THOUGHT REVIEW
General Principles
(1) The musical temperament may be good or bad. (2) It is inherent in the intensive music situation. (3) The musical temperament generally has a[a] hereditary basis in a highly-strung nervous disposition. (4) It has large common elements with the artistic temperament of the painter and the poet, but is more eruptive. (5) It is often of strategic advantage in musical performance. (6) In many respects it is a defense reaction. (7) It may be either extrovert or introvert. (8) It is most fascinating when artistic and serenely serious; most ludicrous when affected; and most abominable when it takes the form of tantrums and exhibitionism.
Consider These Questions
(1) Can you name ten musicians who exhibit a "charming" musical temperament? (2) Can you name ten musicians who exhibit a "noxious" musical temperament? (3) Can you recall ten practical jokes which exemplify temperamental behavior, good or bad? (4) What are some of the first evidences of temperamental behavior in the musically precocious child? (5) Should the musical temperament in a child be cultivated? (6) Why is the current music supervisor rarely temperamental? (7) Was long hair a temperamental trait? (8) Is temperamental behavior proportionate to excellence in music?
Discuss This Situation
When the director of the professional symphony orchestra faces a group of temperamentally hardened performers in rehearsal it is war to the finish—victory or defeat. Recall some characteristic historical instances of artistic strategy in such a situation.
Chapter VI
MUSICAL INHERITANCE
The whole problem of mental inheritance is in the air, both in the sense that it is current and in the sense that it is relatively intangible. The struggle is best illustrated in the current approaches to the problem of inheritance of intelligence. In this the geneticist has not got far from base, but much has been learned in regard to the nature of the issues involved. In the field of music the geneticist has approached the subject experimentally without understanding the musical life; and the musician has approached the matter practically without being a competent experimenter. The psychologist has certainly not done his duty in clarifying the issues. The most pressing need at the present time is for such clarification. This can not be the work of one man or one generation, but must be achieved through co-operation of both sides in order to clear the way for valid experimentation.
In order to indicate the character of the problem we are now facing, I shall first venture to state some fundamental assumptions upon which probably all competent investigators agree and, second, venture a little way in the direction of identifying concepts of musical life which can be dealt with experimentally.