MUSIC DURING WORK

Waikato Independent, Volume XLIV, Issue 6096, 1 September 1947, Page 6

MUSIC DURING WORK

NEW ZEALAND FACTORY GIRLS’ PREFERENCE CLASSICAL RECORDINGS NOT POPULAR » —. Factory girls in New Zealand like music while they work, but it must not be classical music. That is the impression gained by Miss Maud Eaton during a series of investigations carried out for the industrial psychology division of the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research.

Miss Eaton, who is a graduate of Canterbury University College, has written a book on h er observations, “Girl Workers in New Zealand Factories,’’ which she describes as an I attempt to understand factory girls and their problems with a view to improving their conditions. Dealing with the characteristics of factory girls ,as revealed by her investigations, she refers to a type of 'reaction which would repudiate everything it does not understand, and says that good music, painting, and writing generally call forth this reaction. “I once had the experience of playing gramophone music to 18 factory girls during working hours,” says Miss Eaton. “Included in the selection of records were a few light classical works. If one of these items was played, the rage of at least five of the girls and the sulky opposition of all except perhaps two of the others was a sufficient indication of the strength of-their feelings. Popular Tchaikovski waltzes, a ‘Nights at the Ballet’ selection, even Gilbert and Sullivan, were dismissed as funeral marches,’ together with acid comments concerning the doubtful sanity of people who like classical music. Musical Preferences

“I have also questioned 400 factory girls on their musical preferences. ‘Anything except classical music,’ was the almost invariable answer, before I tried to make them give specific choices. Classical music was the first choice in only four cases.”

In a later section of her book Miss Eaton says that the factory girl’s taste for romanticism gives an indication of why factory girls like music in factories and what tunes they like to hear played. Routine, monotonous work does not make any great demands on a girl’s attention. Left free to wander over an eight-hour day, people’s minds are likely to exhaust all pleasant and entertaining thoughts. Unless they can be fed from outside sources, boredom and discontent are soon all that remain. Besides making workers unhappy, boredom and discontent, acting by way of psychological fatigue, depress the rate of working. . “Music' provides an emotional stimulant, _ focuses workers’ minds on something pleasant, and leaves them less bored and fatigued,” says Miss Eaton. “Music, or rather music of certain types, has its appeal for the factory girl because it is, among other things, a non-verbal expression of emotions she appreciates and seeks.

“The quality of the emotion is not always as important to her as is her ability to comprehend it. For this reason, she usually prefers simple, familiar rhythms, easy emotional associations, and clear melody or ‘tune’ not overladen with technical abstractions or complex musical thinking. Popular tynes and; the sentimental- hits of the moment, as sung by the popular singers, supply these requirements.”