Sidney Licht

“ Taken aesthetically, as an art, music is a social “superstructure”, which, as far as the individual creative act is concerned, remains an abstract manifestation of the human mind and imagination. Its existence as a creative art is possible only as long as the practical “possibilities” and potentialities of its effects in the phase of passive perception, do not intrude into and interfere with its character as an absolute non-utilitarian phenomenon in the processes of the creative art. ”

“ We repeat there is no such thing as good music or bad music. Music may be played poorly, but the evaluation of the good in music is personal. “Pleasure, and pleasure alone, is the proper purpose of art,” said Walter Sickert. Musicians will do well to remember that since taste results from the gradual blending of emotion, experience, and education, it is better to enjoy wholeheartedly “a waltz of Lehar than to be able to make a thematic analysis of a Beethoven sonata and yet remain unmoved by it.” ”

“ If the musician is aflame with the desire to make music for patients there is no need for insisting that it be labelled anything but music, providing of course that it is music. Physicians do not discourage acts of kindness or personal attention to their patients. They want them to have clean bedding and fluffed pillows, but insist that such procedures be called nursing care and not therapy, regardless of the amount of joy it brings the patient. There are many uses to which music may be put in medicine and especially in hospitals. ”

“ For those who cannot make music themselves, it is like watching a conjurer from behind. For musicians it offers the opportunity of inspection, improvement or criticism. One of the most important psychologic components of music is the physical presence of the music maker. About twenty years ago a manufacturer produced piano-player rolls which reproduced the manipulation of well known artists so well that experts could not differentiate between the sounds produced on the piano by a live pianist and the automatic player. Yet this method of reproduction was a failure financially ”

“ I do not know what subjective responses result from such purely physical phenomena as vibration and harmonics but I am convinced that listeners are physiologically and psychically effected by such musical characteristics as mood, intensity, pitch and rhythmical outline. It seems to me that the right music should provoke remembrance and association of thoughts and situations more easily in a mental patient than methods using factual persuasion. ”

“ The music of any given composer does not change but the audience will change as a result of the appearance of new forms of music and living. The works of the eighteenth century, with few exceptions, were loved by its contemporaries but find a small audience to-day.
The musical taste of an individual changes noticeably from childhood to maturity but the change is gradual, and except for those studying music intensively, during any one year of life the change is hardly appreciable. Even established favorites will become less desirable to the individual. ”

“ Licht has made a thorough study of this subject and has indicated some of the many uses of music in mental and physical pathology. The work which has been based on scientific research and clinical experience is most impressive and encouraging. If we, as musicians, can bring our contribution to such a wonderful purpose as healing, it would certainly be our most glorious accomplishment for mankind, and the noblest use of our art. ”

“ The dancers may complain of the poor musical execution, but will suffer a return engagement in preference to the playing of recorded music.
There are cinema stars whose singing voices are harsh to most ears, yet listeners will applaud them into an encore, not so much for the sake of a beautiful experience, but to prolong the human contact. We react not only to the sound, but to the motions and very presence of music-makers. We listen to people as well as their music. Live music stimulates, sustains and focuses attention. It should be used as often as possible for patients. ”

“ The musical program of a hospital need not necessarily be conducted by a musician, but a trained person is most desirable. There are people with an intense love for music and so comprehensive a grasp of its many fields that they might be capable of conducting a hospital program although unable to play an instrument. At some institutions music has been guided by volunteers with great satisfaction to staff and patients, but this is an age of [Pg 119] specialization and a paid, trained musician will usually be worth the salary in efficiency, dependability, and control. ”

“ Tests with instruments will prove that music will do this. Do not change too abruptly from one key to another; modulate and pause and let the musical impression be absorbed. Select songs that depict green fields and pastures new, the cool running brook, the flight of birds, the blue sky, the sea.
“Fear is dissipated by music awakening in the listener the consciousness of the all enveloping Good. A high nervous tension is relieved and nerves are relaxed under the spell of a composition that swings the body into normal rhythmic movement. ”

“ BACKGROUND MUSIC
The average mind is incapable of engaging effectively in two thought processes simultaneously, but it can in the course of daily routine accept a multitude of mental stimuli at any one moment. If one of these stimuli is sound, it may be the natural complement to the visual experience without which a feeling of incompleteness may result. The observer at the sea-side is intrigued by the cyclic rolling of the waves, and the periodic crashing of the breakers is an integral part of the pleasure of watching waves. ”

“ If we think of music as the completed creation of one mind, we can understand how its perception may have a genuine influence on the listener’s mood and that it may be channeled into desired directions which takes the forms of adaptation and adjustment. ”

“ PHILOSOPHY AND PSYCHOLOGY OF MUSIC I
In the realm of thought, opinions and theories sometimes find credence long after they have been proved incorrect. In the field of the arts, opinions may become so strongly rooted that there is occasional resistance to any analytical attempts designed to disprove them, and even after they have been exposed, there will be a significant number of people who will continue to believe in them. ”

“ Many instruments may be employed for the mobilization of joints and muscles. When a musical instrument is prescribed as the occupational therapy activity for a patient, there may be some resistance on the part of the patient because of a lack of general or musical education, or the fear of studying something new. The success with which this resistance may be overcome will depend upon the skill of the musical aide not only as a musician but as a teacher. The musical aide will have to convince the patient that the fundamentals of music are far less difficult to learn than is popularly supposed. ”

