Music to deter yobs by

This is interesting - although I've found in the past that people who think they don't like classical music actually do; just don't call it classical music. Call it music from adverts or music from films and suddenly it's okay. ("Ooh it's the theme from Clockwork Orange!")

I play the second movement of Vaughan Williams's second symphony to slides of paintings by World War One artists each year and usually have at least one student sidling up to me afterwards to take a note of the title but careful that none of their friends finds out - I don't get it: music's music!

Anyway, interesting article - the full one is worth reading.

It will be music to the ears of anyone who's been plagued by vandalism and anti-social behaviour - a blast of Mozart or Vivaldi. It seems the classics can speak volumes when it comes to changing the mood music.

The experience of standing at a bus stop or railway station and feeling intimidated, perhaps by a group of teenagers hanging around, is not uncommon.

Dealing with it has led to a variety of expensive attempted solutions, including the installation of CCTV. But the idea of using piped classical music, for some years spoken of as a joke, is gradually being adopted as a widespread and low-cost solution.

For the cost of some speakers, and the necessary licence to play piped music, problem areas can apparently be painlessly resolved. Even the Co-op is giving it a go, outside some of its shops.

Tyne and Wear Metro was one of the first to recognise the pacifying force of the great composers when, inspired by the success of schemes operating in Canada, it began playing classical music at some outlying stations.