{"collection":"philosophy-ethics","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_66855/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_66855","id":"gutenberg_66855","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/66855","summary":null,"tags":["Category: Music","Category: Psychiatry/Psychology","Music -- Philosophy and aesthetics","Music -- Psychological aspects"],"text":"Transcriber's note:\n\nThis version of the text cannot represent certain typographical effects.\nItalics are delimited with the '_' character as _italic_.\n\nThe few minor errors, attributable to the printer, have been corrected.\nPlease see the transcriber's note at the end of this text for details\nregarding the handling of any textual issues encountered during its\npreparation.\n\n\n\n\n Why We Love Music\n\n\n\n\n BY\n CARL E. SEASHORE\n\n\n Professor of Psychology\n and\n Dean Emeritus of the Graduate College\n The State University of Iowa\n\n\n\n OLIVER DITSON COMPANY\n THEODORE PRESSER CO., DISTRIBUTORS\n BRYN MAWR, PENNSYLVANIA\n\n\n Copyright MCMXLI by Oliver Ditson Company\n International Copyright Secured\n\n\n Printed in the United States\n of America\n\n\n\n\n\n PREFACE\n\n\nThe magazine, _Time_, commenting on my new book, _The Psychology of\nMusic_[A], spoke approvingly of the scientific contributions to music,\nbut gibed that, \"psychologists have not explained why we love music.\" As\na reply to that I wrote a note, _Why Do We Love Music?_[B] This seemed\nto call for a wider excursion implementing the views there taken, as in\nthe present Chapter I. That, in turn, led to the writing of the\nremainder of this volume, in which each chapter deals with some of the\nsalient factors involved in the development of feeling for music.\n\nThese ventures digress from my habitual style of writing, as a technical\npsychologist, in that I frequently indulge in generalizations and\npredictions in a practical and popular vein. The attempt to interpret\nand evaluate present tendencies in the region of forward movements in\nmusic naturally takes me into unexplored territory and will stimulate\nquestioning on the part of promoters of various interest in the field. I\nhold no brief for infallibility of the positions taken, except to say\nthat they are my convictions at the present moment. While they are not\ndirect reports of scientific experiments in the laboratory or the\nstudio, they may be regarded as an extension or interpretation based\nupon scientific experiments and observations. It is hoped that they may\nserve as hypotheses or at least a challenge for investigation and\npractical trial. The reader must judge what is new and what is true from\nhis point of view. Many of the things I advocate are in an experimental\nstage and in advance of current prevailing practice. This is the reason\nfor presenting them. My aim has been to tease out those elements in the\nmusical situation which help to make music function in our lives and be\nappreciated.\n\nThe following chapters have appeared in magazines: Ch. I, _The Etude_\n(brief summary); Ch. II, _The Parents' Magazine_; Ch. III, _National\nParent Teacher_, under the title, \"On Their Musical Way\"; Ch. IV, _The\nSchool Review_; Ch. VI, _The Scientific Monthly_. For permission to\nbring these chapters into this volume I herewith express my appreciation\nto the publishers.\n\n CARL E. SEASHORE,\n Iowa City, Iowa,\n March 1, 1940.\n\n\n-----\n\nFootnote A:\n\n McGraw-Hill, 1938\n\nFootnote B:\n\n Music Educators Journal, Sept. 1938\n\n\n\n\n CONTENTS\n\n\n Chapter Page\n\n\n I Why Do We Love Music? 1\n\n The Musical Medium 2\n\n Organic response, 2; Sounds in themselves, 3;\n Music proper, 3; Music with words and action,\n 3; Symbolism, 4.\n\n The Musical Motives 4\n\n Musical knowledge, 5; Musical feeling, 5;\n Musical action, 6; Music as play, 7; Musical\n imagination, 8; Who loves music?, 8.\n\n Thought Review 10\n\n\n\n II Music Before the Age of Six 12\n\n From smile to music, 12; Music in play, 14;\n Environment, 15; Music and speech, 16;\n Musical talent, 17; Musical education, 18.\n\n Thought Review 19\n\n\n\n III Music Between the Ages of Six and Ten 21\n\n A broadened conception of music, 22; The\n analysis of talent, 23; Group instruction,\n 24; Formal lessons delayed, 25; A sympathetic\n listener, 26; Music lovers vs. virtuosi, 27.\n\n Thought Review 27\n\n\n\n IV Music and Youth 29\n\n Youth, The Age of Music 29\n\n The emotional age, 29; The age of serious\n play, 30; The age of decision and\n eliminations, 30; The educational age, 30;\n The age of leisure, 32.\n\n Music For Youth 34\n\n Music, an academic subject, 34; Orientation\n in the grades, 35; Group activities in voice\n and instrument, 35; Contests, 36; The hearing\n of music, 37.\n\n Thought Review 39\n\n\n\n V The Musical Temperament 41\n\n Physiological irritability, 43; Tonal\n sensitivity, 43; Artistic license, 44;\n Ear-mindedness, 45; Affective response, 45;\n The esthetic mood, 46; Exhibitionism, 46;\n Symbolism, 47; Precocity, 47.\n\n Thought Review 48\n\n\n\n VI Musical Inheritance 50\n\n Essential Premises 50\n\n Psychophysical Measurements 54\n\n Thought Review 59\n\n\n\n VII The Future of Musical Instruments 62\n\n Possible Lines of Development 63\n\n The improvement of existing instruments, 64;\n New substitutes for existing instruments, 65;\n New ensembles, 66.\n\n New Music 67\n\n Playing 69\n\n Specifications for Instrument Construction 70\n\n Pitch, 70; Loudness, 70; Time, 71; Timbre,\n 71.\n\n Thought Review 72\n\n\n\n VIII Praise and Blame in Music 74\n\n Vantage Grounds 75\n\n Artistic insight, 75; The scientific\n attitude, 76; Terminology, 76; Musical\n talent, 77.\n\n Parties Concerned 77\n\n The pupil, 77; The teacher, 78; The critic,\n 79; The public, 80.\n\n Thought Review 81\n\n\n\n\n Chapter I\n WHY DO WE LOVE MUSIC?\n\n\nWhy does a person love his sweetheart, his food, his safety, his social\nfellowship, his communion with nature, his God, approaches to the\nultimate goals of truth, goodness, and beauty? The answer to each of\nthese is a long story, involving not only common sense and scientific\nobservation but a profound intuitive insight, a self-revelation. In all,\nit will be found that love is a favorable response, a reaching out for\nthe satisfaction of a fundamental human need, an effort to secure\npossession, and a willingness to give an equivalent, indeed a more or\nless unconditional surrender.\n\nIn all efforts to describe and explain, we reach out for specific\nreasons or at least rationalizations. Modern science has made great\nstrides in revealing and describing all sorts of reasons for such\nemotional experience and behavior. The theory of the evolution of man,\nthe anthropological implementation of this in the history of the rise of\nmankind, the psychology of the mental development of the individual, the\ncomparison of this with animal behavior, and the inspired interpretation\nof these motives in literature, especially biography, autobiography, and\npoetry, are sources to be drawn upon. We have the adage that the\nexplanation of one blade of grass involves the explanation of all the\nforces of nature. This aphorism certainly applies in the attempt to\nexplain any particular human love.\n\nIt is therefore evident that any attempt to account for a specific\naffection, such as the love of music, must be fractionated, placing\nresponsibility in turn upon the scientist, the artist, and the\nself-revelation of the inspired music lover at each culture level. It\nhas become the recognized function of the psychology of music to\nintegrate the contributions from all scientific sources, such as\nanatomy, physiology, anthropology, acoustics, mental hygiene, and logic,\nin their bearings upon the hearing of music, the appreciation of music,\nmusical skills, theories, and influences. To account for the emotional\npower of music, the psychologist must consider the taproots of the\nartistic nature of the individual in relation to the nature of the art\nobject, music. He must trace the unfolding of the organism as a whole\nfrom inherited reflexes, instincts, urges, drives, and capacities in an\nintegrated pattern; he must consider the function of the art in human\neconomy and especially the goals attained by the pursuit of the art. In\nthis task there is room for intricate specializations and division of\nlabor. It is my purpose here to present merely a rough skeletal outline\nof some of the outstanding features which underlie the love of music\nfrom the psychological point of view.\n\nEvery impulse has two aspects: attraction and repulsion. All of us love\nmusic in some degree; all of us hate some music; and most of us in the\neconomy of nature are comparatively indifferent and extravagantly\nwasteful to the role that music might play in our lives. Hatred and\nindifference to music are important realities in life worthy of serious\nconsideration; but our topic restricts us to the positive side of\nmusical response, the love of music.\n\n\n THE MUSICAL MEDIUM\n\n_Organic response._ Man is born with a psychophysical organism which\nregisters sounds and responds to them somewhat like a resonator, which\nselects, amplifies and aids in the integration of auditory impressions.\nOur whole organism responds to sound involving the central and\nperipheral nervous system, all the muscles, all the internal organs, and\nespecially the automatic nervous system with its endocrines, which\nfurnish the triggers in the physical generation of emotion. Experiments\nfrom various sources have shown that sound acts physiologically on\nnervous control, circulation, digestion, metabolism, body temperature,\nposture and balance, hunger and thirst, and in general, the groundwork\nof pleasure and pain. The physical organism as a whole responds to\nsounds in specialized functions.\n\nThus, man comes into the world tuned to music. The organism responds to\nsounds from earliest infancy. Back of all conscious awareness, back of\nall musical feeling, even back of subconscious assimilations and\nelaborations is the purely physiological response which is a function\nand a condition of well-being. This physiologically beneficent response\nof the organism to sound underlies all musical experience; without it we\ncould not love music.\n\n_Sounds in themselves._ Like colors, sounds may be beautiful in\nthemselves, quite apart from music. A single sound in nature or art is\ncapable of appearing in endless variety in terms of pitch, dynamic\nvalue, duration, tone quality, and noise. It may be an object of beauty\nin itself in thousands of ways quite apart from its utility in music or\nmusical perception. We find the tonal world in which we live full of\nbeautiful and useful sounds which we love because we are capable of\nintellectual and emotional response to their beneficent influence. They\nplay a large role in our feelings of attraction and adjustment. They may\nbe beautiful to the untutored and intuitive mind as well as to the\nintellectually and esthetically cultured mind in the same way that\nflowers may seem beautiful to a child because they arouse an immediate\npleasurable feeling; and yet they are not music but merely the raw\nmaterial from which music is made. These raw materials from which the\nmusical structure is raised are themselves beautiful, quite apart from\nmusical experience or behavior. They play a large role in the love of\nnature.\n\nThus, before the beginnings of music, primitive man responded\naffectionately to the sounds of nature and was guided by them in his\ndaily life. Even before language took form, single sounds carried\nmeaning and gave satisfaction. Man took pleasure in his own vocal\nutterances or mechanically produced sounds which played a large role in\nhis human economy and development.\n\n_Music proper._ Sounds may be woven into beautiful patterns. This is\nmusic. We admire the melodic progressions, the rhythmic patterns, the\nharmonic structure, and the qualitative modulations in the flow of\nbeautiful sounds. Harmony, balance, symmetry, contrast and fusions\nbecome embodied in musical form. Here the object of our affections is\nthe artistic creation. The place of the musician is quite analogous to\nthe astronomer's feeling of the sublime as he looks into the heavens in\nthe light of his knowledge of the nature and movement of heavenly\nbodies.\n\n_Music with words and action._ Much of the charm of music lies in its\nassociation with words which carry the message, as in song. The center\nof interest in much of the vocal art lies in the meaning conveyed by the\nwords where the music serves as an artistic embellishment. This is true\nof the lullaby, the cowboy song, the lover's plea, and grand opera.\nLikewise, much of the charm of music lies in its association with overt\naction as in dances, work songs, marches, and games, where action is\nrhythmic. This added power of the music lies not only in the dance steps\nbut more conspicuously in the suggestive rhythms divided into intricate\npatterns often far surpassing the score or the physical performance.\nThat is what we mean when we say music carries. In such situations the\nmusical appeal may lie for one person in the verbal message or the overt\naction and for another, purely in the musical appeal. Yet both words and\naction on the one hand and music on the other are enriched through the\nassociation.\n\n_Symbolism._ Music finds its highest and most universal expression in\nsymbolism. Music is primarily a way of expressing moods, attitudes,\nfeelings, and longings in generalized form. The listener tends to live\nhimself concretely into the feeling suggested. In the esthetic mood he\nis not aware of the mechanics of the symbolic suggestion, for which the\nart has many resources, and he may not be aware of the music as such;\nbut he lives realistically within his own personal realm of interests.\nThus, music sounds the keynote on great festive occasions in the\npowerful forms of festive music, as in the great sacred oratorios and\nsimpler but beautiful forms of church music or in triumphant marches and\nother festive celebrations in major form. But minor forms, as in tone\npoems and haunting melodies, work on the same principle and perhaps\nfully as effectively. From the grandeur suggested by the sonata to the\nserenity arising from the simplest bit of improvization in voice or\ninstrument, music has unlimited power to seize the individual for some\nform of dreamlike realization of the subjects of his longings.\n\n\n THE MUSICAL MOTIVES\n\nWhat we are called upon to explain then in the attraction for musical\nart is essentially the motives which drive man to the creation,\nappreciation, and performance of music. One of these motives is the love\nof knowledge as a thing in itself, the understanding of what is, and the\npower of passing from vantage ground to vantage ground in the logical\ncreation, appreciation, and execution of art forms.\n\n_Musical knowledge._ This love of music for its cognitive value can be\ntraced from the earliest musical achievements, as in the growing\nacquaintance with song, sight reading, qualifications for participation\nin music, and appreciation of art forms, throughout all stages in the\nmusical development of the individual up to that of the highest\ninterpreters and creators of music. While music is a play on our\nfeelings and appeals primarily to our emotional life, an intellectual\nmastery of the process, the ability to understand artistic meanings, the\nability to construct beautiful art forms, the ability to analyze\nelements in the power of music, the ability to see the relation between\nmusical art and other forms of art, and the ability to comprehend the\nunity of all the arts, are basic in our love of music. Even in the cool\nand logical pursuit of the science of music, foundations are laid for\nthe deepening of insight and the revelation of artistic values. Glimpses\ninto the vistas of unexplored resources intensify the admiration, the\nfeeling of awe, the glimpse into the infinite which is love of the\nobject pursued.\n\nThe role of intelligence in music is well illustrated in recent\nexperiments in which vocabulary was measured in three groups; namely,\nten nationally well-known composers, ten of the most successful students\nin a large class in composition, and ten of the least successful\nstudents in the same class. It was found that the master composers and\nthe successful students of composition ranked in or near the top in a\ntest of general vocabulary; whereas, the unsuccessful students ranked\nnear the bottom. Since knowledge of words is an index for the possession\nof ideas, it is significant to note that successful composers are\npersons who have a large and discriminating command of ideas.\n\n_Musical feeling._ It must be recognized that the love of music is\nessentially an unanalyzed feeling. Countless people feel the esthetic\nappeal in music without understanding anything about it. It may be like\nthe notorious puppy love, which is frequently blind, but nevertheless a\ndeep love. This is particularly true in the earlier stages of the\ndevelopment of musical interests. But it is occasionally in evidence in\nthe successful singer on the stage who may be blissfully ignorant of the\nprinciples underlying his art, the media he seeks to mold, or the\nsignificance of his message. There is much justification for the\nperformer's forgetting what little he knows and indulging in\nself-expression in a state of abandon in which he deeply feels his\nmessage and expects to convey this feeling to the listener.\n\nWe must distinguish between two attitudes in listening to music and in\nthe performance of music: the critically analytical and the purely\nemotional. An intelligent musician is capable of both and loves both. In\nthe learning stages he pursues the former attitude primarily until\ntechniques are mastered and habits are formed which operate\nautomatically in the musical situation. This is also the dominant\nattitude of the music critic. But in seeking the enjoyment of music and\nin the unified expression of a thing beautiful, the musician takes the\nother attitude. Paderewski would be hopelessly lost and ineffective if,\nat the moment of performance, he should be consciously aware of all the\nart forms of which he is master. The successful performance comes in an\ninspirational attitude, the semi-ecstatic feeling of the beauty one\nseeks to convey, a state of forgetfulness of self and concrete facts.\n\nThus music is a language of emotion. Through it the composer and the\nperformer convey their own emotions to the listener. It is a message and\na means of communication which enable the performer and the listener to\nlive for moments in the same tonal world of pleasure. Our muse is\njealous and seeks to exclude all intruders at the moment of her artistic\nappeal.\n\n_Musical action._ On a par with the intellectual and emotional approach\nis the role of action in music. Consider for a moment the central place\nof rhythm. The composer presents a hierarchy of rhythms: the measure\nrhythm, the phrase rhythm, the sentence rhythm, the movement rhythm, all\nmoving into a unified beautiful artistic structure. The performer takes\nthis as a cue and adds or detracts, as the case may be, by his personal\ninterpretation. Modern psychology has shown that all musical listening\nis action, a constructive response on the part of the listener.\n\nAll rhythm is primarily a projection of personality. My rhythm flows\nfrom what I am. A large part of the pleasure in music comes from a\nsatisfaction in what rhythm does. Rhythm facilitates perception by\ngrouping; rhythm adjusts the stream of attention; rhythm gives a feeling\nof balance; rhythm gives a feeling of freedom, luxury and expanse;\nrhythm gives a feeling of power, it carries; rhythm, as in the dance,\nstimulates and lulls, contradictory as this may seem; rhythm finds\nresonance in the whole organism; rhythm arouses sustained and enriched\nassociations; rhythm reaches out in extraordinarily detailed complexity\nwith progressive mastery; the instinctive craving for experience in\nrhythm results in play, which is free self-expression for the pleasure\nof expression; rhythm plays not only with temporal but also with dynamic\nand qualitative aspects of tone. Subjectively, rhythm in music is a play\nwithin a play: The composer anticipates it, the performer gives the cue,\nand the listener expresses himself in it.\n\n_Music as play._ All art is play, and the charm of music, the purest\nform of art, lies fundamentally in the fact that it furnishes a medium\nof self-expression for the mere joy of expression and without ulterior\npurpose. It becomes a companion in solitude, a medium through which we\ncan live with the rest of the world. Through it we express our love, our\nfears, our sympathy, our aspirations, our feelings of fellowship, our\ncommunion with the Divine in the spirit of freedom of action.\n\nNote the fundamental characteristics of play and observe how in these\nlies the power of attraction in music as play. Play gives a feeling of\nself-realization; it is the experience of growth. It expresses the\nracial life and in many respects is a reversion to type: It has been\nsaid that we are all of the same age--millions of years. Play is a\nrealization of the sense of freedom; it attracts, engages and fascinates\nby the very satisfaction which it engenders and which supports it; the\ndance, when it is real play and not mere social labor or conformity,\ncarries the dancer in so far as he falls into a state of diffuse and\ndreamy consciousness, intoxicated by the sense of pleasure, lulled by\nthe automatic rhythmic movements, and soothed by the melodious and\nmeasured flow of music. Play gives satisfaction in the feeling of being\na cause, of having creative power. Play is essentially social and finds\nits highest realization in good fellowship. Play is positive, an\nexpression of the joy of life. The unrestraint and spontaneity of play\nresult in strenuous and whole-hearted exertion; the seriousness of play\nis one of its fascinations. Success in play lies in its fictitious\nnature; it rests upon make believe; liberated from realities, it accepts\nthe ideal and lives it as real. In the possibility of playing with the\nideal lies a fundamental charm of music.\n\n_Musical imagination._ Music is by no means limited to what is composed,\nperformed and listened to in the objective situation. Its main field of\noperation lies beyond the sensory impressions and overt actions. Its\nprincipal domain is the tonal world of memory, imagination, thought, and\npure feeling. Millions of people are today under the spell of _Over the\nRainbow_, as rendered in _The Wizard of Oz_, a simple, compelling thing\nwhich takes possession of us in the dream, and in the humdrum of daily\nactivities; it lives within us realistically, quite apart from actual\nsounds so long as it is novel. This is especially true of the higher\nforms of art with all their intricacy and refinements in artistic form\nwhich the trained musician can re-live or create. _Over the Rainbow_,\nthe expression of our freedom and self-realization in the spirit of\nadventure, lies within the power of music.