 1, 2008)
Mrs. I’s fourth grade reading, writing, and math class in the York County Public School District in Virginia. “During the summer of 2008, I taught students from all the schools in the county. About the middle of the term, I decided to start playing classical music while students worked independently. I noticed that students were more focused on tasks than they had been previously while doing independent work. They also talked to each other less. One day, when I forgot to turn on the music, a number of the students came up to me and reminded me to turn it on. At the end of the term, all the students had reached their academic goals in both subjects, (reading and math) and most had gone way beyond their goals. (Most of the student’s scores went up 15% to 36% higher.) I know that the atmosphere that was created by the classical music contributed a lot to this.” (Sep 24, 2008)
Mrs. C’s high school math class in Colorado: “The students asked for music in class. I told them I wouldplay 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 3 children, ages 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”