What is an earworm? The word alone can launch numerous conversations. My initial thoughts, while entirely inaccurate, take me to a particular scene from the movie Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan. I won’t go into detail, but if you are familiar with the movie, you will know what I’m talking about. If not, and you are curious, please feel free to research the topic on YouTube. For the purpose of this discussion, an earworm is defined as a short musical segment that enters into your mind involuntarily. They are a phenomena that have been around for quite a while, as the Merriam-Webster Dictionary first employed the term in 1802 (Thompson, 2014).
Earworms often center around a short passage of familiar music and rarely involve an entire song or musical movement. In addition, Jakubowski, Finkel, Stewart, and Müllensiefenn (2016) stated earworms often employ an unusual or unexpected interval that lends a unique flavor to the melody. For example:
In another example, an earworm may employ a unique rhythmic pattern:
Or both:
As someone who has always been fascinated with earworms, I am happy to learn their occurrences are extremely common. When studying a large international sample (N = 5,989), 85% of participants reported to experience earworms on a weekly basis, while 51% reported to experience them daily (Thompson, 2014). In my case, I would probably fall into the daily group. With that said, it is interesting to note they are more likely to occur among those who consider themselves to be musical, although there does not seem to be a correlation between musical training and the characteristics of certain earworms. I may be wrong, but I believe this can be interpreted to mean that while a person may be an accomplished musician, the music comprising his or her earworms will be similar to rest of the general population.
It is also interesting to note that in most cases, it is best not to fight them, as it is much harder to block an earworm than to simply accept its existence (Beaman & Williams, 2010). What else do we know? Well, while earworms enter the mind involuntarily, they are most likely to occur during low stages of cognitive activity. This makes sense, as they would be quite a distraction while engaged in stressful situations or highly engaging mental tasks. So, if you find earworms to be a distraction, keep your mind working at a high level. 🙂 On the other hand, if you have time to let your mind wander, enjoy the satisfying experience an earworm can offer!
For your weekly assignment, please do the following:
- Since we have completed the Froehlich text, we are now going to set up a series of blogs that address a variety of topics. All of the readings are available on the course D2L site. This week, your topic choices are:
- Advertising
- Atonality
- Earworms
- Fight Songs
I chose to write about earworms, but you can address any of the above topics. The readings are short and interesting. I encourage you to read as many as possible.
- Choose one of the topics and post a thread (500 words minimum) by 11:59 p.m. on Friday, April 7th. Do not attempt to summarize the entire article. Instead, try to expand on a particular portion the article that is of interest to you.
- By 11:59 p.m. on Sunday, April 9th, please post a response (200 word minimum) to TWO threads created by your classmates.
Beaman, C. P., Williams, T. I. (2010). Earworms (stuck song Syndrome): Towards a natural history of intrusive thoughts. British Journal of Psychology, 101(4), 637-655. doi: 10.1348/000712609X479636
Jakubowski, K., Finkel, S., Stewart, L., & Müllensiefenn, D. (2016). Dissecting an earworm: Melodic features and song popularity predict involuntary musical imagery Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity and the Arts. Retrieved from http://www.apa.org/news/press/releases/2016/11/earworms.aspx
Thompson, W. F. (Ed.). (2014). Music in the social and behavioral sciences: Anencyclopedia (Vols. 1-2). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Dr. Charles R. Ciorba 
I chose the “Fight Song” article to read and comment on. Much of the article discusses which schools or organizations have fight songs, what their purpose is, and where they come from. This article stuck out to me because I have personally gone through the process of bringing a Fight Song back from the dead.
When I first arrived at my school, a strong and steady pep band/marching band was not in place. I initially worked to build the drum line presence and was eventually approached by the school parent organization to provide a pep band at football games in attempt to increase school spirit. They offered unending support, which was wonderful, but I was then left with the task to gather instruments and work on instrumentation. It has been a learning experience to say the least. After deciding to only have certain instruments in the pep band and collecting appropriate stand tunes one thing was missing, a school fight song. So my search began. I found a video online of students several years back that was created with the purpose of teaching other students the fight song. This was helpful with lyrics but not with the written music, which was nowhere in sight. Finally I was able to locate a photocopy of the original lyrics with the melody, handwritten, and tacked to the orchestra director’s office bulletin board. During all of this searching, I asked students if they knew the fight song… no one did. After searching lyrics and songs I eventually found out that the song came from “Our Director March” by F. E. Bigelow. I created an arrangement and got to work with Dr. Wakefield. I was so fortunate to have his help during this process. He explained to me the importance of playing the fight song at the end of every game, giving hope for the next regardless if you win or lose and when to play during the game. Although, I played at every football game in high school and had the fight song memorized, I didn’t exactly pay attention as to why were playing it. When I felt like I had a handle on things, I was excited to reintroduce this tradition at my school. I wasn’t prepared for the uphill battle. I appreciate the roles of the fight song discussed in the article “introducing the team to the field, celebrating the team’s triumphs over its opponent, and enhancing the communal aspect…” The most difficult part has been enhancing the communal aspect. Although the fight song has been in the schools history for some time, reintroducing the song after an undetermined absence has been surprisingly difficult. Spectators don’t know the words, don’t recognize the song, and the cheer squad is slowly but surely learning to quickly respond to the music when they hear it. Ultimately, I am excited to bring what I feel is a vital piece of the puzzle to our school spirit and I look forward to establishing this tradition.
Do you remember your schools fight song? If so, does it bring back any memories? Do you think a fight song is important for a school? What are some of the most memorable fight songs in your life?
