The Stimulus Progression

Fascinated by the way in which music informs and controls your life? I am! Upon doing some research on muzak, I came across this article. Check out these quotes from the linked (click the title) paper on how musak and architecture inform your world in ways you may not have appreciated (read as "ignored") in the past.


"Whatever the workplace environment, Muzak set out to maintain a median level of arousal. Muzak observed that natural levels of arousal are never static or consistently varied, but rise and fall throughout the day as well as over fifteen minute cyclical periods. In response, Muzak arranged programs according to a “Stimulus Progression,” varying musical energy levels over fifteen-minute segments that would be followed by either a thirty-second or fifteen-minute long period of silence, depending on the subscriber's desire. The Stimulus Progression was based on Muzak’s analysis of its songs for their emotional content and energy levels. Factoring in tempo, type of music, instruments employed, and the size of orchestra, Muzak determined a stimulus value for each song. By the 1950s, Muzak could carefully vary its level of stimulus during the day to offset decreases in worker efficiency during mid-morning and mid-afternoon slumps. The fifteen-minute length of the Stimulus Progression also served to enhance productivity by creating more distinctly delimited breaks between spurts of work activity. The order of the Stimulus Progression was crucial: studies showed that if played backwards, it would put listeners to sleep."

"After a tremendous period of economic and technological growth from the first two world wars, a surplus of income allowed teenagers unprecedented freedom from familial restraints and societal mores. As the first purely consumer market, youth culture relied heavily on the purchasing and playback of music to express itself and create identity."

This is facinating stuff! Think about that next time you are subjected to Sunny 99.1 and consider that it is #1 in the workplace for more reasons than just their great "mix". They know something you may not...and it is about you!