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 […]
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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,” […]
Rail Door Chime
Over the holidays, I had the privilege of riding the Long Island Rail with all of its whistles and bells. It was the night before Christmas when all through the train, I struggled to stay awake to the gentle jazz of the wheels on the tracks. The doors even signaled their openings and closings with […]
Olly Olly Oxen Free
“Olly Olly Oxen Free” is the penultimate song off e’rebody, and the final act of the Playground Trilogy that began with “Farted On” and “Westminster Quarters”. Built around the common melody of a Minor Third interval from the kid’s game Hide-and-Seek, “Olly” features a fun fanfare chorus, puzzle-box structure, and at eight and half minutes, […]
Spring Hill
Welcome to Spring Hill—the town that rings in Spring. For whom does the bell toll? For the frog the bell tolls! And the snakes that sing themselves to sleep. These days, where does one find inspiration and illumination? In the great arches and arcades of the past, or the mundane subspaces of today? For the […]
Jeopardy Melodies
Alex & Chu, my 2 waifu… Jeopardy! has a theme song that everyone hums while they think. It’s the thinking man’s thinking song. Even the lyrics are hmms, or if you’re feeling fancy, doos. Jeopardy! also has some classic sounds that act upon the listener like some Pavlovian magik. If a player runs out of […]
J. Law and Illuminati Melody
Once in so ever, this here blog is trendy, if not downright trending upon trendy waters. So, a movie called Hunger Games: Part II came out a million years ago, and if you recall from our first installment, the sequel once again features this leitmotif de résistance. After whistling this birdy little melody (with perfect […]
