In the Progressive Education Programme for the Exceptional Child
- Author:
Hedi Katz
Assistant Director, Chatham Square Music School, New York.
It is now eleven years since I first walked through the crowded streets on the Lower East Side of New York on a hot summer day. 1 was struck by seeing half grown boys playing cards on the doorsteps of their houses with an intensity and passion that was astonishing. My first reaction was to think what could be done with these energies if shifted to a more constructive channel.
Since then I have founded three Music Schools on the Lower East Side, namely:
The Music School of the Henry Street Settlement, Cecilia Music School and the Chatham Square Music School. I have observed several thousand students ranging from the ages of 5 to 60 in my contacts with them during these eleven years. They were talented, average, and delinquent; they represented 15 different nationalities; they were white, negro and Chinese, and gave endless opportunity for observation. Particularly fascinating to me was to see the results of what I call Creative work with small children, as a language, irrespective of the fact whether or not they played an instrument.
Paper given at Child Research Clinic Spring Conference, Langhome, Pa., U.S.A. May 1938. A few weeks ago the head of a well-known hospital called me and said :
” Would you mind explaining to me in plain English just what you mean by Creative work?” Ever since, 1 feel I had better explain my terminology before I use it. Just as in school, six-year-olds, without any intention of ever becoming writers learn how to read and write syllables, sentences, words and stories, so as to be able not only to express themselves but to read what others write, the very same thing is being done with small children from six years up in music, preferably with such children who do not play any instrument and may never care to play one. These children learn to1 read and write music notation. First in numbers : DO?having number one, RE?having number two, M1?number three, etc. While this is the easiest form for the small child, very quickly these numbers are being transformed into regular music notation; simple fundamental rules of theory and harmony are added.
They learn to skip notes, take music dictation, sing from sight. In short, they learn to express themselves in music notation using the same ” urge to play ” they would otherwise use in building bricks, playing cards, etc. 1 am convinced that every child is born with creative abilities, some with more, some with less. This urge that Freud calls Dcr Spieltrieb im Kindc?the urge to play?is creative ability and can be shifted to different channels if taken hold of in time. Almost everyone is born with a natural response to music. Often this response does not awaken itself, but can be awakened by an outside stimulant. The radio, and the so-called ” canned ” music has functioned as a stimulant in this direction for the masses, by reason of man’s necessity for self expression. The working man while working will spontaneously start to hum a tune to himself. A child will imitate. For example : The child living opposite a church and hearing the bells regularly, will keep those chimes in mind and will start to form a tune around those musical sounds. The Creative work should be done regularly, every day right after school for half an hour, but 1 do not have to insist on this long, for as soon as the children realize what they are able to do, nothing, even illness, can keep them at home. To play an instrument is really quite irrelevant, but to develop the inner ear in the average child as well as in the gifted and mentally deficient, and to establish a living relation between the child and musical sound is a very worthwhile task when one sees the results.
We all know, of course, that nothing can be put into a human being, regardless of the methods that are being tried, but much can be brought out that is already there and might otherwise dry up. 1 do not wish to take credit for this method. It is Mother Stevens, Director of Pius the Xth School, who invented this approach and my admiration, as that of countless others, goes to her. Once the foundation is laid, children will write tunes daily as part of their play time and often have 1 been told by social workers visiting homes, how they found children writing into their little manuscript books what must seem like hieroglyphics to their elders. Now that they are able to write their music as quickly and with as much ease as they write script in school my fun begins. Out of their tunes 1 read their personality, their latent abilities, the positive or negative signs of their make-up, and based 011 that I am much better able to assist and advise in what they should or should not be encouraged to do. Words may lie, but never these outpourings of heart and mind, which seem to provide a key to the most inaccessible part of their natures.
