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Satie's Furniture Music: Designed to be Ignored?

Inside the Score

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⠀ What is Satie's Furniture Music, and did it give birth to modern-day Muzak, and even more beloved forms of background music such as film music?

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Video script by Louis Wild
Narrated by Oscar Osicki

20 Comments

@n1t_ 4 years ago

You can make one straight line from "Erik Satie - Furniture music" to "LoFi Study Music".

Btw can we call it "Furniture Music" instead of "Elevator Music". This gives it a much more magical appereance.

@anti64 4 years ago (edited)

Erik Satie's furniture music has legit saved my scholarity by helping me concentrate on school works despite my inhability to do so. I graduated highschool 2 weeks ago and he was the first person I wanted to thank.

@InventorZahran 4 years ago

It's also worth noting that recorded music was just starting to become widely available in the early 20th century, when Satie was developing his idea of 'furniture music'. Maybe I'm overstating, but I think recordings had a great effect on how we viewed music's role and purpose in daily life. Before the age of recording, all music was live. It was rare to spend a significant amount of time in a place where music was playing, without specifically being there to listen to it (except for select venues where live background music was present, such as banquet halls and some resturaunts). But once recorded music was widely distributed, it became possible to have music playing anywhere, anytime, and for as long as necessary, without the need for live musicians. This would've been when most people first started listening to music at home, and when they began to hear it more commonly in public spaces. Music became a ubiquitous presence in life, no longer confined to the court, church, and concert hall.

@Ninejahman 4 years ago

So Satie pioneered the repetitive/minimalist genre as well, what a boss!

@Serai3 4 years ago (edited)

It's kind of amusing since I find I can NEVER ignore Satie's music. It's some of my favorite music, and it always changes my mood to one of calm when I hear it.

As to Carrelage: No, I could not put up with this one. But it's not the repetition; it's the tune. It's intrusive and insistent, it pokes at me. That's not furniture music. His Gymnopides, on the other hand, are gentle and humble; they don't shove their way into your ears, which is why I love them. Their conversation is intimate - it smiles.

@NovaMenno 4 years ago

I remember a moment where I was playing Gymnopedie 1 on Piano. I was just playing it for fun, but I had this strong inclination to repeat the first two bars. After a while when the repetition of those 2 bars became engraved in my muscle memory, that had a significant effect one me.

I was repeating those 2 bars, while listening intently, it simultaniously brought me in this sort of trance. I felt engulfed by a sense of calmness.

I went into a peculiar state where I could play the music unconsciously, this allowed me to dissociate from the performer role, and allowed me to view it from the role of a spectator. It felt like I was at the same time the perfomer and the listener

@goonercestlavie 4 years ago

Vidéo intéressante. Good perspective. Good work.
Very interesting deep character indeed.

''The more I know of man, the more I admire dogs'' - Erik Satie

“I must have forgotten my umbrella in the elevator. My umbrella must be very worried that it lost me.” - ES

''Laying face down on your stomach on the floor is fine. However, this position is inconvenient for licking the hand of the one kicking you in the butt. ” - ES

''Pianos are like bank notes, it only pleases the ones who put their hand on them.'' - ES

''Why attack God himself? He is as unhappy as we can be. Since the death of his poor son, he no longer has a taste for anything.'' - ES

“The air in Paris is so bad that I always boil it before I breathe.” - ES

“My doctor always told me to smoke. He adds to his advice: - Smoke, my friend: otherwise, another will smoke instead of you.” - ES

''It is bad to drown after eating.'' -ES

''Despite our informations being false, we do not guarantee them.'' - ES

''My name is Erik Satie, like everyone else'' - ES

@johncrwarner 4 years ago

I went to a performance of
"Einstein on the Beach"
at Amsterdam Opera House
and they had set it up so you could here it in the bar.
The idea was that you should wander round during the performance.
We did it and ate a snack meal during act II
but most people stayed in their seats for the full opera
not what Philip Glass wanted.

@print-helloworld-8977 4 years ago

I love erik satie. He lived a depressing life, and was an outcast in the world of composition. He was never “accepted”. I honor his works and will continue to play them on the piano.

@lacrimatorium 4 years ago (edited)

Excellent exploration of a sound. I actually found a sealed copy of a Muzak™ LP in a dumpster. What was most interesting was the copy on the back. It said this was NOT FOR SALE. It was not for the public. And explained carefully its mode of musical manipulation, and how to generate sales. Interestingly actual Muzak™ has almost disappeared. Now one just hears endless pop music everywhere. I almost miss the aural hypnosis.

@lundsweden 4 years ago

If Satie was around today, he would make a killing composing ringtones, OS startup sounds ect!

@kassemir 4 years ago

I feel like lo-fi hip-hop would've been worth mentioning. They're often titled "lo-fi beats to study to" - thus in a similar way sort instructing a second primary activity.
They also use a lot of simple chord loops and melodies with a lot of repetition. Even going so far as to mix it so that the drums and percussion sound weak, compared to more modern sounding music, so they don't grab the intended listener's attention.
I'd say there's a strong case to view this phenomenon in the same lineage as the other examples at the end of the video.

@poweroffriendship2.0 4 years ago (edited)

The Muzak songs reminds me of the soundtrack from Ren and Stimpy and Spongebob SquarePants where the background music gives off the 1950s - 1960s American neighborhood vibe. It makes both shows feel magical and relaxing juxtaposed to the absurd and strange humor.

@ramblinevilmushroom 4 years ago

I cant believe that in a video about background music, you didn't even mention lofi study and sleep music.

@eccentriastes6273 4 years ago

This reminds me of how some NES games, due to technical limitations, would have music tracks that were just loops of a few seconds. I'm pretty sure nobody liked that and people preferred something more like the classic Mario theme as background music.

@jandenbrok9574 3 years ago

That's funny. Satie's searching piano pieces make me sit down and listen with full attention.

@Capyrate 3 years ago

Carrelage Phonique is very cute imo. Very repetitive, so it needs not to be very loud, but imo it makes for a cute little background sound.
Also, I adore Satie. The man may be my favorite composer of all times, so anything about him, I say yes please. 💕