BAROQUE sounds have become music to pupils' ears at a secondary school which is using Mozart to help classroom concentration, reports Lisa Frascarelli.

Head of Religious Studies, lifeskills and citizenship at Kirkbie Kendal School Helen Bradbury is championing the use of the Viennese master's music in the classroom.

Her pupils have come to expect the sound of sonatas playing softly throughout her classes: "I have been using the technique since I started here 18 months ago. Any sort of Baroque music Mozart, Vivaldi, Handel works because it has roughly 60 beats per minute, which calms the heart rate and therefore helps concentration.

"A lot of scientific research has been done on the Mozart Effect.' It relieves stress, improves concentration and supposedly raises academic results. But in the end it also makes for a nicer atmosphere."

She uses the technique in her classes with pupils of all ages and has encouraged other teachers to do the same.

The Mozart Effect,' which has been claimed can make cows produce more milk and turn babies into boffins, arose from studies in the 1990s by researchers at the University of California Frances Rauscher and Gordon Shaw

The study, involving 84 students, found that listening to a Mozart piano sonata for 10 minutes improved spatial-temporal reasoning skills - which aid in understanding prop-ortion, geometrey and other mathematical and scientific concepts.

And although the 18th Century composer and his contemporaries are not most teenagers' cup of tea, Miss Bradbury says the Mozart Effect' is having the right effect on exam scores: "I have done no serious tests on the effect the music has had but the academic results have improved in Religious Studies. The increase in GCSE exam results has been significant, they have almost doubled from somewhere in the 30s to 68 per cent A-C passes in 2002.

"The children respond well to the music. I explain why I'm doing it and, of course, they ask if they

can put their own music

on!"

Although Year 10 pupil Nikki Powell would prefer to be rocking out to Guns 'n Roses than contemplating Cosi Fan Tutti, she said the technique was having the desired effect: "I think it's a good idea. It's relaxing and calming and puts you in a good frame of mind to get on with the task in hand."

February 7, 2003 09:00