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I remember my school fight song well in fact I still to this day might be able to play most of it on my flute though I could never for the life of me remember the words. Ours was the Notre Dame Victory March. The only memories I have of it is playing the song down the halls of the elementary, middle, and high school when we had a football home game. Because our school was all connected and just had each school in different wings of the building it was very easy for us. All of the students would line themselves along the sides of the hallway and clap while the band in a two person line formation would march past them. It was also tradition to play our fight song after each halftime show that we performed in an L, which stood for Laverne and March across the field in the L. I believe in a rural school and upper grades it is so important. However, in a bigger school where there are separate schools it starts to become less important at the elementary level. At the school I am currently teaching at neither I nor my students really know what the fight song sounds like though we do know all the words to our school chant.
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Jamee, I think it is great that you were influential in bringing back your school’s fight song. That is such a cool part of your school’s history.
At my elementary school it was tradition for the music teacher to teach all children the fight song and school song. (This was in a small rural community so almost everyone cheered on the Eagles on Friday night) I still know all of the words to both songs and remember vividly my teacher having the lyrics proudly displayed on her wall with a soaring eagle above it. The fight song brings back memories of singing it at pep assemblies from K-12 grade, cheering to it at cheer camps as a little girl, and the sites and sounds of Friday Night lights.
I think a fight song is important for a school simply for traditions sake. In my case both my mom, dad, aunt, and brothers and sister all went to the same H.S. and the fight song is a part of our childhood soundtrack. The music ties together memories, that for my family, span from the 70s- to the present.
Not too long ago my husband and I were talking about H.S for some reason and I started humming our fight song, and we soon discovered that we had the same fight song tune which was kinda cool. He was in the band so he has a much greater connection to his fight song than I. Which is evident in him still being able to play it as I type this response in my office.
A year after I finished undergrad the school reinstated their football team, which meant penning a fight song. During my time at school our musical traditions included the Hymn to the Alma Mater and a school chant made up on nonsensical words. These school traditions resonate with me much more than the school fight song ever will because I was not a student whenever it was reinstated. But I know for current students their school musical traditions will include hearing/chanting the fight song at football games and rallies. The music at institutions helps create a sense of community, school pride, and encouragement to players throughout various school events.
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That is so wonderful you have eradicated the fight song for your school and must have taken a lot of work after what initially seemed like a simple task.
I remember my high school fight very well and it brings back lots of memories of marching band and playing at football games, pep rallies, and being surrounded by friends. Not only then, but as a child I would attend the high school games so I grew up listening to it.
I think a fight song is definitely important for a school to have or at least a unifying song that is sung during events. It creates unity and school spirit and helps the teams they are being played for. Not only do fight songs help encourage the teams, fight songs help define the school, community, and person that they represent.
My high school fight song is the most memorable because I can attach it to so many memories throughout my youth.
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After reading the segment on advertising it entirely ruined any enjoyment that I ever received from watching commercials. The portion of music triggering “behavioral response” I found to be what most of the TV commercials are using to enhance the viewers visual domain. The commercials that have stuck out for myself have been the advertisements for cars. I have found at least two using Marvel type action music while the cars speed across bridges or drove across mountains to make the potential consumer feel adventurous. The commercials increase the tempo of the music and/or use powerful heroic chord progressions in hopes to persuade the viewer that to be adventurous they must purchase the car that was being advertised.
There are only a few commercials that I have seen use a “sonic logo” which uses music to create a brand identity. These commercials include Nationwide with their Nationwide is On Your Side jingle, AFLAC with their duck mascot quacking AFLAC, or ABC’s new sogo, to Oklahoma’s traditional Christmas BC Clark Anniversary Sale jingle. It was interesting to read that this type of branding was “traced back to the call out of traveling merchants” though I was disappointed the article never stated a time period it was used. Though based on how it is described, it sounds almost like it was a Medieval or Baroque chant.
What I found most interesting is the transition that commercials have gone through in time. Going from spoken messages, to singing commercials, using pop songs, to now with some using interactive commercials, which sometimes can be found both on TV and by viewing a TV episode on the broadcasters phone app. The advertiser proceeds with their normal commercial however has a toggle that the viewer can click on to go to their website to find out more information on the product. I have seen very few if not any lately while watching TV though there is a channel dedicated to home improvement from Home Depot that shows do it yourself projects and lets the viewer decide which home improvement video the viewer would like to watch by using the remote to maneuver.
Looking towards the near future, I believe that with the number of people dropping their cable or satellite TV providers, the Internet is where advertisers are going to attract the most attention towards their products especially with social media sites such as YouTube and Facebook. One of Youtube’s and Facebook’s main advertiser methods is the use of what the article is calling “banner advertisement” that are found at the bottom of the video or in the top corners of the video. Unfortunately, these advertisement methods lack music. However the videos that the viewer must see for an allotted time before skipping to watch their video are exactly like TV commercials and use music.
With the direction of mass media sources using less music it often makes me wonder if music will have any impact of how music is viewed. Though I have been impressed with the number of commercials who are using orchestral works, some are using the bridges of pop songs to create a feel good atmosphere. It’s lead me to ask, can commercials help us create awareness of classical music in the classroom or help explain how the use of dynamics and articulation help paint an aesthetic picture of music?
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Hi Ashley,
I would like to expand on your thoughts about commercials and classical music. Absolutely! I think anytime we can relate classical musical to “their world” helps bring relevance and importance to its place in history as well as the present. One classical piece that comes to mind is Bach’s Toccata and Fugue in d minor. After spotlighting Bach as our composer of the month in August, I have kids coming to me throughout the year and saying that they heard his organ piece in this scary cartoon or on a specific media commercial of sorts. During the holiday season I encourage students to listen for Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker pieces on commercials and TV spots. They are everywhere! So many pieces have become just part of our culture and used in advertisements and media, one specific one that comes to mind is Grieg’s “Morning Mood” used to sell various products. Another one I can think of is the Flower Duet to sell chocolate, Godiva I believe…not sure what Delibes has in common with chocolate, but the advertisers sure thought it would work. And it did!
