Incorporating Gestalt principles into song-writing. What makes 'Shine at Christmas' such an enjoyable song for children and teenagers?
My recent release Shine at Christmas has been purposely constructed to elicit a sense of ‘oneness’ between the listener and the music. I aimed to create this sense of ‘oneness,’ since I have noticed that for me to enjoy music, I must be able to switch off from the world, and become at one with the music I am listening to. Often I do not switch off consciously however. In these moments, the process seems almost automatic. At other times, though, it seems to be much more difficult.
There could be various reasons for this including how much I am in the mood to listen to the music and to allow myself to drift away. Gestalt psychology offers an explanation of how songs can make it more likely that this 'drifting away' will happen.
In many ways, Gestalt psychology is based on the principle of totality, wherein all individual components relate to a cohesive whole. This is perhaps somewhat easy to understand when speaking about music, or more specifically, when speaking about listening to music. Normally, a listener of an orchestra does not hear the stringed instruments or the percussion instruments separately - but rather hears them collectively. The same applies for instance when people listen to their favorite band or when they heard different sounds at one and the same time. While the individual components making up the music are important; the final product, the finished piece of music, is qualitatively different to the individual components on their own.
More importantly though – and indeed more cogently when thinking in terms of Gestalt psychology- music becomes a gestalt when one is immersed in the music, i.e. when the music becomes part of a person’s experience and behavior, and thereby where the music and the person become a systemic whole.
There is then yet another 'whole' to be considered. Being that I come from a sociological background, it is perhaps natural for me to think of types of music associated with certain cultural, social and economic prerequisites. Sometimes people can immerse themselves in music (considering these prerequisites) and sometimes they cannot. As a case in point, Blues can appeal to people from a certain cultural background while not necessarily appealing to others. The same can be said for many other musical genres. To create this whole therefore, individual likes and preferences, and cultural mores, cannot be left out of the picture. This is a challenge for song writers. If you cannot please all the people all the time, how can you write a song which has universal appeal?
Personally speaking, when writing Shine at Christmas, my goal was to create a song that would have this universal appeal. My intention was to outreach to children and young people who could not afford a Christmas and to thereby enable them to partially forget about what they did not have. I wanted them to escape from harsh realities by simply enjoying my song and thereby being 'happy' for a while. Having said this, as a person who has been learning and studying piano since the age of four, I knew that writing a song with the universal appeal that I was aspiring toward would be no laughing matter.
I believed though that adopting three Gestalt principles in the way the song was constructed were likely to make my song enjoyable to listeners of all ages and from different parts of the world. These principles make songs predicable in nature and this enables song writers to vary tones and harmonies while retaining a somewhat consistent melody throughout. People feel more at ease with consistency than with change and more often than not gravitate to music that says something about them. This can be readily seen by the impressive number of songs that there are about love - love is something that (fortunately) many people can identify with.
The first of the Gestalt principles that I used in my song is the principle of proximity. The song is constructed on essentially the same notes throughout, with melodies seeming to stem from the preceding melodies.
The second of these principles is the principle of similarity. This is manifested through the pitch that is employed, the intervals that are used, and the ongoing consistent duration of notes; most of which are quavers. The song is clearly predictable in nature.
The third of these principles is the principle of continuity. Through inserting different inversions of the tonic key in which the song is constructed, listeners are enabled to discern the melodic construction of the song, which remains an uncomplicated one throughout.
Shine at Christmas is also a gestalt with Christmas. It reflects the spirit of Christmas and does so through the chiming of a bell as part of the music. The bell primarily enables people to associate the song with other Christmas songs, secondly it makes it possible for them to discern the popular depiction of Santa Claus with his bell, and thirdly, it makes them more inclined to make out the colors, traditions, and overall festive mood of Christmas with their minds’ eye rather like when one says F#, G#, A# to a pianist who immediately brings the piano keys to mind. The bell adds to the songs’ immersive qualities but it would not contribute to the song's musicality in the way it does had the melody lines to have been complicated unnecessarily. This is because the bell would not stand out in the manner which it does.
The song does not lack 'twists' and these have been inserted to engage further interest in the song. For instance, the use of a spoken part in the middle of the song to emphasize its central (Christian) message; and an operatic style ending to give it closure, clearly make the song original. It is most likely the combination of the more predictable features of the song and these particular ‘twists’ that have led Shine at Christmas to be described in Mag 360, a popular on-line platform for music lovers, as a “fun-loving” carol that is “perfect” for all ages, particularly since “the superb instrumentation, production and lyrical content” contribute “to making it a shoo-in for the season”. Mag 360 summarizes this by saying that “if Ace Ventura had to have a holiday song - this would be it".
A video for Shine at Christmas is being filmed at PopEye Village in Malta. The music video will be uploaded to YouTube on the 4th December. The song will also be played on radio stations internationally thereby bringing a very positive and upbeat Christmas message to the world. The song had been recorded to a musical accompaniment that was provided by StudioPros in the US; and the final vocal recording was recorded (to the musical accompaniment provided by Studio Pros) in Beat Street Studios in Leeds, England.
University Lecturer at University of Malta
7 年I would like to thank all the people who have liked this post. The reality is that music makes people happy, it enables them to leave their own sometimes troubled worlds and gives them an escape, and it also serves to bring people together. Some of my younger students at MCAST where I work (it is a vocational college in Malta) have come up with the idea that they come up with a dance to my song and that we perform all together at a staged event/public talent show/concert that is set up annually by the Community Chest Fund. I am so pleased with this idea, primarily as it will serve to enhance the self-esteem of the perhaps more inhibited people among them (which is common to every group of young people), secondly, because it is indeed a lovely compliment, and thirdly becuase the Community Chest Fund is a national body that raises funds for those in need. Thank you Jesus for my younger (Foundaton students). Keep Your hands on them! Little do they know what a wonderful Christmas present they have given me! I thought I would share my happiness with you, my great Linkedin friends, here. Thankyou for all your likes and for all your good wishes.