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!
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!
