The History of Elevator Music

Do elevators in your country have music?
Poll: http://ofb.msd-media.de/elevator/
Created by http://www.youtube.com/tavin15

Trapped in an elevator video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p_bMhNI_TY8

Who first thought to put music in elevators?
Why is there no such thing as staircase music?

hehe ;)

Category:

People & Blogs

Tags:

• elevator
• music
• history
• origin
• muzak
• stairs
• lift
• lifts
• elevators

[Xegethra]

i havent come accross many lifts with music in them. i guess because i dont go in many fancy buildings, or really use a lift. i will walk anything upto 9 floors i know that much. my college had 9 floors and when i needed to go all the way up or down i knew waiting for the lift would waste time

it was funny watching people waiting for like 10 minutes for a lift, when they get in...they only go up 3 floors. i walk the whole flight in about 2 or 3

[TheRavenOfPoe]

@Xegethra I'm like you in that I take some mild amusement from people waiting for the lift twice as long as it would have taken them to walk up to the 2nd or 3rd floor where they are headed. Of course some people require the lift, but it is more often that I see young, fit people taking them. There's a great video on YouTube where a staircase was turned into a giant piano for people to walk up and make music in order to encourage people to walk rather than take the lift - it worked! :)

[MopGunZ93]

aww your hands are tiny :3

[TheRavenOfPoe]

@MopGunZ93 hehe

[sleedolfine15]

In an era when we all are plugged into our own personal sound track via ipods, cd players,etc. elevator music doubtless will become obsolete--Anyway, I like the way you think. You're smart,imaginitive and interesting. And it does'nt hurt that you're beautifully adorable.

[TheRavenOfPoe]

@sleedolfine15 Thank you :) And good point too, increasing numbers of people listen to their personal soundtrack with mp3 players now!

[Xegethra]

@TheRavenOfPoe yeah i can understand if they have to use it...

i did see that video, it did seem to work. although its a shame people have to be pushed too look after themselves -_-

[Xegethra]

@Xegethra the only times iv seen a lift with music in it has been on tv or something. iv probably been in about 2 lifts that had music in countless times i have used them

[FuturesPassed]

Putting aside the fact that some people would arrive at the stairs mid-loop, stairs are also not very enclosed structures, and in a building, anyone near the stairs would have to listen to "Up, up, up, up! restart. Up, up..." etc.

In places such as malls or hotels where the stairs are near places where people stand around in one place for a long time, it would probably get on people's nerves, reminding them of times where they work at something but keep needing to start from scratch.

[FuturesPassed]

If there was some sort of stairs music, I wonder what the psychological purpose for it would be, and what it would sound like. As I thought about it, I remembered there was a video game, Super Mario 64, that had a location with "endless" stairs, and it had its own music. It sort of had a jumpy pattern and it hit higher notes as it progressed. This gave you the feeling of going up, but there was only so far the music could go before it would have to go back down (restart the loop).

[achigurh]

greatest elevator song ever: "The Girl from Ipanema"

..i think the music is still and will always be there because it takes away from the uncomfortable silence that would exist between strangers in small spaces.

A. Chigurh

[AidanTAKFW]

I would think that another reason there is no such thing as stair music is that the process of walking and stepping generally satisfies that minimum amount of stimulation that people generally are comfortable with. Whereas in an elevator, you're just standing and waiting

[MopGunZ93]

i think elevator music IS relaxing, maybe i had some deep rooted phobia of them when i was a child that i grew out of or something? i dno, but it makes me feel at ease :)