\n\n_Who loves music?_ The love of music is not universal. Deep, warm, and\npoised devotion to music is comparatively rare. Much of music is plain\nwork, sheer drudgery. Much is climbing toward a goal never to be\nattained. Many who ply the art of music can hardly be said to love it in\nthe long run. There are aspiring artists who devote a lifetime to the\nmastery of the skills, but become hypercritical and sour when they fail\nto feel the esthetic glow or gain the command of public acclaim. Many an\naspiring amateur suffers a similar defeat. To the masses, music is but\nfleeting incidents, occasional whiffs of the overflow from the wealth of\nhuman appeals to a latent artistic nature. It is a notorious fact that\nmany who profess a love of music do not have it, but are mere pretenders\nand imitators, conscious or unconscious, and that many who disavow it\nare merely dying with all their music in them.\n\nFor such failures and inadequacies there are many possible explanations.\nOne of the impediments to the love of music is the absence of the\n\"gift\", a naturally musical mind. In this there are enormous differences\nin kind and degree. It follows that there will be corresponding\ndifferences in the kind and degree of love for music. While music\nsprings spontaneously in the gifted child and youth, education is as\nessential for music as it is for science or language. One might as well\nattempt to acquire learning without study as to acquire music without\ntraining. Then again, as is a person's intelligence, so is his music.\nAnd creative imagination is a tool with which music is fashioned from\nchildhood to the heights of artistry. Furthermore, we must recognize\nthat for really expressive love and devotion to music we must look to\nthe often justly or unjustly maligned musical temperament.\n\nYet the company of music lovers is great. Music is the most universal\navocation. This has been true of all races throughout all times and at\nall culture levels. Only a fraction of one per cent of persons who hear\nmusic or practice it do so vocationally. We, the people, preserve it\nprimarily as an avocation, an activity purely for pleasure and cultural\nenrichment. The love of music abounds at our time and in our country;\nyet we are but at the beginnings of a dawning musical era. The increase\nof leisure time, high educational level, and the astounding invention of\ninstruments for the production and transmission of musical sounds\nforecast its rise.\n\nWhy then do we love music? Among other things we love it because it\ncreates a physiological well-being in our organism; it is built from\nmaterials which are beautiful objects in themselves; it carries us\nthrough the realms of creative imagination, thought, actions, and\nfeelings in limitless art forms; it is self-propelling through natural\nimpulses, such as rhythm; it is the language of emotion, a generator of\nsocial fellowship; it takes us out of the humdrum of life and makes us\nlive in play with the ideal; it satisfies our cravings for intellectual\nconquest, for isolation in the artistic attitude of emotion, and for\nself-expression for the joy of expression.\n\n\n THOUGHT REVIEW\n\n General Principles\n\n (1) Music is pursued primarily for the pleasure of the pursuit without\n ulterior purpose.\n\n (2) When music renders service, this service is essentially the giving\n of pleasure.\n\n (3) The depth and the quality of a person's affection for music vary\n significantly with the degree and kind of musical inheritance.\n\n (4) If the natural urge toward music is there, it will be readily\n molded through training and facilitation of the environment.\n\n (5) It is psychologically possible to present a natural history of the\n origin and development of the love of music in terms of its\n objects and motives.\n\n (6) The inceptive psychology of musical experience and behavior can be\n pursued in the laboratory and the studio through experiment and\n measurement.\n\n (7) There is a charm in knowing _that_ we love music but even more so,\n _why_ and _how_.\n\n (8) It is also worth knowing why some people _do_ not and others\n _cannot_ love music.\n\n\n Questions to Consider\n\n (1) Is the play attitude in music opposed to hard work?\n\n (2) Why is high intelligence essential to the composer?\n\n (3) Can a moron love music genuinely?\n\n (4) Is the musical temperament essential for the love of music?\n\n (5) How can the adrenal glands affect the love of music?\n\n (6) Is the love of rhythm primarily inherited or acquired?\n\n (7) What hereditary factors may block the development of the love of\n music?\n\n (8) What factors in musical talent are most telling for the\n development of the love of music?\n\n (9) What educational motives are most effective as a means of\n enhancement of the love of music?\n\n (10) What is the nature of musical ecstasy?\n\n\n Discuss These True Situations\n\n (1) The typical \"house\" for the season's performance of the symphony\n orchestra is arrayed in festive attire and poses in attentive and\n festive mood. Make an estimate of the relative proportion of the\n audience there (a) to see and be seen, (b) to perform a social\n obligation, (c) to satisfy curiosity, (d) to learn something about\n music, (e) to thoroughly enjoy the orchestral music.\n\n (2) A primitive savage lives close to nature and observes sounds\n produced by man and beast, by wind and sea. May he feel musical\n affection for these sounds apart from their utility and apart from\n knowledge of man-made music?\n\n (3) In an aristocratic family there are four children, all manifestly\n lacking in musical talent, but intelligent and co-operative in\n education. They are all given excellent advantages of musical\n education and environment and pursue them as a matter of course.\n Are they likely to come into a warm love of music?\n\n (4) It has been observed that when one listens to very beautiful music\n he tends to swallow saliva by gulps, as the young lover does in a\n state of infatuation; and that when he hears vile music, there is\n a tendency to want to spit. In other words, there are two ways of\n disposing of saliva under emotion: Attraction, indicated by\n swallowing; and repulsion, indicated by feeling the need of\n spitting. Can you verify that?\n\n\n\n\n Chapter II\n MUSIC BEFORE THE AGE OF SIX\n\n\nThe psychology of music and the psychology of the child are giving us\nnew vital conceptions of the nature and role of music in child life. To\nunderstand this fully is to understand adequately the nature of the\nchild mind and the nature of music.\n\n_From smile to music._ All mental development begins with some inherited\nform of behavior and gradually differentiates into richer and richer\nmeanings and forms of expression. The taproot of all music is the smile.\nThis in its first appearance is a pure reflex, expressing the well-being\nof the organism.\n\nObserve some typical steps in its history in high lights. When the\ninfant has had its fill from its mother's breast, its head falls back\nand the mouth puckers as a result of withdrawal from the nipple. The\nmother looks at this and says to herself, \"He is satisfied.\" The child\nhas thus acquired one means of communication--the expression of\nwell-being. This rapidly radiates into many situations. When the infant\nis patted on the back, is bathed, is rocked in the arms, or feels the\nwaft of comfortable air, the same puckering of the mouth seems to convey\nto the mother a sign of well-being, and the meaning of this puckering is\nthus enriched.\n\nIt gradually radiates from the lips through more general expressions of\ncomfort in the face as a whole, and we have a clearly developed smile.\nGradually it becomes associated with sounds--inceptive gurgling, simple\ndroning, light chatter, and other inceptive forms of vocalization,\nalways accompanied with a smile, which thus develops new meanings, and\nmother and child acquire mutual understandings, because from the first\nthe mother tends to respond sympathetically in like language.\n\nAs this association grows it takes the form of audible laughter which,\nat a comparatively high stage of development, becomes a \"ha-ha-ha\" with\nmusical inflections. This is a form of language, still not expressing\nspecific ideas, but the general attitudes of well-being, comfort,\nsatisfaction of young life as a whole. The mother knows it, loves it,\nand responds accordingly; and this mother's response draws from the\ninfant a growing hierarchy of new types of responses, meaning the same\nthing.\n\nGradually these infantile sounds develop inflections and modulations in\npitch, in loudness, in rhythm, and in tone quality. These inflections\nare the beginning of beauty in voice, and each new conquest gives a new\nform of satisfaction to the child and mother.\n\nThe mother may stimulate natural forms for expression of mutual feeling\nby her own musical laughter. Gradually the playing with these sounds\nbecomes an object in itself, the making of a particular sound for mere\npleasure. This is the beginning of singing and the appreciation of\nmusical sounds.\n\nWe observe the child playing with modulations in pitch, in loudness, in\nduration, and in different kinds of tone quality. This is the beginning\nof musical experiment, of musical creation, and musical appreciation in\nthe child. Blessed is the mother who can appreciate the music thus born.\nShe then sees the significance of the rhythmic patty-cake as music which\ngives pleasure to mother and child alike. She then begins to understand\nthat the jingling of a bell is sweet music to the child. She can see how\nthe appreciation of rhythm is gradually revealed through the progressive\ndevelopment of means of making sounds and hearing varieties of sound.\nPerhaps unconsciously she sets patterns for a musical inflection which\nthe child begins to imitate. To the child, noise is music, and the\ndiscovery of noises and the mastery of various noises play an immensely\nrich and important role, even in the highest forms of adult music.\n\nThus, the recognition and feeling of pleasure in sounds, and the power\nto make agreeable sounds, reveal to the child an unfolding musical\nworld. His whole organism responds to it. This is an element of musical\nfeeling.\n\nLet me digress for a moment to say that the beginnings of mental life\ntend to develop from two fundamental needs: attraction and repulsion,\nlikes and dislikes, approaching and getting away from--these being\nrespectively the positive and the negative aspects of adjustment. The\nsmile is the sign of the positive side. The companion piece of the smile\nas a taproot is the frown, which gradually develops through crying and\nis the reciprocal of laughter. The history of the frown and crying is\nquite parallel to the history of the smile and laughter in mental\nevolution and in the development of the individual.\n\n_Music in play._ While it does serve a purpose as language in social\nadjustment, the musical activity of the young child is expression for\nthe love of expression itself. This play aspect early differentiates\nitself from the use of sounds to convey meaning in language.\n\nThe child composes, rapidly revealing new melodic progressions, new\nrhythms, new kinds of sounds, and new patterns in the durations of\nsounds for his own delight in self-expression. Through them he wins\nmanifestations of appreciation from those around him who constitute his\naudience. He repeats each new achievement as the momentary goal of play\nuntil new patterns progressively take their place. In these actions of\nmusical composition, the same mental faculties that we see in the active\nadult composers are at work, but limited to the child's natural level of\nsuccessful achievement.\n\nHe early reveals command of the four elements of all music, as such;\nnamely, pitch, loudness, time, and kind of tone or tone quality; and we\nobserve the unfolding of melody, dynamic expression, rhythm, and\nrichness of tone. Through these he imitates the sounds of nature,\nspeech, music, and noises at his level in the surroundings. In terms of\nthese he develops memories, indulges in fantasy and creative\nimagination, and gradually begins to think about music. These are the\navenues through which the child expresses his needs and urges vocally or\ninstrumentally; but they are music in so far as they are indulged in for\nthe pleasure of the hearing or the making of the sounds themselves.\n\nNote that the child composes by performing; therefore, each musical form\nthat he develops is clearly at his command in performance. Notice also\nthat the repetition of achievement is limited by the play attitude of\nalways demanding something more difficult. Composition, performance,\nappreciation, body response form interlocking steps. That is what makes\nthe procedure natural. The joy of conquest, characteristic of play, is\nthe dominating motive. Here nature has her way in the development of\nknowledge, appreciation, and skills.\n\nMusical activity is normally a form of play, expression for the\nsatisfaction in the expression itself without ulterior motive, and this\nattitude may be carried through life. A person who cannot take a play\nattitude toward music perhaps has no music in him. The play attitude\ndoes not free one from effort, even systematic and arduous effort, in\nthe acquisition of the art. Witness all the sports at all stages of\ngrowth. There is nothing to relieve us from understanding facts involved\nin music; but the driving motive is found in the play attitude, and the\nresult is pleasure in play. On these observations of nature's ways in\nplay, the future pedagogy of music will be built.\n\n_Environment._ It is astonishing that the child is often treated as\nunmusical unless he can sing or play adult compositions or show an\nintelligent appreciation of high art forms. How pitiful it is for a\nmother to say that her child is not musical because he does not sing her\nsongs and understand her artistic playing. How vastly could a mother's\nappreciation of the child be increased if she realized what constitutes\nmusic at his level and how fundamental the musical reactions at his\nlevel are to the development of music in the adult!\n\nTo be musical, the child must be musical in response to his environment.\nThere are natural laws of evolution in the race and in the development\nof the individual for types of reactions to the music that abounds\naround us in nature and for the various means at our command of\nexpression through imitation of them. To the primitive tribe, the drum\nis a powerful, thrilling musical instrument. So are all forms of\ndrumming to the child. He imitates the whistling, tooting, rattling,\nbanging sounds in his environment, sometimes until he becomes noisily\ntiresome. He feels in harmony with the clock that ticks, the birds that\nsing, the dog that barks, the cat that mews. He loves to bang on the\npiano and blow his horn.\n\nThis craving for pleasure in sounds radiates through the sense of rhythm\ninto graceful movements, the beginnings of dancing and dramatic action,\neven from the crudest rhythmic kicking and tapping movements of the\ninfant. His speech becomes rhythmic, melodic, dynamic, beautiful. His\nwhole body becomes reverberant in response to the sounds of nature.\nLaughter progressively acquires new and beautiful forms. Even crying may\ngive satisfaction of an artistic sort. The swinging of the pendulum of\nthe old clock on the wall is music. The patter of rain, the splashing of\nwater have musical elements.\n\nThe child does not think of the artistic forms as does the musician; but\nlike the canary which, even if grown in isolation in a soundproof cage,\nin due time produces his natural tours in repertoire, the child\ninstinctively comes out in melody, dynamic modulation, and rhythm. But\nall these are modified by the environment.\n\n_Music and speech._ Speech has the same media as music; namely, pitch,\nloudness, time, and timbre which result in such musical forms as tonal\nand dynamic inflection, rhythm, articulation, and vowel quality. A child\nis, of course, not conscious of any of these as such, and yet, under\nfavorable circumstances, will quickly develop beautiful speech, which\nmeans that it is well inflected, well modulated in loudness, beautifully\nrhythmic, rich and clear in vowel qualities. If the child has a good\near, instinctive liking for these aspects of speech will develop\nsurprisingly early.\n\nTo give the child musical environment means therefore not only exposure\nto formal music but rather a motivation for hearing musically all sounds\naround him, for acting rhythmically, and feeling the rhythmic impulse in\nall forms of activity, for responding by imitation or other forms of\nappreciation to all sounds beautiful. These acquisitions naturally take\nthe form of beautiful speech. Musical education in the nursery,\ntherefore, comes most effectively through informal education toward\nbeautiful speech.\n\nThe child becomes proficient in speech long before he becomes\ncorrespondingly proficient in musical performance and appreciation. It\nis therefore very important to recognize that music and speech employ\nthe same medium; namely, sounds which vary in pitch, loudness, duration,\nand kind. The child reveals flexibility, richness, rhythm, and all other\nforms of meaningful inflection in speech earlier than he does in music.\nIndeed, by the time the child leaves the nursery, even at the age of\nfive, his characteristic form and command of speech are fairly\ncrystallized. The command of elements of beautiful speech is the first\nstep in a beautiful singing voice.\n\nSpeech is an index to character, and the means for the development of\ncharacter. Beautiful speech is musical speech. Genuinely beautiful\nspeech is a revelation of beautiful character. Let the mother who\nworries about early piano or violin lessons first give thought to formal\nsympathetic cultivation of a beautiful speaking voice.\n\nUnfortunately, the child's speech is very largely determined by\nimitation of those around him. How few mothers and fathers, how few\nteachers, how few older children have beautiful speech! The young child\nas a rule, therefore, encounters unfavorable speech environment. The\ncivilized world is just awakening to the possibilities and significance\nof beautiful and effective speech.\n\nTrain the young child to the appreciation and development of power in\nbeautiful and effective speech, and you will have laid the best\nfoundations for musical appreciation and formal entrance upon musical\ntraining.\n\n_Musical talent._ Children differ in musical talent, both in degree and\nin kind. One normal child may be twenty-five, fifty, or one hundred\ntimes as sensitive as another normal child in matters of time, in\nmatters of pitch, in matters of loudness, and in matters of tone\nquality. The normal child may be very high in one of these four musical\ntraits and low in another. Let me illustrate how these traits may be\nobserved very early in a very highly musical child.\n\nPlaying with a little girl eleven months old, I noticed that she\nresponded to the music over the radio. I put a simple two-step on the\nvictrola, and she marked the time correctly by a free sympathetic\nswinging of the arms. I changed this to waltz time, and she picked up\nthe rhythm. As she could not yet stand on her feet, I held her on all\nfours, and then she shimmied with her trunk. Was that child musical? I\ncould give one positive answer. She had a splendid sense of rhythm and\nurge for rhythmic action. As I watched her in succeeding years, she very\nearly developed original dances, and at the age of four gave delight in\noriginal \"shawl dances.\" Her speech very early was beautifully\ninflected. Her speech was also very early characterized by fine and\nmeaningful modulations in loudness for emphasis and meaning. She gave\nearly evidence of power to imitate different sounds.\n\nOf course, the less musical a child is by nature, the more difficult it\nis to find early evidences of this sort. We do not need measuring\ninstruments so much as we need training of teachers and parents to an\nunderstanding of what constitutes musical capacities so that we can\nobserve the child critically in his early natural responses. By the age\nof eight or ten these specific capacities will become more conspicuous,\nand at that age the competent psychologist in music can analyze and\nmeasure talents reliably.\n\n_Musical education._ When and how should musical education begin? It\nshould begin in the earliest infancy by giving the child a musical\nenvironment suitable to elicit his response. This means not simply the\nhearing of formal music, but, far more significantly, a sympathetic\nresponse to the child's natural vocal expressions at each level, even to\nthe making of sounds of all kinds.\n\nThe child from the first needs a sympathetic audience. It is not so much\nhow beautifully the mother sings as how sympathetically she responds to\nthe beginning croonings of the infant; and this sympathetic enjoyment\nincludes recognition and encouragement for the hearing of all sounds\naround, whether animate or inanimate. The mother's first task is to be a\ngood listener.\n\nThe first elements of formal musical training should be devoted to\nspeech. Ideally this would come most effectively through the child's\nopportunity for hearing and imitating the beautiful sounds and speech of\nthose around him. Even if the mother and other associates cannot set the\nmodel for the child, they can do a great deal to further musical\ndevelopment by showing their appreciation of the instinctive\noutcroppings of the musical qualities of the child's speech.\n\nDuring the first six years there should be no formal musical\ninstruction; but, by the end of that period, the musical child should\nhave gradually acquired a sense of appreciation for musical sounds,\npleasure in self-expression in musical intonations, confidence in his\nability to compose a tune, some proficiency in singing and good speech,\nand some degree of satisfaction in free playing with an instrument.\n\nThe principles here developed for early childhood have profound\nimplications for later musical education. Let the emphasis lie upon the\nbroadness of the meaning of music to the child, upon the child's\nlearning by doing, at his natural level of successful achievement, and\nupon the utilization of natural motivation in place of formal\ninstruction.