As a young girl I remember relating Copland’s Rodeo to “Beef, it’s what’s for dinner tonight”. I vividly remember sitting in a concert at Rose State College in 4th grade and hearing this piece and immediately visualizing the commercial…As educators this example is no longer relevant, but it is one of the first times I remember having a light bulb moment about classical music being used in the main stream media. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CN_86_PjRvY
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Atonality (which the text and I are generically using to refer to post-tonal idioms) is a topic I consider fairly often. I affirm the compositional validity of atonality as a response to tonality. I listen to Alban Berg as often as Mozart and Webern as often as Stephen Schwartz. I am familiar with its sounds and uphold atonality as beautiful and artistically compelling.
Where I negatively regard post-tonal idioms is in the education of young children. Schoenberg and many progressive composers, as I have un-cited-ly understood, have asserted that the reason tonal music has been the lasting musical paradigm is that it’s a learned process. Tonal musicality is taught through exposure and cultural reinforcement. The consequent assumption is that if music educators did more to expose and teach non-tonal musics—to the near exclusion of tonality, instead of the other way around—the atonal idiom could flourish. I don’t find this valid for biological, pedagogical, and cultural reasons.
Biologically, the developing voice cannot replicate or even discriminate tones that are too intervallically near or distant. Recently I heard a classroom teacher employ a piggyback song using the Adam’s Family theme only to hear the children not able to navigate the half-step intervals. We’ve all heard trainwrecks of the wide leaps of the Star-Spangled Banner. These tonal examples preclude the pedagogical use of difficult intervals. If we were to train our children up through atonality, the voice would not be a usable musicking tool. Vocal replication of tones is an accurate gauge of internal musical cognitive understanding. It’s almost impossible to audiate without “thinking with your voice.” If we are to go by the research presented in the music cognition section of the article on atonality, I think my assumptions are confirmable; It’s hard to remember serial material, whether trained in music or not!
Leonard Bernstein (who you could argue refutes my assertion that the voice is important to musical understanding….) had a series of famous lectures at Harvard in which he explains a genesis of music as developing from the harmonic series. (https://youtu.be/Gt2zubHcER4) Overtones create the circle-of-fifths. The circle-of-fifths create the twelve tones in our system and their relationships. From this example, we music educators can assume a reason for the almost global use of the falling minor third as the first replicable and intentionally voiced interval and the use of the pentatonic pitches in folk musics across almost all cultures. I think there must be something biologically innate about tonality. It’s not just exposure and training.
Pedagogically and culturally, it is a balancing act to find ways to make home music and school music relevant—a topic we’ve already explored. Although atonal music is widely used and accepted in conjunction with certain genres of visual media, like films and video games, it is not commonly used as a music that is shared for other sociological reasons. I feel like it would make the relevance balancing act even more difficult to advocate an experiment to shift atonality into common societal practice.
Through my lens as an educator, atonal musics should be affirmed and validated historically. Atonality should be taught and employed in exercises and lessons. However, it may be supportable that prescribing to atonality as the future of music is misguided. I think cognitive musicological studies would find that people aren’t as disposed to this idiom as much as we are to tonality. But…that could change.
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Hi Griffin,
You have some great thoughts here. I have wondered about teaching atonal music to young children, and it’s clear from your insight that there are aspects that would make this a difficult practice. But I have been listening to non-western music on an intensified level this semester (thanks to Dr. Sherinian), and I have noticed that many of the cultures use modes that can sound like our major scale (or a familiar mode like Lydian), and some of their modes are quite far from a scale that we would use. Many cultures also use styles of ornamentation that make the specific note being embellished hard to identify, being quite precise with their melodic movements around a specific note but wildly active with the movements. Some of the cultures also use forms of quarter tones. One interesting thing about the combination of all these practices united in one culture is the result in practitioners being comfortable with western melodies and their own non-western melodies. They have the benefit of listening to these modes that range from western sounding to far from western sounding on a daily basis because it is the music that has surrounded them their whole life. The kids who grow up here, in the US, hear the same exact thing every time they listen to music. I think if, starting tomorrow, half of the music everyone heard was atonal, in 50 years people would be singing atonal lullabies to their children. I mean intentionally atonal, not like when my mother in law sings atonal lullabies to my kids.
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I remember a lecture about the commodification of music, specifically the example of the Mall of America in Minnesota. In Jonathan Sterne’s essay about architecture and music, he depicts the unique and diverse ways that music is incorporated into the design of the architecture of the mall from the beginning of its conception. This sonorial circulation plays a role in helping to guide consumers through a sonic experience while shopping (Sterne, 2006, pg. 33). The use of non-descriptive music in the larger commons area, while more targeted music can be found in specific stores. There is an audio threshold which the customer will notice specific styles of music, tailored to the store’s potential customers. We took some time in class and listened to a few examples of music that had been recorded from a local mall and tried to determine what store the music belonged to. An example of this is the popularity of theme songs or popular songs from children’s movies and television shows. As children walk within twenty feet of a storefront, they are drawn in by the familiar tunes from the screen. Many of these uses can trace their evolution back to the middle of the twentieth-century when Muzak was attempting to keep worker productivity up by the careful selection of tempo, instrumentation, and range to help increase/decrease production during typical lulls or high production points throughout the day. There is extant research that establishes the use of these different musical elements and the impact it has on an individual. We also know that the cognitive, psychomotor, and affect domains play a large role in music education. We strive on a daily basis to develop each of these areas within our students regardless of the lesson or music being taught. Advertisement, to no surprise, makes an effort to influence them as well. There has been a marked shift to emphasize an emotional over rational appeal (Thompson, 2014). I feel this “psychobiological” response has a substantial impact on consumer purchasing and could help to establish brand loyalty.
