Music as a human need: A plea for free national instruction in music

A Plea for Free National Instruction in Music.
BY Alma Webster Powell, A.M., Mus.B., LL.B.
Submitted in Partial Fulfilment of the Requirements For the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Faculty of Political Science Columbia University.
New York 1914
This work is gratefully dedicated to my husband, Mr. A. Judson Powell
Copyright, 1914, by Alma Webster Powell
With this warning that not the dignity of history, but the intensity of public emotionalism is within the purview and area of our investigation, we may proceed to a statement of the method and of the general thesis.
The method to be pursued, is to examine contemporaneous and concurrent public events and emotion products, as expressed in Music.
The results indicated may be given a preliminary statement as follows:
1. Agitation is a cause of pulse disturbance.
2. Sufficient agitation produces fatal disturbance of bodily rhythm.
3. All strong emotions are disturbers of rhythmic motion throughout the body.