] have a whole collection of tunes, the most beautiful one written by a little Italian boy, who was completely disinterested in any instrument. His tunes showed true genius. Many years ago Dr Brauer, co-worker of Dr Siegmund Freud, observed two little boys. One was five years old and the other was six years old. The six-year-old was his grand nephew, the five-year-old a neighbour’s child whom he had never seen before. After observing their play for a while he asked who the five-year-old boy was, and was informed that this child was ” different “. The kindergarten teacher had sent word to the parents to seek expert advice basing her opinion on her life-long experience with children for she knew ” this boy was mentally retarded Dr Brauer smiled and said, ” Yes, he is different, but with a mental plus, not with a minus.” Dr Brauer was very right. To-day this boy, at the age of 24, is a Rockefeller Research Fellow for Physics.
Another case where the right diagnosis for certain gifts seemed impossible by teachers and physicians was solved by Dr Jung, the famous psychiatrist in Zurich, Switzerland. He examined a ten-year-old boy who did not seem to fit into any school system and seemed to have almost no ability to concentrate on any one thing. No sign of any gift was noticeable. After the examination, Dr Jung told the parents not to worry. This case simply was reversed, as sometimes occurs. The parallel symptoms of a highly artistic soul were noticeable to Dr Jung only and he was convinced that one day, quite suddenly, certain gifts would break out like a children’s disease and justify and explain those seemingly negative parallel symptoms. He was indeed right. Four years later this boy started, almost overnight, to draw, to write, and to make music. At 19 he had written several plays which he also staged and performed, and he also wrote the incidental music to these plays. To-day he is at a leading University, studying under a fellowship. It is in the child’s play, as we all know?building bricks, making castles in the sand, or modelling with clay, that the whole personality shows itself clearly to the trained observer. In order to prevent damage, special cases like the two mentioned above need to have the good fortune of being diagnosed by such experts as Dr Brauer and Prof. Jung.
Children with great and outspoken abilities usually are possessed and driven by a force to which we have given many names and about which we know so little. To cite some examples of the very gifted?the three-and-a-half-year-old with perfect pitch or the five-year-old who can hardly be called from the instrument? they seem almost glued to it. The six-year-old little coloured girl, having finished her prescribed practice at the piano remains, out of sheer urge to give expression to her fantasy and events of daily life. One hears of all the vegetables she knows, glorified on the piano with sounds characteristic for each one, as they arrive to dance with each other. Only the Onion, on account of her odour, it left alone ! No one wants to dance with her, so her sadness is duly expressed in minor chords. Finally the Potato comes along. He too is forsaken. He notices the Onion, does not mind her smell and so happily they dance together. By now the piano is not sufficiently large enough for it seems they cannot express happiness on the piano without rolling all over it.
A school for very gifted children would be a source of joy and constant stimulation but alas, gifted children have parents, especially mothers, and here is where the real trouble starts. Until the day comes when very gifted children may be taken by law, as ancient Greek educators hoped for, from their parents and a Dr Dafoe may be found to guide their lives and abilities, one out of a million of these gifted youngsters has a chance to survive the damage parents will do in their ” ignorant and selfish best I had so far observed and made notes on the extremely gifted, such as those from Professor Zorbaugh’s Clinic for Gifted Children at New York University,-? the talented, the average, and the delinquent child. Curiosity drove me to find out how those below the average would react, if at all.
Through the kind co-operation and most encouraging understanding of Dr. Edward J. Humphries, Director of Research at Letchworth Village, the opportunity I hoped for was provided; I was given 70 children, in two groups that consisted of (a) girls who do not go to school at any time, (b) girls who stay at home every day (c) school girls. I divided these 70 into two groups and began to train them daily, except Saturday and Sunday, for thirty minutes for each group. Observing them carefully I found I could extend the time to 45 minutes for each group, after two weeks. All together they came, during five weeks, from July 29th to August 30th. I preferred children who- were not in the music band and who had done no music work whatsoever, and I purposely refrained from going over the case records of the children so as to be left entirely to my own impressions. Since it is not possible to give a summary of all, I have selected a few?-a high grade moron, a medium grade moron, and a low grade moron.
Case 1. Dolly. Aged 11. I.Q.,66. High Grade Moron.