I found the discussion on the topics of social media and advertise to be thought provoking. What will they do next? Many times, when I see ads or music pop-ups in a separate window, and I find myself getting more frustrated rather than persuaded to follow the link. This is expressed in the article as a potential negative effect of tagging advertisement. Given recent developments with internet service providers and the potential ability to sell/distribute consumer information, I wonder what the implications will be for music. For instance, Spotify will generate a daily list of songs and artists based on your musical preferences. Will advertisements begin to target audiences based on their musical preferences and genres that have a higher frequency on our playlists? Can advertisers determine what products they should push based on our musical tastes? It will be interesting to see how companies combat the annoyance of the visual intrusion on-line, and if it’s possible to use aural intrusion to develop positive outcomes with their products.
Sterne. J. (2006). Sounds like the Mall of America: Programmed music and the architectonics of commercial space. In J.C. Post (Ed.), Ethnomusicology: A contemporary reader (pp.33–52). New York: Routledge.
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That is an interesting question regarding advertisements targeting audiences based on musical preferences. It makes me think about more modern advertisements, like the apple commercials. At the first listen- I find the music is very appealing to me because it is simple, fun, and makes me feel like life will be awesome if I get a new iphone. Also, I enjoy minimalism music and could be why I find it more appealing. I feel like this type of trend in music is popular in many modern advertisements that helps reach a broader audience. It would be interesting to see if they catered even more specifically to what we already listen to though. Also the idea of aural intrusion as a positive outcome would be fascinating to explore. Theoretically it would be positive because if they know what we like, then we should automatically gravitate towards it more. At the same time, it would feel like a violation of privacy. It already bothers me that web advertisements pop up on the side of screens based on my search history.
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Eric, I loved the approach you took writing about this response.
You essentially assert that music commodifiers (in their various roles and capacities in advertisement) as well as music educators are interested in similar things: cognitive, psychomotor, and affect. Are we doing the same job? This is divergent from the topic-at-hand, but it would follow other discussions to say that we are commodifying music as “school music.” We are advertising and trading our educational and art musics. Our use of them supports their continuation. I wonder in what subconscious ways this influences our students.
Regarding your discussion of social media, I bet advertisers have figured out that a visual intrusion on a screen is so ubiquitous that we know how to handle it. I imagine it triggers some sort of panic response that we need to resolve; but, we are more used to it than aural intrusions which might, in my experience, be very startling. So I also wonder about how/if/when that would be manifested into positive outcomes for advertisers.
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Advertising:
The article on advertising was the most thought provoking for me. The idea that music has been a part of advertising from traveling merchants to the radio and television industry shows that music sells. The text mentions “Music has little in common with the product it helps advertise; rather, music within advertisement is defined by the paramedical associations it triggers, by its interrelationship with other media, and by advances in mass communications” (p 18) The music acts as a hook whether it is connected with an image or spoken or visual text. An example of a music as an advertisement alone is hearing the sound of an ice-cream truck on a hot summer day and running inside to rummage through the change drawer to muster up just enough change for your favorite ice cream treat. Of course the idea of ice-cream sounds like a great way to beat the heat, but the music drew you there and signaled the consumer to jump on board to buy the product.
Technical Function of Music:
Whenever I think of ways that music provides a structural continuity in commercials I think of a destination cruise line or vacation hub playing tropical music to fill in the spoken messages. The music depicts a time and place and sense of relaxation and fun. The music sells to the consumer the notion that they NEED this vacation. They DESERVE this vacation…
In thinking of sonic logos/jingles that enhanced recall of product I immediately thought of the Oklahoma Christmas classic jingle for B.C. Clark, Stanley Steamer (“call 1-800 steamer, Stanley cleaner gets your home cleaner!” random I know..but apparently their jingle writer was doing their job!), local AC/heating company Drabek and Hill (“Often imitated, but never duplicated, Drabek and Hill”) and the NBC sonic logo (N-B-C). Sonic logos that many of us hear on a daily basis are the apple boing and perhaps the window xp pattern that sounds whenever you turn on your desktop. All of these help advertise a brand and product.
Music and the 21st Century:
Online advertisements are everywhere you go online, even in this blog post I see a banner advertisement for Expedia.com in partnership with travel Dubai. The visual is there with graphic and textual notation, but the sound is only activated when the desired consumer presses the sound button. You find this form of advertisement all over the internet. I know whenever I am searching online I appreciate this option instead of 5 advertisements sounding at once. How will the ever powerful aural advertisement continue to thrive online? The text mentions that there is an extreme density of visual “noise” on the internet and on apps. I too am interested to see how marketers will continue to be innovative in music advertisement. Will start up companies continue to implement jingles and sonic logos with their brand/product? Or is that old fashioned and stuck in radio times? (I think not because I know hold on to a company’s audible marketing much more than their visual marketing schemes) How will they continue to be innovative with music on online sites/apps?
Reading this article made me interested in pursuing the further reading list at the end of the chapter…perhaps when summer roles around!
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Fun fact… I forgot to mention… A 12 year old version of myself is on an archived version of the BC Clark jingle. That is how serious we are about the BC Clark jingle in OK!
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Hi Ashlynn,
I feel like there has been a shift lately from music being the key factor in advertising success. Now it seems like just as many advertisements rely on being witty, clever, or funny. However, I don’t think this shift is universal… advertisements geared towards children always have music to entice and brainwash their viewers. Ex: hard rock, intense music for toy truck advert, twinkly light shimmery music for doll sales. I would also consider, as the lines blur, theme songs for children’s shows as advertising music as almost every children’s show has merchandise for sale.
