Contrasting Intent, Content and Effect: Music Theory and Audience Experience of ‘På tide å komma heim no. Heilt heim.’

Abstract

This study takes a deep dive into the music of the commercial in the title to explore the relationship between musical intention, theoretical analysis and audience experience. To this end the study utilized a music-oriented content analysis primarily structured by the BRECVEMA framework of musical emotion, a qualitative interview with the composer, and a pseudo-experimental small-scale design that culminates in semi-structured qualitative interviews with 6 participants. Notable findings include: The composer was more intuitively oriented than reliant on music theory; Music can be comforting even when coupled with something uncanny; While functional for analysis, BRECVEMA translates poorly into qualitative interviews as different effects easily blend; The fit of the music was important to both composer and audience.