Music education in sociegwhere robot-type filing, counting and typewriting are the occupa-
tions; (b) where the employee and the constantly changing public
is present as in stores, banks, buses, trams, railway terminals and
restaurants.
The music itself comes from three sources to these systems : (a) from
turntables or reproduction machines (very rarely from live talent over
microphones) set up in the building as part of the system; (b) over the
sound system from a wired service piped over specially installed tele-
phone lines, from a centre tonally within a 50-mile radius; (c) picked
up on a radio connected to the systems from a specially planned ‘Music
in Industry’ broadcast.
The actual music from either source is recorded on discs of all speeds,
on tape or on wire. Canned music if you will. The content of the re-
cording must, in view of the resultant psychological affect, be carefully
selected, not so much by title and composer (in fact social association
with certain compositions make their choice inadvisable) but rather
on form, length, instrumentation and arrangement and rhythmic con-
tent. Many desirable compositions must be especially orchestrated or
arranged for such use. Vocals, either solo or chorus, and especially
rhythmic selections have in most cases been eliminated because of their
distracting qualities. Music for these programmes must be planned
purely to be felt not listened to; it is produced and volume-controlled
to be part of the background; it contributes to the atmosphere to the
same extent as proper colour schemes, controlled air circulation and
room temperatures. Any educative influence it may have on employees’
musical tastes is very incidental. The music is intended to be, if you
will, ‘therapeutic’. For the past, availability of recordings has to a large
extent influenced their choice. A minimum of 1,000 selections is needed
as a base for such a programme and constant additions must be made.
Of the available records the choice has been necessarily much narrowed
by the elimination of vocals, concert and opera recordings. Long,
involved arrangements, jazz of over-stimulating rhythms cannot be
used, nor recordings of compositions specifically associated in the
public mind with certain occasions or functions. Where jive has been
tried employees throw down their tools and respond to the rhythm.
Vocals either mesh their sound with the conversations necessary to
selling or the carrying on of business, too closely match the sound of
the occupation, or distract the worker. Such distraction has also been
found to apply to lengthy compositions and those of sudden dynamic
or chromatic change and cadenzas. In one factory a worker was highly
disturbed by the use of a march which had always been used for