I too can remember jingles from years back, subway $5 foot long, stanley steamer (as well), daisy sourcream, and many more. I’m sure there are articles about this but it would be interesting to see what they all have in common. Length, pitches, words, etc. I’ve always thought it would be a sweet job to write jingles but maybe not a very fulfilling one.
I’m not sure where things will go with social media. It seems like more and more we are given the option to listen or not but I know that for my, the addition of music to the internet has really accelerated exposure.
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Advertising
As I read the article on advertising I found myself being intrigued, but not necessarily shocked. Everything I read made perfect sense. In fact, I thought some of the points that were made within the article were ingenious!
As I was reading, I reflected on the advertising commercials that plague my everyday life. Many of the commercials that came to mind are those that use jingles or some sort of short musical motive. These commercials are broadcasted multiple times per day on a daily basis on radio and/or television. Here are a few that came to my mind:
Empire Today: Carpet, Hardwood Floors, Flooring, and Window Treatments
In this advertisement, the advertisers turn the phone number into a short jingle so that it can be easily recalled.
“800-588-2300 (Eight hundred, five, eight, eight, two, three hundred) Empire Today.” I didn’t even have to look up this phone number! I’d say their use of music works!
McDonalds
McDonalds’ use of their short musical motive successfully creates branding.
“Ba da ba ba ba… I’m lovin’ it!”
BC Clark Jewelers
Who in Oklahoma doesn’t know the BC Clark jingle by heart! It’s broadcasted on radio and TV like crazy every year around Christmas time!
“Jewelry is the gift to give ‘cause it’s the gift that’ll live and live. So give the gift you know can’t fail from BC Clark’s anniversary sale!”
NBC
Of course everyone knows and recognizes the musical three-note motive of NBC.
“N-B-C” These three notes incorporate the intervals of a M6 up and M3 down. That’s what I call simple and successful musical branding!
Folgers Coffee
Folgers uses a nice little jingle in their commercials.
“The best part of wakin’ up is Folgers in your cup”
State Farm
State Farm insurance also incorporates the use of a jingle.
“Like a good neighbor, State Farm is there!”
These are just a few of countless advertisements we encounter on a daily basis that incorporate the use of music! I really do find this research fascinating. Music has so much power, and I feel like a large part of today’s society does not realize the true power of music and/or chooses to ignore its power. The benefit of having a jingle or some sort of musical motive to aid in cognitive recall, trigger emotions, and/or catch someone’s attention is clearly evident by the few examples that I have listed.
Like the article states, there is a clear connection between the uses of music in TV commercial advertisements and the use of music in films. Film composers use music to create consistency throughout the film, establish character, and evoke emotions from the audience. Advertisers and marketers use music for the exact same reasons—although, their reasoning definitely differs.
I am curious to see how the use of music in advertising evolves in the 21st century. The article briefly touches on this subject. A great deal of advertising is now done on social media (i.e. facebook, instagram, snapchat, etc.) These mediums are, in large, silent. Most people scroll through social media in complete silence so not to disturb those around them. I wonder how music can find its place in this area of advertising….
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KG,
You are definitely right about the power of music in advertising. I tend to remember MUCH more vividly an advertisement that has some kind of catchy jingle or song. In fact there have been many instances where the music has become an earworm that continues to cycle through my aural conscious. So not only do I REMEMBER what the phone number is or what the company name is, I am also thinking about it ALL DAY! I find myself sometimes wishing I could get it out of my mind.
I also have a strong memory to commercials that I hate. An example of this would be the ClearSight LASIK commercials. For some reason, the voices of the doctors are so annoying to me and the main guy (Gary Wilson) has such a monotonous tone. However, I remember these commercials so vividly.
I think you have a point in wondering what changes in advertising when it is on social media that is often played silently. From what I have observed, it seems that advertisements are shorter, maybe 10 seconds, and if there is sound it is simply a hip/hop beat to accompany the quick moving ad. Just a small snippet to interject the flow of status updates and cat videos.
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KG,
Wow what great points! Music is very powerful. The jingles help us remember their numbers or what they are selling. I can remember as a kid wanting pizza in the metro, “seven nine, ninety-nine, nine-nine-nine!”. Or in counting (1 2 3te 4|1te te!).
I’d imagine that there is a pretty good career in music for commercials. When the commercial just uses a pop tune, it’s not as memorable. Like the ones you listed and mazzios pizza, when we sing along and it has their number or company name in the jingle, it’s memorable and we will more likely call.
Advertising on social media. You raise a good point, I usually don’t click on the ads to hear the sound, but when I do hear it, it’s usually just some canned music they didn’t put any time into. However, it’s hard to imagine the good commercials getting rid of the music – too powerful!
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KG,
As I was reading your post and went through each of those jingles, there was no need for anything other than the title. As soon as I began reading those words, the jingle instantly popped into my head. Successful audio branding. I think many of these jingles, have also found themselves to be earworms. I think often time there is a tendency for us to commit to memory the more obnoxious jingles. For example, Edmond Hyundai and Sabre Dance. I absolutely hate that commercial, but it’s easy to recall it quickly. I think one of the solutions to music’s evolution in advertising can be found in the ads that play during streaming music. Similar to radio, many of the free services (Spotify, Pandora, etc.) will have commercial interruptions that you are unable to skip unless you pay for the “premium.” I wonder what the revenue impact is with paid vs. free service. Do these companies make more money from those advertisements or paid subscriptions? Does this impact the frequency of interruptions? I would love to see the metrics that describe how often you can interrupt with commercials before consumer become frustrated and walk away.
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The fight song article most appealed to me. The reason being is because I think (not 100%) that Shawnee has got to be one of the few schools who have two fight songs. Every time we play pep music, both have to be played!
