Program Length: 1 hour
Produced: 1996

"Everything is vibrating, Dude."
Paul McCartney

What roles does music play in your life?
Is it a constant companion?
Is it the soundtrack of your life?
Does it lift you when you're low or calm you when you're hyper?

Sonic Power suggests that music has power. What kinds of power do you think music has in people's lives? Is music more powerful in the lives of teens? Why?

Professor Isabelle Peretz, University of Montreal, states "We don't know any society without language. We don't know any society without music. Music must have some purpose for the human species."
What purposes do you think music serves in human society?
Speakers in Sonic Power suggest such purposes as communication, meditation, history and healing. What do you think they mean by these terms? Can you give an example of how music can serve each purpose?

Kate Bush's song "Experiment IV" is about using sound as a weapon. How do you think sound can be used as a weapon?

In December, 1989, the U.S. military used loud music outside General Manuel Noriega's compound in Panama to disrupt communication (and just to annoy him). Noriegawas hiding in his compound because the U.S. had invaded Panama to take him prisoner. He eventually surrendered to the troops. Was this an example of using sound as a weapon? Why? Were marches used as weapons in Nazi Germany?

Many dentists and doctors use music for pain reduction. How do you think music can reduce pain? Try some experiments using various kinds of music to see if your own pain can be reduced.
Do your homework while listening to different kinds of music. Do some kinds of music make it easier and some make it harder? Why?

Muzak is the world's largest producer of environmental music. It reaches 80 million people each day, including people in the White House and the Pentagon. Muzak's primary goal is increased business performance.
From what you see here, what do you think Muzak is?
Where is it used?
What is its effect on listeners?
How can Muzak increase business performance?
Jonathan Poneman, a former Muzak employee, says that Muzak is 'aural fascism', and that it anaesthetizes listeners against their will. What do you think is meant by his term aural fascism? How can Muzak anaesthetize listeners?
Do you think it is ethical for companies to force employees to listen to Muzak?
Do you think it is ethical for stores to force customers to listen to Muzak?

How does Muzak affect you? Find some Muzak or Muzak-like music and listen to it while you proceed with class work. Note your feelings and behaviour while listening to the music.
What effect does the Muzak have?
Would you like to listen to it everyday?
Would it be better suited to some classes than other classes?

Sonic Power presents the original and Muzak version of two songs, one by Whitney Houston and one by kd lang. Listen and view both excerpts carefully. What musical differences do you notice? Why wouldn't Muzak use the original versions of the songs? Which versions do you prefer? Why?
The video tells us that Muzak is meant to be heard but not listened to. This makes it part of the sound environment. Several speakers talk about foreground and background music. What do you think they mean by these terms? (Foreground music is meant to be listened to, to be attended to or paid attention to.  Background music is meant to be unconscious, filling in the void of silence between meaningful statements.)

Tim Booth, of James, suggests that Muzak fills the deadly silences and prevents us from thinking about death. Does Muzak have that effect on you?

Todd Rundgren, a producer, musician and sound designer, suggests that foreground and background music are no longer different, that music has become so ubiquitous (ever-present) that all music is now background music. Do you think this is true?

Many students listen to music on their way to and from school, class, etc. Are they doing this to change the environmental sounds in their lives? Why?  Does their listening to this music constantly make it less important, more like background music?
If you are a student who listens to music most of the time, try stopping for a day or two to see how the lack of music influences your attitudes and behaviours.

Music therapy is a way of helping people with physical and psychological exceptionalities to learn and communicate with others. We see several patients experiencing the benefits of music therapy. The doctors explain that music is an excellent way for people to communicate with each other and that music therapy can have profound influences on changing their lives. How is this attitude different from the Muzak philosophy? Are music therapy and Muzak the same philosophy applied to two different kinds of people?

Many musicians support music therapy: Neil Young, Eric Clapton, Phil Collins, Paul McCartney, ZZ Top, Elton John, John Mellencamp and The Who. Why do you think these musicians support therapy? In what ways are their music therapeutic?

The music therapist states, "People are becoming aware that music is -- you know we can all take it for granted that for entertainment or softening us up to buy more in a supermarket or reducing tension in a dentist's or doctor's office -- but people are realizing that it has a real contribution to make to the betterment of human life". What contributions to the betterment of human life do you see described in this video? What contributions has music made to the betterment of your life?

Music can be used to sell. Many people can easily sing jingles they remember.
How many jingles can your class remember?
Why are jingles memorable?
How do they help to sell products?
One advertiser states that jingles are dead, that he is now a sound designer. A Crush commercial, where a bicyclist avoids an accident, is shown as an example of sound design. Watch the commercial and note the way the sounds work to increase the entertainment and meaning of the commercial.

Wind Bells Installation
by Hiroki Okara

What makes a ring of the wind bells?
Where the wind blows?
A ring of the wind bell...
It's an auditory poem that the earth composes.
Everything is harmonizing on our planet.
The Earth itself is a symphony of all beings.

Is chill-out music an effort to show the 'Earth as a symphony of all beings?'

Listen to Dan Gibson, David Sylvian, The Orb, and/or Loreena McKennitt. Do you chill out when you hear their music?
Does their music show the 'Earth as a symphony of all beings?' Is this background or foreground music? 

Written by: Neil Andersen
Neil Andersen is an award-winning Curriculum Consultant with the Toronto District School Board. He is also a speaker and consultant in media and communications technology. His most recent work includes the Between the Lines CDs, the teachers' study guide for the award-winning Scanning Television, and study guides for Space, Bravo! and MuchMusic's Cable in the Classroom broadcasts of original media literacy programming.

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