I
In the realm of thought, opinions and theories sometimes find credence long after they have been proved incorrect. In the field of the arts, opinions may become so strongly rooted that there is occasional resistance to any analytical attempts designed to disprove them, and even after they have been exposed, there will be a significant number of people who will continue to believe in them. The artist who would make music for patients must approach such an endeavor with a full knowledge of the elements involved, and should be willing to recognize those prejudices, customs and thoughts concerning the effects of music on the human body which have been fostered by well-meaning, but misguided, enthusiasts. We must differentiate between the philosophy of esthetics and the proved psychology of music. Musicians who refuse to accept those results of scientific research which disagree with their personal views will fall into the same difficulties which have beset so many musicians in the past who have desired to help patients.
Before the advent of laboratory psychology, there was no satisfactory test for the theories which dealt with music and the mind, and the number and variety of theories advanced were great. Some of the most unreasonable were the most attractive, and it is easy to understand why they were accepted. But if any of these theories is used as a means of attaining a scientific end it cannot succeed with any dependability if it is unsound.
The psychologic effects of sound may be physiologic or intellectual. They may be related to intensity, quality or direction on the one hand, or to past or present mental associations on the other. To the primitive man thunder, which seems to come from everywhere and is louder than anything he can produce, is terrifying and supernatural; the rustling of leaves is frequently caused by the wind, but from his past experience may also instil the fear of the approaching enemy. Sound is often frightening from its qualities or implications.
The psychologic reaction to the type of sound known as music may vary from the reflex panic produced by the air-raid siren to the soothing effect of a softly sung lullaby. For some people, certain musical selections elicit almost no response, while in still others a truly amazing chain of mental images results. The latter reaction is the result of centuries of evolution in the development of music and knowledge, and will be discussed later.
During the modern evolution of musical composition, many new forms were devised bearing descriptive names. Some of these forms by their distinctive tempo, dynamics, or title conditioned the informed listener to a mental attitude consistent with the intention of the composer. Some selections by the very nature of their execution cause stimulation or assist repose. Superficially it might seem, therefore, that the controlled administration of music could evoke desired moods in listeners at will, and some practitioners declared that music is a specific treatment for mental disease. It is undoubtedly possible to influence the mood of healthy, trained musicians by the use of selected compositions but to assume that all listeners will react in similar fashion, or that the moods of the mentally deranged can be changed at will by prescribed music, is to ignore the nature of mental disease and the scientific finding of psychologists.
Music is many things, but physically it consists of sounds or notes which have pitch, intensity, timbre and duration. These notes are combined in patterns which have rhythm, tempo, melody and harmony and these in turn are related to key, mode and form. Each of these elements has been the subject of philosophic interpretation, and more recently of psychologic investigations. Although the effect of music on the human mind depends upon the reaction to the entire composition, it is important to review the existing data in order to understand more fully the effects of music, in spite of the difficulties; for as Ortman[71] has said “the problem of analyzing and classifying responses of music into types is at the same time intensely interesting and notoriously difficult. The history of the problem is rich in unco-ordinated data and poor in clear-cut conclusion.”
II
Elements of Music
Pitch. Heinlein[45] found that the same chords which called forth a happy and bright feeling when played in high pitch were characterized as gloomy or melancholy when played in low pitch. The voice of youth and laughter is higher pitched than the grumbling of old age and may be a conditioning factor. Beaunis[8] felt that the reaction to pitch is the effect of experience and custom and cited a reversal among Orientals in whom low pitched sounds effect joyous reactions and the high, sadness and sorrow.
Intensity. Heinlein found that loud chords are rarely soothing, and soft chords are almost always soothing. Beaunis stresses the fatiguing quality of great intensity over a long period, and contrasts it with “Very soft sounds as in Schumann’s ‘Danse des Sylphes’ ... which holds you under the charm of delightful emotion.”