The article gives great history detail to fight songs which I’ve never known, nor had the thought of looking up. I honestly thought that all the old fight songs like Minnesota Rouser, The Victors, Victory March and so fourth were just Marches and the schools took them and added lyrics, or maybe a clever new counter melody. I find it interesting that there were songwriters commissioned to write these tunes.
In this age, it’s hard to imagine a fight song being created. All of the different college/high school fight songs sound very traditional. The San Diego Chargers fight song is an interesting example of the non traditional “contemporary” fight song. It is a disco sounding song with some corny lyrics. Very different from your standard fight song!
ECU had a very fun fight song. Title “Fight On East Central”. We found out from a professor that it was originally from the Lutheran Hymnal AND was a Nazi War Hymn titled “Heil Deutschland” https://youtu.be/87OeS5lPgSY beginning at 1:45. Watching the YouTube video and hearing our fight song is a little uncomforting. How many times have I performed that as an anthem for ECU in Ada, OK and all the while sounded like the Nazi’s marching. It makes you wonder where fight songs really come from!
I mentioned before Shawnee has two fight songs. When we announce to play the “fight song”, we are looking at “Fight ’em, Ya Wolfpack.” That is the newer fight song that is performed at the beginning of games and when we score a touch down. However, from the 60’s and before the Shawnee fight song was “Shawnee Will Shine.” This short march is much more rag time sounding and is still played today. There is not a pep assembly or game in which we do not play both of them!
One other topic the article brought up was how the music of the fight song brings all the people together regardless of social class, wealth, race, etc. I was reflecting at how much I may eye-roll when we practice the fight song or perform it for the football game, but now I see it as being something that can bring the whole community together and bond THROUGH MUSIC! The truth is, the stands are silent when the cheer “leaders” are screaming and trying to boost moral, but when the drum line kick off that fight song, everyone stands up and starts clapping along! How great is it that MUSIC is what brings the community together. I think I can take advantage of that!
Have any of you had the opportunity to write your own fight song? What material would you use? Would you make an original composition or steal one of the many great university fight songs? If you would use material from another piece, I’d suggest staying away from the Nazi War Hymns.
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Matt,
I had no idea that Shawnee has two fight songs. I take for granted the ability for our school to say “fight song” and all the kids know what we are playing. Of course we have tags and shortened versions of the fight song, but they are all just the fight song.
Talking about unique fight songs, my alma matter, Bartlesville High School, has an original fight song as well. The song was written by the choir director that retired shortly before I got to high school. I always enjoyed having our own unique fight song. We never had to worry about our opponent having the same fight song. The biggest downside was that the fight song played from beginning to end runs at about a minute and a half. THAT’S A LONG FIGHT SONG! At football games we would start the fight song after a touchdown and before the point after kick. When it was time for the kick, we would drop to a soft dynamic until the kick was in the air and we would resume playing the rest of the song. We still barely finished before the kick off to the other team.
About your questions, do you know about the Norman North fight song? Folk lore goes that the band director that was there spent tons of time writing a fight song as per request from his administration. He finished the fight song and the administration decided they wanted options so (I think) the director wrote one more and for the last one he just transcribed Boomer Sooner backwards. They chose (I believe unknowingly) the transcription of Boomer Sooner backwards. So if you ever thought their fight song was a little funky. That’s why!
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Actually, I think it is upside down. Either way, it is Boomer Sooner just changed around a little!
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Hi Matt,
I had no idea about the Nazi War Hymn. I’m surprised that with knowing the history it hasn’t been changed with how easily our society becomes offended on the topic of racism.
I believe it would be such an honor to write your own fight song. Just think of the legacy that it would bring from years on end! However, I can’t imagine the kind pressure that the composer would be under to compose something catchy using a simple melody that everyone would be able to sing along to. Therefore, I’m not sure if I would take on a project this big alone. I would want someone else to help spin ideas of off to make it an original melody.
At NWOSU in Alva our fight song is “ Ride Rangers Ride” and our alma mater is “ Oh, Northwestern Alma Mater”. Both are played during certain times of football games. With the alma mater being played during the pre game and the fight song played during touch downs and an arranged short snippet played going for the 2 point (I not sure what the proper football terminology for that is) after the touchdown. All of them are an original melody and where composed by one of our past band directors Ed Huckeby who is now a well-known concert band composer.
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Matt,
Your post prompted me to do some research of my own regarding Oklahoma State University’s fight songs. OSU actually has three fight songs and an alma mater. The fight songs are: The Waiving Song, Ride ‘Em Cowboys, and OSU Chant. Your comments on the history of some fight songs made me curious about the origins of OSU’s fight songs. Here’s what I found out:
The Waiving Song was actually adapted from a tune called “In Old New York” from the 1906 operetta entitled The Red Mill by Victor Herbert. In 1908 a speech instructor, H.G. Seldombridge, paid a visit to Columbia University to scout for a senior class play. While at the university, he encountered the tune.
Upon returning to Oklahoma, he found that he could not get the tune out of his head (sounds like an earworm to me). So, he decided to incorporate the tune in the closing number of the college follies. During a rehearsal for the follies, he realized that the lyrics of “In Old New York” just didn’t fit the atmosphere of OSU. He told everyone to take a break, and, in just 10 short minutes, he had written the alternate lyrics that are still sung today!
So, there’s a little history that I didn’t know! Like you said, it is very cool how music can bring us together!
