Aesthetic Associations

Artistic Expression in Your Workplace Environment: MusicHow is your organization leveraging music to aesthetically engage both employees and customers? There are essentially two places to look. The first has to do with marketing and promotion. There is no question that well-presented music creates a positive association with your brand. The second has to do with the use of music in the workplace. Many would suggest that permitting employees to use music as they work creates positive morale and actually enhances creativity and productivity. Others propose that playing music throughout a building’s sound system creates certain aesthetic associations as well. What does your further research tell you on the subject?Consider the “music bed” or “music underscore” played in commercials describing your products and services to prospective customers. What kind of style is it? Is it based on a contemporary popular style? Does the use of that style appeal to a particular demographic or target market? What kinds of musical styles do you think might best represent your organization’s brand and corporate values? Does your organization have a musical theme or theme-based “jingle” they use consistently? Think of the musical statements you hear and see in radio, TV and internet advertising. How do they appeal to your aesthetic capacity? Do they create positive associations – or negative?1. Think about the use of melody. Is there a melodic theme present that is memorable? Commercial composers call this “catchy” and refer to the “hook” within the music. This has to do with favorably engaging a listener’s aesthetic attention with something interesting or valuable. They use the same techniques you’ve studied. A tune is “catchy” because aesthetic interest is created by the use of contrast. It has a “hook” because a recurring motif creates familiarity when repeated. Now, you know this as well.2. Think of the harmony and tonality of the music. Is the harmonic framework in a major or minor tonality? How does dissonance or tension lead to a sense of consonance or repose? Is it interesting? Is it trite and overly simplistic? Is simplicity part of its creative impact?3. Consider how the arranger uses rhythm. Is the rhythm driving and accented? Does that connote action and energy? Is the rhythm more steady or even blurred and obscured? How does the use of rhythm aesthetically illustrate the goals and intentions of the commercial?4. What about the use of sound sources? Does it use singing human voices? Does this create a more accessible, relational appeal to the aesthetic capacity of your clients? Or, is the voice-over or displayed text more important, prompting arrangers to use instrument-based tone sources?5. Think about how the use of dynamics adds to a commercial or a jingle. How did the audio mixer create variety by boosting levels at some points while reducing them in other sections? How does that create or direct aesthetic interest?