By
01/22/2006
Like many newly built
schools, Columbia Middle is airy and light-filled, with gleaming surfaces and
clean, contemporary lines. But listen as you approach the entrance, and you'll
hear something from another era: the strains of classical music floating
through the air.
"We have it playing
throughout the school day," said Principal Roger Chamberlain. "In the
library, the gymnasium, the locker rooms, the restrooms - all the time."
Classical music is as much
a part of the new building as the soaring "cafe-torium" (a combined
cafeteria and auditorium) and the spacious classrooms. That was part of the
plan, Chamberlain said.
When school administrators
and faculty members sat down with architects from St. Louis-based Wm. B. Ittner
Inc. to come up with design ideas, a good sound system was a priority. The
system at the former school building was "old and crackly" and could
only play music, barely audibly, in the hallways over an aging public address
system, Chamberlain said. Now, administrators in the school's front office can
pop in a few CDs, press some buttons and pipe music into different rooms at
different volumes over a state-of-the-art system.
"It's something we do
to set the tone in the building," Chamberlain said. "To me, it's
controlling the sense of calm, especially with kids at this age level."
Chamberlain, along with
teachers at the school, say classical music has a calming effect on students as
they change classes, read in the library or eat in the cafeteria. And, while
the music is not played in classrooms, Chamberlain also believes it could have
a positive effect on academics.
"Research does show
that it does seem to correlate with higher academic test scores,"
Chamberlain said. "I have no research to show that that's true for this
school, other than we have good test scores."
The link between classical
music and cognition has been studied for decades, but it first gained media
prominence in the early 1990s when researchers at the
The studies sent parents
scurrying to CD stores to snap up "Mozart's Greatest Hits." Some
hospitals started giving new mothers classical CDs to play to their newborns.
In
Some researchers say,
however, that claims of classical music's links to higher intelligence should
be viewed with caution. Subsequent studies of the so-called "Mozart
effect" have shown no statistically significant improvement in cognitive
performance.
"How awake you feel
affects intellectual performance, how pleasant you feel affects intellectual
performance. So if you feel good because of your music, you may perform
better," said Glenn Schellenberg, a professor of psychiatry at the
Candy and a word of praise
can have the same effect, Schellenberg said.
Still, even skeptics say
listening to classical music can't hurt. Like any other stimulant, it can boost
an overall sense of well-being and, ultimately, performance.
"What we know about
music listening is that music affects how you feel," Schellenberg said,
"and that, in turn, can affect how you perform cognitively."
Mood music
For educators, and the
architects who design schools for them, sound has become just one component of
creating a positive learning environment.
Years ago, explained Dennis
Young, president of Ittner, school administrators wanted public address systems
just to communicate.
"Now," Young
said, "we've progressed into what I call environmental design, which
includes sound systems, acoustics, lighting and daylight harvesting. Now, the
principal has at his or her fingertips all the tools necessary to create an
educational environment to enhance the learning process."
Ittner architects have
designed thousands of schools across the country, but Young said he believes
Chamberlain may be among the first administrators to emphasize sound.
"I think Dr.
Chamberlain is probably on the forefront of pulling the sound system into the
learning environment," Young said.
Indeed, Chamberlain uses
the new sound system to control or elevate the school's mood.
"If it's a down day,
or if it's dull, we'll play a little Herb Alpert or something to pick things
up," he said.
Chamberlain hopes that
creating a positive feeling overall will help test scores.
"I think it's possible
we'll see an improvement in test scores because it's more inviting," he
said. "The music is a component of that."
Teachers at the school say
they're pleased with the new system, too.
"I love it," said
seventh-grade math teacher Kalli Zavorkia. "I think the kids are more well-behaved in the hallway."
But on a recent Friday, as
Bach's Violin Concerto in D minor wafted through the air, Maggie Dorgan's
fifth-grade music class had their minds on another genre.
When Dorgan asked her class
what music they would like to hear in the school, a chorus, in unison, shouted:
"Rock and Roll!"
Chamberlain laughed and
said he'd consider taking requests.
ggustin@post-dispatch.com 618-624-2645