McDonald’s Fights Crime with Music

They were not the first to do it, but their example is a clear and vivid one. A few days ago, I read a story about the fight of a McDonald’s store with crime with the help of classical music – a successful fight!

It happened in Dallas in 1994, when the city’s downtown was weltering in lawlessness with the crime rates going higher every year. One of MDs happened to be located just in the ‘heart’ of all that delinquency, near the Greyhound station. This is when the management came up with what seemed to be a weird idea. The suggestion was pretty simple – install huge speakers that would play the classical music by Bach, Chopin, Scarlatti, Vivaldi and other outstanding composers. The music could be heard both inside and outside the store. With all the initial scepticism, the managers were struck by the 100% result. The drop in arrest went from 391 to 146 annually by 1996. The vagabonds would describe the introduction “I hate that sh*t!”, but the effect was evident.

The music played was selected by a couple of criteria. It was supposed to be relaxing and soothing, no heavy drops, dramatic contrasts and solemn moods. The works of Mahler and Wagner this time had to be avoided, only light and airy excerpts from pieces like Brandenburg Concerto or Blue Danube or Chopin’s waltzes.

There have been a lot of research on the influence of classical music on our neural activities and I keep believing that classical music is an achievement of the humanity that is truly able to make us better people, one way or another!

The Spectacular Adagio from Aram Khachaturian's "Spartacus"

The Soviet Armenian composer Aram Khachaturian was one of the leading music writers in the USSR. Some of his first concertos, including 1936 Piano Concerto, 1940 Violin Concerto and 1946 Cello Concerto, brought him recognition beyond the Soviet Union. Khachaturian has also 3 bright symphonies and over 2 dozen film scores.

"Spartacus" on the stage of the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow

But what I love most in his repertoire is no doubt the ballet music. The 1942 “Gayane” ballet with its famous "Sabre Dance" excerpt that got the most covers in pop culture is the first thing that comes to mind when thinking about Khachaturian’s ballet creations. However, last night Gayane was not something that got me totally charmed and submerged in the beauty of the music...

It was the Adagio from the “Spartacus” ballet that did all the magic. With the harmonies so rich and rhythms so captivating, the Armenian master made the piece, just like the entire ballet, virtuously colourful and sensuous. The storyline of the ballet describes the slave uprising led by the hero Spartacus, which implies the music to be heroic and dynamic itself, but adagio is something different. It’s rather a lyrical digression, beautiful and tender. Have a listen below.

In 1995, Aram Khachaturian extracted music from his Spartacus to arrange it for 4 orchestral suites. Suites No.1 and No.2 also have amazing adagios; however, it was the original ballet piece that stole my soul.