VB VICTORIA BITTER COMMERCIAL - MELBOURNE SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA The VB Victoria Bitter Commercial was produced in order to advertise the

Victoria Bitter beer which is an Australian product. In this commercial, which was performed by the Melbourne Symphony, there was a big difference in the way music is supposed to played. Instead of the regular instruments seen or heard in an orchestra, most of the instruments were unconventional meaning irregular or strange. The instruments were replaced by glass bottles to mimic the sounds. So the glass bottles played the role of the wind family, the string family, the brass family and the pitched percussion family. Only one instrument remained unchanged, and that was the kettle drum (or, as some people may know it, the timpani). For the most part, the kettle drum was played how it is usually done. It was at the end when they brought a change to the style of playing the drums. The percussionists climbed onto ladders to get up to a certain height and dropped glass bottles onto the membrane (also known as the skin) of the drum to imitate the sound of it being played regularly. Then when the bottles fell to the floor, this copied the sound of the crash of a cymbal. Other bottles were hit to mimic the sound of glockenspiels (or a set of bells) and some were hit to mimic the sound of hi-hat cymbals. Some bottles were also blown into to copy the sound of violins, violas and flutes. The bottles that took up the role of the violins were used to play the melody. Those that took the role of the violas also played parts of the melody together with the violins. Plagal cadence (IV-I) was observed when the bottles mimicking the violin played the passing notes. This song was composed in binary form where there is an A section then an A section (AA). The music in this beer commercial has a major tonality. This is so because the composer possibly wanted to keep with the mood which people are most likely in when drinking beer. Most people are often in parties, hanging out with friends, and/or just having a good time with themselves when having a beer, so they would be in a happy and cheerful mood. The music was written in 4/4 time. It was performed at a fast paste (which is allegro, in music) to keep with the up paste of

having a good time and being in a cheerful mood. There are two prominent rhythms in the music - one with dotted notes and one without them. In the advertisement, the music started off with different bottles being blown in the same rhythm. Unison was observed in this instance. Some bottles were then hit with sticks to produce sound. These bottles mimicked the sound of the glockenspiel. Although they played something different from the first rhythm, they played it without the first set of bottles being played. In this case, unison was also observed. Other bottles were then hit but they played a different rhythm than the others, so this created a homophonic rhythm. Following this, the whole band played in unison with each other then all the different families copying the actual families played different parts, causing the rhythm to become polyphonic. Free imitation and strict imitation were also observed. There was contrast between the unison at the beginning of the song and the polyrhythmic ending to the music. One constant volume was maintained throughout the whole piece of music in the advertisement. This volume was loud, which forte in music. I think that this dynamic was used to enhance the feeling of happiness and the possible rowdiness of inebriate people. Accents were used in the dotted rhythm. The dotted rhythm was also played staccato. At a point in time, bottles were blown cantabile meaning, in a singing style. Socio-cultural significance is also another aspect that persuaded the composer to write the piece of music like this. Socio-cultural significance is the way in which something or someone is important to or influenced by a certain society and culture. The music in this advertisement has its own socio-cultural significance. The song in this VB Victoria Bitter commercial was performed by the Melbourne Symphony because it is an orchestra set in Australia. This is significant because the beer is an Australian beer so they wanted to keep within their national setting. This is why they used a whole orchestra to play this classical piece of music, as this genre of music is very popular in Australia.