Weaponizing music

[pendell]

Seen in The Guardian (http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2010/jan/18/classical-music-deterrent-schools)



Classical music is behind a Derby school's success in cutting the number of pupils behaving badly by more than half, a head teacher said today.

Brian Walker, principal at West Park School in Spondon, Derby, turned to Mozart, Verdi and Bach as he tried to tame unruly students.

Youngsters at other schools might expect lines or a 30-minute detention, but those caught breaking the rules at West Park have to sit in silence for an hour listening to classical music on a Friday evening.

They are then subjected to a maths DVD before spending a final half hour writing up what they have learned. Badly behaved pupils are also named and shamed with their pictures plastered on video screens in the school.

...

The "Bach to Basics" regime, it has seen the number of pupils in trouble drop by 50%. In 2006, up to 60 pupils were missing lessons because of bad behaviour. Now, only around 20 find themselves in trouble regularly.


The horror ... the horror ..

.. and yet this evidently isn't the only instance. Seen in The BBC (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/magazine/4154711.stm)



Spokesman Tom Yeoman says: "We had problems with youths hanging around, not getting up to criminal activities, but involved in low level anti-social behaviour, like swearing, smoking at stations and harassing passengers.

"Even if they didn't have a violent agenda, they looked like they might have."

Passengers complained and the company felt compelled to respond.

They introduced classical music at Tynemouth, Whitley Bay and Cullercoats stations.

"It has completely eliminated the problem," says Mr Yeoman. "The young people seem to loathe it. It's pretty uncool to be seen hanging around somewhere when Mozart is playing."


It seems this will revolutionize warfare. Need a suspect interrogated? Bring in the Celine Dion CDs. Got a nest of bad guys holding hostages? Let's see how they like Gun's & Roses for days on end.

I'm curious ... does anyone have any particular suggestions? If you needed a musical weapon , what would you choose? May give the expression 'duelling banjos' a whole new meaning.

...

does this mean it's self-defense to shoot someone who's playing rap at maximum volume? Music IS a lethal weapon, after all...
Respectfully,

Brian P.

[Raiki]

I think "John the Fisherman" would be a good song for this. That or anything that qualifies as "emo" music. I was going to list band names, but it just got too long.

Also, wasn't there an incident in South America where a terrorist organization was brought out of a fortified building by blasting 80s hair bands at them for 3 weeks straight?

~R~

[Linkavitch]

I read/heard/saw on the news somewhere that someone was playing Metallica's "Enter Sandman" endlessly to drive a prisoner crazy enough to spill his respective beans.

[Bouregard]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gETNrS_yd7s

Hide your families, lock away the pets. This stuff is really disturbing.
Save for work, but not for your eardrums. German "Volksmusik" is higly annoying. If you want more just youtube for "Musikantenstadl". Careful thought. This stuff hurts. I admit this specific artist is from austria. But he's just one of many very dangerous out there.

[Dr. Bath]

Not going to go into it, but music has been and is used as torture. A couple of bands threatened to sue over it.

[Capt Spanner]

A few local councils in the UK took to installing speakers that played Back/Mozart et al. in places where loitering teenagers often caused trouble. It worked.

I heard a story, whereby a man who was being prosecuted for playing music excessively loudly from his car at unsociable hours was sentanced to going to eight hours of opera (the judges reasoning was "you've inflicted your music on us, so I'm going to inflict my music on you.") The convict says he enjoyed the opera.

Still...I'm not sure I'd refer to this as "weaponising" music. There's only so much you can do to torture people with music, unless the volume is excessive, and it falls well within what's legal. If it stigmatises detention, and makes kids less likely to misbehave I'm in favour. It's not going to cause any kind of scarring.

[Eldan]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gETNrS_yd7s

Hide your families, lock away the pets. This stuff is really disturbing.
Save for work, but not for your eardrums. German "Volksmusik" is higly annoying. If you want more just youtube for "Musikantenstadl". Careful thought. This stuff hurts. I admit this specific artist is from austria. But he's just one of many very dangerous out there.

Ah, yes. That stuff is responsible for people thinking yodeling actually sounds like that.

[pendell]

...I'm not sure I'd refer to this as "weaponising" music.


It was tongue-in-cheek. Fear those of us who were in the high school band. FEAR AND HIDE! Bullies may beat you. We musicians will melt your brain :).

Tongue-in-cheek,

Brian P.

[Deth Muncher]

It was tongue-in-cheek. Fear those of us who were in the high school band. FEAR AND HIDE! Bullies may beat you. We musicians will melt your brain :).

Tongue-in-cheek,

Brian P.

