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Show I T I 1 I tmitiih .HKKS: --p rv ' On the right, d,r.n .bowing the mU9ical FEMALE, Cflrf ALTO! ' y ....... - y y "p j J J- !f gjgL ronRfj of the human voice. Experiment by S 11 11 T ' ' f . I "1 JJ ' 1 iSL German alienist in treating insane patient I -Avi ' ', ' , j . ' ' IBqUW with music indicate that the roprano voice i J j " P i J I morl beneficial in cnci of melancholia, p"r- "' tlcularly the T t " . , j , 11 JftPPPPPPPpflpVVPVH&HaPV noia; the contralto or the baritone, in involu- uZz---- , .) . j ' 4?? T j ! ' " " ' " r' MUBB&S&BUHEa&'j the de- i J "o "vF I I flHIBBHJBffPB mentin praecox; and the tenor, in the mental , W J 3 ASS- m . and nervous disease of old age jfAL 1m'-r-' -": A F' ' TO I v F - . mmm - Tlfflft std. thr , f Science's Latest Plan for Put Studying the reactions of a woman rN-r m v mentalnu JJ MH I o Respond ' jn IT XTO the great assembly hall of the I "Manhattan State Hospital for the Insane on Ward's Island the other afternoon the ntn-ndunts herded six hundred men and women lunatics The number included practically all the in-mates in-mates of this New York institution ex-cept ex-cept those too hopclessely violent to be leleased from the padded cells and care-fully care-fully guarded wards where they are As these unhappv vi( ' ima of dises i d nerves and twisted brains shuffled to their seats they tilled the place with an ominous cackling of disordered speech and the shrill piping of maniacal cries. Women laughed and screamed hysten-DH hysten-DH cally; men mouthed endless nothings in I rumbling monotones. As they jabbered and wailed, shrieked and moaned, they turned pale, wild-eyed faces from side to side, snapped their bony fingers at J one another and fidgeted noisily in their seats. I Just as the disorder seemed to he getting beyond the control of the attendants at-tendants an attractive young woman Miss Ethel Tamminga, of Chicago tripped on the stage and began to sing. "My Little Gray Home in the- West" was her song, and as her clear lyric soprano voice sent its opening notes ringing through the hall a deep peace settled over this strange assemblage. Only here and tnere a girl's emaciated body kept shaking with her foolish sob-bing, sob-bing, or a man with blank eye con-tinued con-tinued muttering to himself. For the most part those six hundred lunatics ceased their chattering: and fidgeting al-most al-most instantly and sat silent and still, drinking in the sweet tones of Miss I Tamminga's voice with the eager de light and rapt attention of young chi'.-dren. chi'.-dren. Music, which the poet has told us has power to soothe the savage breast, waa proving its potency over these jangling minds putting them at least tempora-rily tempora-rily in tune again. There were plain signs of disappoint-ment disappoint-ment when the first song ended and equally plain indications of delight when the singer began her second number, a sentimental ballad entitled "Give Me All of You." The peace that settled over the as-aemblagc as-aemblagc with Miss Tamminga's first notes deepened perceptibly with the songs that followed a rollicking Irish love song and an aria from "Madama Butterfly." There was abundant evidence that tired brains were being rested, irritated nerves soothed by the music. By the time the singer finished her 1 closing numtcr a lilting spring song entitled "Wake Up" many of these six i, hundred lunatics were m n J enough of their faculties to applaud their pretty and talented entertainer with almost the aplomb of a .Metropolitan .Metropoli-tan Opera House audience 1 Physicians and attendants later said H that the night following this concert B was, for a large number of the patients, the most restful they had known since their admission ad-mission to the asylum. The music mu-sic had brought them great benefit, bene-fit, and just how lasting it would prove was a matter mat-ter to be watched with interest. The concert the other day was the first of a series to be given at the Manhattan Man-hattan State Hospital. Hos-pital. Miss Tamminga Tam-minga will sing there again, and other artists will be invited to help relieve the P, x u j j c s "?bjb Miss Ethel Tammingfi whose sweet soprano voia u m I Miss Tamminga singing to six hundred inmates of the ured lo bin, peace to the troubled br,.n-. and rra Manhattan btate Hospital for the In- . 