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The history of the earworm meaning interested me. I enjoyed reading about the origin of the word and some of the places the earworm has been referenced in media (e.g. “Spongebob Squarepants” p353). As with Dr. Ciorba, I also seem to get earworms quite often. I would say that I get music recalled in my mind almost daily. One of the most odd occurrences I can remember that relates to earworms happened during my undergrad. As we know, earworms happen when lines of music or snippets of music are recalled and run continuously or on loop in our minds without reason. Well I was in orchestra many semesters of my undergrad and I we would perform as the pit orchestra for the university opera productions. I found that the longer we would rehearse the more I would get the music recurring as an earworm throughout the week. The only issue was that the opera was an Italian Verdi opera and I did not actually know any of the words the singers were singing so I would have all of these jumbled Italian words and syllables bouncing around in my head. If any of them actually made it to my mouth I am positive it would have been gibberish and not actually complete thought. I found it curious that even though I did not know the context or the full idea of the music happening, it would still get stuck in my head. I had no idea what the words or syllables meant, but they recurred very often in my mind.
On page 54, the article reads that there are also different levels of earworms. It made me wonder if people who have perfect pitch have higher levels of earworms and can hear more complex musical ideas or multiple voices or timbres. I would be interested to se research studies where this idea is tested. It also reminds me of a famous symphony (The New World), which was written but kept secret for years by the Vatican. Luckily, one of the members of the audience was 14 year-old Mozart who transcribed the entire symphony from memory after listening to it twice. Every part. When I learned this, it blew my mind how someone had the capabilities of doing this. I wonder if his earworms were more complex than ours. I imagine they had to have been to be able to accomplish a task like that.
What genre of music is most common in your earworms? Do your earworms have harmony or lyrics? Do you have any vivid memories of any earworms?
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Eric,
Ahhh! I get earworms ALL OF THE TIME! I would say the majority of my cases regarding earworms consist of pieces that we have been rehearsing in band for weeks and weeks. These could be marching band show tunes, pieces for our annual Christmas concert, and/or spring contest pieces. These earworms make complete and total sense to me—I understand why these tunes are on a loop in my head. However, sometimes the music is completely random, and I have no idea why that tune or musical motive popped into my head.
Oftentimes, especially in the more seemingly random instances, the earworms occur in those few moments between being asleep and being awake. They then transition from those half conscious moments to being a part of my morning routine. These are the earworms that I find the most interesting. They could be lyrics/melodies from Disney movies, random advertisements, musicals, and/or pop tunes. In these cases, I am usually completely flummoxed as to why in the world did that tune come to my mind.
Regardless of the type and/or source of earworms, they are truly fascinating. I love how researchers continue to uncover more and more about how music effects the brain!
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Hi Eric,
Earworms have always interested me as well. At work I of course have earworms pop up from music we are rehearsing in class or from songs I hear the other ensembles working on or preforming. The worst is when I only remember part and somehow work it into a continuous loop that feeds into itself.
Something interesting though is when an earworm comes about out of nowhere… a pop song from the 90’s or some you tube video. Occasionally I can tell that they are triggered by the situation like being around friends or words that lend themselves to a song. Every once in a while however, something comes into my brain out of nowhere. Those are the truly fascinating occurrences. I’m curious how often others experience this?
I would also be curious if the rate of earworms increases with people who hear/perform music throughout their day or if it had more to do with the way a brain thinks. Thinking about this also makes me want to ask my students and see what the commonalities are at different ages or commonalities based on their musicality demonstrated in class.
Some of my favorite you tube ear worms… Don’t worry Dr. C, they are appropriate.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DiCGkzwW_S8
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Eric,
Don’t we all love earworms?! I’ve been getting them for as long as I can remember, I’m sure everyday! Your information about how people have different levels of earworms is quite intriguing to me. I mean, when I get a tune stuck in my head, it’s usually the melody (maybe the chorus) or just the chord progression. I usually end up humming or whistling the tune or “improving” to the chord progressions. I don’t remember learning the trivia you shared about Mozart transcribing the symphony from ear. That’s a super high level of earworm!
Since we are on the topic, I’ve got to share this! Since I was in Junior High, my non-music friends and I were always playing what we called “the game!” By non-music friends, these guys actually loved music, they were just not in school music programs and grew up with me in the neighborhood. Anyway, this is how the game goes, maybe you play it? Say you are in the driveway shooting hoops with your friends and you start humming “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough” as you’re playing around. A few minutes later your friend starts humming, whistling or singing the tune. You get to yell “I WIN!” Usually the “loser” never even realized where it came from. We were just getting earworms into each other’s heads!
The game is still played to this day…oh, and I WIN for all of you singing “ain’t no valley low enough baby!”
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Atonality has long been a fascinating topic to me. I enjoyed reading about the research that investigated the potential for recognition and retention of atonal concepts. I have been a fan of atonal music since about 1 year after first being introduced to Arnold Schoenberg (and the whole genre all together). It hit me pretty hard, on the first listen, and I (like many) was not a fan; however, after a while I realized that I had heard enough of Mozart et al, and I could use some exposure to new(er) ideas. As previously stated, I have been a fan ever since.
The concept of atonal music and its reception by audiences and music professionals alike, brings me to a new slant on this discussion. I am interested in how people negotiate between the logical and subjective. I think people mostly use logic when it reinforces their subjective, and ignore it when it doesn’t. In music theory (common practice), students quickly learn why tertian harmony is logical thanks to the work of Pythagoras on the harmonic series. In 20th century history/music theory, students learn why atonality was a logical progression of post war Western/European art music. The enculturation of western ears leads most to naturally favor common practice harmonies, and in most cases logic fails to outweigh the first impressions of “I just don’t like it.” Logic does, however, succeed at changing the behaviors of some music students I know.
I have talked with several students who were convinced that there was a legitimate reason they should like and support/perform atonal music. They did not like it, but trusted the arguments of some of their professors and peers that they should. Some of them forced themselves to perform atonal music or go to regular concerts/purchase cds, etc. It was logic alone that made them betray their subjective, but the betrayal couldn’t last long enough for their tastes to adjust (4 people I know have similar stories). I think there are probably a lot more people I know who don’t enjoy listening to atonal music but are convinced they should and are going through the same exercise.