\n\n\n THOUGHT REVIEW[C]\n\n General Principles\n\n (1) Musical activity is always a form of play.\n\n (2) To be musical the child must be musical in response to his\n environment.\n\n (3) To the child noise is musical.\n\n (4) Musical education for the preschool child comes most effectively\n through formal education toward beautiful speech.\n\n (5) Musical education should begin in infancy by giving the child a\n musical environment suitable to elicit his response.\n\n Do the above statements by the author modify your own theories in\n regard to the musical education of your children?\n\n\n Questions to Consider\n\n (1) What may we be doing when we say to our husky two-year-old, \"Oh,\n Johnny, don't make so much noise?\"\n\n (2) Why is it that children so quickly lose their lovely childish\n intonations and inflections?\n\n (3) How does Doctor Seashore endeavor to help us recognize music in\n our children?\n\n (4) In our efforts to develop musical ability and response in the\n child, what errors do we, as adults, commit?\n\n (5) Is it ever too late for adults to cultivate a beautiful speaking\n voice?\n\n (6) Do you agree with Doctor Seashore that \"genuinely beautiful speech\n is a revelation of beautiful character\"?\n\n (7) What methods are you using with your young child to elicit musical\n responses? Are they in accord with Doctor Seashore's advice?\n\n (8) Do you think that the radio is helping to encourage musical\n speech?\n\n (9) What practical steps can the adults in the family take toward\n improving their own influence upon the child's musical\n development?\n\n\n Discuss These True Situations\n\n (1) I listened to the droning voice of a mother reading to her small\n son. Would it be better for the mother to tell the story with\n animation?\n\n (2) Mrs. Brown is what is termed \"high-strung.\" She has much to do\n with household duties. Her three toddlers ask many questions, over\n and over again. She finds herself speaking louder and louder with\n each repetition. What would you suggest? (In a similar situation a\n five-year-old said, \"Mother, why don't you relax a little?\" C. E.\n S.)\n\n (3) In the Black household the radio is on continuously. Is this\n helping the musical education of the older and younger children?\n\n (4) \"I simply can't get Johnny to practice his music lessons unless I\n sit down with him and make him do it,\" says Mrs. Young, who voices\n the complaint of many ambitious parents. What would Doctor\n Seashore say?\n\n (5) A mother, musically talented, said to me, \"I simply can't help my\n children at all with their music. I get frantically impatient with\n them.\"\n\n (6) In a crowded railroad station I was admiring a lovely looking\n woman who held an equally lovely looking child by the hand. Then\n she spoke to the woman sitting next to me and it was with great\n effort I kept a look of consternation from appearing on my face.\n Her voice was harsh, metallic, unmodulated. Is it possible for her\n to help herself?\n\n\n-----\n\nFootnote C:\n\n This outline was prepared by May E. Peabody, Supervisor, when it\n appeared in _Parents' Magazine_. It seemed to me so stimulating for\n thought about the reading that I have adopted this general plan for\n all the chapters in this volume. C. E. S.\n\n\n\n\n Chapter III\n MUSIC BETWEEN THE AGES OF SIX AND TEN\n\n\nThe question \"_When_ should music education begin?\" is now coming to be\n\"_How_ should music education begin?\"; because we now recognize that\nmusic should play a large role in the first five years of child life.\n\nSoon after six the child enters school. Here the principles of\neducational psychology, now so effectively applied to other primary and\nelementary school subjects, have revolutionized the presentation of\nmusic. This has of course been favored by the recognition of music on\nthe level of the three R's. Music has come to function in the school not\nonly as something to be learned but primarily as something to be lived.\nPrimary teachers are, or will be, trained specifically for this subject.\nThe old conflict between enthusiasts for rote singing, on the one hand,\nand for technical sight reading, on the other, is vanishing. The\napproach to music is following new avenues involving diversified action,\ncreative imagination and thinking in music, recognition of individual\ndifferences, freedom for individual expression of musical feeling,\nopportunity for sampling various avenues of choice in expression, the\nassociation of music with play, dance, and dramatic action, opportunity\nfor hearing music at the child's level, avoidance of the fostering of a\nnarrow precocity, and recognition that there is music everywhere--in\nspeech, in play, in nature.\n\nParents who now aim to provide private lessons for formal training in\nsome aspect of music must lay their plans in the light of all these\nfacts which have come into view so strikingly in the school. They must\nunderstand and evaluate the significance of this movement in the school,\nthe new status of music, the new role of private instruction in music,\nand the availability of a private teacher who can dovetail with these\nnew facilities and responsibilities. In the hope of giving some helpful\nsuggestions in regard to this planning, I wish to present some\npsychological considerations which are, at the present time,\nreconstructing the theory and practice of private lessons in music at\nthis age.\n\n_A broadened conception of music._ In Chapter II I pointed out that\nchildren coming out of a favorable music situation in the home, the\npreschool, the kindergarten, and other school and playground activities\nhave attained rather astonishing achievement. Let me repeat, for\nemphasis:\n\n \"During the first six years there should be no formal musical\n instruction; but by the end of that period, the musical child should\n have gradually acquired a sense of appreciation for musical sounds,\n pleasure in self-expression in musical intonations, confidence in\n his ability to compose a tune, some proficiency in singing and good\n speech, and some degree of satisfaction in free playing with an\n instrument.\"\n\nThis achievement now accomplished in many preschool communities presents\na challenge to the primary teacher and the supervisor of music in the\npublic schools. And, where pupils come without such preparation or\nbackground, they must begin from scratch and offer a substitute for it\nin more concentrated form.\n\nPrivate lessons should be built upon this background and designed to\ncarry this type of program forward during the next four years with\nprogressive enrichment of opportunities on the basis of talent thus\nrevealed and with these types of activity as a goal in the beginnings of\nformal training.\n\nThis point of view turns a large part of the job of the private music\nteacher over to the primary school where it is favorably developed;\nbecause only in the group activity and in the avocational attitude with\nthe avocational atmosphere under technically qualified teachers can this\nprogram of musical education find its best fruitage for children in\ngeneral. The private teacher is falling from her high pedestal of the\npower to cast the child's musical mind in the pattern of her own image\nwithin a limited musical skill at this age. On the other hand, the ideal\nof the school situation which I have pictured will play happily into her\nhands by furnishing a background for a systematic study of voice or a\nparticular instrument.\n\nIn this procedure, the child's interest may well concentrate around a\nsingle instrument. Furthermore, we are just awakening to the fact that\nvoice development should begin in this period. New techniques for the\ndevelopment of a beautiful voice are coming in, and are adapted to this\nage. They should play an important role in this orientation period, and\nthe child's interest may concentrate around this, as well as around an\ninstrument, especially through the association of artistic forms of\nspeech with song.\n\n_The analysis of talent._ Music educators are coming now to a\nrecognition of the principle that musical education, public and private,\nshould be given in proportion to the possession of natural talent and in\nthe direction for which the most favorable indication is found on the\nground of specific talents. Such talents reveal themselves through the\ndaily activities of the schoolroom, where the alert teacher understands\ntheir significance and directs them wisely. There are certain basic\nabilities which are favorable to a musical life. Some of these can be\nmeasured accurately with the _Seashore Measures of Musical Talents_ in a\nrevised edition now available through the RCA Victor agencies. They are\nconcerned with the senses of pitch, loudness, time, timbre, and rhythm,\ntogether with tonal memory. These may be given individually to children\nbetween the ages of six and ten if administered with good judgment and\nthe child is not required to write the answers. However, if the teacher\nis trained in the musical analysis of talent and the critical\nobservation of children's behavior, inceptive achievement, and interests\nin the musical situation, it is possible to proceed without instruments,\nsince the teacher will know what to listen for and will be competent to\nobserve with sufficient accuracy for the purpose in hand. After the\nfourth grade, \"measures of talents\" may be given either as individual or\nas group tests. They may furnish a key to the most natural development\nof musical type; such as, the tonal, the dynamic, the temporal, or the\nbalanced types, on the basis of degree of responsiveness to each of\nthese factors as well as on other specific adaptations for voice or\ninstrument. The teacher who has such concrete facts in hand will observe\nand plan the child's development more critically. Every private teacher\nshould have a conception of the significance of individual differences\nin talent, and might well utilize measurements of this kind in the\nstudio. The progressive private teacher should also be able to serve\nparents in an advisory capacity on such matters.\n\nIt is not necessary that the teacher should be an expert in testing; but\nit is essential that she should understand the nature of musical talents\nand have the sort of insight into child life which has been developed so\nsplendidly in recent scientific studies of child behavior, especially\nwith reference to the recognition of natural abilities, the early\nfostering of these, the devising of effective motivation, the awarding\nof praise and blame, and the setting up of standards of achievement\nrecognizable by the child. It is, furthermore, reasonable to demand that\nthe teacher herself should present a good voice in song and speech, have\nsome proficiency and ingenuity in the manipulation of simple\ninstruments, and feel deeply the love of music.\n\n_Group instruction._ The old-fashioned piano lesson was at fault in\nvarious respects. First, time was taken to tell the pupils,\nindividually, the elements of musical notation; second, the main\nfunction seemed to be to make the pupil \"get\" his lesson; and third, the\nchild was expected to acquire a love of music through the technical\napproach. These things are now changing. The pupil now coming from the\nrespectable primary school already has acquired the elements of sight\nreading, both from ear to eye and eye to ear. Any new element in\nnotation can certainly be picked up incidentally as needed, without\nwaste of time. The position of the teacher as a taskmaster is also\ndisappearing. True, that eliminates many a pupil, but probably without\nmuch loss to the musical life of the community. The child comes to the\nprivate teacher already motivated with a feeling and urge for music.\nMusical achievement is no longer counted in terms of the number of\nlessons taken.\n\nThe function of the teacher is far more to motivate than to teach. The\nthing that counts is how long and faithfully the pupil works to acquire\nthe proficiency which can only come through practice. What can be taught\nin one lesson should suffice for several times as much practice as is\nordinarily expected. Better than having the teacher crack the whip for\nmany periods would be to give the time available for lessons to the\npupil for practice and use more remunerative rewards, even a percentage\nof the teacher's fee, to encourage self-help in a larger assignment\nthrough adequate practice.\n\nOne of the significant advancements in private instruction for children\nof this age lies in the direction of class or group instruction. No\neffort is made to force all children into the same cast. Small groups\nare formed on the pattern of chamber music, taking children of matched\nabilities and interests and using music progressively adapted to their\nlevel. Many forms of class instruction have failed on the ground of the\nteacher's inability to use informal procedures in some form of project\nmethod. Duets, trios, quartets, all in the competitive and play mood,\ncan accomplish great things, even with the youngest children. Few\nprivate teachers have awakened to a realization of the fine\npossibilities in that approach. This method is especially adapted to\nprimary instruction in private music schools in which there are enough\npupils to make competitive promotions from group to group. Most of the\nmusical information and the motivated drill can be accomplished through\nthe group. The recognition of this principle may lead to the development\nof extracurricular and private organizations under an inspiring teacher\nor group of teachers for private instruction.\n\n_Formal lessons delayed._ The principal point I wish to stress is that\nmusical education should not begin with formal lessons on one\ninstrument. Except in the case of rarely-gifted children, such\nspecialized instruction should come naturally after the general musical\ninterests have been awakened and the natural abilities have been\nrevealed. Technical private lessons for children in general should\ntherefore be begun considerably later than has been customary. In this\nthere is a threefold saving: First, except in rare cases, rigid\ntechnique of instruction can be responded to much more economically\nafter the age of eight or ten than before. A ten-year-old will acquire\nmore than twice as much in a single lesson as a six-year-old. This will\napply even to the much \"touted\" necessity for early finger development.\nSecond, during this period the child should have the freedom to try\nhimself out spontaneously with diversified encouragement in the\ndevelopment of specific interests; and third, it will take the aspect of\ndrudgery away from the music lesson. To these may be added the fact that\nthis liberal procedure helps to give the child a feeling that he is\nliving music rather than learning it. It involves the play attitude in\nthe acquisition of an art. The attitude of feeling the necessity for\nhard work, which is a very real necessity in music, can best be\ncultivated formally after the age of eight or ten.\n\n_A sympathetic listener._ Although circumstances may alter cases,\nfacility in piano playing might well be regarded as a foundation work in\nthe approach to other instruments. The child's preference for a\nparticular instrument is generally childish and will change in the\nnormal course of development. An analysis of case histories would make\nan interesting study on this point. The development of skills in a\nparticular instrument should always be accompanied by opportunities for\nsharing the pleasure in this skill with other children and the presence\nof a sympathetic listener in the teacher and the parents. What the child\nof the primary-school age needs is more a sympathetic and critical\nlistener than a task-driver. This type of approach will discredit the\nnow so prevalent artificial ways of symbolizing music by attempting to\nforce the teacher's affected and stilted imagery upon the child's\nmusical mind, which may run naturally in much more effective channels.\nIt is a notable fact that the great musicians who emerged as very\nprecocious made their early and distinctive progress far more through\nfreedom for self-expression than through instruction from the masters.\n\nIn brief, the private lesson to the child should pattern, at the child's\nage level, after the procedure followed in adult instruction in music at\nits best; namely, that of sympathetic and inspiring criticism and\nguidance rather than the dealing out of predigested pellets of\ninterpretation and technique. The general attitude to be cultivated in\nthe child should therefore be freedom for self-expression rather than\nmere willingness to absorb set tasks. In this attitude the problem of\nscales, exercises, and calisthenic techniques will come in the natural\ncourse of events without being forced.\n\n_Music lovers vs. virtuosi._ One of the first essential steps in\ntraining at this level is to educate the mother to the notion that only\nin very rare cases will the child become a virtuoso or a professional\nmusician, and that she has no right to pose as an exhibitioner. The\nnormal child is richly endowed with powers for diversified development.\nBy too early emphasis upon a \"gift\" it is possible to produce\nmonstrosities and pathological temperament. True, a gifted child\nbeginning, for example, by taking lessons at five and being effectively\nmotivated, may produce extraordinary results before ten, but generally\nat the expense of a normal development of the child as a person. An\nill-guided enthusiast can make of the bright normal child a mathematical\nfreak or a contortionist before the age of ten; but who wants that for\nthe welfare of the child? It is a form of human sacrifice. The time for\nintensive specialization should normally come after the age of ten.\nParents and teachers should shun the development of precocity as they\nshun disease. Indeed, in ninety cases out of a hundred, excessive\nprecocity is a form of disease, a distortion of the normal personality.\n\nThe goal in musical education in this period should be to recognize\nindividual differences, natural capacities, and native interests and\nurges in their natural stages for the development of a well-rounded\npersonality. We have long since abandoned the notion that every girl\nshould play the piano. What we need to learn now is that we should not\nallow the musically-gifted child to die with all the music in him, and\nthat the musically gifted should not be exploited. The middle ground is\nthat all children who have musical ability should learn to love music\nand live it naturally, each according to his ability.\n\n\n THOUGHT REVIEW\n\n General Principles\n\n (1) Music should function early in the life of the child.\n\n (2) The primary grades should constitute a period of orientation.\n\n (3) By the end of this period talent should have been discovered and\n analyzed.\n\n (4) Voice training should be given a permanent place in all the grades\n for both boys and girls.\n\n (5) Music is a skill which should be learned and lived rather than be\n taught.\n\n (6) Wise motivation should replace much teaching.\n\n (7) Nomenclature, sight reading, and musical information should be\n taught in classes, not by individual instruction.\n\n (8) The principle of rivalry should be encouraged.\n\n (9) For most children formal music lessons may be begun most\n effectively about the age of ten.\n\n (10) Forced precocity and exhibitionism should be discouraged.\n\n\n Questions to Consider\n\n (1) Why is development of the love of music the principal objective at\n this age?\n\n (2) What voice training, aside from rote singing and speech, should be\n offered in the grades?\n\n (3) Should the piano be favored as the first instrument?\n\n (4) Is it possible to have a primary-grade \"orchestra\"?\n\n (5) What is the function of achievement tests in music at this age?\n\n (6) What factors have been most effective in putting love of music\n into the public schools?\n\n (7) How can progress in music be enhanced by children's opportunities\n for performing among themselves?\n\n (8) Should any children be excused from participation in musical\n instruction offered in the primary grades?\n\n\n Discuss These Situations\n\n (1) Here is a gifted young woman, well trained in music and in\n psychological and educational methods, zealously devoted to her\n art, who desires to establish a career as a private music teacher\n for children. Characterize her procedure in contrast to the\n procedure of her professional forbears.\n\n (2) Here is a young man or woman, similarly gifted, and well\n trained and critical. What pitfalls of prevalent tendencies in\n public-school music of today should he or she avoid?\n\n\n\n\n Chapter IV\n MUSIC AND YOUTH\n\n\nThere is a distinctively musical period in life: the period of youth.\nYouth is the age of emotional response and of social awakening, the age\nof serious play, the age of decision and elimination, the dominant\nlearning period, and the age of freedom and leisure. Before this period\nthe life of the child has been relatively tranquil. After this period\nthe occupational affairs of life are more exacting. Before this period\nmost children participate in music in a routine way without professing\nit. After this period large numbers of those who have had training or\nhave expressed their enthusiasms in rich participation in the musical\nlife cool off, as it were, and continue their musical activities in a\nmore or less perfunctory way, except for the few who have taken up the\nart professionally or continue as enthusiastic amateurs.\n\n\n YOUTH, THE AGE OF MUSIC\n\n_The emotional age._ For the present purpose we may think of youth as\nrepresented by the age of the teens, usually beginning in the high\nschool. It is a brief period of storm and stress, emotional awakening\nand emotional struggles, in which the various emotional drives, more or\nless latent before, assert themselves, often to cool off or to be\nattenuated in later life. The older psychologists spoke of it as a\nperiod of rebirth, the passing from the period of protected and directed\nlife into the emergence of a self-asserting personality. At the time of\nthis awakening, life is largely emotional; it is the period of ardent\nlove, of social awakening, of sports and play of all kinds, of fortes\nand faults, of artistic efforts, of devotion to ideals, of awakening and\nemergence of controlled imagination, of the development of the great\nenthusiasms for life. Poetry, conversation, dancing, heroic stunts,\nemotional adventures of all kinds have their fling. This emotional\ntendency finds its expression in the language of emotion, of which music\nis one.