MUSI 3041 Assignment #1 - Yating Yang

Assignment #1: Music in the Harbour City

Yating Yang (3036037011)

On September 17th, I went to Harbour City for a unique journey in finding music. Like in most malls, visitors can hear softly orchestral music played in the corridor and other transitional spaces. This kind of music is good background music because it has no distinctive features and will not occupy much of the visitors' attention. Meanwhile, every store played its music. After listening carefully to the music, I got more ideas about how music organizes different spaces.

In terms of the music itself, different music contents could help to frame various spaces. The BOOK CASTLE, a children's bookstore, successfully uses music to create its unique space. As the target customer group is newborns to teenagers, this store plays various children's songs such as Down by the Station and Are you Sleeping? As soon as I entered the bookstore, I felt like stepping into a fairy tale world. The music could effectively integrate customers into the bookstore and separate the bookstore from the rest of the mall. 

The Collection of Style (COS) also tries to differentiate its store area with special music content. The music played in COS has a strong sense of rhythm, and the melodies are relaxing and cheerful. After asking the staff, I know that all the songs played in the store are given by the company. There is a COS Sounds list on Spotify, which is managed by someone in the COS’s headquarters and is updated weekly. Although these songs are not original, they all have a similar style which is in line with COS’s brand positioning: simple and fashion. 

One more similar case, ZARA, also uses music with an identifiable rhythm to set up an individual area in the mall. Some songs I heard were Babylon, Arcade, and Anyone For You. All the foreground music used by ZARA are foreign songs with distinct vocals. Playing these songs could reinforce visitors' conception of the inside and outside of the store.

Besides the contents, from the perspective of acoustic transmission, I believe music also helps organize spaces through its presence. When I entered Calvin Klein (CK), I was immediately attracted by the song DDU-DU DDU-DU, sung by a Korean girl singing group BLACKPINK. The music played in CK had the highest volume among all the songs I heard that day. The sudden appearance of this powerful music was refreshing and could strengthen customers' perception that they are entering a new place. Moreover, I think the placement of the stereo is also important. There is a speaker right on the ceiling of the entrance. Compared with placing the sound system in the area inside the store, this allows people to feel the contrast between the sounds inside and outside the store more vividly.

The last place I entered was City‘super, a store that aims to provide good quality food for elites. The whole store is surrounded by light music. While creating a delightful shopping environment, the music could also free the supermarket from the noise of the corridors in the mall. Shoppers could realize that they are in the store. And once they get back to the noisy corridors, they will know they have left City‘super.

Before last Saturday, I had never listened so carefully to the music in a mall. With the existence of itself and the diversity of its content, music can help to shape space within a building. But how can music shape space more effectively and give each space irreplaceable characteristics, is a question worth my further observation and thinking.