Last weekend we were at a science museum, where the main theme was about music. This was a hands on sort of museum (not the "look and say ahhh!" sort), and it set my synapses firing rapidly.
Here's the proposition - playing music at the workplace helps make tedious tasks easier, and makes work more enjoyable. However, in the modern era, we're missing a soundtrack for the computerized/blackberry-ized workplace. What we have are 100 million ipods, with presumably gazillion songs inside. I'm not saying that there's a shortage of music that can be played at work. What I'm saying is that in a workplace that lacks rhythm, there is no one piece of music that can match the rhythm of work and elevate the quality of work. The modern workplace is like a communist gulag simply because of this lack of rhythm and music.
Having a soundtrack for one's life is not a strange idea at all, especially for those of us who grew up on bollywood fare. Depending on the time of day, the mood, the sunshine, the friends one has, the music that plays in the backdrop will change.
Having a soundtrack that matches work rhythm is not a strange idea either. Arguably, all rhythmatic music is designed for a specific type of work. Grain threshing, coal mining, rail-riding (remember Ashok Kumar's awesome "Rail Gaadi" song?), car driving, mail stamping, hunting, cooking, meditating, praying, rocking and rolling (er...baby making), ...you get the general idea. The musical rhythm needs to match work rhythm, making repetitive tasks easier to do over long periods of time.
Today's workplace is more "interrupt driven" than ever. That automatically means that there is no set rhythm to work. Conference call, email, IM, call, email, IM, call, call, lunch, coffee, call, IM, IM, email, call...there's no pattern. Where there is no pattern, there is no music - there's only noise.
Where there's no rhythm, there's no joy.
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4 comments:
Is the lack of rhythmic music leading to or symptomatic of workplace dissonance? I suspect as work has moved out of the communal sphere, music has also become individualized. The rhythms and chants that made tedious, repetitive work bearable are no longer needed as we luxuriate in our own preferences, even choosing to avoid Muzhak in the elevator by wearing our headphones. Is this a good thing? Maybe we have lost that sense of community spirit and consequentially the chants and beats that it produced, but I think most people would be glad not to listen to 96.5 FM's 24 hour Christmas set 2 months in a row.
Also remember, in those days people were not just listening, they were participating and creating the workplace music too. Karaoke anyone?
Spot on, Vidya. That was just the next thing I was going to rant about - the workplace has become too atomized and individualized. There is much to be said about the sense of community that a place of work was supposed to engender - the singing, the jokes, the gossip were all part of the "language" of community. As we have become individual performers, we have essentially "unbundled" work from community.
Now, as I think about my work, I feel a great urge to also belong to a community simultaneously. Alas, the place of work is no longer open as a place to "belong". As I see it, not many other options are available to belong to another community, unless one gets into community service, or organized religion, or a charity, or a fan club (like the 1.1 billion crazed cricket fans in India). Online communities are but a poor substitute for the real thing.
Maybe there's a business model around drinking coffee together and making friends and belonging. Or maybe several exist, and I just haven't found them!
very good observation.
also, very good blog - didn't realise you had one till I added notes on facebook.
so what does gravitas ustus translate to? "Rust is serious"?
Your blog keeps getting better and better! Your older articles are not as good as newer ones you have a lot more creativity and originality now keep it up!
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