Classical music still effective at dispersing loitering teens

With all sorts of the funding cuts hitting orchestras during the recent recession, there is still one aspect of classical music that local governments find valuable -- the music's unfailing ability to disperse loitering teenagers from public areas.

Whether its Handel piped into New York's Port Authority or Tchaikovsky at a public library in London, the sound of classical music is apparently so repellent to teenagers that it sends them scurrying away like frightened mice. Private institutions also find it useful: chains such as McDonald's and 7-Eleven, not to mention countless shopping malls around the world, have relied on classical music to shoo away potentially troublesome kids.

In the latest example of classical repulsion, the regional transit department in the Portland, Ore., area has been playing orchestral and operatic tunes over speakers at light-rail stations in an attempt to prevent vandalism and other crimes that result from teens having too much free time on their hands.

At one station, an aria from Bizet's "Carmen" serenaded commuters waiting to board. "There's no one that just hangs around," said one passenger to the Associated Press. Before the music "they wouldn't get on the train, that's how you'd know they were [loitering]."

There are different schools of thought on what makes classical music such an effective crime deterrent.

Some people believe that classical music acts as a soothing agent, neutralizing aggressive and destructive impulses, and creating a more peaceful atmosphere.

The Seattle Times reported in 2009 that its effectiveness might have something to do with "people's neurobiological responses to things they don't enjoy or find unfamiliar." When people hear music they don't like, their brains suppress the production of dopamine -- a neurotransmitter that regulates pleasure and other emotions -- which puts a damper on their spirits.

It should be noted that the connection between classical music and crime can be more sinister in nature, especially at the movies, where the classics often serve as the soundtrack for the psychopathic mind. In "A Clockwork Orange," the protagonist has an obsession with Beethoven's Ninth Symphony and goes on a rape and murder spree during which the music of his beloved "Ludwig van" plays in the background. The movie also features a gang rape scene scored to the overture of Rossini's "The Thieving Magpie."

In "The Silence of the Lambs," Hannibal Lecter meditates to the sounds of Bach's Goldberg Variations after he has viciously assaulted two police officers who were guarding his cell.

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 -- David Ng

Photo (top): Loitering youths at Santa Monica's Third Street Promenade. Credit: Los Angeles Times

Photo (bottom): Ludwig van Beethoven. Credit: Associated Press

Comments

[rjhemedes]

Classical music is good when you want people to go to sleep. Its perfect for lullabies.

[littlebadwolfl]

As a people we have become so acultural that our rich heritage can be used as a scarecrow for the next generations.

[Enlightenment]

Maybe it won't work after HipHop Classical Music comes out :-)

[D]

Will someone please play some Wagner in the corridors at Congress? There are some delinquents there I'd like to leave. I believe they are called "Lobbyists" and they are engaged in vandalizing our country through the "art" of legalized bribery.

[Windfall]

The movies, as usual, have it all wrong.

Music of the fine arts (including both classical and jazz) communicates with and appeals to the higher spiritual consciousness of man.

Lowlifes are both mentally and physically vibrating at (or, if you prefer, vibing on) a different frequency.

In close proximity, the two frequencies clash and create dissonances, both cognitive and physical.

It is thus physically, mentally and spiritually painful for lowlifes to remain for long in the presence of classical or jazz music.

And, yes, the sort of teens that you generally find loitering about and looking for some trouble to get into are indeed the mental and physical equivalents of lowlifes.

All mainstream businesses as well a professional office environments will see better and more harmonious results using classical and/or jazz music and they will obtain even greater benefits if they employ a sound system that reproduces all of the frequencies of these recordings and not just the mid-range tones you get out of standard ceiling mounted speakers.

[Bill]

The writer is in error about what music was featured during the crime in "A Clockwork Orange." The main character voiced "Singing In The Rain" a cappella during the rape scene, dancing like Gene Kelly. He is "treated" by doctors who contrast Beethoven's 9th and violence , to reprogram him to reject both music and violence.

The use of soothing or uplifting music in violent films is to add contrast, as opposed to using scores which actually convey the scene's mood. Consider the computer HAL singing "Daisy, Daisy" in "2001: A Space Odyssey" while being slowly killed.

[mary]

Also good at driving teens from vicinity....polka music....

[glenn grab]

so I could use my cello as a taser?

[Cate]

Why would someone take beautiful music and turn it into something horrible? Apparently sex and violence sells. Look at all the comments here.

I'm "posting" my traumatic stress disorder and getting away from these "class-sick" music lovers. We comment on what we know. I've not read A Clockwork Orange and have not seen the movie, but scenes like those described in the article need no soundtrack or visual aid. Deaf children know that. Blind children know that. Even dumb children who can't speak yet, know that. So I'm speaking for them.

[C. Miller]

Aw geeze, let them play classical music on Sacramento's light rail system. Please?

[Lisa Byers]

Maybe than can pipe in Classical Musical into the Halls of Congress and Sacramento State Capitol, not to mention everywhere on Wall Street. These are the areas with the REAL CRIMINALS.

Lisa Byers, USC '81

[rk]

@D
"Will someone please play some Wagner in the corridors at Congress? There are some delinquents there I'd like to leave. I believe they are called "Lobbyists" and they are engaged in vandalizing our country through the "art" of legalized bribery"

i believe you would need to play hip/hop or some sorta hard rock to drive these guys away. My guess is they listen to classical music thru school or when they are driven around.

[AB]

I don't mind classical, but if you play cheesy smooth jazz at your place of business, you will scare a lot of nice, normal people away (myself included). I wouldn't be surprised to see ruffians stabbing themselves and each other to not have to hear any more Kenny G.

[rusticandy]

Actually, Polka music will drive anyone away from the vicinity

[Grumpy Old Man]

thanks Obama!

[Jon K.]

I'd much rather listen to Classical music than Rap music.

[Abe]

What is so wrong about loitering? America's the only country where it's considered bad if you're just hanging out it's a crime, you gotta be busy busy busy. American teenagers need to learn more respect for property and adults need to learn to not mind so much. It shows there is peace in this country.

[Thomas J. Coleman]

My suggestion to clear any "public" (but "restricted") area is "Apotheosis of This Earth" by Karel Husa, made loud to play loud. That would scare the crap out of most loitering mobs I can think of.

Running sound at various events back in high school during the "Dazed and Confused" Era, we'd use sould effect recordings to clear the crowds--thunderstorms, buffalo stampedes, dog/cat fights etc.

Closer to home, at Venice Beach, I had a neighbor couple who faught constantly, so I put "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf" on the DVD, pointed my speakers out the window, and let them hear George and Martha go at it for a while. The shock of recognition cured them for good, at least within my earshot.

[Sabrina]

Years ago, I read of a city in Australia where they kept the teen gangs away by playing Barry Manilow music lol.

[art]

Jon K.

Rap does not qualify as music.