Music and the Environment: Musi3041

 Assignment 1 - Commercial Soundscapes Law Vanessa Lok Tung  3035825095   In the afternoon of 18 th September, I went to the China Hong Kong City and the Harbor City to experience the commercial soundscape of Tsim Sha Tsui. There was no background music playing in both shopping malls.   Once I entered the China Hong Kong City, I was attracted by a store called ‘Kids Kids Cars’ because there were loud and recognizable children’s songs. It pops out in a quiet environment, and thus constructs a clear separation of space between the store and the mall. It also creates a space enclosing an existing recreational activity, that is, car racing, and shapes a livelier vibe in the mall since most shops were closed. I noticed that the music was broadcasted from the floor standing speakers in the front of the store, and the speakers from the ceiling. It is believed that the reason for playing at such high volume can not only attract the attention of pedestrians and childre...

 On 17 September, I went to the Tsim Sha Tsui（尖沙咀） area to experience programmed music. I visited 20 locations and identified five of the more representative ones for my fieldwork assignment. At the same time, Meanwhile, try to find the relationship between commercial soundscapes and the selection of programmed music. 7-Eleven 7-Eleven's stores are very densely distributed in Hong Kong as retail convenience stores. Any corner of Hong Kong will find a 7-Eleven store. Meanwhile, 7-Eleven also gives people a convenient and relaxed shopping environment. Two audio is simultaneously placed in the doorway and above the cashier. Regarding the programmed music of 7-Eleven, it will mainly choose some light instrumental pop music as programmed music, which matches the brand tone of 7-Eleven and gives people a relaxed and cozy shopping environment. Harbour City（海港城） Harbour City is a shopping center that is the largest in Hong Kong. The location I chose for my recording was the G floor, where ...

On 18th September, a Sunday afternoon, I went to China Hong Kong City and Harbour City in Tsim Sha Tsui to explore their soundscapes. It is a usually busy high-class commercial area accessible by various forms of traffic.  China Hong Kong City China Hong Kong City is very quiet as Harbour City gets filled up by people. Most of the stores in China Hong Kong City were closed (due to it mainly serving tourists and people commuting to and from mainland China by ferry, which is not in service since the pandemic), and most of the few opened jewelry or eyeglasses stores do not have programmed music. The quietness in these types of stores help one-on-one conversation and tailoring between the seller and customers. Not a lot of programmed music could be heard there. I focused exclusively on stores targeting children as they were opened. The store Kids Kids Car is a playground for toddlers to drive mini racecars and broadcasted upbeat nursery rhymes so loudly it could be heard the moment ...

Assignment #1: Programmed Music in IFC Mall   Norah(Jiaqing Jin) I chose   IFC mall as my destination for this assignment on 20 September. The mall aims to cater to the middle and upper class. Especially as it is surrounded by International Finance Center, so many financial elites come to spend time after work. With more than 200 stores and mostly featuring international premier brands, IFC mall is one of the iconic world-class shopping malls. I collected some music and tried to make some comparisons between them. Also, with the AI tech, some of the recordings were identified as certain music pieces when I sorted them, so I chose to put the original music from the internet for better listening. For others that failed to be identified, the recording seemed to be the only choice. 1. Overall music in the mall It is a very typical jazz piece played by piano and jazz drums, sounds like a small jazz band playing in the mall. Since it is played all around the mall by the stereos on t...

Commercial Soundscapes: Lee Tung Avenue Lee Tung Avenue Lee Tung Avenue is a historic Hong Kong landmark that has been revamped into an outdoor + indoor commercial shopping district, housing mid-range fashion outlets, multinational brands, boutique cafes, etc. It was once dubbed ‘Wedding Card Street’ as it was home to many wedding card publishers. Albeit protests against urban redevelopment, it succumbed to the growing economy of Hong Kong in 2013, and was officially transformed into a retail heaven.  As such, the music serves a purpose no other than perfecting the consumerist experience. The background music is played in the corridors, and the foreground music is played in the stores.  Foreground music The Baker & The Bottlemen This bakery played quick, rap music from Drake, was broadcasted through a ceiling speaker system and was very bass heavy. Usually, it would be quite odd to include rap music in the playlist of a bakery. However, already hinted at in the name; it is...

MUSI3041 Assignment 1                              Liu Yushuo     On September 17th, I  visited   the   I nternational Finance Centre  (IFC) in Central ; a landmark of Hong Kong's business and leisure.  IFC  integrates shopping, leisure and entertainment, and is one of the most fashionable shopping and leisure centers in Hong Kong.  The mall has more than 200 shops of various kinds, ranging from restaurants, and supermarkets to cinemas. So I started a journey to find  a  discover programmed music here  at the mall .       H alls and hallways   Throughout  the  halls  and hallways  entering the lobby , I heard music, which is a soft and quiet music style. I recorded the background music of different floors, mostly light music and classical music. Although t...