“Ten percent: That’s how much more money people spend at restaurants when classical music is being played in the background.” – Ed Elson, on the Prof G podcast, July 15
Classing up the proceedings with music has a long history. For centuries, aristocrats and rich people have employed musicians to serenade them at dinners and social occasions. The most epic example of dining accompaniment is Georg Philipp Telemann’s “Tafelmusik” (“Music for the Table”) of 1733, three sets of orchestral and chamber pieces, collectively clocking in at 4 hours or so.
In the 19th century, spas and grand hotels employed classical musicians to give their spaces finishing touches of class. Upscale restaurants and department stores soon followed – over time, though, they traded in Chopin for show tunes and nostalgic “our songs.”
More recently, specialty and luxury retailers pipe in classical music as a status signal, conditioning patrons to pay high prices. A harpist or string quartet playing in the corner at a wedding reception exudes classiness.
Meanwhile, some businesses and public spaces play classical music to drive away the rowdy and unwashed – weaponizing classiness.
My most frequent exposure to classics in the background is at urgent-care clinics, where the music presumably is played to calm patients in the treatment area. For me, it’s a diverting game of name-that-composer. My batting average is pretty good – post-baroque, anyway.
In the waiting room, we get home-renovation TV. Watching people tear down walls is therapeutic? Who knew?
Letter V 