Phones are in F. They ring F’s, they drone dial tones in F Major Thirds, and the buttons beep in F Minor. Many other related phone melodies are also in F Major, such as the classic “Disconnected”. This little melody is a Bb Major Seventh, the fourth degree of an F Major scale. Click on the noteheads (watch your volumes!).
An arpeggio is a chord played horizontal, like a melody. The Bb Major Seventh was deliberately chosen to denote “Disconnected” by the powers that be, in order to create a basic I → IV chord progression. While still in the key of F Major, the Bb Major Seventh asserts its own tonality. Most music in the world, throughout all time, consists of this basic chord progression―an endless game of musical chairs between the One and the Four (or in this case, between the “Dial Tone” and “Disconnected”).
The “Dial tone” is an F Major Third (F and A), and acts as the root (the One) of telephone teletonality.
F Major is pretty. In synesthesia, it is a light blue face, like the face of the moon without all that night attached. The other notes of the scale provide the skin tones, G and A blemishes and blushes, a soft pink C flush, and green D pupils in the white E’s of its eyes. The B-flat is like shaggy brown hair on the blue F major FACE.
Here is a short song “Disconnected” by Los Doggies in the key of B-flat lydian as per the telephone. It features Rhodes, guitars, glockenspiels, Casio Sk-1, and the operator.
Go here to find out more about the musical phone tones.
Got some notes you’d like to see? Just send us an e-mail: losdoggies@losdoggies.com