And suddenly, all those poor sousaphone players suddenly found a way to get back at the bullies.

[AtomicKitKat]

There was a rumour that troops heading into Iraq in '03 were blasting LZ's Immigrant Song to scare the opposition into surrender. No idea how true it turned out to be.:smalltongue:

[sihnfahl]

There was a rumour that troops heading into Iraq in '03 were blasting LZ's Immigrant Song to scare the opposition into surrender. No idea how true it turned out to be.:smalltongue:
That was for light infantry.
Heavier stuff calls for Yoko Ono.

[Autolykos]

There was a rumour that troops heading into Iraq in '03 were blasting LZ's Immigrant Song to scare the opposition into surrender. No idea how true it turned out to be.:smalltongue:Reminds me of Apocalypse Now... Ride of the Valkyries anyone?

And didn't they get Noriega (or some other SA dictator) to surrender by playing Metallica all day long?

Also, if you want to see what classical music can do to people, watch Clockwork Orange :smallsmile:

[Don Julio Anejo]

Mozart would drive me mad in the span of about 20 minutes. That said, most people hate music that's higher than a certain pitch and/or significantly faster or slower than their resting heart rate.

[sihnfahl]

And didn't they get Noriega (or some other SA dictator) to surrender by playing Metallica all day long?
Manuel Noriega was holed up in a Church (or was it just a nunciature?), where he had requested asylum.

And they only did it for a day or so through the almost two week standoff.

[faceroll]

Ludwig van is real horroshow.

[Groundhog]

I've heard of that method being used to punish people who blast their car stereos too loudly. Music used: Barney theme song, "Only You", and various songs by Pat Boone, Engelbert Humperdinck, Tom Jones, and Barry Manilow. And I heartily approve. My home is invaded nightly by loud thumping from the car stereos in the parking lot of a nearby convenience store, so I'm happy to see some of them punished. Hopefully, that method will spread to my area as well.


Badly behaved pupils are also named and shamed with their pictures plastered on video screens in the school.
This, on the other hand, I do not approve of. Public embarrassment is one of the worst things that can be done to a person.

[Murdim]

Must... resist... obvious cinematographic reference...
Using young people's hatred for classical music as a weapon against them ? Sure it is a good idea... if you want to aggravate said dislike, strengthen the toxic generational conception of culture it implies, and justify (in the mind of their perpetrators) the prejudices, taunts and attacks against those who happen not to share this dislike :smallannoyed:

Not that I'm myself a classical music listener, but still... deliberately sabotaging culture in order to gain "security" against minor, harmless misbehaviors is something I just can't accept. And the whole "literal generation war"/"good ol' people from the good ol' times strike back against those irrespectful young'ns" bull[poop] wrapped with it, is just sickening as well.

[Ninja Chocobo]

This, on the other hand, I do not approve of. Public embarrassment is one of the worst things that can be done to a person.

I don't think the sort of serial offenders that this would be done to would be very easily embarassed by tales of their exploits.

[RandomNPC]

I'm all for sending the 2AM loud music drivers to 8 hours of Opera, then again I'm all for tearing them out of said car and solving the problem in a more violent and not-legal to describe on the boards manner. Just saying.

As for weaponizing music, ever see small soldiers? the one with the robotic action figures that try to take over a house? they use spice girls with some big amps to blast the music, one guy drops into depression right away, his wife starts screaming about how much she loves the music. It only works on half the people you plan to use it on.

[Pinnacle]

So they've replaced half-hour after school detention during which students can do their homework that they had to do anyway with two hour Friday evening detention during which they have to do set activities including extra homework, and also added public shaming.

And they think the students' wanting to avoid this is do primarily to the fact that one of the required activities is listening to classical music?


I got a detention once in high school. One teacher who heard about it declared that I absolutely did not belong in the detention room with all the delinquents and that she had already requested that I do something for her instead and had gotten permission from the Dean of Students.
Half an hour after I started taking down and cleaning the old microscopes (top shelf, heavy, lots of fiddly parts, filthy) I heard the regular detention students leaving. Half an hour after that I left and was mildly sore.
(I think she'd probably been watching the detention list for a while for any student who didn't usually appear on it so she could pull that. She didn't even really know me; I'd never taken one of her classes.)
This was somewhat effective as a disincentive for me, classical music or no.

[Solaris]

It seems this will revolutionize warfare. Need a suspect interrogated? Bring in the Celine Dion CDs. Got a nest of bad guys holding hostages? Let's see how they like Gun's & Roses for days on end.

Revolutionized warfare, you mean. It's been done. Heck, my unit's done it for the lulz. Not even we would bust out with Celine Dion CDs. We're still civilized.