In the Stanford-Binet tests for six years old she failed two tests, for seven years old she failed two tests, and for eight years old she failed all tests. Dolly was dropped when eight months old and had convulsive attacks. She was seven years old and in the second grade in school when committed to Letchworth. Dolly attracted my attention through her outspoken unwillingness and disagreeable expression when she first came to my class. On August 9th, ten days later, she was called to the blackboard and wrote a tune which showed definite natural flow of melody and musical form, also of rhythm. Here it is :* * 1 is DO, 2 is RE, 3 is MP and so on. Explanation for Rhythm: 2 … is a whole note, 2 . . a three-quarter note, 2 . a half note and 2 zmthout a dot, a quarter note. 1 1 . 1 . . 1 … 2 2 . 2 . . 2 … 3 2 12 112 111
She received a gold star for her effort and from that day on, seemed a different child. She took music lined paper with her in order to write tunes in her cottage. She was radiant when she entered the class and most eagerly followed everything I said, just waiting to be called to the blackboard. On August 24th, after not quite four weeks, she was able to write the G Clef and sharp well, write music notation, sing from sight, take dictation and compose the following tunes:
1 … 2 … 123432 1. 1 ..3.43. 2 3 2 12 3 4. 12 3 3 3 2 1. 1 … 2 … 1 … 1 … 1 . . 3 1 . . 1 . .
My summary was : ” encouragement and work along creative lines might influence her work along other lines and have definite bearing on her general behaviour? be an emotional outlet, and most important, the consciousness of doing one thing better than others, thus balancing any possible conception of inferiority. Both tunes show an optimistic and happy nature.” My report fitted into the case summary written by the chief psychiatrist, Dr Kinder, which I read much later, like the last stone into a puzzle.
Case 2. Natalie L. 11 years old. I.O. 59, Medium Moron.
Fourth child of tubercular mother. Natalie has tubercular hip, one leg shorter than other, continually banged her head. Night terrors, strong hostility, would say : ” 1 will take a knife and kill everybody here “, had infantile paralysis, serious behaviour problem at home?does well in institution. Started Creative Music July 29th, 30 minutes daily.
August 6th, one week later, Natalie wrote the following tune : 1 . . 1 … 1 . . 1 . . 1 . . 1 . . ? 12 12 12 12 1.
Analysis of tune shows : hesitant awakening?then startled at own ability, very definite rhythm and character of decided personality. On August 11th Natalie received a Gold Star for excellent reading from sight. Continued to show progress. Visibly influenced by consciousness of being able to do this work.
Case 3. Eleanor S. 10 years old. Loiv Grade Moron. 1.0. 43. Child fell often from carriage and bed. At four months her head was growing gradually larger. It grew so large that the baby could not sit up, unless propped by pillows or on arm. Too low grade mentally to attend school; began to walk at four years and a half. Eleanor has two normal brothers, takes great deal of pleasure in watching children play; has difficulty in grasping directions. On August 18th she received a Silver Star for conducting the group well. On August 25th she read music notation well, and was able to write G Clef and sharp. On August 25th, wrote the following tune.
1 .. 2 1 1 1 1 1113.43. 2 3 2 12 3 4. 3 2 3 4 1113.4.
At the end, after five weeks, the whole class was able to sing from sight, skip notes in perfect pitch, and had developed memory and vision. After that experiment at Letchworth, I became very much interested to know what was being done for the mentally deficient in other countries to get the right perspective as to what my attempts amount to. 1 have seen reports from every civilized country covering work done in this field for the past twenty years. In Holland, where fine work is being done with the mentally retarded, one clinic and school near Dorn has experimented very successfully with the use of the flute and its vibrations on deaf and dumb children. In England, Dalcroze Eurhythmic has, as 1 always was convinced it would, shown quite definite results. From Switzerland, Dr Bort reports very interesting reactions of children (entirely negative to the piano) to the lyre, and the reports also state that this experiment subsequently heightened the children’s interest and force in other activities. In America, the Russel Sage Foundation has published an excellent survey by Dr Van De Wall?Music in Institutions?which supports my impressions that hardly anything has been done with creative music work in this country. I quote one paragraph from his book :
” Creative musical activities have as yet been little used in welfare institutions. This is to be regretted, as there is not only great need but also many possibilities for such work. They furnish outlets for physio- and psychomotor tendencies and combine several valuable educational features. They can be organized so as to meet simple as well as highly developed demands, and the programme of such work should utilise original ideas, inventiveness, skill in making and playing musical instruments,- and the creating and performing of music for ensembles of self-made instruments.”
