Background Music Piped Into Bank

Press, Volume CIII, Issue 30560, 1 October 1964, Page 11

Background Music Piped Into Bank

“The Prets" Special Service

AUCKLAND, Sep. 30. The new 13-storey A.N.Z. Bank building in Auckland has been wired for background music. Tape-recorded music, specially composed and orchestrated in the United States to produce emotional moods that promote high office efficiency, will be piped into the building through the telephone system from a central studio in the city. The bank will be the first in New Zealand to receive a piped music service. “To start with, the music will be played in the ledger department, the staff room and the lifts,” said the manager of the bank, Mr V. J. Crowley. “After that we shall see whether we shall use it in the banking chamber and some of the offices. Reports from banks that use piped music in the United States and Australia suggest that beneficial results can be expected.”

Recorded on Tapes A representative of the firm which has installed the system said the music was recorded on tapes that played eight hours at a time. “It is not like any music we know,” he said. “It is designed to be heard, but not listened to. It is the kind of music that soothes frayed nerves, reduces mental tensions, induces toleration between members of a staff, and in other ways helps to create a better work atmosphere." He said that a bank in Aus-

tralia which installed the system four years ago claimed that once its staff accepted the music as an integral part of their working environment their daily work output showed a pronounced lift, there was greater friendliness and willingness to co-operate between departments, absenteeism dropped, staff turnover declined and clerical errors were reduced by a third. The music differed from music-while-you-work played in factories. It was entirely orchestral. There were no voices or popular tunes to distract attention from concentrated clerical work, and the programmes were never repeated. New tapes were played each day. The American firm that supplied the tapes arranged its programmes in accordance with observed human behaviour. In the morning, when the brain was fresh, the music was relatively slow and relaxing. In the late afternoon, when people were tired and efficiency sagged, the tempo accelerated, and the mood stimulus increased, giving the mind what was described by the American distribtuors as an emotional lift. Although the music would be amplified in limited areas of the bank at the beginning, all 14 floors had been wired, and business firms renting the top 11 floors would be able to share the piped music if they wanted it and paid for it. .