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STRATEGY FOR THE DAY: fall back

There was a wonderful article in last Sunday's LA Times Calendar section - "Halt, Or I'll Play Vivaldi" written by Scott Timburg. (The complete article is currently posted online at L.A. Times.com ) In essence: it appears that your average slummy gang-member doesn't like to hang out dealing drugs and making mayhem to the wrong soundtrack. According to Timburg, "To clear out undesirables, opera and classical music have been piped into Canadian parks, Australian railway stations, 7-Eleven parking lots and, most recently, London Underground stops.... According to most reports, it works. Figures from the British capital released in January showed robberies in the subway down by 33%, assaults on staff by 25% and vandalism of trains and stations by 37%. Sources in other locales have reported fewer muggings and drug deals."

Of course, this raises a couple of obvious questions: First, why should this be so (about which I have my own theory) and second, is it a good idea to use a valued art form as a kind of Bug-Be-Gone to combat the hoods in the 'hood?

I got my answer to the first question when I walked by a 7-Eleven a couple days ago and noticed that they had begun to broadcast Bach and co. Sure enough, there were no undesirables loitering nearby (as there usually are). So I decided to try a little experiment of my own. Results: You cannot do the pimp walk - that rolling, tough-guy gait that announces your cool to the world - to anything with less bottom-end groove than Snoop. For sure, Bach does not have Snoop's way with a bottom-end groove. Question answered. No pimp walk - no crime. It's as simple as that. Next...

I think Timburg begins to get hold of the answer to the second quesion - Is it acceptable to use classical music in this way? - when he writes, "In our era, 'elevator music' has been used to put people at ease in transitional spaces such as hotel lobbies and train stations." So, if you can use music to put people at ease why not use music to create a sense of 'unease'? The Bach, Mozart, and Verdi et al that's being piped into our parks, subways, and parking lots, is unfamiliar to the low-lifes who like to gather there. I mean, it's not like their car radios are tuned to the classical station. What is unfamiliar and stange is off-putting. Better to just move along and find someplace that feels more like a homie's home.

I don't have a big problem with the idea of using classical music as a form of pest control but I wonder if anyone has considered the backlash that could result from this? What happens as thugs and hoods become accustomed to the classical music they hear all around them? You know, it could be adapted to the gangsta' lifestyle. I mean, whoever thought Beethoven would become a disco hit? (What? You don't remember "A Fifth Of Beethoven"? The 1976 no. 1 hit single by Walter Murphy??? How could you forget!) So, just imagine for a moment (or don't) Snoop Dogg's recording of Bach's Concerto No. 1 in F Major. First, he would slow it 'wayyyyyyy down, then boost the bass, add a sub kick on the 1 and 4 and thinned-out high hat sample on some syncopated 16ths, then that violin part would sound just right played on an analogue synth with a a kind of sine-wavy patch, yeah, and... oooo, I can hear it now. Cooooool!!!

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Read A Brief History Of Love Songs by Robin Frederick at the Sound Experience Music web site.

Copyright 2005 Robin Frederick. All rights reserved.