Note from Emmett: Greetings, loyal readers! In the spirit of a true blog, I'm going to try to post more off-the-cuff, this-is-what-I'm-currently-thinking-of articles in this section. I hope to keep this train going!

Newsweek's Russ Juskalian has posted an interesting article (link) on "on-hold music" and its effects on our psyches, from influencing buying habits to alleviating impatience. While the article is centered on music piped in to keep us from hanging up the phone, I found a lot of relevance to theme park background music and its effect on our touring habits.

From the article:

Simon Morrison, a musicologist at Princeton University, says that we can thank a French composer named Erik Satie for the birth of background music...[S]ays Morrison, "[Satie] developed a very cynical attitude toward the listener." Satie was so obsessed with the idea that music could no longer communicate to the audience, he concluded that music in the 20th century was destined to be a vacuous, comfortable apparatus best used as a background for other activities, much like a favorite chair.

Just off the top of my head (and certainly nowhere near as comprehensive a list as it could be), here are only a handful of background music loops which have affected, for better or worse, my own Walt Disney World experiences:

• Space Mountain (Magic Kingdom) - Ever notice what a soothing queue this is? It's a line for a thrill ride, but the line to get in is rather tranquil. A lot of that has to do with the music, which can best be described as New Age with a cosmic twist. I never get impatient waiting for this attraction. Well, not until we leave the tunnels and enter the raucous main loading area.

• Pinnochio Village Haus (Magic Kingdom) - In the middle of a hot day of touring, I find the spirited polka music loop playing in this restaurant to have somewhat of a cooling effect. Maybe it's the Alpine village motif. I don't know, but it works for me.

• It's Tough to be a Bug (Disney's Animal Kingdom) - The main waiting area of this attraction gets packed, and you do feel like a bug in some sort of ant farm. But underscoring your wait are some great tunes, all played by bees. I was able to forget about feeling crowded in by concentrating on the music. My favorite tune, "Beauty and the Bees."

• Test Track (Epcot) - Okay, now here's an example of a background loop which I think does not help the waiting experience. With its monotonous, hammering, electronic beat, coupled with the live, loud clanging noises of the exhibits in the queue, the Test Track background loop is one of the most annoying, so much so that I think about it more often than the ride itself. You're lucky if you don't have a headache by the time you get to the first pre-show.

What background music loops have affected your touring experiences at Walt Disney World, Universal, SeaWorld, or other Orlando attractions? More specifically, how did the music change your attitude, or what you felt, thought, or did? E-mail me! I will post responses as an update to this blog entry.