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Beethoven & Me

Marie Rackham plays her favorite pieces by Ludwig van Beethoven

Have you noticed your students, your children, or yourself feeling more agitated than usual in these complicated times? Agitation is a serious and unacknowledged obstacle to learning.

There are many good habits and tools that one can employ to increase calmness within oneself and foster a better mental frame for learning. Among them, one of the most accessible and powerful is music, specifically classical music.

In recent years we've seen a number of in-depth studies on the effects of classical music on the capacity of the mind to learn. The benefits of listening to classical music while learning include reduced stress and tension, accelerated learning, greater retention of material learned, higher performance on tests, lower blood pressure, and even increased IQ scores.

Music enhances learning
Marie Rackham Basic Cozy Punctuation Course

Deep in the brain there is a band of white fibers called the corpus callosum. Researchers have discovered that the corpus callosum increases in size when humans are exposed to quiet, classical music. This increase in size increases the communication between the two hemispheres of the brain which, in turn, increases learning efficiency.

Ludwig van Beethoven was born in Bonn in 1770 and died in Vienna in 1827. When I think of Beethoven, I think huge, powerful, and larger than life. Even in his quiet, tender piano compositions he conveys majesty.

The Oxford Companion to Music states: "More than any other composer he deserves to be called the Shakespeare of music, for he reaches to the heights and plumbs the depths of the human spirit as no other composer has done."

What more can be said?

Enjoy!

Marie Rackham

Who This Music is For

 

Beethoven & Me has been carefully assembled and arranged so that even students without any background in classical music can enjoy and benefit from the music.

Families learning at home, independent learners who wish to increase their memory and powers of concentration, and teachers interested in helping to cultivate calm in the classroom have all benefited from Marie's nuanced and powerful interpretations of these memorable pieces of classical piano music.

A Word from Thomas

Complete Playlist

 

Track Composer Piece Length
1 Beethoven Sonatina in G Major 3:53
2 Beethoven Fur Elise 2:39
3 Beethoven Sonata Op. 13 (Pathetique): Grave/Allegro 5:52
4 Beethoven Sonata Op. 13 (Pathetique): Adagio 5:05
5 Beethoven Sonata Op. 13 (Pathetique): Rondo 5:42
6 Beethoven Sonata Op. 27 No. 2 (Moonlight): Adagio 4:57
7 Beethoven Sonata Op. 27 No. 2 (Moonlight): Allegretto 3:24
8 Beethoven Sonata Op. 27 No. 2 (Moonlight): Presto 6:17
9 Beethoven Sonata Op. 31 No. 2 (Tempest): Largo/Allegro 6:01
10 Beethoven Sonata Op. 31 No. 2 (Tempest): Adagio 6:13
11 Beethoven Sonata Op. 31 No. 2 (Tempest): Allegretto 5:05
12 Beethoven Sonata Op. 57 (Appassionata): Allegro 7:22
13 Beethoven Sonata Op. 57 (Appassionata): Andante 4:03
14 Beethoven Sonata Op. 57 (Appassionata): Allegro 6:00

Purchase

In order to support students and families in these unusual times we're working to keep our rates as affordable as possible.

Beethoven & Me: $16 $10 USD

Immediate access to all 14 downloadable mp3 files for an individual or a family.