A comment by John Groves
The Bundeswehr attempts Sound Branding. Secret messages?
The German armed forces – the “Bundeswehr” – has discovered sound and music as an additional communications tool. Besides commissioning a piece of music entitled “Wir. Dienen. Deutschland” (We. Serve. Germany), they now also have a Sound Logo which is based on the morse code for B and W – the first two letters of “Bundes-Wehr.”
Although I obviously think it’s great that they are using sound for identification purposes, it is a real shame that they didn’t put a little more attention to detail into it. It seems to me like a house that has been built without an architect. Firstly, the Sound Logo is not the main theme of the piece of music. It is enigmatically stuck somewhere at the end, thereby wasting an opportunity for it to be learned. Regarding recognisability: It rather strangely straddles a 3/4 bar and couldn’t be better hidden if it were intentional. Not only that: Though Morse code may be a good and relevant idea for the armed forces, they – if anyone – should be aware that the pauses between the letters are of vital importance. They are the grammar that makes the message decodable. This Sound Logo was obviously aimed at the decoding-boys at Bletchley Park, as it has omitted the pause between the two letters, making it impossible to know where the B ends and the W starts. It could just as well stand for BEM, DITT, 6M, NSTT! …. or it could just be a row of random impulses.
As my professor used to say “rests are also notes!”
Read on and listen to the sound logo here.