1 ;n3ane fare on Ward's Island, New York BsVW patients .suftei-mgs .suftei-mgs with music, both vocal and instrumental. Dr. Marcus B. Hyman, superintendent of the hospital, thinks that music is incidentally in-cidentally rather than directly curative in cases of insanity. While he does not believe that music alone can be depended on to relieve lunacy, he docs believe that it provides some degree of relief for certain types of mental and nervous disease. It has been found particularly successful, success-ful, he says, in the case of what arc known ai manic-depressives melancholic melan-cholic patients who need to bo diverted as much as possible in their recurring periods of despondency. Just how lasting last-ing the benefit which lunatics receive from listening to music and just what kinds of music are most beneficial to them are matters which he thinks arc still to be determined. In order to measure the good done by Miss Tamminga's recent concert the patients who attended it are being watched with unusual care. The attendants attend-ants are required to make daily reports to the superintendent on the reactions of their charges to the musical program, on the degree to which they are able to recall details of the songs they heard and on the comments they make on the entertainment provided for them. In Germany music has been used with Treat success for many years in the alleviation and cure of insanity. Many cases long regarded as incurable have responded favorably lo musical treatment. treat-ment. Some of the German alienists have progressed so far with musical therapeutics that they are able to say what kinds of music are most beneficial to the various types of insanity. According to the theories they have evolved as a result of studying the reactions re-actions of thousands of patients, vooal music exerts a stronger influence than instrumental over the average insane person. And the kind of vocal nvosic to be employed in the treatment of a par- sland, New York jflPW ' idftw Jill ticulat patient . " . )!' of a I i ,ff ' L 'VJIk HueO robust bass si ir The ren- N&?Vr.; ;. , , U fett Vg&jffijr von der son for this is thought to lie BF 'ssp Gols' famous in the fact that i 1 iLS painting of the accompanied by hallucinations of " architect whose hearing which prevents its victims from reason was restored getting full appreciation of the higher ----t, y ' J , - listening to the singing musical notes. of the choristers in a monastery A contralto voice usually acts favorably favor-ably on women suffering from involutional involu-tional melancholia and a baritone on men sulTerers from the same disease. Sufferers from dementia praecox, a disorder of youth that resembles the dementia of the aged, have been found to be benefited by listening to the singing sing-ing of a mezzo soprano. A tenor voice particularly one very high and clear is the one that generally gener-ally brings the most favorable response from sufferers from softening of the brain and the other mental troubles of old age which science terms "senile psychoses." It has long been known that insane minds are often abnormally sensitive to musical vibrations. But just why they should, like dogs, react much more favorably to certain pitches of the human hu-man voice than they do to others is a mystery science has yet to explain. Some very interesting and profitable experiments in treating the insano with music were made in Russia some years ago by Moiasayi Boguslawski, a well known professional pianist. He first tried the effects of some of his piano solos on patients of the "stuporous "stu-porous type." The most remarkable reaction was produced in the case of an Armenian refugee a woman who had been made maef by the horrors of war and who for months had spoken hardly a word and shown not the slightest emotion. When she heard the first crashing htrains of a march played by the pianist she gave a wild cry, fell to her knees on the floor and began to weep like a child. From that moment her condition showed marked improvement and there was hope that' hor reason ultimately would be restored. In playing for extremely violent pa-bients pa-bients Mr. Boguslawski quickly discovered discov-ered that jazz and other similar mush were positively harmful. As they listened to the syncopated rhythms of certain popular American melodies some of them became so wildly excited that they, had to be nut in straitjackets. Others showed a powerful contraction of the muselea that left them in an almost al-most cataleptic state of rigidity. These violent patients, Mr. Boguslawski Boguslaw-ski found, were favorably affected only by oothing, peaceful music such as certain cer-tain slow-moving hymn tunes, the "Id erere" from "II Trovatore" and others of that nature. When they heard these, restful expressions would come over the countenances of even the wildest mlhuncr i!,.-:r taeWJ "j . , l1efj io be struggling hr(i t0 selves and ' 1 If '' , realh ' ' J .V, :l ra' l ! ' ' " 'j ''" '13 chapters of ' 'j fore been regarded witn Ctf3,,,1 skepticism. ..J Everybody knows how tn w J tells us that ! .1 King .Saul by playin on tbrJWI In I Samuel v. . J r .1 it came to r j .r.' fi ' as '; jiavid took a harp, and p-JJ- ' hand: Ffl Saul v.as "frfc well, ami the evil spirit d him." i During the Middle M J mous architect who lost became a raving mwc. i to a religious institution or ,ng. and there, while sweet-voiced ehoriyfrs to sing for him, his JtfjV suddenlv as it had left ( Th,s incident, whoso soon n'CT.e '-''LvrB science, has been .mmorU . ,,,n ,j,.r Cols in a f- Some alienists think t . many lunatics recr.vs . Fomething more than ' djTfja suit that might follow J 1 jm their thoughts fromt ,jttot U has been sfl patients by the r.fch result in more he8,t , of thi the pan of : 0mZPM irlands. Just as h irUU spond to things that laughter perhspa tn the ductless glands my M niuaical vibration?. m |