\n\n_The age of serious play._ Youth is the age of serious play. Before this\nperiod the child has spontaneously played much and hard enough, but now\nyouth enters into specialized sports, finds a play outlet in one or more\nof the arts, and with the play attitude takes up serious roles in social\nresponsibilities. All these are comparatively new and are, therefore,\nentered on with fresh enthusiasm. Emotion has a way of burning itself\nup. Toward the end of the college course, youth, having had its fling,\nfeels fed up on sports and after that may not even sit on the bleachers\nor the side lines. The same is true of many of the artistic outlets.\nWhen youth comes of age, the ventures into poetry, music, dramatics, and\nvarious other forms of art cool off for the majority. This loss of\ninterest is especially noticeable in the social activities, in which the\nvocal arts, the dance, and other instruments of wooing play so large a\nrole. It should, however, be said that the better our education, home\nlife, and vocational activities are organized for right living, the less\nis the break at the beginning of this period of youth, as well as at the\nend.\n\n_The age of decision and eliminations._ The persons exceptionally gifted\nin music are precocious in that their artistic awakening comes earlier,\nand yet the real assertion and the serious functioning of their musical\ninspirations appear most characteristically and pass through their\ncrucial period in the teens, after which large numbers of those who have\ngone through the fire of struggle for survival and mastery pass out of\nthe picture.\n\n_The educational age._ Youth is the dominant educational period. Those\nwho in this period qualify for higher education can and should continue\ntheir studies with organized effort and with confidence in success; but,\non account of the American popular demand for higher and higher\neducation, many of those who should be eliminated during this period\nfloat on, ill-motivated, ill-directed, floundering through college or\nprofessional education without regard to the worth-whileness of the\nprocedure. Unfortunately American education has not made adequate\nprovision for the diversifying of training, especially in the practical\noutlets at this age.\n\nThis educational dominance of the period of the teens is particularly\ntrue for music. Unfortunately, large numbers of youth naturally endowed\nwith the power of enjoying music have not even been discovered up to\nthis time, either by themselves or by others, and they may pass through\nthis last stage of opportunity without being discovered and often\nwithout realizing what they are missing. At this age the prospective\nmusician will begin to try himself out, will discover the necessity for\nuntiring and well-directed work, will concentrate in the field of his\nmost natural musical outlet, and will work hard in the face of the\nimminence of the decision as to success or failure in his own judgment,\nin the judgment of his teachers, and in the judgment of his companions\nand public. If successful here, he may continue his musical education in\nspecialization, since music is essentially a body of skills. At the same\ntime he may show a due regard for the necessity of a broadening\neducation under larger horizons. Fortunate are they who follow these\nsound procedures.\n\nHowever, many students overlook the fact that, if their music is to be\nan avocation, it is to be pursued merely for the pleasure inherent in\nit. They may struggle along simply because they have had initial\ntraining in this field, but without adequate motivation or anticipation\nof significant results. Achievement in music is an artistic performance,\nand we should not add recklessly to the large group in society who feel\nthat their early efforts were wasted and who have to go through life\napologizing for their failure or mediocrity in the artistic sense. At\nthe same time we must bear in mind that satisfaction in musical\nperformance for the great majority of persons comes from the pursuit of\nthe cruder forms of music, especially singing. Group singing, ordinary\npiano accompaniment for singing, dance music, and ragtime of all sorts\nshould not be discouraged in so far as they form a natural outlet for\nthose who pursue them. After all, \"high-brow\" music plays a very small\nvital role even in high society.\n\nUnfortunately, as in academic subjects, the real elimination of the\nunfit is not accomplished effectively, and there are masses of music\nstudents dribbling along with at best a low mediocrity as the\ndestination in sight. Since music, to be of service in later life, must\nbe either professional or eminently satisfying as an avocation after\nadvanced work in the subject, the necessity of making discriminating and\nwise eliminations before a youth is of age cannot be stressed too\nstrongly. A wise selection and guidance at this stage should, however,\nin no way discourage those who get a genuine satisfaction out of music\nand are wisely motivated, especially for the keeping of an avocational\ninterest alive with a modest degree of attainment.\n\nWe must face the fact that most of those who are highly gifted in music\nand are deeply devoted to it will not enter the profession of music and\nmay be engaged in such exacting occupations as to limit the time that\nthey can devote, avocationally, to their favorite art. Yet of all the\nlovers of music, these are perhaps the ones who get the greatest\nenjoyment out of music and contribute most happily to the musical life\nof the community.\n\nIt is not sufficient to get children started in musical education. They\nmust also be motivated and given the outlets for self-expression which\ntend to have lasting value in their lives. A drab picture is drawn by\ncomparing the number of those who, through high school, have had the\nprivilege of good training with the number of those in the best social\ngroups of our cities today who actually contribute, and take pleasure in\ncontributing, to the musical life of the community and to their own\npersonal moments of leisure. Here is a challenge to adult education: a\nchallenge to find and encourage self-expression in music in adult life.\nNevertheless, a strong argument can be made for musical education even\nif it functions only during the period of adolescence.\n\n_The age of leisure._ Youth is, in a sense, the age of leisure. We think\nof a gentleman of leisure as a person who, by virtue of his being a\ngentleman, is active in pursuits which are not necessary for the earning\nof his bread and butter. If he is not active, he is not a gentleman. If\nhis activity does not add to a genuine enrichment of his own life and\nthe life of the community, he is not a gentleman. If he does not know\nhow to play, he is not a gentleman. The same ideas apply in principle to\nthe concept of a lady of leisure. The adolescent youth has many of the\ncharacteristics and the opportunities of a gentleman of leisure. These\nopportunities do not mean an easy life, but a life characterized\nespecially by the freedom to do just the things that he likes to do.\nThese opportunities include, for many happily adjusted personalities,\nthe development of the art of loafing: the substitution for mere\nsitting, for mere gossiping, for mere eating and drinking, and for\ndegrading pastimes, an active life of restful, satisfying, wholesome\nself-expression in the play attitude.\n\nThe high-school or beginning college student is not, as a rule, working\nfor a livelihood, is not held down to the specific demands of a trade, a\nbusiness, or a profession. He is in a period of preliminary skirmishes,\nand the public school programs provide liberally for these. He may spend\nhis leisure time in the strenuous work of athletics or of any\nintellectual, artistic, or social pursuit lying outside the demands of\nthe curriculum; he has time for such excursions.\n\nOne of the happiest ways of spending his leisure time may be in the\nenthusiastic pursuit of musical activities. When he gets into college,\nthese opportunities are more restricted; when he gets into his job, they\nare still more limited. Whatever the line of pursuit, these\nextracurricular activities are indulged in as a form of play. Nobody,\nhowever, can express in play all his intellectual, artistic, and social\ndreams or urges. Therefore the gentleman of leisure in the high school\nis forced to make a selection, and, in doing so, he rightly follows his\nnatural bent of mind. If he casts his lot with music, he will train\nhard, and have the social satisfaction of supporting his musical group.\nMusic becomes a game, involving contests with defeats and victories. It\nbecomes a topic for conversation in social leisure. While the\nhigh-school program and the junior-college program do not emphasize\nrigorous technical training as a part of the academic curriculum, the\nmajority of students get their musical satisfaction from the way in\nwhich they utilize their leisure for music. It is significant that at\nthis age the stress is not on the hearing of music but rather on\nparticipation in musical performance. This period is the age of action,\nperhaps the best type of preparation for the listening stage since it\nfollows the educational principle of learning by doing.\n\n\n MUSIC FOR YOUTH\n\nDuring the present century most extraordinary progress has been made in\nthe provision of musical facilities for youth by the recognition of\nmusic as an academic subject, by the early and vital training in the\ngrades, by the development of group activities in voice and instrument\nas a dominant extracurricular activity, by the motivation of training\nthrough opportunities for public performance and contest, and by the\npopularization of music through phonograph and radio.\n\nUp to the end of the past century youth had had no significant\nopportunities for music in the scheme of things. Music had to come\nthrough the taking of private lessons, often a drudgery without regard\nto likes or dislikes. The approach was purely technical. The mastery of\nthe scales, though technically significant, was not inspiring to the\nemergent musical mind and did not reveal the vast vistas of opportunity\nfor self-expression in music. Music lessons were limited to those who\ncould afford to pay for them. Few people had heard any good music. It\nhad no significant status in the program of public education. Youth had\nno chance. _Music for youth has been discovered in the past forty\nyears._\n\n_Music, an academic subject._ When music gained recognition on a par\nwith the three R's in primary and elementary education, America entered\non a new era. National music organizations of teachers developed. These\nbegan with the slogan, \"Music for every child at public expense.\"\nRealizing the futility of making every child musical, they modified this\nslogan to, \"Music at public expense for every child in proportion to his\nnatural ability.\" The market was flooded with educational music books\nand systems. Time for musical training was set aside in the regular\ncurriculum of the schools. It was recognized that only a person who has\nmusical ability and training can teach music effectively. Scientific\nprinciples from other subjects were adopted. Specialized training for\nmusical supervisors was provided in teachers' colleges. Teaching was\nimproved. Groups of children were segregated into vocal and instrumental\norganizations, both for curricular and extracurricular activities.\nInstruments were furnished at public expense. Credit for music gained\ncurrent coinage on a par with history and chemistry. The introduction of\nprinciples of educational psychology led to selective admission and\nelimination and gave the teachers a basis for the administration of\npraise or blame in achievement. Few public school subjects can point to\na similar epoch-making stride. These achievements today give youth a\nchance in music.\n\n_Orientation in the grades._ For the musical life of youth at and soon\nafter the high-school age, the training in the grades was most\nsignificant, and that, in turn, was rooted in a national awakening to\nthe possibilities and the responsibilities of music in the earliest\nyears in the home and the kindergarten. This awakening was strengthened\nby the recognition given art in general. Music early became associated\nwith the speech arts, the dance, and other games. The development in the\ngraphic and the plastic arts, though slow, was somewhat parallel with\nmusic for these early years. In the eight years in the grades there\ndeveloped a process of selective opportunities for the pursuit of music\nso that freshmen entered the high school as a group fairly\ndifferentiated on the basis of abilities, opportunities, likes and\ndislikes, and ambitions for music.\n\nThis differentiation had a twofold effect on the high school: First, the\nelimination of pupils who, on various legitimate grounds, did not\nqualify for musical training at public expense at this stage and,\nsecond, the beginning of specialization for those who had previously\nfound themselves or who at this stage made a happy decision. Thus the\ndevelopment of music in the high school has followed logically on the\nearly development of music in the grades, and in like manner the\ndevelopment of music at the college level is now beginning to follow the\ndevelopment of music in the high school.\n\n_Group activities in voice and instrument._ Youth is the age of learning\nby doing. This principle has been implemented in high-school education\nby the development of group activities, both in theoretical and in\npractical music, both in the curricular and in the extracurricular\nactivities. Throughout, the emphasis has been on action. Instruments are\nsupplied at public expense; opportunities are given for participation in\nprograms of entertainment; and a stimulus has been climaxed by the\nintroduction of local, state, and national contests for groups and for\nindividuals.\n\nThe adoption of the principle of group instruction at this level has had\nmany significant advantages. It draws large numbers of pupils into group\nactivities for the social value of the activity in itself and for the\nsocial value of participation in public life. It has lessened the cost\nof musical education many times over by training ten or a hundred pupils\nin a group as effectively, in many respects, as they could be trained by\nindividual instruction. Group instruction has, perhaps, been the\nstrongest leverage for the motivation of musical pursuits in the school.\nIt has increased the pursuit of individual instruction on the basis of\ndiscovered needs, for example, in the mastery of a particular instrument\nfor participation in the band or orchestra or in the development of a\nvoice discovered in the group. The individual instruction has thus been\nmotivated and made to fit into particular niches in the musical groups\nor in the choice of vocational pursuits in society.\n\n_Contests._ The development of contests both in individual and in group\nperformance has had a profound effect on the development of music in\nyouth and is destined to serve in large part as a clearinghouse.\nEducators recognize many drawbacks in the plan of contests. Preparation\nfor the contests requires excessive time and highly trained teachers. A\ncontest becomes an occasion for the revelation and the objectifying of\ndifferences in individuals and groups. It involves some little expense.\nIt tends to discourage the pupils who cannot qualify.\n\nBut let us look at the other side. In the state of Iowa, for example,\nthe state-wide contests, which have been conducted for about the past\nten years, have done far more than anything else to vitalize music\neducation in the high school. Four years ago I became acquainted with a\ngroup of ten girls who came from a little town three hundred miles away.\nThey had not placed in the contest; they had had no chance. I supposed\nthat this contest would be the last that we should see of them, but the\nnext year they appeared in a body--happy and optimistic, in a fighting\nmood--and won honors. I asked how they accounted for their success, and\nthey said, \"When we got home and reported that we had had no chance in\nthe state contest, the commercial club of our town raised a purse and\nemployed a teacher to come into the high school and train us in music.\"\nWhen the commercial club goes into its pockets in the interest of\nputting music on the map in its community, music is beginning to\nfunction in that community.\n\nNobody cares to tune a fiddle for four years; but, if he has the\nopportunity to play a tune, he will gladly keep the fiddle tuned. This\nfact has been shown on a large scale as a result of the contest plans.\nNot only have the final local, district, and state contests become\ngoals, but every daily practice has gained an objective and is a topic\nfor social conversation. The contests have made each participant\ncritical of his own performance and the performance of the group and\nhave also made each ambitious for improvement. They have raised\nstandards of selection in musical material. They have resulted in the\ngiving of higher musical education to large numbers of gifted persons\nwhose talents would not otherwise have come to the serious attention of\nparents or educational interests. The methods of judging these contests\nhave been greatly improved in the direction of offering encouragement\nwhere encouragement is due without discouraging more modest attainments\nwhere they are indicated.\n\nEducators used to think that football was the only thing that would\narouse enthusiastic support in the field of avocational activities for\nyouth; but, as I have witnessed the attitude of high-school pupils in\ntraining for musical contests, heard reports of the attitudes of the\nparents and the backers, and watched the culmination of enthusiasm at\nthe annual contest, I can say that there can be, for youth, as\nsubstantial enthusiasm in contests of music as there is in football. In\nother words, the youth of the state have entered into music in the\nspirit of play, with determination to train well, play hard, and win if\npossible. Enthusiasms for a center of interest in public and in private\nhave been found in this music.\n\n_The hearing of music._ Within the past forty years, also, America has\nfor the first time begun to hear music, good, bad, and indifferent. When\nthe first phonograph came to our city, the host at an evening reception\nfurnished music in a mysterious way. He had installed the phonograph in\na niche curtained off in the hallway so that the direction from which\nthe sound emerged was difficult to detect. He played three or four songs\nby a male quartet, which were richly applauded by his audience on the\nsupposition that he had stationed a male quartet somewhere in the house.\nMusic had come into the social group in a mysterious way.\n\nThroughout the foregoing discussion I have stressed musical performance\nbecause action is the way of youth, the way of education, and the way of\nany preparation for the listening mood and critical attitude. The\ndevelopment of the opportunities for listening has, of course, been\nunparalleled in the history of the world. The masses are given the\nopportunity of hearing good music. Many have taken the attitude of\nsneering at the music offered by phonograph and radio on the grounds of\nquality of rendition and of choice of type; but it is safe to say that\nwhat is offered is what people want, and there is some basis for saying\nthat to a great extent what people really want is what is good for them.\nOn the other hand, the furnishing of music at all levels has\nunquestionably had the marked effect of raising the American level of\nmusical appreciation step by step. People can be educated to listen, and\nin a marvelous way the radio has really taught people to listen. You\ncannot learn to swim without going near the water. Radio has had the\neffect of discouraging some persons from the development of musical\nskills in performance, because they realize that what they can hear is\nso superior to anything that they can do. On the other hand, radio has\nstirred the musical interests of the masses into appreciation of the\npossibilities of music at their respective levels and not only has made\nthem whistle the tunes but has encouraged them to participate in various\nmodes of performance. Listening to the \"canned\" music has certainly gone\nfar to develop the ability for listening to legitimate music on the\nstage.\n\nSome years ago I had the privilege of being the guest of the city of\nCopenhagen for a week. Among the entertainments offered by the city was\na grand opera. The invitation came in the form of a large, beautifully\nengraved card of marked distinction and good taste. Attached to it was\nthe actual ticket to one of the best seats in the house, and the price\nprinted on this ticket was, in American money, twenty-three cents. It\ncan be said almost literally that, when grand opera is played in\nCopenhagen, people of all classes come out and tend to listen with\nappreciation and more or less discrimination. The people have been\neducated to hear music. It has been brought down to their level.\nTherefore music functions in the social and home life of that city.\nMusic of a very high order furnishes the entertainment in the parks and\nthe public halls. That tradition is fast coming to this country, and the\neffective training of our youth will do much to hasten the day.\n\n\n THOUGHT REVIEW\n\n General Principles\n\n (1) The high-school age is the most significant period for the\n development of an avocation.\n\n (2) With the coming time for leisure, education for avocation is a\n sound educational policy.\n\n (3) It is fortunate that musical education at this age is elective.\n\n (4) Education for musical taste must be gradual, not by leaps.\n\n (5) Expansion of high-school music may advantageously be\n extracurricular in large part.\n\n (6) Music contests have greatly aided in the promotion of musical\n education.\n\n (7) The radio and the phonograph have in recent years been the most\n effective media for the dissemination of musical information.\n\n (8) It is quite natural and well that the fervor for music should cool\n off for many at the end of the teens.\n\n\n Questions to Consider\n\n (1) Should the schools supply musical instruments at public expense?\n\n (2) If so, what selective procedures and restrictions should be set\n up?\n\n (3) Is the author's conception of the characteristics of adolescence\n generally accepted by educators?\n\n (4) What are the evils of music contests?\n\n (5) What are some of the unfavorable musical effects of the radio?\n\n (6) What problems arise in connection with the change of voice in\n boys?\n\n (7) Should the high-school _a cappella_ choir exhibit the vibrato in\n singing? (See the author's _The Vibrato in Voice and Instrument_,\n University of Iowa Press.)