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Isa Maud Ilsen

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Isa Maud Ilsen
A white woman with light curly hair in an updo
Isa Maud Ilsen, from a 1918 newspaper
BornNovember 27, 1868
Lindsay, Ontario, Canada
DiedJuly 4, 1937(1937-07-04) (aged 68)
Mendota, Illinois, U.S.
Occupation(s)Music therapist, nurse, educator

Isa Maud Armstrong Stickney Ilsen Patterson (November 27, 1868 – July 4, 1937)[1] was a Canadian-born American nurse, music therapist, lecturer, and mapmaker. She was the Director of Hospital Music with the American Red Cross during World War I, and founder of the National Association for Music in Hospitals in 1926. She is considered a pioneer in the field of music therapy.[2]

Early life and education

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Armstrong was born in Lindsay, Ontario, the daughter of William Thomas Armstrong and Diana Jane Richmond Armstrong. She trained as a nurse at the Jewish Hospital of Cincinnati.[3] She was president of the Jewish Hospital Alumni Association.[4]

Career

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Ilsen was active in the Clio Club, a women's music club in Cincinnati.[5][6] She worked as a "musical almoner"[7] for Thomas Edison in 1915, giving lectures on the psychological aspects of music, and Edison's inventions to bring those benefits to a wider public.[8][9] In 1916, she was chaperone to a musical prodigy, Claudia Marguerite Race. While seven-year-old Race toured giving harp concerts, Ilsen gave accompanying lectures on "The Musical Education of Children".[10]

A white woman with light hair in a bouffant style, wearing a lacy light-colored dress, photographed in profile against a dark background; she is gazing downward at a small white girl playing a scaled-down harp
Isa Maud Ilsen with her musical protegee, harpist Claudia Marguerite Race, from a 1916 publication

During World War I, Ilsen worked in Canadian military infirmaries,[3] was the Director of Hospital Music with the American Red Cross. In 1919, she taught the first course in music therapy at Columbia University.[11] She lived in Chimney Rock, North Carolina in the early 1920s, and lectured on the healing properties of music.[12] In 1922, she created "a descriptive map of Hickory Nut Gap and Gorge" and booklet, which she distributed to local businesses.[13] She campaigned for radios to be installed in every hospital and institution, to bring music's healthful influence to patients.[14]

In 1926, Ilsen founded the National Association for Music in Hospitals.[15][16] "Music can cure some sicknesses," she said of her work. "It helps practically all. But it must be the right kind of music to have medicinal value."[17][18] She counseled against cello music as too melacholy, but recommended the xylophone as a way to divert a baby's attention; some patients were given an instrument to learn as a rehabilitation strategy.[3] She encouraged music therapists to dress in light colors and sing specific songs for specific illnesses.[11] She was also interested in the benefit of surgeons listening to music in operating rooms.[19] She is considered a pioneer in field of the music therapy.[20][21][22]

Publications

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  • "How Music is Used in Hospitals" (1926)[23]
  • "Music's New Vocation" (1925)[24]
  • "The psycho-physiological effect of music on tuberculosis patients" (1925, with F. D. Bell)[25]

Personal life

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Armstrong was married three times. Her first husband was Alfred Dwight Stickney;[26] they married in 1888,[27] and he died in 1891. Her second husband was German-born music publisher George Ilsen;[28] they married in 1898,[29] and he died in 1912.[30] Her last husband was F. J. Patterson. She died in 1937, at the age of 68, in Mendota, Illinois.[1]

