Power of Music

This week, I have been asking myself the questions about music's power to persuade. I had never thought before about music as a media tool.

All types of media intend to attract viewers and music helps them to do so. News, TV series, or movies instruct us to listen because they intend to sell their beliefs, to ensure that they are entertaining, and to increase the number of viewers. In a majority of situations, I don't mind being persuaded. I want to feel, I want to believe that what I am seeing is true, because if it's not, I would not watch it. It is different with news. I am sometimes resistant and don't want to be hoaxed. Music can often be on the side of the news producers and I am trying to fight that sort of propaganda. In those instances, my reasoning is telling me that what I am watching may not be entirely true. Still, the music is on their side, not mine. I lose because they were brilliant in choosing the music that has a power to make me trust them, to make me feel the way they wish, perhaps even go so far as to allow me to form an opinion on whatever they are preaching. On the other hand, shows that pay on the cheaper side of production usually have no power to sell themselves, even with the help of music. There are usually some other cues that signal rubbish. Music cannot be blamed for everything.

As a young child, my music class in school required from us to listen to one classical music piece, to write one page about where the music took us, and which emotions it provoked within us. I remember that I used to make up the stories and it never crossed my mind that I could write about my real feelings and my thoughts. The task sounded like a burden at that time. Now, many years later, I have much better understanding of music's power and value in communication. I have learned that music is unselfishly stirring our emotions, the understanding of our unconscious, and the joy or sorrow with regard to what we learned about ourselves. Our relationship with music is most of the time unintentional. We are forced to feel and to meet with our unconsciousness and with the product of the realization.

My new stage in regard to music studies is one which consists of thinking about music as a tool for persuasion. This week, I have been thinking about the reasons for the specific music applications in advertisements, news, and movies.

Why do people sing "The Folgers in your cup" instead of just using words? Or, "Itsy Bitsy Tini Mini Yellow Polka Dot Bikini? Or Coca Cola? I can never forget that “Yellow Polka Dot Bikini”. The girl who owned it looked really great and we tended to think that we found a key. The song was just right; our family would unconsciously sing along to it in our house. If we had the Yoplait daily, three times a day, we might have also looked that great. The commercial included music and words. It was a happy combination of those two. Today's Yoplait commercial has a flowing, soothing music, that gives off the message that we must buy the yogurt in order to live in the same beautiful, worry-free world with the girl who is eating it on the screen. The singing message is much easier to remember and to persuade to believe and if the song is a parody, the message is not that offensive and listeners will not take it with resistance.

PBS offers that magical touch of music in their series for adults and children. Sesame Street and Barnie messages were mostly sung. The producers would utilize catchy tunes that people would repeatedly sing and eventually accept their message or lesson. Remember "Put down the Duckie,..., if you want to play a saxophone"? The song is repeated many times and it is very entertaining, educational, and persuasive. You are made to put down the Duckie (the old habits) in order to learn to play. The author of Sesame Street has written the music for the American Solgers In Iraq, as well. Music has power in both, the world of war and the world of Sesame Street.

Pleasant or disturbing images and music in media cannot be easily erased from our minds; we carry them to work, coffee breaks, supermarkets. That loud orchestra that accompanied the epic movie we saw, the melancholic D minor, the pathetic G minor, even the noble and frank C major have a sticking power that does not leave us easily. I continue to think about the magical, soft, breath capturing music that followed his enchanting sessions. I have realized that without music used in "The Illusionist" that would follow each of the illusionist's enchanting sessions. Can you imagine the “Slumdog Millionaire” without music? Watching Charlie Chaplin is fun. It seems that nothing is really missing. No words, music only and it is powerful and sufficient.

While I was walking thru the supermarket today, the images of the movie were not very clear in my mind, because I still must think of the news that I saw today, accompanied by grand B flat and B flat does oddest things. How did I relate with it and why? I will think about that tomorrow. I will now listen to Smetana and let my mind be free.



Realizations:
1. Music has a huge power to deliver information
2. Music evokes variations of feelings in different people
3. Evoked feelings vary in relation to someone's emotional state at the time of viewing
4. Impact of music depends of the art of reading other cues
5. Making diagrams to compare feelings with same video sequencing and different music or no music would be insightful (I have already started mine)
6. Music has a fascinating power to persuade
7.For me, this is the stage of an upgraded, critical approach to the music power.