MUSIC WHILE YOU WORK

New Zealand Listener, Volume 5, Issue 116, 12 September 1941, Page 11

MUSIC WHILE YOU WORK

Production Increase Expected If New NBS Service Is\ Used

USIC in the milking shed and its effect on production was discussed in The Listener two years ago. No one, however, had bothered to collect statistics in evidence, for or against, and the subject was dropped. We still do not know whether music encourages cows to give more milk. However, evidence about the reactions of human beings to music has been more easily come by, and a number of organisations have produced statistics. With their results as justification, the NBS has decided to provide a " Music While You Work" service, which will be designed especially for use by factories and workshops. These selected musical programmes will be broadcast by the YA stations as follow, beginning on Monday, September 15, each day of the working week, and on Saturday mornings: JYA: 11.15 am. to 11.45 am. 3.45 p.m. to 4.15 p.m. 2YA: 9.40 am. to 10.10 am. 3.30 p.m. to 4.0 p.m. 3YA: 11.30 a.m. to 12.0.a.m, 2.0 p.m. to 2.30 p.m. 4Y A: 9.30 a.m, to 10.0 a.m, 2,30 p.m. to 3.0 p.m. Similar sessions have been broadcast by the BBC since June of 1940. Here are some results reported by firms making use of them:

A canning firm in Kent reported a 30 per cent. increase in production. A warehouse increased its work by 10 to 15 per cent, A factory manager reported that "production figures for the period covered by the.. programmes are consistently higher than those for other periods of the working day." Even before the BBC officially sponsored the idea by giving valuable programme time to it, researches had produced conclusive evidence. These are facts offered by the British Medical Research Council of the Industrial Health Research Board in 1937. The results were obtained from a twenty-four week experiment with gramophone music in a —

factory department where the work (making paper crackers), although largely repetitive, introduced some variety. Music was played at different times within the spell of work and "a new and higher level of output was reached when music was introduced from 10 to 11.15-a.m. The average increase over the preceding period, in which no music was played, was six per cent. In the next period, when music was played twice within the spell of work, the output fell to a slightly lower level, but was stiJl 2.6 per cent. higher. Finally, the introduction of music during alternate half hours resulted in an increase of output of 4.4 per cent. over that of the initial period without music. The best results were obtained when music was played during a single period of 75 minutes about the middle of the work spell, What Music 1 is Best? The NBS is to give two half hours each day from Mondays to Fridays and half an hour on Saturday morning. Firms which make use of the service will no doubt report their results, and co-opera-tion might well achieve a substantial increase in production everywhere. The BBC has found that employers are willing to co-operate very closely in discovering exactly what type of music is best, when it should be played, and what variety should be introduced.