Problem Definition: How is music strategically employed in constructing our experience of interior space?
It has been one week since the submission of our basic proposal for the creation of a fifteen minute long radio documentary. Since then, the project has developed even further and the idea has become even more refined. After examining certain areas of the basic proposal, we decided to carry out our research in some key public spaces where the notion of identity construction is driven by different styles of architecture and interior design, intertwined with various forms of music. How do different kinds of music and interior design work together to forge different forms of identity? In order to answer this question we decided to look at some of
Places to examine:
-Amrath Grand Hotel de L’Empereur (interview appointed for Tuesday 11.12.07)
-Crowne Plaza Hotel
-Kruisherenhotel Maastricht (interview appointed for Tuesday 11.12.07)
-Novotel Maastricht
-Hotel Riche Valkenburg
While we intend to take interviews from the people in charge of the music selection in these hotels we will only use selected parts from two/three interviews as materials for our documentary. We will be careful not to overload it with factual information provided by various personalities. Instead, we will limit ourselves to presenting only two or three key figures introducing their experience to the listener.
Extension and elaboration of the project
During our visit in some of the abovementioned hotels, and as a result of the conversations we had with the representatives of the institutions, we observed several important details which made us re-consider the dimensions and some of the aspects of the project proposal we introduced last week. We came up with new ideas for the directions our documentary can take and for the issues to be discussed in it:
- We decided to focus specifically on the companies which provide the hotels with a selection of background music. Both in Amrath Grand Hotel and in Kruisherenhotel, CDs containing various music compilations are sent monthly.
- Therefore, in the interviews we have appointed for next week, we intend to find out more about the communication between the hotels and the companies in charge of preparing their background music. What are they looking for from a specific music selection to provide?/ What directions do they give to the companies in requesting music and what are their main requirements?/ What reasons do they have to adopt the monthly cycle scheme in the selection and change of background music (especially when considering that 1) this change will probably remain unnoticed by the guests whose visits, we assume, are less frequent, and that 2) the music is played so low that one can hardly hear it/focus on it/ listen to it and therefore notice that it has been changed). Who is in charge of communicating with the music companies and what is his position in the hotel? Do interior designers and music designers collaborate in constructing the experience of interior space? Or, do music designers complement the space constructed by interior designers being guided by the identity the latter have already created?
- We will attempt to contact some of the companies in charge of the background music in some hotels
- We will include a short presentation of the MUZAK company which first introduced this type of service in the
Research Strategy:
In order to explore the manner in which identity is created through music in these hotels, we plan to interview the guests in order to document their thoughts on the role of music and how they are influenced by it. The next step will involve finding the individuals who are in charge of the music selection. We intend to ask them why they desire to play certain songs, how they act as an extension of interior design and of course, the desired effects on the guests.
We will also focus on the technological aspect of identity construction in these public spaces. We intend to ask questions about the audio techniques in use. What technologies are used in constructing the experience of interior space through music? How is music manipulated in order to produce a specific effect and to influence the experience of the guests in the desired way? Additionally, the notion of volume is very important. How do you choose between the adoption of music as an unostentatious background or as something immediate and having noticeable effects?
Questions:
What types of music do you choose to play in your institution and why?
What is the origin of your music?
To what extent can your music be considered and extension of the interior design of your institution?
Can you comment on the audio technology in use?
Do you alter the volume of the music?
What role does music play in constructing the experience of your hotel?
Why is music so low? And how exactly does it function if it is not designed to be listened to?
Do you think that your choice of music constructs a certain identity within your institution?
The script for this project will be presented in detail in the following entries of this weblog.
Literature:
“Time-inconsistent preferences and Consumer Self-Control”- Stephen Hoch and George Loewenstein
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Those will be useful in comparing the traditional purposes and strategies of Muzak as applied to places such as stores and supermarkets, with the employment of music in hotels. We will distinguish between two different types of Muzak in which the effects of music are designed to operate in different ways. We will compare the dynamics of these places as specifically determined by the music played in them.
(Chapter 12) “The Meaning of Music” in Performing Rites: Evaluating Popular Music- Simon Frith
-deals with the problem of the “meaning” of music/ aesthetic listening/ music and identity/ the application of adjectives in experiencing and interpreting music
(Chapter 12) “Visual and Acoustic Space”- M.McLuhan in Audio Culture:
John Blacking!
“Musical Meaning and its Social Determinants” -Derrick Wright , Sociology 9(3) (1975) (paid article, not in the library!)
We will also focus on texts which regard the consummators of music as listeners and examine/challenge the notion of the listener in a hotel environment. What is the new position/role/meaning of music once it is not listened to?
Research Results:
Our project now has a solid structure and we want to visit these locations tomorrow in order to arrange interviews. Once this has been achieved, we intend to compile a series of questions. Once we have recorded all of the information required, we will then write a script and get to work on editing the radio documentary, putting together a comprehensive analysis of music's strategic role in constructing our experience of interior space.