“ It may be, after all, that reaction to the modes is largely a question of the extent to which association with descriptive titles of a specific variety first establishes the affective impressions in the mind of the beginner.” Thus it can be seen that composers have been nurturing an old philosophy by titles rather than music. Beaunis has shown that although among European composers, the major mode has been used for bright and restful passages and the minor mode has been used for uneasy and stirring selections, a study of the music of other races will uncover an entirely opposite use. ”

“ Greater efficiency results from using music to relieve the boredom of repetitive operations, to reduce nervous tension, to take the worker’s mind off himself, and in general to make the shop a more attractive place in which to work. He finds the evidence undeniable that music can increase production, but points out that this result will depend upon how the project is managed. If the acoustics or mechanical reproduction is poor, the value of music may be lost. The most important short-coming at present is the difficulty in obtaining suitable commercial recordings. ”

“ Music is many things, but physically it consists of sounds or notes which have pitch, intensity, timbre and duration. These notes are combined in patterns which have rhythm, tempo, melody and harmony and these in turn are related to key, mode and form. ”

“ If intelligence is not exercised, the program will fail because the senior music aide is the keystone of the entire structure. For a children’s hospital, a woman who has raised children would seem most suitable. The aide for children should be able to sing and play the piano. She should also be able to play musical games with children.
For a hospital of young adults, such as the average hospital for the tuberculous, a young woman between thirty and forty will have the energy, drive and spirit to match the requirements and contemporary tastes of the patients under her care. ”

“ Art, by its very nature is a product of individuality. As opposed to the anonymous craft, the main requirement of an aesthetically artistic product assuming the presence of professional skill and knowledge is that it be the work of a human organism, which possesses acceptable qualifications of vocation and expression. To this attribute we have given such names as talent, genius, imagination, and many others. This phenomenon of specific predestination must also be accompanied by a characteristic property which has received such names as personality, individuality or originality. ”

“ In those hospitals which possess an occupational therapy shop, music may be used to increase the pleasantness of the surroundings and possibly to increase the endurance and efficiency of work projects.
Music is not recommended as a background to work which requires mental concentration, even though it is used by a great many students who believe that they can do their home-work better with the radio on. If the melody is too interesting or too popular at the time, it may be distracting, but where the work is largely physical, soft music has been shown to be a desirable adjuvant. ”

“ Schoen [71] found that response to music is related to the psychologic levels at which they occur, and to sensation, perception, and imagination. The sensorial response is physiologic and possessed by all. It is the source upon which all other musical development depends. It requires a minimum amount of mental effort, and its effects are within the easy reason of the intellectually inferior and superior alike. As a sensation, music is either pleasant or unpleasant. ”

“ Music can avoid the realistic approach and by its absolute progression abstractly recreate a familiarity of situation which may prove most useful in handling mental patients. By eliciting a desired mood it may offer the physician a method of handling disease as important as shock, and a result obtainable in no other way. To a musician, completely unfamiliar with medicine and pathology this use seems obvious and undeniable. ”

“ More often than not a musician approaches a problem with more emotion than analysis, and this becomes of great importance when the problem is a patient. There have always been and will continue to be physicians who with honest conviction or for greater glory will anxiously ally themselves with anything new or sensational, therefore musicians impassioned with the belief that music is necessary to health will have little difficulty in finding collaborators in the ranks of medicine. ”

“ The common creative urge, desire for diversion, and search for satisfactory expression exist in all people. Music—above all arts—guarantees the fulfillment of these elemental urges, and therein lies its greatest value. ”

“ The speaker volume on the pediatric ward may be increased to gain the attention of some children, and drown out the crying of others. Children can listen to the same set of records almost endlessly. They prefer to hear music with which they are acquainted. They like songs with words.
One reason for hospitalization is to get the patient away from the annoyances and noises of home. One of the modern noises is the radio. Most patients sleep and need more sleep than well people. In most hospitals certain hours of the day are chosen for rest in the hope that the patients will fall asleep. ”

“ If chosen selections are played improperly or without regard to certain elementary considerations, the use of music will lose its value to the patient. A brief consideration must include the effects of arrangement, tempo and volume with which the selections are played, since these have been seen to influence the effects of the selection. Many people when asked to name their favorite music will name a performer or a band rather than a specific piece because they have come to desire the characteristic style of the artists preferred, and style in an orchestra is closely related to these factors. ”

“ The music aide should be able either to play the piano at sight or he should study one of the rapid systems of piano instruction for he will be called upon not only to accompany group singing but to assist visiting artists or talented patients.
Although a foundation in classical music is part of any good musical training, a musician who refuses to recognize the importance of popular music in American life is not suited to this work. If he has a positive dislike for popular music, he should look to other fields. ”

“ Music as an art has its own internal laws of creation and traditional development. These laws are not casual but organic and they can not be violated without self destruction. Consequently, the beneficial effects of music can be applied for utilitarian purposes only if its integrity is safe from external intervention, even if only temporarily, and if the element of social usefulness does not influence the creative process. ”