References

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  1. ^ a b Ilsen's 1937 Illinois death record (as Isa Maud Patterson) gives her birthdate as November 27, 1870. However, her second husband's passport application in 1908 gave her birthdate as November 27, 1868, and this matches her appearance as 2-year-old in the 1871 Canadian census; via Ancestry.
  2. ^ Davis, W. B. (1993-03-01). "Keeping the Dream Alive: Profiles of Three Early Twentieth Century Music Therapists". Journal of Music Therapy. 30 (1): 34–45. doi:10.1093/jmt/30.1.34. ISSN 0022-2917.
  3. ^ a b c "Music Now Being Used to Heal Soldiers Wounded in Battle". Evening star. 1918-03-24. p. 42. Retrieved 2024-01-24 – via Newspapers.com.
  4. ^ "Hospital Endowment Fund is Growing". The Cincinnati Post. 1908-10-28. p. 8. Retrieved 2024-01-24 – via Newspapers.com.
  5. ^ "The Clio Club". The Cincinnati Enquirer. 1907-04-14. p. 32. Retrieved 2024-01-24 – via Newspapers.com.
  6. ^ "The Clio Club". The Cincinnati Enquirer. 1910-01-30. p. 46. Retrieved 2024-01-24 – via Newspapers.com.
  7. ^ Dey, Haryot Holt (1915-01-03). "'Musical Almoner': A Unique Vocation". The Honolulu Advertiser. p. 15. Retrieved 2024-01-24 – via Newspapers.com.
  8. ^ Samuels, David W. (Summer 2016). "Edison's Ghost". Music and Politics. X (2). doi:10.3998/mp.9460447.0010.202. hdl:2027/spo.9460447.0010.202. ISSN 1938-7687.
  9. ^ "Five-Cent Operas Near, Mrs. Ilsen Says for Edison; Agent for 'Wizard' Here Lecturing to Detroiters". Detroit Free Press. 1914-05-15. p. 8. Retrieved 2024-01-24 – via Newspapers.com.
  10. ^ "Miss Marguerite Race is Musical Wonder". Record-Journal. 1916-02-16. p. 5. Retrieved 2024-01-24 – via Newspapers.com.
  11. ^ a b "Musical Prescriptions for the Ailing; Healing Value of Sonatas and Barcarolles Are Described by a Woman Professor Who Practiced on Doughboys for the War Department". The New York Times. July 13, 1919. p. 70. Retrieved 2024-01-23.
  12. ^ "Mrs. Isa Maud Ilsen is Given Ovation Following Speech at Saluda Summer Assembly". Asheville Citizen-Times. 1921-08-12. p. 13. Retrieved 2024-01-24 – via Newspapers.com.
  13. ^ "Mrs. Ilsen of Chimney Rock Preparing Maps and Books". The News of Henderson County. 1922-01-27. p. 7. Retrieved 2024-01-24 – via Newspapers.com.
  14. ^ "Music for Hospitals; Campaign Started for Radio in Every Institution". The Commercial Appeal. 1925-11-08. p. 78. Retrieved 2024-01-24 – via Newspapers.com.
  15. ^ "Train Musicians for Hospitals In Airs to Soothe the Sick". The New York Times. September 13, 1926. p. 23. Retrieved 2024-01-24.
  16. ^ "'Organized Music' Urged as Cure; An Experiment in Hospital Treatment Is Now Being Tried -- Highly Interesting Results Have Been Obtained". The New York Times. September 19, 1926. p. 10. Retrieved 2024-01-24.
  17. ^ "Music in Wise Doses is Cure for Some Types of Sickness". The Grand Island Independent. 1928-07-14. p. 6. Retrieved 2024-01-24 – via Newspapers.com.
  18. ^ "Mrs. Isa Maud Ilsen". The Pomona Progress Bulletin. 1929-01-12. p. 6. Retrieved 2024-01-24 – via Newspapers.com.
  19. ^ "Music Aids Knife; Used During Operation on Patients, Clubs Told". The Windsor Star. 1927-04-21. p. 24. Retrieved 2024-01-24 – via Newspapers.com.
  20. ^ Graham, Richard M. (1974). "The Education of the Music Therapist". College Music Symposium. 14: 50–59. ISSN 0069-5696. JSTOR 40373351.
  21. ^ Carlson, Emily; Cross, Ian (2021-12-01). "Reopening the Conversation Between Music Psychology and Music Therapy". Music Perception. 39 (2): 181–201. doi:10.1525/mp.2021.39.2.181. ISSN 0730-7829. S2CID 244768050.
  22. ^ Vaudreuil, Rebecca (2021-10-21). Music Therapy with Military and Veteran Populations. Jessica Kingsley Publishers. p. 56. ISBN 978-1-78775-480-5.
  23. ^ Ilsen, Isa Maud (May 1926). "How Music is Used in Hospitals". The Musician.
  24. ^ Ilsen, Isa Maud (December 1925). "Music's New Vocation". American Journal of Nursing. 25 (12): 981. ISSN 0002-936X.
  25. ^ Bell, F. D., and Isa Maud Ilsen. "The psycho-physiological effect of music on tuberculosis patients." Modern Hospital 25 (1925): 227-229.
  26. ^ "George Ilsen's Bride". The Cincinnati Post. 1898-02-12. p. 7. Retrieved 2024-01-24 – via Newspapers.com.
  27. ^ Marriage record dated 18 July 1888, Ontario, Canada, via Ancestry.
  28. ^ "Music House in Receiver's Hands". The Cincinnati Post. 1906-12-05. p. 11. Retrieved 2024-01-24 – via Newspapers.com.
  29. ^ "Ilsen-Stickney". The Cincinnati Enquirer. 1898-02-16. p. 5. Retrieved 2024-01-24 – via Newspapers.com.
  30. ^ "George Ilsen Dead". The Cincinnati Post. 1912-04-18. p. 8. Retrieved 2024-01-24 – via Newspapers.com.
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