Bach & Me

Marie Rackham plays her favorite pieces by Johann Sebastian Bach

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.

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.

Johann Sebastian Bach was born in 1685 and died in 1750. His works reflect the culmination of the contrapuntal (melody against melody) style of which the fugue, the chorale, and the suite are the most definite expressions. After his death his music was all but forgotten. Its revival, one hundred years later, is due to composers like Mendelssohn and Wesley.

Here are some of my Bach favorites. You will be able to download them for all your favorite devices. Play the music at a low level while you or your students are learning a new concept, reviewing material, or quietly studying.

Enjoy!

Who This Music is For

Bach & 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

Purchase

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

Bach & Me: $16 $10 USD

Immediate access to all 45 downloadable mp3 files for an individual or a family.