CHALLENGE AND RESPONSE IN THE AMERICAN COMPOSER’S CAREER

Abstract

Artistic behavior has received scant recognition by behavioral science. Whatever the reason for such neglect, it is evident that the present-day researcher tends to choose his problems in non-artistic areas. The scientific approach to art, therefore, may sound slightly foreign in a gathering of this kind. But it need not sound so, especially if we consider art as one variety of behavior to be investigated and charted. Further, we will be better able to fit artistic behavior into our developing research framework if we put aside for the moment romantic conceptions-one of which pictures the artist seated in his favorite bistro, struck by a bolt of superhuman origin, dashing off to his garret, and creating his masterpiece. Art in our society may be a life's work; an artist follows a trade as does any tradesman, even though he may be more emotionally involved than others. In consequence, there seems to be no valid reason why production in a given artistic medium cannot be included in the rapidly developing sociology and psychology of the vocations. Undoubtedly, some artists would writhe at this conception, but these, according to my evidence, would constitute a minority. And, when artists begin to look upon their work as a trade we are far removed from the bistro indeed. The data for this paper have been provided by a social-psychological study of living, American-born composers of serious music. I prefer to think of this investigation as research in the social-psychology of vocational adjustment. The art medium involved is the one which revolves around the aural sense. The serious composer has been operationally defined as one who produces music, predominantly, for certain media of musical expression, e.g., the symphony orchestra, the ballet and modern dance, motion pictures, etc. The major problems of the study are: