Document created: 13 January 04
Air University Review,
March-April 1972
Music is a frill. Everyone knows that. But what is significant is not that it is a frill but that no one anywhere in the world lives without some form of it. Surely, then, it must have power and meaning, a great deal of which must affect the military.
Music, however, is obviously not going to help anyone fly the F-4C or any other aircraft. Music is not going to send men to the moon. Music is not going to release POW’s. Music is not going to win the war in Vietnam.
When people insist on this kind of application, they are guilty of misplaced emphasis. The importance of music to the military is not whether it can win a war, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t important to the military at all.
There is no question that music affects people, however. Puccini’s Madame Butterfly, now one of the most popular of operas, was jeered openly by the audience at its first performance in 1904. In 1913 Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring created a near riot, with shouting and throwing, presumably because the music seemed so unusual and dissonant and the subject of the ballet somewhat provocative for that day.
As recently as 1969 a Washington audience was visibly roused by a performance of “Deserts” by Edgard Varèse, a piece for orchestra and electronic sounds recorded on tape. The concert was given by the Boston Symphony Orchestra in staid, old Constitution Hall, and those who liked the piece were so openly opposed by those who disliked it that again there was a stormy response to music.
Twelve years before, in 1957, the Westminster Choir from New Jersey sang a concert in Prague, Czechoslovakia, to an audience that was enthusiastic in its applause until the choir sang, “The God who gave us life gave us liberty at the same time,” Thomas Jefferson’s words in Randall Thompson’s musical setting called The Testament of Freedom. At this point there was silence. Later the choir was told that the silence of the audience was not in reverence but rather in fear of reprisal by their government if they showed favorable response to the performance.
Hitler knew the power of music and used it to great advantage at Nazi rallies. Wagner was his favorite composer, and pieces like the “Ride of the Valkyries,” when played for a considerable time before a rally, so stirred the people they were ready to fight for any cause Hitler advocated.
Thus there is no question that music affects people. The question instead is, Since it does, can the military afford to ignore it? Everyone knows, of course, that the military doesn’t completely ignore music. The most obvious and direct use of music is for drills and ceremonies. There is so much of this that there is an élite, handpicked corps of about thirty-five commissioned officers in the Air Force alone who are on full-time duty as professional musicians in positions of band commanders.
At one time music was in fact a way to get into the Army under age. A hundred years ago and earlier, if you were too young to carry a weapon and had a burning desire to be in uniform, you could still join the Army by playing a fife, bugle, or drum to keep cadence for marching troops or relay commands by playing bugle or drum calls. This was a useful and necessary activity at that time.
Today’s ceremonies are formal and impressive, and many people, both military and civilian, regard them as essential, perhaps even sacred. I recall playing in a military band and once hearing a general officer say, “There’s nothing so stirring as seeing men march to band music.” Not everyone would agree with him, but a significant number of people do agree.
Four years ago an Air Force Academy graduate, after joining the faculty, filed a formal suggestion that marches and patriotic music be played over the public address system between classes, to engender patriotism in cadets and also cause them to move faster from one class to another. The suggestion went through all the proper channels but was finally rejected because his assumptions were ultimately found to be doubtful; what is most interesting, though, is that he regarded music to be that influential in a military environment.
If music really is that influential, then where and when is its influence useful or even necessary? Consider entertainment. This is where some people say we should not waste time or money on music. After all, they remind us, music is not going to win any war, and we should therefore save the money spent on such frills.
Entertainment is important, and it is important for exactly the same reasons that some people say we should not spend money on it. It provides the break that everyone must have from time to time in order to keep on with his job. And it is significant that music universally provides by far the largest portion of pure entertainment. It is everywhere—radio, TV, banks, commissaries, dentist offices—even nonmusical movies have musical sound tracks: Easy Rider, Midnight Cowboy, Love Story, and so on.
No one can say just how important music is for different people. Chris Mead, only one of thousands of Vietnam veterans returned home, was interviewed by Newsweek about his experiences and expectations (29 March 1971). Among other things, the report says he spent $291 of his $524 coming-out pay on an eight-track stereo-radio and a dozen cartridge tapes. Mead is reported as saying, “Now I’ll have to go to work right away to get some wheels. But I have to have music to get my head back to where it was. I want some peace of mind.”
In another place at another time a special service engineer in communications sings with the Classic Chorale in Denver because it keeps him “from going nuts.” In still another instance, Mike Reid, defensive tackle for Penn State not long ago, says, “Music is the most important thing in my life.” This college football star of national fame says he knows he looks more like a piano mover than a piano player, yet he was a music major and is a talented pianist. For all that football is to him, it is music that gives meaning to this and everything else in his life.
For precisely this reason music is taught at the Air Force Academy, the only service academy to offer music courses both as electives and as partial fulfillment of certain academic majors. Cadets are given this chance to develop their understanding of all music and thereby increase their capacity for this kind of diversion, not being limited only to what they have always known but in fact expanding these limits to include other kinds of music. One cadet has said that his music course enabled him to understand rock better and enjoy it more. Curious, perhaps, yet what is important is not the choice of music but what he finds it can do for him.
