Review of The effects of music

Abstract

Reviews the book, The effects of music by Max Schoen (1927). The introduction by W. V. Bingham explains that this series of essays embodies the results of a competition conducted by the American Psychological Association in 1921, with a prize furnished by Mr. Edison for the best research on the effects of music. Part I of the volume deals with different types of listeners. Part II deals with the nature of musical enjoyment. Section III deals with the mood effects of music and includes two articles by Max Schoen and Esther Gatewood. Part IV deals with the Organic Effects of Music and reprints the article of Ida M. Hyde on "Effects of Music upon Electro-cardiograms and Blood Pressure." Part V deals with the effect of repetition. The last section discusses effects other than auditory and organic. As a whole the work is rather heavy for the general reader but of course will not be so for one with a research interest in the field. The book shows the difficulty of the experimental approach to the effects of music and it is evident that we are dealing with something that is not particularly "getatable." (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved)