How to Select Music for the Operating Room (OR), with links to songs.

Finding the right song takes work. I am constantly looking out for new music.

Many businesses play music designed to “put people in the mood to buy,”

so I’ll often identify a song using a phone application while shopping at Home Depot or Safeway.

Or, I’ll comb lists of popular music, such as the iTunes top songs,

the Billboard Top 100, Vevo Dscvr, or I’ll look farther afield with the Australian or UK charts.

Here are some characteristics to look for:

Tuneful melody

Counterpoint, of bass vs vocals during chorus, [Sarah Bareilles - Between the Lines, Duffy - Mercy]
or vocals and synthesizer.[Maroon V - Can't Stop, Maroon V - Misery, Maroon V - One More Night]

Good bridge passage - a transitional mid-song change in chord structure

that contrasts musically with the rest of the song,
adds depth and complexity.[Rob Thomas - Lonely No More, Corrs - Summer Sunshine, Alanis Morissette - Ironic]

Tuneful bass line:

A musical bass line helps, since bass sounds rise above ambient noise,

especially when it provides
a counterpoint to the melody.[Metronomy - Night Owl,.Maroon V - Not Coming Home, OneRepublic - Secrets]

Syncopated, strong beat

Sometimes a song's only redeeming feature is its strong beat,

without which it would be of passing interest.[Skylar Grey - Invisible, Ryland James - Shoulder to Cry On]

A syncopated beat adds a musical intrigue
and unpredictability.[Sarah Bareilles - I choose You {I love this video!}, Muse - Undisclosed Desires]

A half-time beat adds syncopation and variation, and a contemplative
vibe.[Hedley - Parade Rain, Chris Tomlin - I Will Folow, Mat Kearney - Sooner or Later, Matt Nathanson - Car Crash]

Distinctive voice:

Lead singers rarely have a bass voice, but rather a strong and distinct

(often nasal) voice heard well over the instruments. This singer’s voice

is as nasal as during a cold.[Mat Kearney - Closer to Love] A breathy voice is appealing,[Phoebe Ryan - Should I, Astrid S - Does She Know]

or a husky voice,[Dua Lipa - Thinkin 'Bout You, Halsey - Now or Never, P!nk - Just Give Me a Reason, LadyGaga - The Cure] or better yet,
a breathy-husky voice,[Sixpence - Don't Dream It's Over, Leigh Nash - Ocean Size Love, Plumb - Sink and Swim, Lady Gaga - The Cure]

or a sultry one,[Leigh Nash - Along the Wall, Missy Higgins - Sugarcane, Selena Gomez - The Heart Wants What It Wants]
or sugary sweet.[Lights - Saviour]

Sometimes a vocal cord injury can impart a unique, signature tone.[David Archuleta - Crush]

A controlled rasp, used artfully and sparingly, adds

emotional intensity and pathos.[Sia - Alive] The vocal exaggerations,

raspy notes, and over-enunciation a singer uses to add passion

and complexity are often lost amongst the instruments,

but emerge in a remix that
strips away the instruments.[Rob Thomas - This is How a Heart Breaks - Pull Defibrillator Mix]

Filigree:

This is a key concept - a higher pitch, repetitive, fast instrument

that populates the treble landscape with an arabesque of

musical texture and complexity. A variety of instruments are employed:

plucked guitar,[We the Kings - Just Keep Breathing, Nina Nesbitt - Somebody Special]

synthesizer and guitar,[Natalie Imbruglia - Beauty on the Fire, Maroonn 5 - It Was Always You, OneRepublic - Life in Color, Veronicas - I Could Get Used to This]

rhythm guitar,[David Powter - Crazy All My Life]

ukulele,[Matthew Morrison - Summer Rain]

pop synth,[Lights - The Listening]

keyboard,[A Rocket to the Moon - Mr. Right (chorus)]

marimba,[Hailee Steinfeld - Rock Bottom]

or percussion.[Matt Kearney - Sooner or Later]

Full landscape:

This is a more abstract concept, that expands on the concept of filigree.

Imagine a graph of dull (”ooh”) to bright (“ee”) on the x-axis,

versus pitch on the y-axis. Evaluating a new song,

this 2-dimensional “landscape” fills with notes,

and good music fills this abstract landscape
artfully.[Maroon 5 - One More Night, OneRepublic - Good Life, OneRepublic - Burning Bridges, Switchfoot - Dare You to Move,
Switchfoot - Love Alone is Worth the Fight, Echosmith - Cool Kids, Lights - Where the Fence is Low, Matt Nathanson - Suspended]

To illustrate, this song on first pass seems reasonable, but doesn't flesh out all the corners of this graph - the bass and vocal are on the dull side of the graph, no instrument fulfills the filigree concept, and the few moments that open up the bright side are jarring and don't fit the character of the song.[The Shins - No Way Down],]

Songs to avoid...

