Ritual - Part 2

1. RITUAL – PART 2

2. Conclusions from last
week
• 1. Encouraging a positive attitude towards a
product by associating it with emotionally
connecting music. Think the Cadbury’s Flake
commercial.
• 2. Improving the comprehension of a message by
syncing it with congruent music. Many
commercials with a call to action employ music
that lyrically reinforces the message
• 3. Changing the tempo of human activity through
beats per minute and volume. Playing slower and
softer music can encourage customers to stay
longer and spend more money.
• 4. Shifting the listener’s emotional state to
encourage a different behaviour. According to
research by Entertainment Media Research, four
in five people frequently listen to music to
deliberately put themselves in a more positive
frame of mind
Taken from the website:
www.Musicworksforyou.com

3. Probably the most well-known example of a
music research experiment was conducted by
North, Hargreaves and McKendrick. This
involved playing a mixture of French and
German music next to a supermarket display of
French and German wines over a two week
period. When French music was played, French
wine outsold German wine by five bottles to
one. Conversely when German music was
played, German wine outsold French wine by
nearly two bottles to one.

4. A similar experiment was conducted by North and
Yeoh in Malaysia. Students were given a choice of
Malaysian or Indian food after being played music
from one of the two countries. When Malay music
was played, three times as many participants chose
Malay than Indian food. When Indian music was
played, nearly six times as many respondents chose
Indian over Malay food.

5. The tempo, volume or pitch of the music is another
influential variable of direct relevance to retailers.
A study on background music by Sullivan carried
out in a medium-sized mid-range restaurant found
that the playing of soft music led to meal durations
20% longer than when loud music was played and
as a consequence the amount of money spent on
food in the restaurant was 7.5% higher. A separate
study by Caldwell and Hibbert found that when
slow music was played in restaurants the time
spent dining was 20% longer but 51% more money
was spent on drink per head and 12% more on
food per head.

7. So, what is meaning?

8. So, what is meaning?

9. So, what is meaning?
Sender  Message  Receiver

10. So, what is meaning?

11. ‘the sad thing is that you will never know (and I can
never tell you) how I interpret what you say to me.
You have not spoken Hebrew, of course not. You and
I, we use the same language, the same words. But is
it our fault, yours and mine, that the words we use
are empty? … Empty. In saying them, you fill them up
with the meaning they have for you; I, in collecting
them up, I fill them with the meaning I give them. We
had believed that we understood one another; we
have not understood one another at all’
(Pirandello 1972:147)
Pirandello, L. Uno, nessuno centomila. Milano: Mondadori

12. Conclusion
Discuss in pairs the general purpose of music in rituals.
Consider the construction of meaning in society.

13. Conclusion
Discuss in pairs the general purpose of music in rituals.
Consider the construction of meaning in society.
My thoughts:
Music in rituals transfers meaning to the situation. Sometimes the meaning is
obvious, sometimes it is on a sub-conscious level. We know whether the event is
a sad occasion or whether we should stand up and sing or whether we should
shout or be silent. It also influences us to do things; we eat faster, stay and relax,
think about certain things, all without being explicitly told. Music is a hugely
powerful device in these situations and has the ability to change society.