The duties of the music aide will vary with the number and type of patients. In hospitals with a large number of ambulatory patients emphasis will be placed on group activities; in hospitals where children predominate music will be used largely as diversion, in games, dancing and other bodily activities called “rhythms” which is a development of Eurhythmics.
Under the supervision of the medical director, the music aide should outline a definite schedule of musical activities and adhere to it. This will require much preparation and the best hours for preparatory work will be those during which patients are resting, sleeping, or receiving active medical and nursing care. The preparation will include maintenance and cataloguing of instruments and the medical library; tabulation of patient requests for instruction, books and recordings; programming for concerts, ward songs and the public address system; correspondence with musicians and musical groups in the community; ordering of equipment and music; and scheduling.
The schedule should be patterned to fit into the hospital routine. The first hour of the day should be reserved for preparatory activities. Individual instruction in music may be given from nine until ten. At ten the music cart may be taken to the wards until mealtime. Following the meal hour, the aide can prepare for the afternoon ward visits. Recreation Hall activities or the listening room may be scheduled for the period of two to three. Three to four-thirty may be used for ward entertainment, either with the music cart or with portable instruments. On one or two nights a weeks, an hour or more may be set aside for the hospital concert or a music appreciation hour.
Training
At present, no accredited school of music or medicine offers a compete course of instruction leading to a degree in music in medical practice, or a major in that subject. It is believed that eventually the demand may bring about the establishment of such a course in a musical college, where it belongs. It will be necessary for the school of music to secure liaison with a medical college or school of occupational therapy and this will limit instruction to those cities where grade A institutions of both kinds are to be found. There are at least ten cities scattered throughout the United States in which this happy combination may be found, but there is hardly need for more than six.
Applicants should be interviewed by a representative of both the medical and music schools. A projected curriculum is suggested as follows:
| First Year | |
| Piano | 8 Credits |
| Solfège | 5 Credits |
| Counterpoint | 2 Credits |
| Harmony | 2 Credits |
| English | 6 Credits |
| History of Medicine | 1 Credit |
| Second Year | |
| Piano | 4 Credits |
| Solfège | 2 Credits |
| Harmony | 2 Credits |
| Counterpoint | 2 Credits |
| History of Music | 4 Credits |
| Nursing anatomy | 6 Credits |
| Third Year | |
| Violin | 4 Credits |
| Harmony | 4 Credits |
| Musical Form | 4 Credits |
| Physics | 6 Credits |
| Physiology | 2 Credits |
| Kinesiology | 2 Credits |
| Psychology | 4 Credits |
| Conducting | 2 Credits |
| Piano Sight Playing | 4 Credits |
| Ensemble | 2 Credits |
| Fourth Year | |
| Violin | 4 Credits |
| Choral Class | 0 Credits |
| Conducting | 2 Credits |
| Contemporary Music | 4 Credits |
| Occupational Therapy | 4 Credits |
| Music in Medicine | 6 Credits |
| Abnormal Psychology | 6 Credits |
| Orchestra Reading | 2 Credits |
A brief explanation of courses not normally found at music schools and which should be given at medical or professional schools follows.
Anatomy for Nurses. This should consist of a brief survey of the anatomy of the human body with especial reference to the muscles, nerves, brain, and a casual introduction to the internal organs.
History of Medicine. This would be an orientation course on the development of medicine and hospitals.