The most interesting information was given to> me by Dr Lussheimer, who was in charge of over 60,000 school children in Manheim, in Germany, which was well known as a model place where most outstanding work in all lines of creative teaching was done. It is impressive to learn that through this approach 60 per cent, of all those headed for the Idioten Haus were rescued and taught successfully in their remarkably fine differentiated school system for the retarded. In their work Music played an important part?rudiments, rhythm, and emotional approach.
Not always is a Dr Brauer or a Prof. Jung at hand to make a diagnosis such as those mentioned before. Therefore 1 hope that my attempts may be a stepping stone towards further developments. What we need is not an intuitive method but a system which may be used as well as the Stanford-Binet test by the average educator, not only for tests and diagnosis but also for therapeutic purposes. Tone psychology and tone vibration are still scientifically an inadequately explored field. Therapeutic influence on the diseased mind by means of music, modelling or painting, is in its embryonic stage of experimentation but points already to definite results.
The essence of this investigation might be summarized as follows :?(1) The reception of musical impressions, (2)1 effect and importance of creative work on the whole personality, (3) the development of a method which will pave the way to use this for tests, diagnosis, and treatment, wherever needed. Creativeness goes directly to the subconscious forces of the individual, and while parts of the mental faculties may be completely dormant, the subconscious forces may be as strongly present as in a normal child. One cannot reach them on the mental side and often not even through emotional channels and therefore in many cases the only approach left is through the direct channels that reach through creativeness into the subconscious, with the purpose of gradually awakening the emotional and mental faculties.
We are unable as yet to explain scientifically all the different procedure, and everyone who has seriously attempted to work in this field is naturally often called upon to face phenomena for which we as yet have no scientific terminology. We can only hope that soon this field of creative psychology and creative therapeutic education will reach such proportions that the great masses in the United States, four million mentally deficient, will benefit to such a degree that thev will cease to be such a burden and a reproach to present day society.
Conference on the Musical Education of Defective Children A Conference on this subject was held in Switzerland from June 22nd to 28th, 1938, under the auspices of the Society for Musical Education, whose headquarters are in Prague. Mrs. Anderson attended as the representative of the C.A.M.W.?the only English organisation to send a delegate?and other countries represented were: Czechoslovakia, Denmark, Holland, Ttaly, Norway, Spain and Sweden.
The keynote of the Conference was the value of a musical education for everyone, whether well or ill, normal or abnormal, though for low-grade defectives it was considered that its value lay only in its power to induce increased physical activity such as clapping, beating rhythm with sticks, marching, striking bells, etc. Children below the mental age of 4 could, it had been found, learn to identify sounds emitted from pipes, whistles and bells, but these could only be interpreted as sense impressions. Higher grade children, it was maintained, could be taught bamboo pipe playing, the harmonica, and folk dancing.
A number of interesting visits were paid during the Conference to institutions of various kinds in Zurich, Berne, Spiez and Basle, to see musical work demonstrated with children who were deaf and dumb, mentally defective, delinquent, and blind. In the case of the high-grade defectives, good results were being obtained, but there appeared in the institutions visited to be little faith in the possibility of calling forth any effective response from the lowgrade child, and in consequence comparatively little attempt made in the direction of systematic training. From this point of view, the Conference, to an English mental welfare worker, was somewhat disappointing, though the opportunity for making contacts with workers from other countries and for the friendly interchange of ideas was of real value.
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