Tamla Kahn 'Hammeron' McMahon wrote
Any music that gets away with being played in the background apparently un-noticed is meaningless. It defeats the object.
Not really. Music can set a mood without being up front. Take a good movie soundtrack - it's not always in your face obvious, but done properly works to elevate the mood that is being portrayed. While most people won't even notice it's there, take it away and the movie is far worse for the lack.
Music always affects mood, even if you don't listen closely. Even Muzak has a purpose - it's designed and used to slow you down, stay longer and keep you calm (and in most cases these things equate to you spending more). It's not made for close listening (and can be annoying for those of us who can't help listening to the detail - but that is because we are paying too much attention, it's not designed for us).
Context can make any music work. Take the elevator music scenes in
Dawn of the Dead, where it is used as comic relief between scenes of blood and mayhem. ? Because of the way we as musicians
always notice the music and listen closely to it, we often hear it out of context, and it's important to understand what the context should be and the intended purpose of the music.
Watch a film - preferably one you have already seen and enjoyed. But this time pay careful attention to the music and how it is used, rather than focusing on the images, you'll learn a lot. Careful though, or you'll end up like me, who finds himself analysing surround-sound panning techniques instead of relaxing and enjoying the damn movie.
So, back to the OP - it's not music that makes you feel nothing (if you felt nothing, you wouldn't have posted about ?), it's music that doesn't make you feel the way you want to when you listen to music.
