Music -- Physiological effect; Music, Influence of
There is considerable disagreement concerning the title most desirable
for the person conducting music in the hospital. The term “musical
therapist” implies a training not only in music but in treatment. The
occupational therapist has had a training not only in crafts, but
in basic medical subjects, psychology, and some clinical subjects.
Until musicians can take similar courses at accredited schools a
different title seems wiser. At some hospitals the workers are called
recreational aides, but such people also conduct other recreational
activities. It seems picayune to argue over terminology, but the
hospital music worker must be called something and it is hard to
conceive that anyone would find fault with the appellation “music aide”
for those people who bring music to the patient.
A music aide may be of either sex and of any age. The choice
will depend not only upon what is available locally but on
such considerations as the personalities involved and personal
recommendations. If intelligence is not exercised, the program will
fail because the senior music aide is the keystone of the entire
structure. For a children’s hospital, a woman who has raised children
would seem most suitable. The aide for children should be able to sing
and play the piano. She should also be able to play musical games with
children.
For a hospital of young adults, such as the average hospital for the
tuberculous, a young woman between thirty and forty will have the
energy, drive and spirit to match the requirements and contemporary
tastes of the patients under her care. The aide for this type of work
should also be able to lead group and mass singing and be able to play
an instrument. Ability to play a second instrument, or to teach it is a
valuable asset.
For the mental hospital an aide should be mature, patient, well
informed and have the urge, but not the preformed opinions, for
handling the mental patient. For the hospital treating the aged or
other chronic patients, an older man or woman is desirable.
It is preferable for any aide to have had some formal musical
instruction. Most desirable is a graduate of a musical conservatory
or of a college which offers a major in music. The music aide should
play at least one instrument, and preferably the piano. If the hospital
budget permits additional music aides each successive one should know
another instrument. The aide should be able to play music at sight and
sing with an acceptable voice. The chief qualification should be the
absence of “artistic temperament.” Patients are admitted to a hospital
for medical care, not musical knowledge. The aide should not consider
them as music students. Music should be given to them with patience and
without undue emotion. If music evokes a marked mental response it may
be beneficial, but it should be the music and not the musician which
elicits such reactions. Previous experience in teaching music is a
valuable asset to the music aide.
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