MOZART FOREVER!!!


GRAZIE WQXR, I LOVE YOU!

Thanks for playing Mozart all day today to celebrate his birthday. I've enjoyed listening all day.

In the 1960s when I was teaching first grade in a difficult school in So. Jamaica, Queens, I would schedule a daily 15-minute rest period to give myself a break from my overactive students, but also with the hope of introducing classical music into their lives. I would turn on my portable radio to whatever music was playing on WQXR and the kids would listen -- with a lot of giggles -- to the unfamiliar music. The calming effect did not seem to carry over. I realized later that what they really needed was more physical activity.

MOZART was certainly one of the greatest prodigies ever. His music has been endorsed by psychologists as a means of developing "superbabies" both in the womb, playing recordings of his music to pregnant women, and to newborns and to children in their earliest years. This approach may have validity for the music is so beautiful and well-constructed without discordant sonorities or mournful or shrieking passages. Mozart is control and effortless sequentiality conducive to stream of consciousness attention. As Mark Twain so aptly put it, "reports of my death are greatly exaggerated." As long as the human being seeks to communicate, to express himself or herself, there will always exist formats, visual or aural that will provide the vehicle. Nowadays we see the extraordinary impact of the internet in which in real time people may organize demonstrations, as in Egypt, exult in a live performance, greet friends, establish business contacts and engage in all interactive social, cultural and commerce activities. The arts are bound to more than survive, but to thrive on the new options afforded!

All kidding aside, I experience your kind of frustration every March 31 - Haydn's birthday - when about 3 or 4 of his works are played all day. As of this posting, 57 of Mozart's have been aired, with another 2 hours to go! (Intending no disrespect for Mr. M.)

Yes! Another Londy-head! I knew I couldn't be the only one....

Mr. Power, I have it on good authority that Jan. 27, 2012 will feature an all-Londy schedule of programming!

Mozart is also played at Penn station which helps to calm you down when, especially when you are dealing with New Jersey transit...

I would add: better shopping experience leading to more money spent at Princeton Wegmans

Not only is it Mozart's birthday, it's also the birthday of the American-progressive composer Noam Gavriel Londy, perhaps most famous for his seminal contribution to the world of orchestral mutes, 'the Londy Mute.' HAPPY BIRTHDAY MR. LONDY!