Sound metaphors - Leitmotifs I

E82: What a noob learned from Wagner's Ring Cycle

Long before AI showed up to create algorithms to manipulate us, someone invented a technology called drums. And used them to create signals and condition our behaviour through metaphors — specifically sound and mental metaphors.

I first tripped over this concept in the most unlikely setting.

Using sound to position and guide our feelings

A hush fell over the audience as the mesmerizing starburst chandeliers at the Met in the Lincoln Center retracted into the ceiling. I settled back into my seat, anticipating the first thrummmm of the orchestra. It was the start of the second, longer, opera in Wagner’s Ring Cycle, Der Ring des Nibelungen.

(Wagner’s Ride of the Valkyries)  – don’t freak out and stop reading. I promise it gets better!

Drumbh …. Drumbhh …. Thrummmmmm
Strings. And a strong percussive beat

I was primed. And ready.  

At first thing I hear the lightness of the wind, speeding by. Then the drums come in with the pounding of the hooves, the crashing clash of cymbals.

I turned brightly to MM sitting by my side “The Valkyries! I recognize this. I hear them”. He beamed back, satisfied that his hours of labor had borne fruit. 

MM had patiently inducted me into the tradition of the Ring Cycle, introducing me to the concept of Leitmotifs. Leitmotifs are musical signatures attached to key performers or events. In a saga laden with Gods, dwarfs, kings and queens, years later I only recall the signatures for the strong female warrior Valkyrie, and the water sprites or Rhine maidens.

But I never forgot the concept: that sound can be a signal.

Leitmotifs

As a significant element in the Ring and his subsequent works, Wagner adopted the use of leitmotifs, which are recurring themes or harmonic progressions. They musically denote an action, object, emotion, character, or other subject mentioned in the text or presented onstage. Wagner referred to them in "Opera and Drama" as "guides-to-feeling", describing how they could be used to inform the listener of a musical or dramatic subtext to the action onstage in the same way as a Greek chorus did for the theatre of ancient Greece.

(Want more on how I found myself sitting through a sixteen-hour Ring Cycle? Come back next week for “The Education of Miss Karena”.)

The use of leitmotifs across the ages 

Leitmotifs have been used to assign a signature sound to characters in dance and performances over centuries.

I realized, then, that my mind had long been manipulated by sound. It is a form of branding. Our ancestors figured this out centuries ago, and in the days before Twitter, used the idea very effectively:

• The signature sequence of the angelus bells and I suspect the morning call to prayer in other religions

• The specific steady drum beat sequence signaling the march into battle, used to this day

• The sound of good or evil - Even as a tourist, neither understanding the language nor familiar with the tale, you are seldom in doubt when a villain comes into the picture.

Positioning and Pavlovian priming of our feelings 

Once you understand this strategy, you will notice it everywhere. You may even realize you’ve inadvertently been using it yourself. 

Leitmotifs position your feelings before the first word is uttered - manipulating your subconscious like a finely tuned algorithm.

I recognize it in these opening bars  (all the music is in the playlist at the bottom)

• The first 30s Gloria of Jimin’s resurrection song Set Me Free Pt. 2

• The 05s percussive, persistent rhythmic drumbeat in Adele’s Rolling in the Deep  

• The opening bars of StarWars - uplifting, but also a battle call echoing elements of the Ride of the Valkyries 

It happens in other parts of modern life, too. It is the opening chords of Big Bang Theory or the chimes of the ice cream truck. It is the expectation for precision that comes when you see the Apple logo light up in front of you (or not as Windows launches). Or the way you start relaxing into the heavy percussive two-beat “duh-DUH” as the red N of the Netflix logo starts dissolving into blue and red bars across your screen.

Mind Manipulation is not a new idea.

You may have gathered by now that I have a fascination with algorithms. The famous BTS funnel essay comes to mind.

Blame it on my coding roots, and my passion for creating efficient user experiences. But I want to manage the algorithm. Not have the algorithm manipulate me.

As AI mainstreams, we have to understand that is just the most recent in a long line of technologies aimed at improving communications. But they each get drafted into manipulating our thoughts and positioning us to behave and respond in a specific way.

We are doing this right when we recognize and manage the metaphors that surround us.

Make. Take. Talk.

[Planting a thought for another essay: Are algorithms efficiency or manipulation? Discuss.]

If you want to know how I got suckered into sitting through a 16-hour 4-part Ring Cycle, come back next week for the backstory. 

• Spotify playlist for E82:

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Thanks to

Grace Sydney Smith

,

Latham

and

Castles in the Sky

Charlie Becker for his class Limitless Writers where this essay was birthed, reined in, and shepherded into the world.

Each member of Tribe Tilt makes this space special. There is so much engagement between our members in the comments section, in breakout room discussions, on Twitter, LinkedIn and WhatsApp. We welcome

Malavika

joining Tribe Tilt from India. She and I had a wonderful exchange in our intro email sequence.

This is a community that believes in the best of humanity - connecting people, sharing ideas, and exploring thoughts respectfully. We believe we can make a difference to the people and places that are precious to us.

The best idea can come from anyone, anywhere, at any time. You have permission.

See you next week. Stay healthy. From there all else becomes possible.
Karena