Have you noticed that music is everywhere or almost everywhere? You enter a store, an office, there is music, the dentist makes you listen to music in the waiting room and during treatment, there is music in the theater before a movie, there is music on the phone while you are waiting to talk to your banker or contractor, … anywhere you go, you get the same Muzak – which is actually the name of an American corporation making this crappy stuff– an insipid sound made to be heard almost unconsciously.
I read how the Muzak corporation describes its product and why it is not the same thing than real music:
‘because music is art, but Muzak is science. And when you employ the science of Muzak: in an office, workers tend to get more done, more efficiently, and feel happier. In an industrial plant, people feel better and, with less fatigue and tension, their jobs seem less monotonous. In a store, people seem to shop in a more relaxed and leisurely manner. In a bank, customers are generally more calm, tellers and other personnel are more efficient. In general, people feel better about where they are; whether it's during work or leisure time. Muzak is all this and more. That's why we say Muzak is much more than music.’
And I got scared. But at least they are honest and are announcing the color. With their Brave New world vision, the company is using a certain idea of ‘music’ to manipulate people, make them more patient, more efficient or even ease their pain.
What is scary is that we are so used of background music that we even treat real music just like this Musak non-sense. In stores, you often hear popular pop songs, and kids or adults constantly listen to music with their iPhones and iPods while doing something else, that would in fact require at least some of the same brain areas! They don’t realize it, but music in this case becomes a background, just like the Muzak in the elevator.
Think about it, if you read a book while listening to music, your brain is not able to process the lyrics of the songs and the writing on the pages! And what if it’s instrumental music? It’s about the same thing as music deals with emotions and feelings, just like a book. As much as people are convinced they are multitask, nobody is, numerous studies show that people doing two things at the same time are actually switching back and forth from one task to another. Music requires all your attention, all your brain’s power and it should never be relegated to background.
Music, like any art, should be demanding, challenging, at least the good one should affect your body, give you goosebumps, make you dance, move, even make you cry, you should be all shaken up and that’s why Muzak is actually a totally twisted way to use a musical sound. Far from awakening your senses, it tames them, instead of installing revolt, it brings control. So don’t treat the music you love like Muzak, when you listen to it, give it your complete attention. Also, what's wrong with silence? It would be nice if we could get rid of this constant elevator music they constantly spoon-feed us with, but it's not going to happen.