Numerous instances can be cited. In 1968, not too long after he became commander of military forces in Vietnam, General Creighton Abrams was interviewed by a reporter who was somewhat surprised when he heard a Mozart quartet on the record player. General Abrams began conducting with his cigar and then said, “You know, I seem to find the patterns and solutions to the problems of this war in music.” However much inclined we may be to doubt him, we cannot deny his experience. It is, to be sure, a purely personal experience, but it is nevertheless very real.
Clearly, then, music does have power and meaning that is significant to mankind and to the military. But in addition to these rather subjective reactions, there is more that is of potential military use yet less obvious.
For example, George Milstein, a New York horticulturist, has determined that music helps plants grow. “The secret,” he says, “is a high frequency sound that blends right in with the music. I believe that the sound waves cause the plants to keep their pores open longer and wider, allowing a greater exchange with the air around them.” So once a day for forty-five minutes he plays music for his plants, and he has been so successful that he now has produced a record called “Music to Grow Plants By.”
This, of course, has nothing to do with the military, but it suggests that there may be uses of music that might have military applications. To cite a rather grim example, certain frequencies can kill. Specifically, a sound wave at 7 Hz (much too low to hear) can penetrate the soft tissues of the body, cause them to vibrate sympathetically, and if it lasts long enough the result can be death. Another example: a 37-Hz tone, roughly D in the bottom octave of a piano keyboard, can crack a wall if it is loud enough. The military implications of these examples need not be mentioned.
But of course music does not have to be destructive, nor need it be superficial. Indeed, its greatest potential is not as accompaniment for ceremonies or as entertainment for diversion or in its ability to affect people or in some destructive property it may have. Rather music’s great potential is in humanitarian uses. If these were capitalized on, the military could better adapt to the different cultures it finds itself in, and the result might very well improve the effectiveness of its operations.
Music reflects the lives and thoughts of people so much that if one studies their music he can better understand the people themselves. The spirit, feelings, and thought patterns are all revealed in music. For example, Oriental people think in languages which when written are constructed basically from pictures, and it is no accident that their music is also pictorial; it is always about something one can see, feel, or think about. By contrast our written language is purely abstract, and much of our music is also purely abstract—symphonies, sonatas, concertos, and so on.
The power of this whole idea was illustrated by an Air Force Academy cadet who, with no previous background in music, wrote in a paper, “I have come to realize that music, when one understands it, is representative of a society as a whole.”
The military serves in many different assignments around the world. In working directly with people in Vietnam, or Turkey, or Africa, or wherever, how much more effective we will be if we understand the people as well as the military operation. Music is not the only way to get to know them, of course, but for many people it is the easiest and most direct way.
More than two thousand years ago Plato said in his Republic that those who are responsible for leading and protecting a nation must be trained in music as well as physical fitness and certain academic skills, because to omit music would leave a man unresponsive and insensitive to others, and specifically he would be uncivilized, violent, and ignorant. Perhaps this is extreme, but, if one listens to public feelings about the military, the similarity of today’s attitudes and Plato’s is striking. Is it not possible that there may be some truth to this after all?
One of the great benefits of music is that it is an experience of vastly different creative ideas. The person who thoroughly understands music understands also that there are valid ideas different from his own. He is not bound to traditional rules simply because they are traditional. Hence, it is possible for him to free his imagination to cope with diverse patterns of thought and situations. He can respond intelligently to ideas alien to his own because he has some capacity to understand the differences.
The ideal officer is surely one who, among other attributes, thinks creatively, who is flexible, who understands that there may be different ways to do the same thing and that sometimes one way is not necessarily better than another. Again, music is not the only means toward achieving these qualities, but clearly its potential can be very real and significant.
The extent to which music and its properties can be used to achieve military goals has never been fully investigated. The present uses at most are superficial and largely “extracurricular.” The thought that more substantial uses might be possible occurs to very few people.
Yet an expression so universal in its use and so powerful in its effect must surely have greater possibilities than we have allowed it. At the least it would seem almost necessary to research the question to find out exactly what the military potential of music really is. Music may never be God’s Holy Authorized Answer to the military, but neither will any other single field. Still, it is entirely possible that music can be used both directly and indirectly to help the military do its job better.
United States Air Force Academy
Captain James H. Conely, Jr., (Ed.D., Colombia University Teachers College) teaches in the Academic Instructor School, Air University. For several years he was associate professor in charge of music courses at USAF Academy. A member of the American Guild of Organists and the American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers, he has both published and spoken on the humanities. In 1971 J. Fisher, Inc., published his 18 Short Pieces and Modulations for Organ.
Disclaimer
The conclusions and opinions expressed in this
document are those of the author cultivated in the freedom of expression,
academic environment of Air University. They do not reflect the official
position of the U.S. Government, Department of Defense, the United States Air
Force or the Air University.
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