\n\n (8) How can high-school musicians render larger religious, social, and\n patriotic services in the community?\n\n\n Discuss These Situations\n\n (1) Last fall (1939) I saw seventy-eight marching high-school bands\n with over 6000 instruments in a two-mile parade on the morning\n before a football game at the University of Oklahoma. Here was a\n cross-section of the youth of the state, many of them Indians; all\n in uniform in dancing march for musical display. Consider pro and\n con the implications of this phenomenal outbreak of music from (a)\n the musical, (b) the social, (c) the educational, and (d) the\n economical points of view.\n\n (2) There is a splendid tendency at present to integrate the school\n with social life, community services, and part-time employment.\n What features in such integration seem most promising for music?\n\n\n\n\n Chapter V\n THE MUSICAL TEMPERAMENT\n\n\nWhat makes a musician temperamental? Tell a musician he is\ntemperamental, and he will take offense. Yet perhaps the thing in his\npersonality of which he is most proud is the possession of a musical\ntemperament. This characteristic inconsistency has a basis in\npsychological fact; namely, that the exhibition of artistic temperament\nfrequently leads to attitudes and actions which the rest of the world\nmay criticize and view with amusement; but, on the other hand, the\nfinest expressions of musicianship would perhaps be impossible without\nthe possession of an artistic temperament.\n\nMany persons who pass as musicians are neither temperamental nor\nmusical. A great many of those who ply the art of music do not have\nmusical minds in any basic sense. Their art consists in certain skills\noften built into a purely matter-of-fact organism. I therefore see no\nreason why such people in the musical world who do not show any artistic\ntemperament have any reason to boast of the fact.\n\nThe highly temperamental musician is a species of genius in some degree.\nAs such, he has been described by musicians, scientists, and\npsychiatrists in a very copious body of literature on the subject,\nespecially that dating since the time of Lombroso, who regarded all\ngeniuses as degenerates. The modern psychiatrist has frequently\npresented a picturesque view of the temperamental person in terms of the\nrising science and art of psychiatry, which is supposed to explain all\ndeviations from normal behavior in terms of psychopathology. The old\nsaying was that we are all more or less sane; the psychiatrist today\nsays we are all more or less psychopathic. The current literature on\nmental hygiene is characterized by this point of view. Another point of\nview has proved fascinating since the coming in of Freud, in that\ndeviations of this sort are accounted for in terms of suppressions,\ndefense reactions, and other manifestations of the libido. Much light is\nthrown on the problem by the great musician's exaltation of the artistic\nmind in action, thus revealing essential temperamental traits on the\nbasis of first-hand experience and artistic theory. A temperamental\nmusician is the most merciless portrayer of his own species. Since the\ntemperamental person is always an interesting person, all of these\naccounts are lively and each revealing from its own point of view,\ngiving us much genuine insight into the nature of the temperamental\nperson in all fields.\n\nDescriptions of the musical temperament are, as a rule, vivacious and\nluminous, thrillingly interesting. If a competent analyst would follow\nStokowski for one day during the season and picture in high lights, full\nof concrete examples, the experience and behavior of this great\nconductor from the whirl of emotional enthusiasms and conflicts into\nwhich he awakens in the morning to the convivial abandon during\nrefreshments after the evening performance, we should have a spicy and\nanimated picture of the musical temperament. If written by the smart\ncommentator in the columns of _Esquire_, it might even be racy. Such\npictures have often been drawn in fragments. A similar picture might be\nmade exclusively by direct quotation from biographies, autobiographies,\nand letters of great musicians, such as Beethoven and Wagner, whose\nlives are now on record. The temperamental musician is not competent to\nanalyze himself because he does not see himself as others see him.\nLiterary chats about musicians are full of quirks and eccentricities\ngiving realistic examples of a temperamental life. These might be\norganized into a fairly complete characterization of a distinctive\nmusical temperament.\n\nAll such exhibits would be of the emotional type, dramatic\nextravaganzas, interesting and significant, and there are many such\nextant. The inceptive science of the psychology of music takes a\ndifferent point of view, aiming to account for the highly temperamental\nperson partly in terms of heredity and partly in terms of inherent\nelements in the situation in which he lives and performs. The music\npsychologist must content himself to deal in a cold analytical way with\nverifiable and orderly facts in order to contribute something toward a\nscientific foundation for a systematic and functional psychology of the\nmusical mind. In attempting this approach, I realize how tame and\nstilted such an effort must seem to the fiery musical temperament; and\neven at its best the psychologist will regard the account as\nspeculative, because it is seldom based upon experiment. I have delved\ninto musical biography and autobiography of great musicians with an eye\ntoward the discovery of their outstanding mental characteristics from a\npsychological point of view. On this basis I must make a bold venture by\nattempting to trace the elements in a musical situation which lead to\nthe development of temperamental behavior and thus contribute toward the\nanswer to the question, \"What makes a musician temperamental?\"\n\n_Physiological irritability._ The highly-gifted musician responds\nphysiologically to sound stimuli to a very high degree because he has\ninherited a genetic constitution which is anatomically and\nphysiologically exceptionally responsive to sound. In other words, quite\napart from consciousness of sound or thought of music, his physical\norganism responds to acoustic stimuli of all kinds which keep nerve and\nmuscle in a state of tension. This tends to create a state of unrest and\nirritability. Without leading to actual hearing, it may arouse\nassociations of a sort of dreamlike or dramatic nature which may play a\nvery large role in the conscious life. It may create a state of\nwell-being and happy associations, but perhaps more frequently\nirritation and noxious day-dreaming associations and emotional\neruptions. The sounds may come from a squeaking chair, the sizzling of a\nkettle, the song of a bird, the cry of an infant. Most frequently sounds\naffecting the organism in this way are inconspicuous and commonplace in\nthe environment; but they may often be strong; such as, the rattling of\na train or the chattering in a crowd, of which the musician does not\nbecome conscious, although physiologically irritated.\n\n_Tonal sensitivity._ All great musicians are highly sensitive to sound\nin all its elements. A physiological irritability acoustically leads to\na profuse awareness of sounds. This sensitive and selective hearing\ngives the musician a richness of material in the musical medium. He\nbecomes intolerant and rebellious to disturbing sound stimuli which have\nno such effect upon unmusical persons. To him, the world of sounds has\ninfinite richness of resources for musical pleasure, but equally\nexceptional resources for the suffering of musical pain.\n\n_Artistic license._ To the trained musical individual sounds are heard\nas different from what a matter-of-fact listener hears. The hearing of\npitch, loudness, time, and timbre is not in the ratio of 1:1 with the\nphysical sound, but always runs into artistic analysis and\ninterpretation with artistic license. The musical interval, the dynamic\nphrasing, the rhythm, and the tone quality are always heard in relation\nto their artistic setting. Here we find auditory illusions operating in\ntheir fullest glory. The pitch value varies with the quality of the\nsound. Time may be a substitute for stress and vice versa. A subjective\nrhythm is richer and far more realistic than the physical rhythm. The\nquality of tone is heard in relation to its musical meaning. To the\nmusician, the hearing is not so much a question of true pitch, formal\naccent, temporal rhythm, or vowel quality as it is a matter of musical\nbalance and a recognition of artistic deviation from the true.\nMeticulously exact performance of a Bach score would be musically\nintolerable. Notes are frail symbols. The performer must interpret even\nthe shortest measure rhythm or single note value. Thus, while fine\nsensory discrimination in all the aspects of sound is essential for\ncorrect hearing and tone production, the more essential thing is his\nability to play with artistic power and impulse in hearing and producing\nartistic balance and artistic deviation from the rigid. In this artistic\nbalance and deviation, he may be guided by certain artistic rules, but\nhis direct emotional interpretation is far more significant. In this\nlies individuality. He is constantly tempted to be extravagant.\n\nThus, in all the variants, combinations, and modulations of pitch,\nloudness, time, and timbre, the musician hears, feels, and gives meaning\nto fine and subtle distinctions, many of them quite divergent from the\nphysical tones. At this level, temperament shows itself in exceedingly\nfine responsiveness to tones which may be a matter of utter indifference\nor impossibility to the unmusical. This capacity is largely inborn, both\nin the way of sensitivity to sound and a general nervous, if not\nneurotic, disposition, and is in itself enough to make the musician\ndifferent from other people. Artistic license as a medium for\nself-expression is, therefore, clear evidence of a musical temperament.\n\n_Ear-mindedness._ The successful musician is ear-minded as distinguished\nfrom the painter who is fundamentally eye-minded. This ear-mindedness\ngrows out of his genetic auditory constitution at birth and develops\nthrough the practical use that he makes of the various attributes of\nsounds. Fundamentally, it is the tonal image which, in the great\nmusicians, is practically as vivid, stable, and complete as the ordinary\nperception of the actual physical sound. His memories, his imagination,\nhis creative work practically all operate in terms of his powerful\nauditory image, usually supplemented by strong motor and visual imagery.\nThis makes him different from the businessman, the objective scientist,\nand the man on the street. The fact that he can live subjectively in\nthis tonal world gives him a type of isolation in which he feels the\nsuperiority of his power and becomes disposed to assert his rights,\nprivileges, and dominance in a domain in large part separated from\nordinary affairs. Thus, the powerful imagery becomes one of his richest\nand most fundamental resources for exclusiveness as a musician and, when\ncultivated in the field of artistry, tends to set him apart from the\nrest of the world.\n\n_Affective response._ Since the business of the musician is to hear and\nproduce beautiful effects in sound, he differs from the ordinary\nlistener in that sounds of all kinds not only have intellectual\norientation value but are habitually responded to in terms of beauty or\nugliness, pleasure or pain. They give him warmth or chills, both of\nwhich create feelings of unrest. Instead of identifying a sound as the\nrumbling of a train, he identifies it as ugly--something which disturbs\nand irritates him. Instead of identifying the sound as the song of a\nbird, he responds vigorously in terms of likes and dislikes.\n\nEmotional pursuits are usually sexually stimulating, and persistent\nemotionality is likely to manifest itself in love \"scenes\", good or bad.\nAs a mate, the temperamental musician may be a most ardent and exquisite\nlover or a most irritable person to live with. This is aggravated by the\nfact that the artistic behavior is worshipped by the opposite sex, often\nto an annoying degree. Hence, love, self-defense in love, and a sense of\nsuperiority in love are keynotes to the temperamental musician's life.\n\n_The esthetic mood._ The musician is in search of the beautiful and\ntherefore, conversely, responds unfavorably to the ugly. His\nprofessional life is, in the main, emotional as distinguished from the\nintellectual life of the scholar in other fields or the action-patterns\nof men of affairs. Whether he is a virtuoso, a creator of music, or a\ndirector, he is working on emotions through emotions, trying to\nre-create for the listener the feelings with which he himself is imbued.\nHe lives so intensely and habitually in this activity that he becomes\nrecognized as highly and persistently emotional. This extreme\nemotionality in his daily work sets him off against the matter-of-fact\nmind. We say of the intensely artistic person in action that he burns\nhimself up. The emotional life is expensive and flitting; it flashes and\nexplodes and is in danger of running out of control.\n\nThis emotionality tends to transfer not only to other forms of art but\nto ordinary things and situations; such as, money, raiment, or social\namenities. Sometimes this takes the form of the characteristic bohemian.\nHe may spend his wages on payday and starve the rest of the month in\nutter complacence. All his life tends to be set at high tension. He\nlives dominantly in a mood and therefore often becomes objectionally\nmoody through his impulsive behavior.\n\n_Exhibitionism._ There is an accretion to the musical temperament in a\nsort of hierarchy of defense reactions which may be characterized as\nexhibitionism. The musical mind is pulling on one end of a leash, as it\nwere, trying to drag the more or less resistant and incapable into his\nown beautiful emotional life, and he feels the drag. Therefore, he\nbecomes impatient and uses ways and means of exclusiveness in withdrawal\nfrom the world, or he takes the opposite attack--display. To him,\ncountless means of personal display justify their end, the glorifying of\nhis noble art. Therefore, we see the musical temperament in this\nartistic form in the manner of living, eating, dressing, and sleeping,\nand in the demand for hero worship. We see this in the extreme form in\nthe conductor who feels that he must have his choir, his orchestra, his\nband members each individually at his command. He is like a general in\naction. For this purpose, he must pose as a great authority, as a hero\nstanding for something superior in the way of personal interpretation,\nas a critical judge of the beautiful, as having undisputed power,\nfeeling the necessity of imposing his own emotional individuality on a\ncomparatively cool and often resistant group. This is true on a smaller\nscale in all musical leadership, composition, performance of the\nvirtuoso, musical criticism and passionate listening.\n\n_Symbolism._ The main function of the great musician is to make his\nmusic symbolic. He must take the listener out of the humdrum attitudes\nof life through the avenue of musical feeling into a state of abandon,\nwhich, in its extreme form, approaches ecstasy and obliviousness to\nmaterial surroundings and facts. Even the devices of program music give\nbut remote and stilted aid. His function is to enable the listener to\nlive the art as he himself lives it symbolically. In this respect he\ndiffers from the sculptor and the painter who, while cultivating this\nsymbolic attitude, are clearly held to the necessity of utilizing\nobjective realities. It is not easy for the musician to take himself out\nof this mood. At the moment that he talks shop and business, the\nsymbolizing habit is constantly pressing in upon him. Through his\nmastery of the symbolic life he feels rich, exclusive, powerful, and\nself-contained. Some people think that is queer.\n\n_Precocity._ Since, as a rule, the musically gifted are proportionately\nprecocious, they begin early in childhood to realize their peculiar gift\nfor musical appreciation, individual interpretation, and often fabulous\nchild performance as more or less child prodigies. This tendency to\nbecome a prodigy is inherent in musical precocity and starting early\nmakes him conspicuous as a child, interferes with his adaptation to the\nbehavior of the common man, and leads to a specialization and\nintensification of those elements which gain for him the approbation of\nhis constituency, a following for the hero, and towering admiration. On\nthe other hand, it makes him an object of ridicule.\n\nUsually it is the narrowly-educated musician that is strikingly\ntemperamental. To excel in his art, supreme effort has often centered\nupon that goal at the sacrifice of a broadening education and the\ndevelopment of a well-rounded and healthy-minded personality. Current\nacademic recognition of music and improved facilities for training will\ndecrease the number of temperamental musicians. After all, temperament\nis not all a gift: it is largely acquired through learning in the school\nof hard knocks. It is often a cheap imitation.\n\nWhat then is the musical temperament? It is a species of the artistic\nbehavior found in all artistic pursuits, arising partly from heredity\nand partly from training, environment, and simulation; intensified by\nhigh sensitivity, highly-strung disposition, dominant ear-mindedness,\nemotional strain, lopsided education, pursuit of esthetic goals,\nleadership and hero worship, and often a forced precocity.\n\nThis type of analysis could be carried much farther, but these items may\nsuffice as fair samples to show that the artistic temperament in music\nis an essential gift demanded by the nature of the art. It may be good\nor bad, inborn or cultivated, genuine or simulated, and often runs into\neccentricities so that we frequently view it in a superior attitude of\namusement. But let us thank all the gods in the Kingdom of the Muses for\ntheir great gift, the potentially good musical temperament.\n\n\n THOUGHT REVIEW\n\n General Principles\n\n (1) The musical temperament may be good or bad.\n\n (2) It is inherent in the intensive music situation.\n\n (3) The musical temperament generally has a hereditary basis in a\n highly-strung nervous disposition.\n\n (4) It has large common elements with the artistic temperament of the\n painter and the poet, but is more eruptive.\n\n (5) It is often of strategic advantage in musical performance.\n\n (6) In many respects it is a defense reaction.\n\n (7) It may be either extrovert or introvert.\n\n (8) It is most fascinating when artistic and serenely serious; most\n ludicrous when affected; and most abominable when it takes the\n form of tantrums and exhibitionism.\n\n\n Consider These Questions\n\n (1) Can you name ten musicians who exhibit a \"charming\" musical\n temperament?\n\n (2) Can you name ten musicians who exhibit a \"noxious\" musical\n temperament?\n\n (3) Can you recall ten practical jokes which exemplify temperamental\n behavior, good or bad?\n\n (4) What are some of the first evidences of temperamental behavior in\n the musically precocious child?\n\n (5) Should the musical temperament in a child be cultivated?\n\n (6) Why is the current music supervisor rarely temperamental?\n\n (7) Was long hair a temperamental trait?\n\n (8) Is temperamental behavior proportionate to excellence in music?\n\n\n Discuss This Situation\n\nWhen the director of the professional symphony orchestra faces a group\nof temperamentally hardened performers in rehearsal it is war to the\nfinish--victory or defeat. Recall some characteristic historical\ninstances of artistic strategy in such a situation.\n\n\n\n\n Chapter VI\n MUSICAL INHERITANCE\n\n\nThe whole problem of mental inheritance is in the air, both in the sense\nthat it is current and in the sense that it is relatively intangible.\nThe struggle is best illustrated in the current approaches to the\nproblem of inheritance of intelligence. In this the geneticist has not\ngot far from base, but much has been learned in regard to the nature of\nthe issues involved. In the field of music the geneticist has approached\nthe subject experimentally without understanding the musical life; and\nthe musician has approached the matter practically without being a\ncompetent experimenter. The psychologist has certainly not done his duty\nin clarifying the issues. The most pressing need at the present time is\nfor such clarification. This can not be the work of one man or one\ngeneration, but must be achieved through co-operation of both sides in\norder to clear the way for valid experimentation.\n\nIn order to indicate the character of the problem we are now facing, I\nshall first venture to state some fundamental assumptions upon which\nprobably all competent investigators agree and, second, venture a little\nway in the direction of identifying concepts of musical life which can\nbe dealt with experimentally.\n\n\n ESSENTIAL PREMISES\n\nThe mechanism of heredity lies in a single germ cell carrying the\ncharacter-determining chromosomes which consist of organized chains of\ngenes. In the character and organization of these genes in the\nfertilized cell we find the complete \"blueprint\" for the future\nindividual in so far as it is to be determined by heredity. In the\ntwenty-four pairs of chromosomes in the fertilized human germ cell we\nfind the long and diversified heritage of each parent represented\nthrough the union of the sperm and the ovum. The selection and the\norganization of the genes in these chromosomes adequately represent what\nthe future individual can be.\n\nThis genetic constitution is modified by the cytoplasm, the supporting\npart of the cell which is its first environment, and further by the\nentire embryonic environment. Any changes that take place after the\nlaunching of this cell, whether before or after birth, are regarded as\nenvironmental. In the embryonic life, this germinating cell develops by\nprocesses of cell division and specialization into the complete human\norganism ready to function more or less immediately after birth. This\nheritage has fabulous resources in the form of possible facilities for\nfuture development. As nature was prolific in the storing and\ntransmission of countless hereditary characters in the genetic\nconstitution, so the equipment of the child at birth is astonishingly\nprolific in the provision it makes for diversified development of the\nindividual. Development from this stage on must, therefore, of necessity\ntake place through a process of selection and specialization in which\ncertain characters are given right of way and many are subordinated or\ninhibited by conflicting interests, but the great mass remain relatively\nlatent or dormant. We may assume that superior musical talent is\ndetermined in large part by superior musical heredity, and that inferior\nmusical talent or lack of talent may be determined in large part by a\ncorrespondingly defective heredity.