Many hospitals stressed the importance of a “wholesome personality”, but this is a term which defies suitable definition. However, the following qualifications were named: emotional stability, patience, refinement, congeniality, quietness, and a sense of humor. There are further recommendations that the worker should possess: imagination, tactfulness, consideration, energy, perseverance, sincerity, co-operation, adaptability and understanding of human nature. In the final chapter of this work a more realistic approach to this subject will be offered.
One final qualification is mentioned which is to be taken most seriously, and that is that the musician who would work with mental patients should have “a definite urge to help the mentally ill.” As a supplement to this he should have or be given a working knowledge of hospital procedure and the handling of the psychiatric patient.
From these comments by hospital authorities and the recent trends in institutions throughout the country, it is reasonable to assume that the demand for adequately trained hospital music aides will increase. Some hospitals will want one or more full-time workers, and others will want a part-time worker. This means that some musicians may be able to supplement their earnings by securing partial pay from hospitals in their communities, the remuneration offered varying with the size of the hospital, its endowment and income. It will never be a source of wealth to a musician, but it can be a stop-gap in the hard early years or a continuous position for those who seek the security of regular employment.
Some people fill positions for which their only qualification has been influence; but in the majority of cases the people who have spent the greatest effort in securing superior training will be the recipients of the best positions. The student of hospital music should prepare for his job as seriously as for any other aspect of music. Regardless of his other qualifications, he must of course be a musician, and a degree in music is valuable; in fact almost essential. The ability to play a second instrument even moderately well is useful. The universal appeal and advantages of the piano make a working knowledge of it important. The music aide should be able either to play the piano at sight or he should study one of the rapid systems of piano instruction for he will be called upon not only to accompany group singing but to assist visiting artists or talented patients.
Although a foundation in classical music is part of any good musical training, a musician who refuses to recognize the importance of popular music in American life is not suited to this work. If he has a positive dislike for popular music, he should look to other fields. It is not necessary that he be able to play all the types of modern jazz, but he should be familiar with the common jargon of jazz and should learn the distinctions which exist between these so-called musical forms. His musical tastes need not be catholic, but his attitude towards the tastes of others must be broadminded.
Advances in mechanical reproduction of music are progressing at a very rapid rate, so the technological aspects of music should be cursorily reviewed. A working knowledge of record players, record cutters, needles, tone control and amplification is not difficult to acquire. It may be part of the duties of a music aide to supervise record cuttings and a public address system. In some hospitals the library of musical recordings and literature may be large. A study of musical librarianship will save much time, and the study of classification systems and filing will become an additional part of the work of a music aide.
More often than not a musician approaches a problem with more emotion than analysis, and this becomes of great importance when the problem is a patient. There have always been and will continue to be physicians who with honest conviction or for greater glory will anxiously ally themselves with anything new or sensational, therefore musicians impassioned with the belief that music is necessary to health will have little difficulty in finding collaborators in the ranks of medicine. Musicians must be cautioned to consider the fact that their sincere efforts may result only in discrediting music, as a therapeutic agent. As a result its acceptance as the basis of such merits as it may possess may be undeservedly delayed because of antagonism aroused by extravagant claims made in its behalf.
Much has been written about music as a therapeutic agent, and recently there have been entire schools and organizations devoted to Musical Therapy. In spite of the great temptation to be in on a coming theory few physicians have associated themselves with these efforts, and what is more conclusive, no physicians of national repute have come forward in approval of the term “musical therapy” as applied to the handling of psychiatric patients.
The use of music should not be limited to mental hospitals, however. Those who have played music for mental patients are enthusiastic over the individual responses they have witnessed. The nature of this response is awakened interest or joy. Joy is a healthful symptom for all patients to experience and this joy should be available to patients in all hospitals. Many other phases of music are adaptable for hospital use and this book is written to outline the many approaches possible and delineate the scientific basis for some of them.
Of the better known books on musical therapy some, like the work by Hector Chomet, are built around the effects observed in individual patients; others, like the writings of Eva Vescelius, are pure phantasy which stem from unbridled emotion. For science was not applied until the appearance of psychologic investigations when common sense began to emerge from a chaos of wishful thinking. One of the first dependable surveys of the subject was in the Psychology of Music by C. M. Diserens. Since the appearance of this excellent work the passages stating his views have been often quoted—frequently without acknowledgment. Its chapter on Musical Therapeutics is recommended for its scholarly history and sober evaluations of facts and fancies.