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Mozart and Bach Handel Subway Station Crime
Hugh Pickens writes "The Minneapolis Star-Tribune reports that transit officials have started to get a handel on subway crime when they started playing Beethoven, Bach, Mozart, and Strauss at the Lake Street light-rail station after neighborhood residents complained about the station becoming a haven for rowdy teens and vagrants. 'If it encourages some people to wander away because it's not their favorite type of music, I guess that's OK,' says Acting Transit Police Chief A.J. Olson. The program is modeled after one is Portland that has shown early signs of success, though the numbers are so small as to be statistically insignificant and even supporters of the music haven't reached a consensus on whether such environmental changes actually deter crime or just push it down the block. Not everyone is sold on using 'lovely lovely Ludwig Van' as a deterrent. 'Classical music lovers hate the fact that urban planners use classical music to disperse youth,' says Minneapolis City Council Member Gary Schiff. 'Does it chase crime away?' adds Olson. 'It's hard to measure. But I do think it makes it a more pleasant place to wait for a train.'"
Maybe they got a 'Händel' on crime.
[...]has shown early signs of success, though the numbers are so small as to be statistically insignificant [...]
In other words, no significant effect of the music on crime statistics has been measured. Or am I missing something?
The word you're looking for is 'ageism'
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They've done this at a few London Underground stations since 2005 and since 2004 on the Tyne and Wear Metro.
In London, the music was played over the existing announcement system's speakers, so it was horribly distorted. Fortunately, it was only around the station entrance, not the actual platforms, so I could wait in peace.
They can't do that because they would have to pay for every time they played any of the songs. One of the advantages of using Bach, Handel and Mozart is that no one is collecting royalties on their music and you can find royalty free performances. So they can play the music 24/7 without having to pay anyone for that performance.
I'm 38 years old. Definitely not a troublemaker. I have a legitimate reason to be waiting at train stations.
And I hate Handel and Mozart. Why should I be subjected to it?
Also, I can clearly hear those high pitched "mosquito" tones that are meant to disperse young people. Again, why should I be subjected to it?
And what about law abiding young people?
They do it in Brussels too. The classical music is played on the Metro there in evenings, during the day they play English language pop (no French or Dutch to avoid antagonising people). I'm not aware of any crime statistics, but a local told me that when they introduced it she did notice a big effect on the groups of youths that used to hang around the stations. The article says something similar about this latest experiment, "Young people quit hanging out at one Portland station 'almost immediately' after classical music began playing, Scruggs said."
My understanding from a previous article that I read (which I cannot find at the moment) was that there was evidence that suggested that playing classical music did not so much drive away youths intent on crime as create an atmosphere where they were less comfortable committing crime. There have been several studies that show that when a city street with abandoned cars, abundant litter, buildings with broken windows and grafitti is cleaned up (abandoned cars and litter removed, windows fixed and grafitti painted over) crime is reduced along it by larger margins than any other possible action (with the possile exception of a 24/7 police presence). The earlier article I read led me to believe that studies suggested that playing classical music had a similar effect. That is, it reduced the impulse to crime among those listening to it.
I do know that studies have shown that playing classical music in a retail outlet tends to increase sales (I am sure that there are stores which target particular demographics where this would not be true). I, also, seem to recall that it reduced shoplifting, but that may have been a comment by a store security expert rather than the result of a study.
The truth is that all men having power ought to be mistrusted. James Madison
There are a lot of public domain performances. Duke University, for example, places a lot of performances of classical pieces by their orchestras into the public domain, as do several state orchestras around the world.
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Yes the music is in the public domain, but not the performance.
The article says that
'Metro Transit bought the recordings for $150 from a company that offers the dead composers among "royalty-free" selections.'
I take that to mean it is a public domain performance, too.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bWx_GyTLGmQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mdp2hEsc2kg
There are plenty of others. Actually, Vivaldi really lends itself to rocking out - he's all about a pounding along to a strong beat. Although not quite as much of a star musician as Beethoven, what with his crazy hair, deafness, and syphilis.
I am officially gone from
Intentionally leaving out 3/4 and 6/8, because those are too common. Oh, and also leaving out the more "proggy" bands like Tool and Dream Theater, because then this would be too easy.
Money by Pink Floyd (7/4)
Four Sticks by Led Zeppelin (5/4)
Spoonman by Soundgarden (7/4)
Silhouette by Thrice (4/4 and 7/4)
Words in the Water and Hold Fast Hope bu Thrice (5/4)
Before the Lobotomy (middle section in 7/8)
March of the Pigs by Nine Inch Nails (29/8)
Time Like These by Foo Fighters (main riff in 7/8)
Paranoid Android by Radiohead (sections in 7/4)
Pyramid Song by Radiohead (16/8, piano plays in groups in 3-3-4-3-3)
Idiotique by Radiohead (6/4 drums, 4/4 vocals)
Everything In It's Right Place by Radiohead (10/4)
15 Step by Radiohead (5/4)
2+2=5 by Radiohead (7/8)
Are there a ton? No. But are there really THAT many songs in the classical realm that aren't 4/4, 3/4, 6/8 either?