\n\nThe science of heredity in the strictest sense focuses upon the study of\nthe identification and organization of the genes in relation to the\ndetermination of characters which shall appear in the genetic\nconstitution and determine future structures and functions of the\nindividual. When the geneticist deals with specific anatomical\nstructures, this relationship is traceable with comparative ease; but\nwhen he comes to deal with more or less complicated physiological or\nmental functions, the tracing of this relationship becomes rather\nbaffling on account of the complexity of the final product.\n\nTurning then to the issues involved in the interpretation of musical\ninheritance, we must face certain theoretical assumptions. One of them\nis that a scientific study of musical heredity cannot be pursued on the\nassumption that mind and body are two distinct entities, each inherited\nindependently. Nor can we hold the old doctrine of psychophysical\nparallelism. All human genetics proceeds on the assumption that the\nhuman individual is one psychophysical organism. Our musical experience,\nobservation and measurement will therefore represent views from the\nmental side; our organic studies may be views of the same things from\nthe physical side.\n\nFurthermore, musicality is not one specific human trait but an infinite\nhierarchy of traits running through the entire gamut of the\npsychophysical musical organism. To make any progress whatever, the\nscientist must make the supreme sacrifice of attempting to deal only\nwith specific isolable factors apparently small and remote in\nthemselves. The situation is analogous to that of purely physical\nfeatures. It is generally admitted that the structure of the physical\norganism is heritable. But when we show that the color of the eyes of\nthe fruit fly is heritable and that this inheritance takes place in a\nvery complicated way, as has been adequately shown, we have simply\nidentified parts of the structure and function of the genes in one\nspecific feature in the vastly complex physical organism, however\nfundamental and characteristic this particular feature may be. This\nanalogy applies in principle to the genetic study of the musical life.\nThe crux of the difficulty lies in the identification of heritable\nfactors.\n\nAgain we must remember that the musical mind is first of all a normal\nmind, a normal psychophysical organism ready to begin to function\nimmediately after birth. What we shall look for then in a psychophysical\norganism is the presence of certain resources especially favorable or\nespecially unfavorable to the normal functioning of the musical mind. We\nmay assume that an average capacity present in the genetic constitution\nmay be adequate for musical purposes but that exceptionally gifted\npersons require these traits in a correspondingly exceptional degree and\nthat exceptionally unmusical individuals lack essential elements. The\nmost wonderful thing is that a person can come into the world with a\nmusical constitution at all, but the problem of heredity centers around\nindividual differences, and these are more easily approachable than the\ntotal function. As in genetic studies of the inheritance of color\nblindness it has been possible to identify types, so in musical hearing\nwe may look forward to the identification of types of defect and types\nof superiority deviating markedly from the normal.\n\nCommon observation and reasoning convince us without question that\nmusicality is inherited in some mysterious way and this follows also\nfrom general considerations of current theories of biological\ninheritance. But when it comes to the scientific determination of laws\nof such inheritance, we face high barriers. Biological laws of\ninheritance must be established in terms of the genes; a specific\nbiological structure or function must be related to gene organization.\nLet us call this measurement of the first order. Such measurements are\nmost readily applied to anatomical structure and physiological function\nin the neuro-muscular organism. This is notably clear in the anatomy and\nphysiology of the ear and its connections. It is equally applicable to\nthe anatomy and physiology of the vocal organs--the bellows, the\nvibrators and the resonators for voice. It is conceivable, for example,\nthat the length, the mass, the mode of attachment, and the general\nposition and shape of the vocal cords and the mounting of the voice box\nare heritable characters traceable to genes and referable to musicality\nas the physical organs for voice.\n\nWe can also find relationships to the endocrines, which are in large\npart the determinants of musical emotionality. Electro-physiology is now\ngiving great promise for the identification of functions in the ear and\nthe brain and its central connections and is establishing\ninterrelationships. Many of the laws of heredity established by\nmeasurements of this order probably refer to fundamental biological\nprinciples of inheritance in the psychophysical organism as a whole. By\na physiological analysis of the sensory, motor, and central factors\nwhich operate most significantly in music, the systematist can set up a\nrespectable body of biological facts in regard to musical inheritance\nwhich are antecedently probable in terms of the functions of genes and\nresult in the structure and function of the musical organism.\n\nSince the medium of music is sound, we shall look first for an\nexceptionally responsive or unresponsive ear, including not only the\nphysical ear but the central organs in the nervous system through which\nit functions. This is basic for two reasons: First, because it\ndetermines what stimulation from the world of sound shall enter into the\nexperience of the musical individual to a high degree; and second,\nbecause the purely physiological receptivity or organic response to\nsound acts upon and modifies the state of well-being or ill-being\naccording as the auditory impression is beneficent or noxious in so far\nas its acts upon our circulation, metabolism, temperature and other\norganic processes. Such well-being or ill-being is, of course, in part\nthe foundation for the feeling of musical pleasures and pains.\n\nIf we would gain a true and comprehensive insight into the nature and\nextent of role of environment in musical life, we must start with some\nestablished facts or reasonable assumptions of what is \"given\" for\nenvironment to act upon. The heritage is the capital fund which the\nenvironment invests or squanders. Only by knowing the hereditary\ncontributions can we appraise the environmental contributions. In the\nstudy of the fruit fly, for example, the revelations of factors which\nmust be regarded as environmental are quite as significant and essential\nas the revelations about the original organization of genes. The\ndetermination of the limits of heredity is the best means for revealing\nthe functions and possibilities of environment. The music geneticist\nwill therefore learn fully as much about environmental influences as he\nwill about hereditary influences in studying heredity.\n\n\n PSYCHOPHYSICAL MEASUREMENTS\n\nThe music geneticist can approach many significant aspects of the\nsubject through psychophysical experiments for which we now have fairly\nstandardized procedures. For the present purpose, we may call this\nmeasurement of the second order as compared with the anatomical and\nphysiological measurements. It proceeds out of, and is a complement to,\nthe anatomical and physiological foundations and probably represents the\nmost fundamental approach from the psychological and musical points of\nview. These measurements deal primarily with sensitivity and\ndiscrimination on the sensory side and the corresponding processes on\nthe motor side. Among them we may recognize two levels: The simple or\nelemental, in which a specific mental process is related to a relatively\nspecific organic basis; and the complex, which relates to co-operative\nfunctions of the elemental capacities. Of the former we have four;\nnamely, the sense of pitch, the sense of loudness, the sense of time,\nand the sense of timbre--each of which is correlated with a specific\nattribute of the sound wave, which is the musical medium. We have basic\nmeasurements of the hearing of rhythm, consonance, volume, and\nsonance--all of which represent relatively complex patterns. Each of\nthese complex functions has a unitary character. Rhythm, for example, is\nnot merely time plus intensity; it possesses a unitary character.\nBecause of the difficulty of dealing with the complex patterns,\nprecedence should be given to the four elemental or basic capacities.\nExcellence in these capacities contributes toward ear-mindedness, of\nwhich the auditory image is the most specific characteristic; but at the\npresent time we have no adequate objective method for the measuring of\nauditory imagery.\n\nOn the motor side we have corresponding measurements of speed and\naccuracy in the motor control of each of these factors represented in\nthe sound wave; namely, frequency, amplitude, duration, and form.\n\nThe term elemental should be used with caution because we never\nencounter a purely elemental state or process. Even in the very simplest\nform they are merely more or less specific phases of the mental\norganism; and at any level at which they are observable they probably\ninvolve environmental accretions. It is the old story: We never\nexperience pure sensation but meaningful perception. Yet under the most\ncareful experimental control the identification of such specific\nfunctions may be reasonably reliable and have considerable validity.\n\nAdequate measurements of the sense of timbre are new and therefore have\nnot been employed extensively up to date. But the sense of pitch, the\nsense of time, and the sense of loudness, together with the sense of\nrhythm and immediate tonal memory, have been used extensively.\n\nThe significance of such measurements depends upon the rigidity of the\nscientific technique and the selection of subjects for experiment.\nReliable measurements have been made on a variety of groups and for\ndifferent purposes more or less related to the problem of inheritance.\nStudies have been made upon musically precocious children to determine\nto what degree they were gifted in each of these capacities. All the\navailable blood relatives of six of the foremost musical families in\nAmerica and a number of such families in European countries have been\ninvestigated. These capacities have been measured in selected virtuosi\nin various fields of music. The measurements have been used for the\ndetermination of qualifications for musical organizations and for the\nanalysis of admissions to music schools. Simplified forms of the\nmeasurements have been made upon very young children in musical\nfamilies. Numerous cases of failure in musical education have been\ninvestigated and often explained on the basis of presence or absence of\nthese basic capacities. Surveys have been made on groups representing\nhighly-privileged or under-privileged children in the matter of musical\nfacilities. Some of these measures are now a part of the standard tests\nand measures administered in the public schools so that comparisons can\nbe made with blood relatives, and data are becoming cumulative for\nscientific comparison of successive generations. Numerous racial studies\nhave been made on a large scale, comparing these capacities, for\nexample, in different degrees of race mixture--as in the transition from\npure blacks through mulattoes to whites in a large Negro community, or\nthe comparison of racial groups in Hawaii, the school children in\ndifferent European countries, Indians with whites, and distinctive races\nand primitive peoples in different parts of the world.\n\nFrom this large array of facts certain findings seem to be significant,\ntaking these measurements as a group. First, the sense of pitch, the\nsense of loudness, and the sense of time reveal no distinctly\nsignificant differences in racial groups, in culture-levels, or at\nage-levels, when adequately measured. In many cases this holds also for\nthe sense of rhythm and tonal memory. This is probably indicative of the\nfact that the basic capacities for hearing in individuals now living and\ncapable of being tested adequately are physiologically at the same\nlevel. This conclusion is in harmony with the observation that these\ncapacities which function in music, function also in the vast varieties\nof orientation through sound at all levels of man now living. It is also\nanalogous to what has been found in vision. Second, it develops that in\neach and every one of the groups studied there are enormous individual\ndifferences in each of these capacities and that the extent and\ndistribution of these differences do not differ significantly from what\nwe find in the public school children of the United States. Third, where\ncomparisons of capacity and achievement have been made reliably, it has\nbeen found that those who have achieved distinction in music have these\ncapacities in a significantly corresponding degree; but much larger\nnumbers of those possessing superior capacity who have not been\ndiscovered as musical, either by themselves or in their environment, are\nrevealed. This fact rules out many of the statistical studies of\nheredity in terms of musical achievement. Fourth, these capacities\nrepresent relatively independent factors in hearing. Fifth, marked\nsuperiority or inferiority in these capacities is of predictive value\nfor musical achievement and guidance in education.\n\nOn the motor side but little progress has been made. Principally because\nthe measurements are laborious, significant elements have not been\nidentified, and moderate motor capacities in speed and action are\nadequate for most musical achievements. Daily observations reveal that\nchildren may be slow and accurate, slow and erratic, fast and accurate,\nor fast and erratic in various degrees and combinations. It would,\nhowever, be of musical significance to discover to what extent and in\nwhat manner these traits are inherited from generation to generation.\n\nIn view of these discoveries, it is evident that there is some material\navailable for technically rigid genetic interpretation in terms of\ncurrently recognized principles of inheritance. All the records on the\nsix foremost musical families of America are available in the\nconfidential files of the Carnegie Institution, at Cold Spring Harbor.\nHighly reliable measurements on all the students in the Eastman School\nof Music for the last fifteen years are available. Various public\nschools have vast cumulative data, and elaborate collections are being\nworked upon in the Winderen Laboratory, at Oslo. But with the exception\nof the Carnegie Institution and the Oslo collections, adequate\nmeasurements of whole families are absent.\n\nWhat is needed now is a thoroughly reliable series of measurements on\nentire musical families and the interpretation of these by a thoroughly\ncompetent geneticist in terms of established biological principles of\ninheritance. It is especially important that both parties shall be\ncompetent to take into account the numerous lessons which we have\nlearned from the extensive efforts that have been made in the attempt to\nmeasure the inheritance of any mental trait, such as human intelligence.\nIn the human situation we cannot breed successive generations rapidly,\nas in flies or mice, for experimental purposes. We must, therefore,\neconomize time and effort by taking the most readily available material.\nFor this purpose I have suggested three possible methods (_Psychology of\nMusic_, McGraw-Hill, 1938). The first is that we start with the highest\n10 per cent and the lowest 10 per cent in an adequate sampling of\nfifth-grade children in a school system and work back by making the same\nmeasurements on the available blood relatives of these two groups. In\neffective organization much time can be saved by making group\nmeasurements in a co-operating community, such as a city ward. A second\nprocedure would be to secure an adequate sampling of musicians and\nmeasure forward and backward to cover three generations in which the\nmatings of musical and unmusical parents could be traced. A third\nprocedure would be a systematic collection of measurements on school\nchildren for a generation or more giving special attention to the\nshowing of blood relatives. We cannot, however, stress too strongly the\nimportance of having these measurements made throughout by an\nexperimenter thoroughly competent in this field and the equally thorough\nbiological treatment of data by scientists thoroughly competent in that\nspecific field. If a biologist wants to start the ball rolling from his\npoint of view, the records in the Eugenics Record office of the Carnegie\nInstitution furnish a fair and reliable sampling.\n\nIn proposing this conservative approach through psychophysical\nmeasurements, I do not wish to belittle the insight, common knowledge\nand theories of inheritance which have been obtained by observation and\nstatistics in terms of musicality as a whole--as in biography,\nautobiography and letters of great musicians or in the study of musical\nfamilies. But we are confronted with the fact that these deal largely\nwith unanalyzed situations so completely covered by factors of\nenvironment and training as to make them useless for strictly scientific\npurposes. Nor would I belittle the significance of general traits, such\nas musical intelligence, creative imagination and the artistic\ntemperament, or facilities for specific skills, such as sight reading,\nand the memorizing of repertoires. We know a great deal about these and\nunquestionably have the right to assume that they have an hereditary\nbasis. But scientific studies in heredity may be more properly\napproached through the simpler and more elementary capacities.\n\nFor scientific purposes, we cannot, of course, mix basic measurements\nand current ratings of musical achievement. There have been numerous\napproaches to this subject from the musical-achievement point of view,\nand these have furnished many suggestive leads and probably point to\nunquestioned facts about the inheritance of musical talent. But the\nscience of genetics rightly rests upon and demands the isolation of\nspecific factors which can be measured; and for that purpose the musical\ngeneticist must, for the present, sacrifice many otherwise interesting\napproaches from the point of view of rated achievement and be willing to\nawait the laying of foundations of rigidly conducted measurements which\ncan be described, interpreted, and verified.\n\n\n THOUGHT REVIEW\n\n General Principles\n\n (1) The question is not whether or not musical ability _is_ inherited,\n but _how_ it is inherited.\n\n (2) The musical heritage through each parent is transmitted through a\n single germ cell.\n\n (3) The mechanism of musical heredity lies in the organization of the\n genes in the twenty-four pairs of chromosomes found in this\n fertilized germ cell.\n\n (4) Scientific principles of musical inheritance can be established\n only through experiment and measurement of specific capacities;\n they cannot be derived from studies of musical achievement alone.\n\n (5) We come into the world a fully-equipped organism which is evolved\n from the germ cell before birth.\n\n (6) This hereditary equipment is prolific in possibilities; at best,\n the musical life can develop only through a small part of these\n inherited resources.\n\n (7) Defects in the inherited equipment set corresponding limits to\n musical achievement.\n\n (8) The scientific approach to the problem of musical inheritance can\n be made through psychophysical measurements of musical capacities\n with biological interpretation in terms of genes.\n\n (9) There is a considerable body of general biological principles of\n heredity which probably apply to the inheritance of musical\n talent.\n\n (10) Scientific study of the nature and the role of musical environment\n must begin with knowledge of what is \"given\", the original\n hereditary stock.\n\n\n Consider These Questions\n\n (1) What bad effects in education come from overemphasis of (a)\n heredity, (b) environment?\n\n (2) What educational advantages will accrue to the child from a sound\n and balanced recognition of the role of (a) heredity, (b)\n environment?\n\n (3) What would be the advantage of knowing scientific laws of musical\n inheritance?\n\n (4) What is new to you in the author's proposal?\n\n (5) Do you accept the author's theory of the relation between body and\n mind?\n\n (6) Why can we not derive laws of musical inheritance from statistical\n studies of musical achievement?\n\n\n Discuss These Situations\n\n (1) A music teacher says \"Give me a normal child and I will guarantee\n to make him musical.\" What qualifications would you suggest?\n\n (2) A teacher has measured a child's sense of pitch and found it\n superior. Should she say \"You are highly musical,\" or \"You have a\n superior sense of pitch?\" What is the difference?\n\n (3) An investigator has recently collected interesting material by\n interviewing (a) thirty-six of the outstanding musicians of the\n world, (b) the entire cast (thirty-six) of the Metropolitan Opera\n Company, and (c) fifty selected graduate students in the Juilliard\n School of Music, about their parents, and other blood relatives\n and has attempted to interpret the findings in terms of genes.\n Granting that his theory of genes is correct, what is it that\n limits or invalidates the procedure?\n\n (4) Long ago the author investigated the musical ability of three\n children in a minister's family and found that the oldest daughter\n rated very low on basic capacities and that she had not made\n satisfactory progress in eight years of musical training. The\n younger sister rated very high in musical capacities and had made\n splendid progress with but a few lessons. The brother, the\n youngest of the three, was like the younger sister. The minister\n held that where the great Creator had made the children unequal,\n it was his business to make them equal, and so he sent the eldest\n daughter to the New England Conservatory of Music where she was\n accepted and graduated and now holds a diploma, though, in her\n community, a musical nonentity.\n\n (5) Richard Bach Smith is a musical prodigy according to his mother.