Project Playlist: Classical Music

The sweet harmonies that blend together. The complex rhythms. The stories told. Stories of sadness and longing, of anger and rage, of joy, of reminiscing about first times and things long lost. While classical music once served as a hidden soundtrack to Samo that remained contained to orchestra practice rooms, it has now entered the academic classroom.English teacher Berkeley Blatz has a passion for music. He plays jazz piano, and while he was never classically trained, he has a deep appreciation for classical music.“The stresses, quality, subtlety of modern music, cannot hold as it is to the minutia of all music," Blatz said.Blatz incorporates music into his teaching. He has a number of playlists for each of the different classes he teaches. His Folktales and Mythology class playlist includes any piece from Holst’s The Planets, to Rimsky Korsakoff’s Scheherazade. His Bible class playlist includes works like Handel’s Israel in Egypt Oratorio to Mahler’s Symphony No. 2; Resurrection. As for his existential literature class (second semester of Bible class) playlist, the works range from Haydn’s Symphony 22: The Philosopher, to The Beatles’ Nowhere Man.Blatz is not the only teacher on campus with a passion for classical music.“I’ve always played classical music,” special education teacher’s aid, Ira Johnson said.Johnson comes to school every morning and blasts classical music through the speakers in his room.“I’ve used [classical music] to focus in the morning, you know, relax from the chaos,”  Johnson said.Some students even have classical music playlists that they listen to while doing homework. Many studies also mentioned that listening to classical music helps students achieve better grades. According to a study done by the Center for New Discoveries in Learning, learning potential can be increased by about five times by listening to 60 beats per minute music.Perhaps in the future, more teachers will start to play music in their classrooms. The pretty nuances heard really do provide more than just entertainment.cdebeus@thesamohi.com