Introduction
A study by theHarvard Business Reviewconcluded that people remember
20 percent of what they hear and 30 percent of what they hear and see.
!!Throughout the dec-
ades, music has always held
a special place among the
arts because of the emo-
tional response it creates.
Various cultures have
banned music and thought
of it as evil. People have
been jailed for listening to
and playing unacceptable
music; instruments have
been burned. Songs have
always reflected the atti-
tudes and mores of society.
In Plato’sRepublic, Soc-
rates wanted to ban the mu-
sical modes (specific scales)
‘‘because more than any-
thing else rhythm and har-
mony find their way to the
inmost soul and take stron-
gest hold upon it, bringing
with them an imparting
grace, if one is rightly
trained, and otherwise the
contrary.’’While the process of composing
involves numerous steps and skills, the
composer’s goal is to elicit an emotional
response from the audience. Therefore,
when composing music for television and
radio commercials, composers must focus
on receiving the proper reaction from the
audience. Sometimes the reaction to the
score is subliminal; however, without
music, some commercials might not be as
effective. The composer’s objective should
be to achieve the reaction that the creative
team (writer, art director, and producer)
wants to elicit. The music must enhance
the scenes and add ‘‘feeling’’ to the mes-
sages behind the concept of the commer-
cials.The music must help ‘‘tell the story.’’
It is the emotional reaction of hearing
music that creates a lasting impression.
For example, a song on the radio usually
triggers a memory of an event or time
period in the listener’s life. In the film
Jaws,thetwo-notebassthemeplayed
when the shark was near a potential vic-
tim created an anticipation of danger.
Within Intel commercials, the musical
logo (theme) at the end of the spots is
anticipated since viewers have frequently
heard the theme because of repeated airplay. During the television pro-
gramThe X-Files, the short musical theme played with an unusual synthe-
sizer sound creates an emotional response and also musically telegraphs
(to the audience) the general concept of the series.
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