\n At the age of five he plays, sings, composes, and is an\n accomplished sight-reader. Is this heredity, environment, or both?\n How would you order his musical education?\n\n (6) Miss Jennie Lind Jones has a musical father and an unmusical\n mother, lives in a fine musical environment, and has enjoyed\n fourteen years of excellent training; but she \"has no rhythm,\" her\n piano phrasing is \"cold\", and her music is a \"drudgery.\" What do\n you predict for her? What would you have done for her?\n\n (7) Subject for debate: Given both, resolved, that inherited talent is\n a larger factor than musical education and environment in the\n development of a great musician.\n\n\n\n\n Chapter VII\n THE FUTURE OF MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS\n\n\nAre we nearing the end of the \"horse-and-buggy\" stage of musical\ninstruments? Can the possibilities for revolutionary procedures now\nlooming up in the construction of musical instruments be as strategic\nfor music as were the principles embodied in the coming of the\nautomobile and the airplane for transportation? Those of us who remember\nthat faithful animal and servant of man, the horse, and the conveyances\nhe served, look back with fond appreciation upon what amounted to a sort\nof fellowship with a fine-performing animal and the luxury of being\nconveyed by him in saddle or on wheel. So future generations may look\nback upon the past in fond memories of the companionship they have\nenjoyed with their favorite instruments, which may be destined to a\nniche in the historical museum. But in spite of competition, the horse\nhas survived, and so probably will the fiddle and some of its companion\ninstruments.\n\nIt is now safe to predict that the future instrument maker will be able\nto produce any sound now known in nature or in art that may possibly\nhave musical significance. We already have at hand the means by which\nany such sound can be adequately defined, described, specified,\nmeasured, analyzed, and reconstructed. And there is reason to think that\nwith the conquest of new and marvelous resources for musical media,\nmusical composition will move with strides in step with instrument\nbuilding.\n\nThe musical devotee is, therefore, facing new issues, thrilling and\npossibly heart-rending. Can a musician adapt himself to these changes?\nWill he tolerate modifications of old instruments, radically new\ncreations of instruments, revolutionary new types of ensembles, and\nradically new types of musical creation? Can musicians adapt themselves\nto these new musical media and musical forms as rapidly and completely\nas we have adapted ourselves to the transition from horse and buggy to\nautomobile and airplane within the span of less than half a century? The\nanswer is probably \"no\", for good reasons. Yet, sooner or later, the\ntransition will come in the form of new musical media, new musical\ncomposition, and new types of musical appreciation and attachment.\n\n\n POSSIBLE LINES OF DEVELOPMENT\n\nWe can now foresee that musical instruments will be submitted to\ncritical analysis, with improvements even on the very best; that\nsubstitute forms in great variety may be developed for any now available\nmusical instrument; that new instruments will be designed for the\nproduction of new tone qualities and other musical effects; that new\nensembles may be built for any number or kind of instrument, so that it\nis within the bounds of possibility that the entire performance of the\nsymphony orchestra, the symphonic band, and the grand opera may be\nperformed through a single instrument operated by less than half a dozen\npersons; that the transmission of music by remote control of the\ninstrument has extraordinary possibilities; that a vastly superior\ncontrol of tone for precision and modulation can be realized; that the\ncost of musical instruments may be greatly reduced; that the number of\nplayers needed in ensemble performance may be reduced, since, on the\nanalogy of the pipe-organ player, one individual may perform for an\nentire orchestra; that current music which has been hampered by\nlimitations of the instrument may be perfected and new types of music\nmay be introduced; that the musical instrument may become a medium for\nthe production as well as the reproduction of song and speech; that the\nmusical tone may be associated with other esthetic appeals, such as\nvisual presentation of color, relief, and dramatic action--these are all\nwithin the realm of possible predictability.\n\nThe range of possibilities may be illustrated in the case of a generator\nfor a single tone. A few years ago a graduate student came to me and\nsaid that he wanted to take as the subject for his doctoral dissertation\nthe building of an electrical organ. I told him that if he would build a\ngenerator for a single key I would assure him a stipend for three years\nand all the needed facilities of the Iowa acoustical laboratories. He\naccepted and made good to an extraordinary degree. The tone generator he\nbuilt is composed of the first sixteen partials, _i. e._, a fundamental\nand fifteen overtones in harmonic series, each virtually a single pure\ntone. The number of partials, the form of distribution of partials, the\namount of energy contributed by each partial, the phase relationships of\nthe partials, and the fundamental pitch are under control and may be set\nup in any combination. With this number of variables, mathematicians\nwill say that any desired tone quality of harmonic structure up to more\nthan a million kinds of tone can be produced. The ear cannot hear all\nthese differences, but the instrument provides keys for as many steps in\nthe entire series as may be musically significant, and the tone at each\nof these steps can be specified for production, described, and repeated\nindefinitely. Thus, it is possible to make the instrument speak any\nvowel in so far as it involves harmonic structure, and the harmonic\ncomposition of any musical instrument may be imitated. Provision for\ninharmonic elements and noise accessories which are necessary both for\nvowels and instruments can, of course, be installed with this generator.\nGiven one tone with such a range of possibilities, it is but a series of\nlogical and fairly simple steps to provide a complete musical instrument\nby simply multiplying notes of this kind. This is the type of\ndevelopment we see now in a variety of electronic instruments.\n\n_The improvement of existing instruments._ Musical instruments now in\nuse can be improved. We now have the means for the technical analysis of\nthe character of the tone produced by any instrument as a whole or by\nany particular feature in its construction, so that faults and\nlimitations can be definitely allocated. Recent investigations have\nrevealed faults in the best of violins. Some of these faults or\nlimitations may be corrected by change in construction. For practical\npurposes, a 1939 violin of American make may approximate the good\nqualities of the Stradivarius, and there is no doubt that improvements\ncould be made upon the famous old instrument. The same is true in\nprinciple of all individual musical instruments now in use. One of the\nobstacles, however, will be the unwillingness of many musicians to face\nthe innovation of change in the looks of their beautiful instruments so\ntenderly loved and guarded.\n\nThe piano, as we now have it, has limitations and defects, some of which\ncan be reduced or eliminated by the adoption of new principles of action\nand activation, and by construction according to acoustical\nspecifications, based upon the measurement of the effect of each feature\nupon qualitative and dynamic values of tones. For example, the\ncharacteristic tone of the piano as distinguished from most other\ninstruments comes to a dynamic peak immediately after the hammer stroke\nand falls off rapidly. We have learned to make allowance for this so\nthat in hearing music we have a tendency to hear a quarter note as of a\ngiven even loudness although the sound fades off sharply during that\nperiod. It is well known that with the drop in the loudness of the tone\nthere is a corresponding change in the quality of the tone, which change\nagain we have, of necessity, practically learned to ignore. If it should\nprove desirable, it is now quite easy to provide a mechanism which will\nsustain the piano tone at even loudness, and therefore uniform tone\nquality, during the time value assigned to it. The distribution of\nresonances of the instrument can be greatly improved by balancing. The\nnecessary mechanical noises which accompany the production of tone in a\npiano may be largely eliminated if that should prove desirable. The\nacoustical engineer can now point out dozens of features in the piano\nwhich might be improved in future construction based upon analysis of\nthe output in sound. In the same manner the organ, the king of\ninstruments, if it is to maintain its pre-eminence in competition with\nsubstitutes, demands improvements in the light of new facilities. The\nmore complicated the instrument, the more possibilities there are for\nimprovement. During the last hundred years there has been a steady\nbetterment in the mechanisms of practically all the leading musical\ninstruments; but this movement will rise to great heights in view of the\nnew tools for investigation and new materials and principles of\nconstruction.\n\n_New substitutes for existing instruments._ Substitutes for all\ninstruments now extant may be expected to come mainly through the\ndevelopment of electrical construction, although many forms of\nmechanical devices may be used independently or with the electrical.\nThere is no question at all but that with such resources, substitutes\nfor a stringed instrument, a wood wind, a horn, and many varieties of\ntraps and accessories can be built so as to embody increased musical\nresources. The principles for the construction of such a violin, flute,\ntrumpet, or any other single instrument are already in hand. The\nconstruction may embody such mechanical devices as strings, membranes,\nand pipes; but if so, these will be electrically energized. We may\npredict that substitutes for single instruments will increase in great\nvariety and that very simple forms adapted to age and advancement in the\nplaying of specific instruments can be supplied. The variety of means\nfor stunt performances may be increased to an alarming degree.\n\n_New ensembles._ Another significant line of development will\nundoubtedly appear in the matter of ensembles. By the utilization of\nelectrical construction, a single series of generators may supply the\nharmonic structure of a tone from each and every instrument now in use.\nThus, a bank of sixteen violins may be supplied from this single source\nand sixteen individual violin tones may be played in identical pitch,\neven dynamics, equal temporal movements, and uniform tone quality. Such\nuniformity would however be of limited musical significance. The\nimportant thing musically is the fact that in such a bank any desired\nform of artistic deviation or differential enrichment may be provided\nfor. The same would apply to wood winds, horns, bells, drums and other\npercussion instruments in large part. Where further representation of\nmixed tone, inharmonics, or noises are demanded, they may be added. The\nsubstitute for a drum can increase the precision and range of the drum\nsound without the use of the drum, as, for example, in the present\n\"Novachord\". Thus, it is conceivable that with the exception of certain\nunforeseen limitations, the instrumentation of an entire orchestra or\nband can be built into a single unit operated from a single console.\n\nFrom what we have seen in the way of marvelous demonstrations in recent\nyears it is reasonable to suppose that entirely new types of complex\ninstruments will be invented, bringing to music hitherto unknown\nresources. Furthermore, with the instrumental music as such, provision\nmay be made in the instruments for words in speech and song, and the\nvisual presentation of dramatic action in color, relief, and movement\nwhich may be controlled from the console. The goal of embodying in a\nsingle instrument or coupling units of instruments the means of\nperforming chamber music, orchestra, band, and the grand opera, is\nwithout doubt no wilder prediction than was the prediction of radio or\nairplane a few years ago.\n\n\n NEW MUSIC\n\nThe improvement of old instruments and the introduction of new ones will\ncall for an unprecedented revision of old music and a creation of new.\nWhen music was written for the well-tempered clavichord it was limited\nto the resources of that instrument. The same is true of music for all\ninstruments. The music had to be limited to the available resources of\nthe instrument. It is reasonable to suppose that composers will respond\nfrom time to time with up-to-date adaptations and new creations, taking\nadvantage of each of the new resources for range of pitch and loudness\nand new resources for variety in harmony and richness of tone. It is\nequally conceivable that the composer may set up new demands to which\nthe inventor and instrument maker may respond on call. It is difficult\nto realize what extraordinary enrichment in musical resources may spring\nup under the impetus of new instrumental resources. There will be new\ntreatments of scales and intervals, since the pitch control will be far\nmore flexible than it has been. Perhaps one of the largest innovations\nwill be in the freer use of intonation not built on any particular scale\nbut soaring with the greatest freedom on an instrument as we now hear\nit, for example, in the singing of Negro spirituals. Performance scores\nshow that these natural singers defy scales, but produce beautiful\neffects through their free and soaring pitch inflection. Stringed\ninstruments have been hampered by accompaniment and by tradition and\ntheory. We can anticipate significant developments outside of our\ndiatonic scale which has come to be a sort of strait-jacket, at least\ntheoretically. It has been shown, for example, that a quarter-tone\ninstrument is not of much use unless music is written not only for these\nintervals but in modes, themes, and atmosphere adapted to such purpose.\nThe pitch range of the composition will be extended; so also will the\ndynamic range. Countless new features can be introduced for enrichment\nof tone and variety of harmony. Nomenclature will develop so that the\ncomposer may not only think in definable terms but may be able to inject\nnew elements of terminology into the score. For various types of\nensembles the music will, of course, have to be written or adapted\nspecifically. Stunt music will here find unlimited opportunities for\nnovelty and escape from conventional tone. This may give us relief from\nthe limitations of jazz and swing, which have been so boring in recent\nyears. There will undoubtedly be great bewilderment as to the limits of\ntolerance for new media and new forms for musical creations. History has\nrevealed clearly that the adaptation of taste and tolerance requires\ntime, and conservatism is often a beneficent safeguard.\n\nThe most fundamental recent achievement in the building of new\ninstruments is that of producing pure tones as well as rich tones in\nperfect harmonic structure without accessories. But for various reasons\nmusic has always utilized more or less inharmonic structures and has\nimitated, or at least tolerated, noises in the forms of hisses, twangs,\nand all kinds of inharmonic and noisy distortion. Recourse to discord\nwill always be demanded in music; but it is a question as to what extent\naperiodic sounds or noises are necessary. We have learned to accept the\nhisses, scratches, rattles, thuds, and bangs of countless varieties in\nmusical tone. Some such accretions are present in the tone production of\nevery instrument now in use. They have arisen as impediments in\nconstruction, but have come to be accepted as characteristics of the\ninstrument and therefore have added greatly to the individuality of each\ninstrument. Will the future musical public insist on having these or\nwill there be a feeling of relief when we can get rid of them? The\nanswer is probably in the middle ground because music, at least as we\nknow it now, calls for a great variety of noises in the interest of\nrealism. Possibly in the future, noise may be given a chastened and more\nhonorable place in the family of tone qualities.\n\nThe significant thing to note here is that in new types of instruments\nany kind of crude sound or noise can be introduced at will. This will\nanswer the purpose of program music in that perfectly realistic\nreproductions can be made of the sound of steps in marching, the slam of\na door, the squeal of a pig, the bleat of a lamb, the crow of a rooster,\nthe roar of an airplane, the sigh of the wind. A comparatively small\noutfit of sources for accessory noises can serve a great variety of\npurposes in the hands of the artist. New responsibilities for the\ncomposer in these respects may be foreseen.\n\n PLAYING\n\nAs in the automobile, for example, the tendency is to make everything\nautomatic and relieve the human control of effort, we are moving fast in\nthe direction of creating automatic devices in musical instruments. It\nis safe to predict that a variety of instruments for children will be\nmore easily played than at present, and that even for the virtuoso a\nnumber of the factors which have been difficult to control will be\nsimplified and mechanized. This will be particularly true in ensemble\ninstruments where a single player may control a large number of\ninstruments or where three or four players, of whom one is the\nconductor, may render the equivalent of an orchestral performance.\nBarring the limitations of the instrument it is significant that in such\nperformance the conductor will have vastly superior control of the\nsituation in that he is in direct manual control of all those factors\nwhich in the present orchestra he tries to control through the medium of\nthe individuals and masses of players with the baton as a sort of whip.\nIn the new orchestra, he will sit at a panel with levers and buttons\nthrough which he will be able to control the interpretation he desires\nto make.\n\nThis conducting may be done with meticulous precision and apparently\nmagical result through remote control, as was illustrated, even with the\nuse of present instruments, when Stokowski sat at his panel in\nWashington, D. C. and controlled the performance of his orchestra in\nPhiladelphia.\n\n SPECIFICATIONS FOR INSTRUMENT CONSTRUCTION\n\nThe musical medium whether in art or nature has four, and only four,\nelements; namely, pitch, loudness, time, and timbre. These are four\ncharacteristics which may be expressed in terms of the sound wave, as\nfrequency of waves, intensity of waves, duration of waves, and form of\nwaves. The recognition of this fact vastly simplifies the mastery of\ntone production in musical instruments. Let us consider the factors\nwhich may be classified under these four heads.\n\n_Pitch._ New devices for the control of pitch make possible very\nsuperior control of the pitch in pitch precision, flexibility,\nlinearity, range, varieties of scale, and harmony. Instruments can be\ntuned to a higher degree of precision, retuned more quickly, and kept in\ntune longer by the new means of tone production. Therefore, intervals\ncan be made more exact, the pitch can be sustained with precision, any\npitch aspect can be described, desired effects can be specified, and\nartistic adjustments can be made for musical effect.\n\nAny desired type of flexibility may be introduced, such as the gliding\nattack and release, periodic or progressive changes in a sustained tone,\nas in the vibrato, or rise and fall in tone required during the sounding\nof a single note. The glide, the portamento, and a variety of other\npitch ornaments may be produced. Adjustments from any size of intervals\nfor artistic effect, such as a quarter tone or enlarged or diminished\nintervals, may be produced. In short, the pitch inflection can be\ncontrolled either within a single note or a sequence of notes, and just\nintonation or tempered scales of various sorts may be produced. The\npossibility of combining individual notes in harmony is unlimited. The\npitch range of the instruments can be carried to any height above the\npresent gamut of instruments, even into the region of supersonics, which\nmay possibly have physical effects on the feeling of well-being or\nill-being of the musical organism.\n\n_Loudness._ The range of loudness can be extended both in the direction\nof increased loudness and perfectly controlled softness. The loudness of\ntones throughout the entire range can be equalized. All forms of dynamic\nshading and fading and differential steps of loudness can be introduced\nfor artistic effect. The dynamic linearity, as in the organ, can be\nsustained and the fading effect, which distinguishes the piano from the\norgan, can be adjusted to any degree. All present pedals as well as new\npedals may be introduced.\n\n_Time._ Through the precision made possible for various forms of\nautomatic action in the instrument, all temporal aspects of tone can be\nenhanced by precision, controlled tapering at the beginning and end of\nthe tone, various forms of synchronization, and the balancing of the\nroles of time and stress in rhythm may be achieved.\n\n_Timbre._ The most significant new feature is, of course, the extension\nand control of richness in timbre and sonance, which constitute tone\nquality. The range of timbre changes may extend from a pure tone to the\ninclusion of even more partials than the ear can hear, possibly thirty\nor forty, with an infinite variety of harmonic forms of distribution\nbetween these extremes. Great innovations through inharmonic and\naperiodic sounds are coming. It is now possible to maintain a uniform\ntimbre which gives an element of dignity and stability to the tone in a\nsustained note. But since deviation from the regular is of far greater\nimportance, flexibility of tone quality is even more desirable. This\nflexibility in timbre for the duration of the tone which determines tone\nquality, technically called sonance, may be provided for by various\ndevices. For example, in the present \"Novachord\", the various forms and\ndegrees of vibrato are at the command of the player and are based on\nscientific investigation leading to specification for this musical\nornament. Given the mechanisms for harmonic structures and inharmonics,\nwe need only the addition of rough noise of various kinds to make the\ntone realistic. The timbre available in the musical instrument will\ntherefore run from the pure tone to the roughest noise.