There’s a new Major Third in town. Move over church chimes and door bells. Eat your heart out, Big Ben. This new Major Third is nasty—it’s in F-Sharp! The Duolingo sound for correct guesses is a pair of sixteenths notes from F# to A#—the happy part of a Major chord. A reverse door bell: the […]
Archive of posts tagged Door Bell
Cuckoo
The cuckoo has long been a symbol of cuckoldry from Shakespeare to the Disney channel, but did you know this musical bird also inspired the door bell and the bell itself? The common cuckoo calls in major thirds, and almost exclusively in C major. Click on the score below to listen. Common Cuckoo Call “Go-koo,” […]
Super Mario Melodies
スーパーマリオブラザーズYou and I, we live in a Netherworld of Noise. That’s why I’m taking you to Happy Tone Town. Everything that used to make noise, now makes a tone. Except blocks―they’re still noisey. But get this: Money sings! You can hear the coins klup into your pockets. And it’s logical too: Jumping makes a bendy […]
Major Thirdsies
The Major Third is probably the most popular interval in America. Every time you walk into a convenience store, it plays for you. The Major Third is what makes things Major. In the above example, the E is the Major Third of the C – the Tonic. There is an inherently happy quality to this […]
Westminster Quarters
The clock tower song “Westminster Quarters” was composed by William Crotch in 1793. The last C that strikes the hour sounds more like a C minor, because of the audible Eb overtone. This type of modulation, from a Major key to the same key in Minor, is known as a Reverse Picardy. The “Westminster Quarters” […]
