MARY LOUISE KELLY, HOST:
It's not every day that an orchestra commissions a new piece of music, especially one designed to last just a few seconds. The Charlotte Symphony Orchestra did just that. They wanted what is called a sonic logo, and now it's likely the first U.S. orchestra to have one. Eric Teel with member station WFAE in Charlotte was at the unveiling.
ERIC TEEL, BYLINE: Sonic logos are everywhere, like...
(SOUNDBITE OF NETFLIX'S SONIC LOGO)
TEEL: ...The ta-dum (ph) from Netflix or...
(SOUNDBITE OF NBC'S SONIC LOGO)
TEEL: ...NBC's iconic three chimes, or even...
(SOUNDBITE OF T-MOBILE'S SONIC LOGO)
TEEL: ...This little deedle (ph) thing of T-Mobile. So when the Charlotte Symphony Orchestra recently updated its visual logo to a large C, music director Kwame Ryan thought, why not get a sonic logo?
KWAME RYAN: The idea is that when people hear a sound that they associate with the orchestra, just as they do in the cinema, they know that the next thing that happens is an event.
TEEL: Ryan enlisted the help of Grammy-winning composer Mason Bates. Bates says while he wanted to capture the depth and excitement of a symphony's performance in just a few seconds, he'd never composed anything that short.
MASON BATES: It's hard in a fun way because you don't have the luxury of building any kind of a case. You have to kind of pull the listener in immediately.
TEEL: Sonic logos are important tools for marketing products, says Susan Rogers, a behavioral neuroscientist and author of "This Is What It Sounds Like." She specializes in the emotional impact of sound.
SUSAN ROGERS: If in that first few seconds, the brain decides - this is for me; I like this; please continue - you will continue to listen further. Orchestral music is associated with kind of a highbrow culture. But if the piece of music is really catchy and memorable, it can also welcome in a new generation of listeners.
TEEL: For composer Mason Bates, it was important that the seven-second piece showed off the full orchestra.
BATES: I wanted to have a sense of, like, magic and mystery of things swirling together, where you can hear the different individual instruments kind of building up out of this, like, quicksilver primordial soup.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
TEEL: The new sonic logo was unveiled as part of the symphony's season-opening concert.
(SOUNDBITE OF CHARLOTTE SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA'S SONIC LOGO)
TEEL: Season ticket holder John Stanley Ross was thrilled and likes that it will be used during intermission on the intercom.
JOHN STANLEY ROSS: It's very professional. It's iconic. And it's much better than dimming the lights, you know? Hearing this beautiful music is - OK, time to go get our seats. It's a wonderful thing.
TEEL: The sonic logo will also be used in radio and TV ads for the orchestra, but due to recording agreements with the national musicians union, it will be this studio version created by Bates.
(SOUNDBITE OF CHARLOTTE SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA'S SONIC LOGO)
TEEL: For NPR News, I'm Eric Teel in Charlotte. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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