MUSIC

Tchaikovsky and Wagner have proven most effective in chasing pesky sea gulls from nesting in a Fremont, Calif., high school gymnasium. About 300 car-splattering and ventilation-fouling sea gulls that roosted at American High School for about a year were shooed away by “Siegfried’s Funeral March” from his opera “Gotterdammerung” and Tchaikovsky’s 1812 Overture. “The first thing we played was the Wagner,” Principal Joe Tranchina said. “Boy, they came off of there like somebody fired a cannon.” The cannon metaphor inspired playing the Tchaikovsky, which features the use of cannons in the score.