Here are songs that nearly made the playlist but for their

excessive repetition,[The Fray - How to Save a Life, John Mayer - Say]

predictability,[Timbaland - Apologize, Sam Smith - Restart]

slow or dreamy mood,[Sarah Reeves - Feel the Waters]

jarring sounds,[Kimbra - Settle Down]

and containing rap (with the following exceptions when used as a brief embellishment.)[Lights - Flux and Flow, Sia - The Greatest]

And no party songs - I’d define this as a song with snapping fingers,

clapping, saying “woop!,” “Yeah!” or saying singer's name,

or including saxophone riffs.[Los Del Rio - Macarena, Outkast - Hey Ya!, de Barge - Rhythm of the Night

Alternate versions:

Sometimes a song intrigues on first listen but is too harsh or edgy or bland...

so I’ll search out an alternate version,as follows:

Hollywood version:

An artist who has a signature “sound” can often have such qualities

“regress toward the mean” of common taste when they are

produced by Hollywood.

Justin Timberlake can be avant garde, jarring, and repetitive,[Justin Timberlake - Cry Me a River]

but for the movie “Trolls” he is reined in and smoother.[Justin Timberlake - Can't Stop the Feeling]

Meghan Trainor is brash and repetitive,[Meghan Trainor - All About That Bass]

but for a “Peanuts” soundtrack she is smoother and
not as over-confident.[Meghan Trainor - Better When I'm Dancin']

A duet - This song’s solo version[Sheryl Crow - Always on Your Side] is so enriched with the added

contrasting vocals of Sting.[Sheryl Crow feat. Sting - Always on Your Side]

An a capella version:

There may be a cover in an a capella version - this song[Lorde - Royals]

becomes so much more vibrant and intriguing in the a capella version,[Pentatonix - Royals]

while this song[Sam Smith - Naughty Boy] is so much more

compelling, energetic, and musically interesting in the cover version.[Pentatonix - La La Latch]

Acoustic version:

The radio version is cluttered with backing vocals and
electronic and autotune effects,[Liam Payne - Strip That Down]

but the unplugged version is fun and intimate.[Liam Payne - Strip That Down - Acoustic]

This song’s original version is filled with raunchy hard-hitting guitar,[Switchfoot - Stars]

but is beautifully mellowed in the acoustic version[Switchfoot - Stars - Acoustic]

exposing the deep lyrics, complex guitar underpinnings,

and heartfelt vocals that were lost in the brash noisy original version.

And once in a while, a hard-hitting, head-banging group[Extreme - Decadence Dance]

has a tender, heartfelt melody.[Extreme - More than Words]

Cover version:

A cover version sometimes improves on the original,

when the original has a lighthearted dance feel,[Sheppard - Be More Barrio]

while its stripped-down cover is more compelling and intimate.[Vazquez Sounds - Be More Barrio]

These three songs[Seal - Crazy, TalkTalk - It's My Life, Crowded House - Don't Dream It's Over]

improved in their cover version
counterparts,[Alanis Morissette - Crazy, No Doubt - It's My Life, Sixpence - Don't Dream It's Over] respectively.

Dance remix:

Sometimes a song[Hayley Kiyoko - Curious] becomes captivating and catchy in a
dance remix.[Hayley Kiyoko - Curious - Marian Hill Remix]

Avoid fads:

Hit music forever looks for a new sound,

a motif that becomes a fad and flashes through hitmaker’s songs,

often to excess, then fades into the obscurity of cliché.

Many songs follow suit in the formulaic production of hits.

A current fad is a caterwauling “hamster voice” sound,

where the singer’s voice is presumably

sampled and then raised
a few octaves.[Petit Biscuit - Sunset Lover, Maroon 5 - Don't Want to Know, R3hab - The Wave]

Some songs will use these instant-cliché sounds

to such ludicrous excess that they seem to be

purposefully driving that sound into obscurity.[Imagine Dragons - Thunder]

It takes an artist with restraint to avoid pandering to such unoriginality,

by tastefully and artfully incorporating the fad without overdoing it.[Astrid S - Paper Thin]

Pure and Simple:

Sometimes a surprisingly simple song,

with vocals and one or two instruments,

conveys a captivating
purity and innocence without ticking all the
above boxes.[Tyrone Wells - Always Love You, Sarah Bareilles - Kaleidoscope Heart,
Ruth B. - Lost Boy, Never Say Never - Trouble, Dishwalla - Candleburn]

Avoid garage-band sound:

Too energetic and distracting for the OR,

epitomized by musical simplicity, two busy rhythm guitars,

nonstop vocals, busy eighth-note drums with excessive cymbals.

Compare the commercial version[Relient K - Be My Escape] with

the unplugged version that allows the lyrics to dominate.[Relient K - Be My Escape - Acoustic]

But, there are exceptions.[My Favorite Highway - Go]

Exemplary songs:

Strong syncopated beat, dynamic range, relatable lyrics, counterpoint vocals.[The Script - Breakeven]

Strong bass,  slightly harsh busy decorative rhythm guitar.[Seal - Crazy]

Tuneful, upbeat, snappy ukulele backdrop.[Matthew Morrison - Summer Rain]

Strong beat, clear poignant lyrics, edgy voice, rich backing vocal chords,

cello’s rich tone, modulating up for the last chorus.[Butterfly Boucher - Another White Dash]

Rich sonic landscape, strong beat, interesting staccato vocals.[Dragonette - Detonate]

Syncopated rhythm, nice chord progression, full-sounding
backing vocals.[OneRepublic - Good Life, Death Cab for Cutie - Your New Twin-sized Bed]

Dramatic, full landscape of sound, well engineered, tuneful bass line, half-time beat, silky smooth voice.[Want you back - Gray]
I hope this analysis helps you select great music for the OR.

-Tom Elwood