Personally, I don’t like everything atonal. When considering all the atonal music that is out there, the percentage of those pieces that actually appeal to my subjective is fairly low. It is rare that a piece be atonal and beautiful/intellectually intriguing to me. Sometimes I feel like serialism can be handcuffs, forcing a composer to chase specific motifs or ideas that aren’t interesting to me. I favor the expressionism of Arnold Schoenberg, which is rich with emotion and easy to connect with on a “I just like it” level as well as an intellectual/scholarly way.
How do you guys interact with atonal music? Is it a part of your job in any way (as a performer/educator)? If you teach public school music, are your students ever required to listen to atonal music? I really enjoy watching people listen to atonal music for the first time.
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Jonathan, based on your previous writing it didn’t surprise me that you chose atonality. I chose it too!
Now prompted, I wonder if I went through the acclimation process to atonal musics that you describe in which a logical value trumps a subjective response. What you describe is a socialization process and is decidedly not intrinsically motivated by being compelled by the music. That said, listeners of atonal music must be compelled by it after some kind of acclimation/exposure. I think I was thrust into it by living with a composer. Before that, in undergrad, I can remember having the thought that I “should” like it, as you described. But my process was (if I know myself) largely motivated by social elements of identity: I always wanted to be perceived as unique and charismatic and intellectual. It’s amazing that an intention like that would motivate me to become a listener and supporter of non-tonal musics. There are a lot of implications about the music and myself to be drawn from that.
Like I described rather poorly in my post, I use atonal musics in my classroom, but not as repertoire for replication or performance. For example I can use it the very dramatic timbral, textural, and range explorations by some composers with little kids. Children can identify bipolar elements rather easily as I work them into identifying elements of music that they can reproduce. I also just affirm that it is music literature that deserves exposure in a historical context and for dialogue about the nature of music.
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Jonathan,
In my previous position, I taught AP Music theory. There was a required component on the exam in the spring that called for 20th-century music. This was by far the hardest portion of the exam to prepare my students for. There would be very few analytical, non-aural based questions. The bulk came in the form of aural questions. You might have an excerpt from just about anything and from any style (concert band, mariachi, jazz, K-pop, etc.). Questions would be based on functional principles that the students could identify even though the music was not familiar to them. I would take the time to introduce them to some of the atonal pieces. I felt that there were compositions that are a good bridge between the two worlds and I enjoyed stopping piece on particular chords and having my students sing what they thought should be next…most of the time they would be frustrated with the direction it would go instead. Typically, after the exam, there were a few weeks where I would talk to them about Schoenberg and his impact on 20th-century technique. We would do some basic analysis, like a 12 count and show them how a matrix would work. I found that many students were drawn to the mathematical parallels and structured design of the compositions. Other were not as impressed.
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Atonality
I think the cognition of atonal music is so fascinating as we listen or play it, especially the and how and why. My question has always been, if we listened to this type of music our entire life, would the atonal melodies sound more familiar than the tonal? I believe more exposure allows for more familiarity with atonal melodies and also aids in a performers ability to play them.
How do you make something sound musical, or captivate the listener when it does not give us traditional structures? It is some of the most challenging music I have played because you have to make connections that might not be so obvious or spelled out. However, there are other times the instructions are so spelled out that if you do not follow exactly, something might get misinterpreted. In either case, you cannot simply play the notes, but have to create a plan. Will a certain interval be emphasized more than another and why?
The way atonal music is perceived is such an interesting topic. In a classic 12-tone composition the rows follow a structure, but to the listener this often gets lost.
The end of the article discussed cognition of the listener and if they can “remember atonal melodies” and stated that a more trained ear could identify intervals and similarities more than an untrained ear. The results varied based on exposure which in turn creates varying opinions on its perception. I think this is where the validity is also misinterpreted because if a listener is unfamiliar with this kind of genre then it is often discredited. After hearing my first atonal piece, this was my view. However, the more exposure I had and the more I learned about the theoretical side, I was able to understand and appreciate it in a new way.
A focus at my school is to teach what is true, good, and beautiful, and a book that we use in faculty meetings discusses music as part of the delicate balance of nature, yet it is very mathematical. As we were discussing this in faculty meeting, it was interesting to hear various responses to this idea. Some commented that thinking of music in a mathematical sense, especially in regards to atonal music, takes away the “beauty” of the music itself. It made me think of a comparison to the human body. A surgeon can admire all the functions and rhythms of the human body, but in order to know its functions he has to learn how to “cut it open”. It might not be pretty, but we learn that it is beautiful and harmonious. For atonal music, Schoenberg dug in to find a new way that can still be “beautiful”. I shared this with the faculty, but not sure how convincing I was to the administration! However, I believe we can discover and appreciate atonal music and realize it is far more complex then our first listen.
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Hi Emily,
For a few reasons, I like your school’s focus on teaching what is true, good, and beautiful. First, I like truth, goodness, and beauty; so, I like the idea of kids learning these things. Second, I like how vague and subjective 2 of the 3 categories are in that list, it makes for good conversations like the ones you described about math and music.
Before I became educated, I was a self-taught guitarist who was convinced that if I learned music theory (or even how to read notes) that God would stop whispering sweet melodies from heaven in my ear and my playing would suffer. There are a lot of musicians out there like this, we used Miles Davis quotes about reading music to justify our ignorance. Basically, I was convinced that music was magic. And all of that nonsense learning would demystify the craft by turning it in to a logical thing. I was right about it becoming a logical thing, as my eventual music theory training allowed me to make sense out of some of my favorite progressive rock and jazz guitar players. But I was pleased to find that it only added to the magic of music (for me). I know this is a risk that all are not willing to take.
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