Amateur programs have been present on the American scene for a long time but the efforts of Major Bowes have made them an American institution. People of almost all ages will attend them joyfully, but the performers will usually be in the second and third quarters of life’s span. There was a time when amateur performances were unrehearsed or sounded so. Major Bowes has changed that, too. The amateur show will now be found to demand rehearsals, expert accompaniment, and a certain amount of theatrical display. These factors should be encouraged and the music aide will do well to humor patients along, because success depends upon the seriousness, energy, and efforts of the performer. Care should be expended in careful programming. The best performers should be well spaced and appear in the second half of the program. Instrumentalists should be separated by vocalists. The procedure should follow the set pattern of regular amateur shows, including the award of prizes to the winner and second best. Where patient turn-over is slow, it is likely that the same performer may be first too often. Some limit should be set on the frequency or total number of times the same patient may receive an award to prevent participation from diminishing.
Spontaneous shows in the recreation hall will consist of community singing, humming, whistling, and occasional rhythmic hand-clapping. It is not difficult to get a group to sing but maximum response will call for ingenuity on the part of the leader. The series of motion picture shorts called “The Bouncing Ball”, “Community Sing”, and others of a similar nature are excellent because they are complete packages of music, words, direction, humor, and tricks. The song leader should adopt as many of the novelties included in these films as the facilities will allow. Next best to the motion picture is the lantern slide. There are a few available with humorous illustrations, but they may be difficult to obtain. Lantern slides may be made rapidly and inexpensively by the music aide. The makings of simple slides may be had in any large commercial photography supply shop. “Radio Mats” are slide-sized pieces of clear cellophane enclosed in a folded piece of carbon paper and surrounded by a black mask. The “Mat” is placed in a typewriter and the words of the song are typed on it. The carbonized paper is discarded, as is the back of the mask, and the cellophane with words imprinted is easily mounted between the two glass cover-slips joined by “Scotch Tape”. By this method a permanent slide may be produced for about eight cents. If a projector is not available, the words may be mimeographed, printed in the occupational therapy shop, or obtained commercially printed in pamphlet form. The salient need is that all may be permitted to read the words.
Community sings should not last too long. The music aide will soon learn to sense the capacity of the audience. To extend the period, patient participation may be interrupted by instrumental music or some other form of interlude.
Choir
Listening to a combination of trained voices is pleasurable to most people. Where the patient population is relatively static, the music aide will be well repaid by time spent on training quartettes or larger groups of singers. Such groups can be of value not only in any of the musical programs for the assembly hall but may be used on the wards, for religious services and on holiday occasions. If, as is usual, both sexes are represented among the patients, the range of selections will be limited only by the musicianship of the leader and the participants. The range of repertoire should be suited to all occasions and tastes from “barbershop” quartets to serious music.
All possible arrangements of voices should be exploited with a view to competitive singing between sexes and among wards. The range of usefulness of this activity will of course depend to a large extent on the size of the hospital and the predominant age group.
Diversion
Music may also be used to help time pass less noticeably. Listening is enjoyable but does not focus or sustain attention in any way comparable to playing. There will always be patients interested in learning to play music. The instrument of choice will depend upon individual taste, which of course is conditioned by background, education, nationality, age, and many other factors. The instruments which will be most acceptable are those which are not too difficult to play and which emit a pleasant sound with ease for a long period.
The piano is the instrument which best meets the qualifications of the ideal instrument for hospital use. When reduced to pure physics, the sound produced by striking a single note on the same keyboard will be of approximately the same quality whether made by a child or a virtuoso. This is not true of any other instruments, except to a degree in certain other percussion instruments, that produce less pleasant or interesting sounds. Piano fingering is more easily mastered than that of stringed instruments, and offers greater latitude in precision placement. The piano may be played in the restful sitting position and requires little effort to play. More people know how to play the piano than any other instrument. Patients may be interested in any of the other instruments, but with the exception of the plectrum type, may become too readily discouraged at the amount of practice required to elicit pleasant tones. If a patient is interested in learning an instrument for diversion, the piano should be the first offered. If the problem of replacing musicians in or completing a patient band arises, the missing instrument should be offered. But in order to get the maximum co-operation and application, the patient should be made to feel that the choice is his. The free choice might be vocal instruction. It may even be a disappointment to the musician when it turns out to be so-called instruments like the ocarina, but if the aim is diversion a maximum will be reached earliest by initial gratification. Perhaps at a later date the music aide may be able to inculcate enough sophistication to lead to the choice of a more musical instrument.
The scope of music as an educational diversion will expand in proportion to the training, patience and energy of the music aide. It will be limited by the number of patients who demonstrate an interest and also upon their intelligence and perseverance. For the major instruments, instruction is usually individual and much time is consumed in the diversion of a single patient. In a large hospital this will not be very practical unless there is a large staff, and there are many activities available to patients. Group diversion can be happily attained by some form of instruction in music appreciation. The nature of this instruction should be tailored to the intelligence and taste of the majority and the music aide must exercise common sense and free himself of prejudice. If the patients are young and uninterested in the classics he must devise a program around popular music and discuss current personalities and popular forms. A driving wedge into the classics may be constructed on the classic themes of Tschaikowsky, Chopin and others which are currently popular. If the group is very young, music appreciation demonstrations such as those conducted by Walter Damrosch should be followed. Whenever possible, the musician should illustrate with “live” music, but recordings will be well received. As with all other features of a musical program in the hospital, sessions should be regular and governed to some extent by the will of the majority.