THE EDITOR, Sir:
I READ with great interest the Letter of the Day on August 26, 2003, which referred to the status of our music today, and this triggered my mind to recall a magazine item I recently heard on the BBC called the Mozart Factor. A school's music teacher, somewhere in the middle of England, started piping classical music softly into classrooms, and discovered that the concentration levels of the children rose, and the need for discipline dropped, while performance increased. As needed, he tailored music to activity.
For example, at the end of the day, he would play a fast piece such as Flight of the Bumble Bee, to facilitate tidying up before leaving. I understand that an experiment somewhat close to this has been tried in Jamaica with similar results.
On the other hand, the Americans have been examining the exposure of children before classes to tunes with lyrics suggestive of violence. The resultant aggressive behaviour of such children was not surprising to the testers.
Music of a particular sort is all around us here in Jamaica, and though there are many ethno-musical scholars who may disagree with me, I hold to the hypothesis that at any one time, a country's music reflects its economic and social movement. Japan for many years now moved in the direction of classical music as its economy moved upward. South Korea has recently produced excellent classical musicians in keeping with its general economic trends. The vibrant music of South Africa was highly reflective of its apartheid struggles. With apartheid out of the way, South Africa has recently produced its first opera in a local language with a local theme.
The pleadings of Bob Marley in song for a better Jamaican society have gone unheeded, and as such may be seen as a precursor to what we now have lyrics of a degraded society.
Let us think of our children, and find a way to soothe hearts and minds that need to be moulded for the upliftment of this country. Let us put decent music back into our schools. Education is a must if we are to reverse the economic trends.
I am etc.,
DONALD DRAYTON
P.O. Box 27,
Ocho Rios,
St. Ann.