\n\nIn the above I have attempted to present a picture in rough outline\nindicating present trends and predictable futures for music through the\nimprovement of musical instruments. The instrumentalist can point out\nmany features not here mentioned. The musician may yearn for new\nresources in his musical medium for which he can now lay down\nspecifications. The listeners must be prepared for startling innovations\nand thrilling new sources of pleasure in music. It will take generations\nto finish the theoretical picture I have here sketched in bold\noutline--but let us look forward to a progressive unveiling and\nrevelation of possibilities. But take no alarm--the horse, if not the\nbuggy, will survive.\n\n\n THOUGHT REVIEW\n\n General Principles\n\n (1) We are entering upon a new era for musical instruments.\n\n (2) Present instruments will be improved, new instruments will be\n innovated, new ensembles will be achieved.\n\n (3) Conforming to this progress, present music will be adapted and new\n types of composition will appear.\n\n (4) In this changing order musical tastes will undergo significant\n changes.\n\n (5) The composer may now specify new conceptions of desired features,\n and the technicians will provide them.\n\n (6) Instrument makers will be able to produce or reproduce any musical\n sound in nature or art.\n\n\n Consider These Questions\n\n (1) If the violin strings are mounted on a perfect resonator with\n different shape from the present violin, will that be a violin?\n\n (2) If the piano can be built so as to eliminate all accessory noises,\n will pianists like it?\n\n (3) If the playing of new instruments will be made easier and better,\n will that tend to increase the number of students in music?\n\n (4) If all the good characteristics of present musical instruments can\n be reproduced in a much smaller number of instruments, will that\n be welcomed by the musical public?\n\n (5) If we are to have quarter-tone music, which is now possible, why\n will this demand new music aside from the size of the interval?\n\n (6) If an electronic organ could be built to do all that the best pipe\n organ now does, if the visible part were reduced to the appearance\n of a little writing desk, and if speakers were concealed in the\n walls throughout the building, how would the worshipper in church\n react to that situation?\n\n (7) Children now build their radios from purchased or home-made parts.\n It will be still easier for them to build a variety of musical\n instruments. Will they do it and with what effect?\n\n\n Discuss These Situations\n\n (1) At the Riverside Laboratory, Colonel Fabian built an organ with\n the pipes distributed throughout the three stories of a large\n building. The effect was as if the whole building were one grand\n organ. No matter how many sources there were for the same note,\n the tone of that note would always be heard as coming from a\n single source, the location of which depended upon the relative\n distances and intensities of the various sources. The result was\n \"magical\". Discuss the possibility and the significance of using\n this principle of installation in a house or in a cathedral.\n\n (2) It is possible to build a comparatively simple instrument which\n can yield pure tones throughout the musical register. Consider\n what role such an instrument might carry in an orchestra.\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER VIII\n PRAISE AND BLAME IN MUSIC\n\n\nMusic is unique among esthetic appeals in that it demands immediate\nresponse in the form of praise or blame. The orator demands immediate\nresponse; but his appeal is to reasoning, not to feeling. The painter,\nsculptor, and poet demand esthetic response, but this response is\ndelayed and does not keep the artist on the tip of his nerves to receive\nit. The musical appeal is all the more emotional because it is not only\nan appeal for personal recognition but for the aggrandizement of the\nnoble art. The musician at all ages and all stages of advancement can\nperform for his own pleasure in isolation, but even here the demand for\npraise or blame on the spur of the moment is emphatic and essential.\n\nIt is, of course, fully recognized that at his best the musical\nperformer is not conscious of making a direct appeal for approval by\nothers. His objective is rather that of self-expression and experiment\nin the execution of an artistic skill. He is often aware of a negative\nattitude in his audience, and he may take an attitude of aloofness or\nsuperiority toward the audience, recognizing its incompetence. Yet back\nof it all, there may be even a distant hope of approval in a coming\ngeneration or the critical judgment of the select few; but the attitude\nof the immediate audience or the public toward his performance plays\nheavily upon his unanalyzed feelings and moods.\n\nThe bases for musical praise and blame are notoriously inadequate, be\nthey meaningless approval, empty flattery, or censorious criticism. A\ngeneral attitude of spontaneous approval without knowing or giving\nreasons among listeners in general is praiseworthy as an expression of\ngood will; but for serious purposes we must question the competence of\nthe listener for the response manifested. The fault may lie in the\nlistener's ignorance of the art of music, his incompetence in\nrecognizing elements of merit, his failure to credit the performer in\nrelation to natural ability or purpose. Praise or blame may also carry\nor miscarry in so far as it may wisely serve to motivate or discourage\nthe performer on the specific issues involved in the performance. With\nthe sudden popularizing of music, the incoming tendency is to associate\nmusic with the beginning of a scientific approach to the understanding\nof the music and the musician. This situation is changing at a\ngratifying rate for the good of music. It is worth while to consider in\nsome detail the factors in this progress.\n\n\n VANTAGE GROUNDS\n\n_Artistic insight._ The extraordinarily rapid introduction of real music\neducation in the grades and in the high school and college curricula,\nand even in graduate study, is changing the attitude of the listener by\nincreasing his competence. Children and youth now hear more good music\nand hear it presented in such a way as to increase their understanding\nof it. At the college level music is presented as an academic subject,\nwith primary emphasis upon the art of hearing music together with some\nknowledge of history and content of music. The training of high-school\nteachers of music has changed radically in a generation from the mere\ndevelopment of proficiency with an instrument or voice to a deeper\ninsight into the nature of the art, its history, and its roles. At many\nlevels well-developed courses in music appreciation have acquired a\npermanent status and have proved a good foundation for further\npenetration into the art of the appreciation of music. This implanting\nof points of view and development of esthetic attitudes in the academic\ninstruction in the schools is hastened to fruitage by the popularizing\nof music for the masses through radio and phonograph as well as through\nthe penetrating of the skills acquired in school into the home and\nsocial institutions. The popularizing of good music, where public\nentertainment in the parks and other public places is of good musical\nquality and furnished free or at popular prices, is a great help in\ndeveloping a critical attitude even among those in other respects quite\nuneducated. Therefore, we may say with great satisfaction that training\nin the art of hearing music has come upon the educational horizon in\nAmerica in a very promising way.\n\n_The scientific attitude._ We are constantly impressed with the analogy\nbetween scientific insight into the nature of music and the\ncorresponding insight in other sciences, such as botany or astronomy. A\nchild starts out with an inborn capacity and urge for the love of\nflowers; but as a student of flowers he soon encounters many marvelous\nrevelations. On the one hand his horizon is broadened by acquaintance\nwith larger and larger classes and varieties. He learns to see\nrelationships to habitat. He learns to trace scientifically the laws of\ntheir evolution, the methods of artificial breeding and development of\nnew plants, and even the beauty in their usefulness. On the other hand,\nhe turns to his microscope and discovers not only the external parts\nvisible to the naked eye but the internal structures, their modes of\nevolution and development, even down to the discovery of the mechanisms\nof heredity through the genes, which are so small that we know them only\nby inference from what the microscope reveals. The natural history of\nmusic is analogous to that of such a material science.\n\nThis scientific insight into the structure and function of music goes\nhand in hand with the development of the artistic insight into the\nnature of the esthetic values from the point of view of the art of\nmusic. Thus the student of music is now furnished the facilities for\nincreasing his power of appreciation of music and a critical awarding of\npraise or blame from two complementary points of view: a study of the\nart and a study of the science of music.\n\n_Terminology._ The mere matter of terminology here plays a very\nimportant role, as is now being demonstrated so successfully in the\nrecent developments in the field of psychology of music and acoustics.\nTake, for example, the concept of tone quality. Until a few years ago\nthere was probably not a single adequate statement of the nature of tone\nquality in the entire literature on music; and yet this is the most\nimportant element in music. In the past the listener and the student\nhave generally approached the subject in an attitude of acceptance or\nrejection of the unanalyzed impression, but often with no more\ncompetence than that with which the ignorant shepherd appraises the\ngrandeur and meaning of the heavens above on a starlit night. The\nteacher, as a rule, said \"This is beautiful,\" or \"This is ugly,\" without\nbeing able to give the reasons why, for want of a tangible terminology.\nThe teaching and development of tone quality therefore has wallowed in a\nslough of despond. Recent researches in the field of musical acoustics\nare ushering in a new era. The structure of tone quality has been\ndissected, and its parts have been adequately described and defined.\nThis is leading to an improved musical language. The same is true for\nother musical concepts. Thus, through the systematic development of\nmusical terminology, there will gradually develop a scientific\nclassification of the various aspects of the musical medium which is\nessential not only for the learning of music but also for the awarding\nof praise and blame.\n\n_Musical talent._ With this development of a knowledge of the nature of\nmusic, the scientific student of music has turned to the analysis of the\nnature of the musical mind attempting to assign specific roles to\nmusical heredity and musical training and environment. Hazy concepts of\nthe gift of music have been subjected to scientific analysis,\nexperiment, and measurement. From this, it is being demonstrated that it\nis impossible to award praise or blame without taking a reasonable\naccount of the innate fortes and faults of the performer which determine\nin large part the direction and limits of achievement or failure. The\nrecognition of this fact, of course, plays its fundamental role in the\nearly encouragement or discouragement of the inceptive musician, in the\nrecognition of the purpose of his education, and in the motivation\nthrough training.\n\n\n PARTIES CONCERNED\n\n_The pupil._ Modern education has revealed the importance of a\nstudent-centered and student-originated learning process as opposed to\nthe traditional and institutional direction of development of the\nindividual. The question of self-praise and self-blame, satisfaction or\ndissatisfaction on the part of the child or youth, is of course of first\nimportance both in the initial stages of orientation and throughout the\ncourse of specialization and achievement. Instead of imposing\nregimentation, the home, the school and the private teachers tactfully\naim to assist the child in the discovery of his natural interests,\nresources and promises which aid him in the building of his personal\nconvictions. But emphasis is laid upon the principle of\nself-determination in the light of progressively available reasonable\nfacilities for self-appraisal. This refers both to the appreciation of\nmusic and to the development of musical skills. This principle of\nself-determination has frequently run amuck in the hands of progressive\neducators, capital _P_. But it is a fundamental and permanent principle\nfor the development of personality and motivation in specific pursuits.\nThe child will soon discover that in order to pursue his interests and\nsatisfy himself in performance he may have to work hard, conform to\nrequirements, be patient, and make sacrifices; but his first goal is to\nfeel satisfaction in what he is getting and in the worth-whileness of\nthe pursuit.\n\nFor these things he will find an analogy in any form of play, physical\nor mental, into which he enters in a wholehearted way. This feeling of\nself-approbation comes easily in the musically talented where the urge\nfor music is clearly manifested; but with moderate talent this attitude\nof self-reliance needs cultivation. And in the assumed absence of\ntalent, there is need of assistance in the real verification of this\nabsence. The greatest danger lies in the intrusion of prejudice and\nsocial pressures. This principle of self-determination is of most\nimportance in those fields which are to be pursued primarily as a source\nof self-expression and pleasure in the pursuit as distinguished from the\npursuits which are essential for the earning of bread and butter and the\nmaintaining of social status.\n\n_The teacher._ The recognition of this principle of self-determination\nand the sustained will to achieve has revolutionized the art of\nteaching, or we may say better, has laid the beginnings for an art of\nteaching. One of the greatest obstacles the teacher encounters is the\ntraditional social demand, and often the recognized objective in the\nprofession, to make everybody musical. Finding that there is no adequate\nnatural interest and no marks of gratifying achievement are developing,\nthe teacher settles down to the sledge-hammer method of forced\ndevelopment. We must therefore bespeak for the live music teacher the\nright to refuse to make gold out of iron. The private teacher's fee and\nthe tuition of the school are, of course, the temptations of the devil\nto face the situation with complacence. The constituency granting\nlenience in this respect has the right to expect that, in turn, the\nteacher understands and has exercised the effective means of\nself-discovery, self-orientation, self-determination, and\nself-motivation on the part of those who are on the border line. In this\nart, the profession has made but little progress so far. The\nconstituency also has the right to impose the obligation upon the\nteacher to respect the individuality of the gifted and to give all types\nof freedom to the pupil commensurate with his natural line and degree of\nsuccessful achievement in developing appreciation for various types of\nmusic.\n\nIn breaking with the traditional routines of musical drill, the teacher\nmust first of all give up the attempt to cast the musical mind of the\nchild in the mold of his or her own pattern. This principle has acquired\nits greatest significance in dealing with the highly gifted, where it is\nclearly substantiated by the musical history of precocious children. The\npublic must acquire tolerance for the principle of giving musical\nfacilities to child and youth in proportion to this self-determination\nand demonstrated ability to achieve. The great musician and the musical\nvirtuoso are not fostered by educational or social conformance but\nprimarily by the enjoyment of the principle of free determination and\ndevelopment of divergent personality.\n\n_The critic._ The music critic unfortunately, as a rule, is a newspaper\nman and must conform to the pressure methods of efficiency in writing\ndown. This newspaper ability has often been the basis for the\nunfortunate selection of musical critics. On the other hand, the\nthoroughly competent musical critic, if he were to ply his art as a\ntechnician, would find but small outlet for publication and a negligible\nconstituency of readers. He would face, most discouragingly, the fact\nthat many of the performers on the stage do not have critical knowledge\nof what they are doing and are not interested or even capable of reading\nthe highly technical and critical analysis of their performance. So we\nmust be tolerant with the musical critic.\n\nIf music were a simple thing or had a specific goal, such as the\ndevelopment of a logical proposition, the task of the critic would be\neasier. But, as it is, he is dealing with a highly fluid and chaotic\nstate of affairs when he is supposed to aid the common reader in\nassigning praise or blame to the performance. One of the most striking\nfaults of the work of the musical critic is his lack of words--lack of\nconcepts which are discriminating and logically definable. We tolerate\nhis splashing of his personal likes or dislikes as if he were competent\nto boil down our feelings of the situation into a fair assaying of\npraise or blame of the performance. One difficulty lies in the demand\nfor writing in smart and emotional style. Among critics there are rare\nindividuals who have a fine artistic insight and a balanced esthetic\njudgment in regard to what is good or bad in music. But we seldom see\ntheir names in the musical-review columns.\n\nPhonophotographic recordings reveal art principles which had not been\ndiscovered in the musical world through hearing, and yet functioned very\nlargely. They enable the critic to use scientific language in the\ndescription of achievement and assign praise or blame on the basis of\nidentifiable and describable grounds. We can now photograph the sound\nwaves of a performance at any distance from the source of sound and\nconvert this into an analyzable performance score. As a whole, this\nprinciple cannot be available to the musical critic who must render an\nimmediate opinion. But we have a right to expect that he should have a\nscientific knowledge of the types of facts which are revealed in such\nobjective records. He is living in a new musical era in which the\nqualifications for the critic are as new as they are for the artistic\nand scientific orientation of teacher and performer.\n\n_The public._ I can recall the time when the possession of a piano and\npiano lessons for the darling girl represented almost the sole ambition\nof the mothers in our state aside from the spontaneous and untutored\nself-expression in song. The public demand has changed. Instruments have\nchanged. Methods of teaching have changed. Understanding of the art has\nincreased. Cosmopolitan tastes have spread. Knowledge of the science of\nmusic has become aligned with knowledge in other sciences. The public\nrapidly learns to demand all these things and take the right for\ngranted. The ambition of the mother, the objective of the teacher, and\nthe expression of the youth of fifty years ago are coming to be\nhistorical curiosities. The art of music in America is coming to a\nwholesome fruitage and is becoming associated with present-day academic\nlearning. For the first time in history it reaches out into the remotest\ncorners of the land and many of the technical aspects of the art and new\nconcepts of the musical medium are fast becoming common-sense knowledge\nand therefore add in the just awarding of praise or blame.\n\n\n THOUGHT REVIEW\n\n Principles\n\n (1) Music is designed to give pleasure when heard, and therefore calls\n for immediate affective response.\n\n (2) Capacity for esthetic response varies with natural talent and\n training, both artistic and scientific.\n\n (3) It is important to know \"where to laugh and when to laugh.\"\n\n (4) For scientific description of likes or dislikes we need a\n discriminating terminology.\n\n (5) As every scientific discovery and invention gradually becomes\n common-sense knowledge when popularly known, so artistic judgment\n tends to crystallize into common-sense feeling.\n\n (6) Musical criticism may be chastized and chastened into balanced and\n critical judgment, relatively free from emotional explosions.\n\n (7) The spontaneous and natural smile or frown is often more\n eloquently telling or cutting than words.\n\n\n Consider These Questions\n\n (1) Is the conventional response to music affectedly temperamental?\n\n (2) Why is listening intently to a major musical performance more\n exhausting than listening to an equally engrossing lecture on\n \"International Relations?\"\n\n (3) Was the English visitor right when he said, \"You have no art,\n because whatever you have you display\"?\n\n (4) Does insight into the nature and structure of the thing beautiful\n tend to lessen or to strengthen the artistic appeal?\n\n\n Discuss This Situation\n\n (1) During the last twenty years in a Midwestern city of 30,000 people\n music has \"come to town.\" Curricular and extracurricular music in\n the schools has been tenfold what it was during the foregoing\n twenty years. Music clubs and other musical activities have\n greatly increased. The community often takes as strong an interest\n in local, district, state, and national contests in music as\n ordinarily attaches to football. Discuss the effect of this upon\n (a) the musical, (b) the social, (c) the recreational and (d) the\n educational life of the community. Evaluate the change in interest\n and capacity for assigning fair praise and blame to music.\n\n------------------------------------------------------------------------\n\n Transcriber's Note\n\n Where hyphenation occurs on a line break, the decision to\n retain or remove is based on occurrences elsewhere in the\n text.\n\n The errors deemed most likely to be the printer's have been\n corrected, and are noted here. The references are to the\n page and line in the original text.\n\n\n 8.2 Play is essentially social and find[s] its added\n highest\n\n 21.13 The old conflict be[t]ween enthusiasts for added\n rote singing\n\n 38.11 has, of course, been unparall[el]ed in the added\n history of the world.\n\n 39.48 generally has a[n] hereditary basis in removed\n\n 66.30 for example, in the present \"Novac[h]ord\" added\n\n 71.23 flexibil[i]ty of tone quality is even more added\n desirable.","title":"Why We Love Music","tradition":"philosophy-ethics","translated_text":null,"word_count":29270}