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What is it about certain pieces which gets people talking?
Is it possible to find a common characteristic or “magic” quality that creates a special connection between an artist and their listeners?
In fact, there is and in this article I am going to share some of my ideas on the matter.
A Hook is a musical idea, which can be a short riff, musical passage, or lyrical phrase that makes a song appealing and captures the ear of the listener.
It is always melodic, rhythmic, or verbal and it usually incorporates a motif, which is a unique or clever melodic, rhythmic, or lyrical device, specific to the piece.
A hook can be place anywhere within a song, but usually it's part of the chorus.
In contrast, an Earworm is typically defined as musical or lyrical material that repeats itself compulsively within one’s mind.
Where the hook is more musical in nature, the earworm is more psychological.
Studies have determined that different people have varying susceptibilities to earworms but that almost everyone has been affected by them at one time or another.
What this means is that a Hook can become an Earworm and an Earworm is likely to be based on a Hook.
So how is it possible for a small musical idea to become trapped in a person's mind? And why does this happen?
Scientifically, what brings the Hook and Earworm into existence is a “trance generating loop.” A trance generating loop is created when a certain quantity of repetition is reached sufficient to produce an altered state of consciousness in an individual.
Trance researcher David Wier says, “Music consists of many trance generation loops consisting of the multiple rhythms and melodies [and words]. As one listens to one specific rhythm or melody, when a certain value is reached, the melody is 'learned' and a dissociated trance is produced.”
He goes on to say that the trance becomes stable when additional loops are introduced in order to reinforce the original loop.
Further trance research has shown that “the strength of a trance or the duration of the effect of the trance depends mostly on the number of repetitions and NOT on the content of the loop." He concludes with, “It is a strong trance force which gives the sense of weirdness or other-worldly quality to deep trance.”
So in a very real sense, we could say that an intelligent songwriter is capable of inventing or discovering their own signature pattern for creating songs "you can’t get out of your head." The trick is just to make a piece of music so "catchy" that a person will be compelled to listen to it often enough for it to take root in their mind and evolve into an earworm.
Following these discoveries a composer or musician can then magnify the results by strategic promotion and marketing.
Think about the power just one song can have in society where that song is seemingly omnipresent. It’s promoted on the Internet, satellite radio, commercial radio, pushed on Amazon.com, highly recommended in the Apple music store, it’s on T.V., on T.V. commercials, on movie soundtracks, and even other bands are doing covers of the song on YouTube. Not only that but it’s also getting played in clubs, getting remixed by DJ’s, getting played at high school dances, getting played at house parties, college frat houses, and getting played in the car next to you.
Even with repetitive plays you may have noticed that some songs still don't contain Hooks that are trance worthy so they never become Earworms. For one reason or another they just never become viral and don’t ingrain themselves into the collective consciousness.
By definition, Hooks have to be simple, easy to remember, and easy to transmit before they can become Earworms. So how do you know when you've got an Earworm? When your attention is so contracted that it feels like “tunnel vision,” then you are in a trance. Beware of this effect.
Whenever we space out, daydream, are under the influence, sleepy, or distracted, we are susceptible to the implantation of an Earworm. Your attention has to be fixed and your awareness has to be lowered as the Hook takes hold.
When you're not listening to a song and suddenly you begin to hear it in your head, then you know you've got an Earworm. The most insidious thing about an Earworm is how it can be so persistent, so demanding.
Here's a simple mathematical music formula for you to remember.
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A Formula for “Catchiness”
S(H) x P + M = E
A Song multiplied by its Hook times the combined effect of Promotion and Marketing equals its effect as an Earworm.
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Marc
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