Sound ideas: the executioner's song

An 11-year-old boy says to his friend "What do candy bars and music have in common?"

"I don't know" says his friend, to which he responds "You should throw the (w)rappers away". Chuckles ensue while the rap music on the radio continues to play.

Like many other creative pursuits, music's quality is ultimately found in the ear of the beholder. But whatever you think about music's different forms and formats, the common theme is that mere sound waves have an amazing ability to stimulate a range of thoughts, emotions and physical reactions among most members of the species.

And if you have any interest at all in music, then you might find SoundJunction of interest.

Sound Junction provides an interactive, ears-on exploration of music and sound. The best part (in my opinion of course) is the point and click composition toolset that lets you compose your own tunes in a browser interface.

Alright already, so what does any of this have to do with marketing?

One area of Sound Junction that caught my ear provides three different composers with a seed rhythym and asks them to create something from it. (here)

The seed rhythym, or idea, seems simple and unremarkable. And yet, when applied by three different people, the end results possess an amazing diversity in approach, quality and theme. So much so as to render nearly imperceptible the common rhythmic idea around which the compositions were built.

And so the next time someone suggests that there is ONE, BIG idea for a marketing effort, it may be worth remembering that it's often not a big idea but great execution that makes all the difference.

Completing the tangents-linked-by-a-slender-thread triple play post, snaps to Neil J for links to two interesting views on science, music and what's good, bad and...strange:

Scientific attempts to create the most annoying song ever

Proof that people have no taste in music