Therapeutic and Industrial Uses of Music Therapeutic and Industrial Uses of Music

THERAPEUTIC AND INDUSTRIAL USES OF MUSIC THERAPEUTIC AND INDUSTRIAL USES OF MUSIC ~ ~view of the ~terature BY DORIS SOIBELMAN COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY PRESS NEW YORK 1948 CoPYRIGHT 1948 CoLuMBIA UNIVERSITY PREss, NEw YoRK PUBLISHED IN GREAT BRITAIN AND INDIA BY GEOFFREY CUMBERLEGE OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS, LONDON AND BOMBAY MANUFACTURED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA PREFACE IN THE SUMMER of 1944 the writer was asked to make a survey of the literature on music therapy. The search was begun with the current publications, and it soon became apparent that many of the articles which lauded the ef- ficacy of music therapy were written by people whose knowledge of the subject was confined to an interest in music and who wished to bring to the hospital patient a measure of the relaxation and enjoyment that they them- selves experienced when playing or listening to music. Little attention was paid to the medical aspects of the problem. The search was then carried back to the experimental work bearing on the use of music, in an attempt to trace the reasons for the belief expressed in some of the articles and to determine the purpose of the original investigations on which these claims were based. The factory environment lends itself to more precise measurement than is possible in a hospital setting. Some progress had been made in devising experimental tech- niques for the investigation of the psychological effects of music, and it was felt that some of the results from industry might be applicable to a study of the medical use of music. V1 PREFACE It was evident, however, that if one wished to under- stand the patient as well as his needs it would be neces- sary to go even farther afield. Investigators interested in the objective study of the problem have shown the need for a re-examination of the basic principles that determine the effectiveness of any therapeutic measures. This trend is just discernible in the literature now appearing on func- tional music. The writer was graciously permitted to incorporate in the present review the material selected for the previ- ous report, and she wishes to take this opportunity to express her gratitude to the Josiah Macy Jr. Foundation and to Dr. Frank Fremont-Smith, its Medical Director. She also wishes to thank Dr. Thomas A. C. Rennie for reading the manuscript and encouraging its publication. Grateful acknowledgment is hereby made to the authors, editors, and publishers who have generously allowed her to quote from their materials. Her thanks are also due to the librari- ans who have given her the opportunity to search through their collections. The writer also wishes to express her appreciation to the staff of Columbia University Press for their co-operation and to thank especially Miss Ida M. Lynn, the Assistant Editor, for giving of her time and ex- pert professional knowledge. DORIS SOIBELMAN New York February, 1948 CONTENTS I. INTRODUCTION 3 II. OPINIONS BASED ON EMPIRICAL METHODS 8 III. EXPERIMENTS ON PHYSIOLOGICAL EFFECTS 2 l IV. EXPERIMENTS ON MOOD EFFECTS 64 V. SOME INTERPRETATIONS 82 VI. THE APPLICATION OF MUSIC 103 VII. MUSIC IN OCCUPATIONAL AND PHYSICAL THERAPY VIII. MUSIC AND ANESTHESIA 160 IX. MUSIC IN INDUSTRY 173 X. SUMMARY BIBLIOGRAPHY INDEX 2 57 THERAPEUTIC AND INDUSTRIAL USES OF MUSIC CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION THE LITERATURE on music therapy is both voluminous and restricted, for this subject has attracted the attention of many writers from the beginnings of music and of medicine, and reports concerning it are to be found in almost every type of popular and technical journal. How- ever, the field of original work is limited. Whether defi- nite healing influences may be attributed to music has not yet been thoroughly studied, and much of the material to which the term "therapeutics" is applied is only remotely related to that purpose. Many writers who advocate such a use ignore the meaning of the term "therapy," the purpose it is intended to serve, and the fact that only members of the medical profession are qualified to determine what should be the proper therapy in a given instance. One cannot pick up an article on the therapeutic value of music without running into examples from the Bi- ble, or references to mythology and mysticism, cult medicine, and pseudo-science; only occasionally is there an authentic experiment. When the whole range of hu- man experience is thus covered, it is not hard to find many instances in which music has seemed to work mir- 4 INTRODUCTION acles in curing the sick, or at least in preparing the mind to accept the current cure. At certain periods its advo- cates have tried music either for specific disorders or in the belief that it would help all patients. The cir- cumstances under which music therapy was introduced in certain places has sometimes resulted in sufficient pub- licity to bring it into more widespread use elsewhere, but with the disappearance of the immediate need, its im- portance was again forgotten. The present, when so many agencies have become interested in serving returned veterans and in aiding the morale of factory workers, is an example of such "immediate need," and interest has been reawakened in the entire subject. According to the published accounts little concerted effort has as yet been made to co-ordinate its various phases, but studies are being carried on by different groups, each emphasizing some particular aspect of the problem that is related to its individual endeavors. This survey is not intended to cover all the literature available. Articles on music therapy and industrial music have appeared in every type of publication. The aim has been rather to obtain examples relating to various aspects of the subject and to cite the opinions of different groups, private organizations and official agencies, those concerned with the civilian population, and those interested in military hospitals or veteran facilities. These include references from the fields of music and musical education, physics, engineering, medicine, psychiatry, psychology INTRODUCTION 5 and sociology, occupational therapy, and industrial rela- tions, together with some explanations of the effects of music as interpreted by these professions in the light of their special practice. An attempt has been made to gather those publications that deal with experimental work of any kind, so as to emphasize whatever factual data exist on the value of music as a therapeutic agent. To this end, items concerned with the practical application of music whose records might supply such data have also been treated more fully, although many of them are in effect of an empirical nature. In several instances the material relating to experiments has been quoted directly so as to convey as ac- curately as possible the investigator's objectives and point of view, but only a small portion of each citation could be so treated, and space limitations have permitted only scant reference to procedural details. Publications on music in industry have also been covered, because this is a field in which experimental work on the psychological effects of music programs can be ascertained by means of the "performance index." Some of the findings obtained in an industrial setting, whether they relate to attitudes of personnel or to the practical problems of acoustics and equipment, may suggest a point of departure for the study of music in medicine, just as the results of clinical research on fatigue have been applied to office and factory. 6 INTRODUCTION References to experiments on animals and discussions on the use of music for children have been omitted. Arti- cles which have appeared in popular journals or in news- papers and items in other publications of an ephemeral nature have also been excluded because many of these, of necessity, duplicate reports published in original com- munications elsewhere. Preference has been given to publications that are most easily accessible in general or medical libraries. To facilitate the use of the bibliography, the selections for each author have been restricted, with the exception of those items that cover an investigator's original work or contain a fuller account of the subject matter as a whole. Since one of the objectives of this survey was to search out any studies carried on under controlled conditions, and since most of the early references are concerned with theoretical speculation or observation of a "cure" by music unsupported by verifiable evidence, selections have been restricted as much as possible to recent material. Only such references as are required to clarify some later citation or whose work is here reported, have been in- cluded in the bibliography. However, some of the items listed contain reviews of the older literature and thus pro- vide a more complete resume of what has been published. These are noted in the text and in the bibliography. Greater emphasis has been placed on the literature of the period following the first World War and that ap- INTRODUCTION 7 pearing from r 94 3 to the end of 194 7. In both those periods the question of music was more closely examined for its possible influence in veterans' hospitals and in war plants, with the resultant spread of interest to other ap- plications in medicine and in industry. Current studies and reports of research in progress have also been noted. The literature has been presented in chronological order where continuity permitted, so as to indicate the trend of the discussions over a period of years, the current status of music as therapy, and its use in industry, as well as the development of any new approach that favors a more objective study of the subject.

Load more