I've done detention before. I've also done suspension, in-school-suspension, and expulsion. Of the lot, I think detention - though a half-hour is weak, ours usually ran in the hour-or-three range - and in-school-suspension are the only ones that aren't counter-productive. Expulsion... well, only in the cases where the kid should be going from school to prison.

[Yarram]

Using classical music as punishment?

Well, if it was good enough for our grandparents, it's good enough for me. That seems like the most relaxed and comfortable detention ever.

[Solaris]

Using classical music as punishment?

Well, if it was good enough for our grandparents, it's good enough for me. That seems like the most relaxed and comfortable detention ever.

Yeah, that school's definitely playing softball.

[V'icternus]

Turning music into a weapon?

It's been done. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oHg5SJYRHA0&feature=fvst)

[Solaris]

Turning music into a weapon?

It's been done. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oHg5SJYRHA0&feature=fvst)

Ooh, you... I'll get back to you.

[Hazkali]

Hmm, I wonder how long it takes before classical music is adopted as a form of rebellious counter-culture? I wonder in that case if I'm superficial enough to let that affect my appreciation of classical music...

[bosssmiley]

Hmm, I wonder how long it takes before classical music is adopted as a form of rebellious counter-culture? I wonder in that case if I'm superficial enough to let that affect my appreciation of classical music...

What makes you think it hasn't already? You know there's a move back to vinyl already, right? Well, just wait until the Enrico Carruso-on-wax-cylinders revival goes viral.

I'm looking forward to seeing the music industry blind-sided yet again. They'll still be fighting the last (digital distro) war, but people will have moved onto nigh-untraceable small batch punk/samizdat recording, fabrication and distribution. :smallwink:

"Handicrafting is killing music!" used as a slogan by the rights protection maximalist lobby. Called it. :smallwink:

[llamamushroom]

As cool as I think the idea is, I agree with Murdim: they're essentially turning what was (and by many, including me, still is) considered to be the high-point of culture into punishment. I really don't think it's a good thing.

However, I would like to go to one of these stations that is actually playing good music. Australia has a national radio station devoted to classical, and yet it never gets played in public. Ever. Terrible, two-teenagers-in-a-basement-with-a-walkie-talkie-and-a-cassette-player stations are played, but not Classic FM. Sometimes I hate Australia. :smallannoyed:

[Thufir]

However, I would like to go to one of these stations that is actually playing good music.

Oddly enough, though I've heard about it, I've never heard classical music being played at Whitley Bay, Cullercoats or Tynemouth stations. I have however heard some a few years back at Gateshead metro station, which is a more fitting place for it, since it's 10 minutes walk from the Sage.
Quite nice, coming to catch the metro after a choir rehearsal and singin along to the Cantique de Jean Racine while I wait.

[Nameless]

... That's a punishment? If listening to classical music in my old school was a punishment, I would’ve behaved badly all the time.

[Hunter Noventa]

Is it sad that this is what I thought of when I read the thread title? (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dbQ8MmiqN4o)

[PersonMan]

You know, when I first started to read the OP, I found myself wondering how music would stop your eyes from being messed up...

Also, I heard a while ago that very loud bass can take a toll on your body after a while, due to the shaking.

[Pinnacle]

... That's a punishment?

2-3 hours on Friday evening. It doesn't matter what they're actually doing during that time, it's still a punishment.

[Hazkali]

I should clarify that I do think it's playing into the prejudices of certain cliques to use classical music as a punishment. Whilst I don't necessarily enjoy all classical music, it is generally deeper and more complex than most other musical forms, similar to the way "the classics" are generally less popular than other books but are still considered to be deeper and more sound than other books.

To then say "this is a punishment" is almost to agree that there is something wrong with classical music.

[Dienekes]

When has classical music ever been punishment? An hour of Mussorgsky or Mozart or maybe some Tchaikovsky sounds heavenly.

That said if I was to weaponize music, It's a Small World After All would be my very first pick. Well second, but the Umbrella-ella-ella song was apparently popular for a time so it probably wouldn't be as effective a weapon as one would assume by listening to it.

[littlebottom]

well, to be perfectly honest, the only part of that i see as a punishment is that i couldnt use my time effectively, because i would have to sit listening to music. i mean, i can DO things while listening to music, but there i couldnt, so id get bored, but not via the music... but thats just me and im weird:smalltongue:

[Stormthorn]

It seems this will revolutionize warfare

Been done. In the Siege of Waco they used music to sleep deprive the cultists. Or so i heard.

[Ashery]

Ludwig van is real horroshow.

Well done, my brother.