What’s your sound?
Define yourself in a short snippet of music or other sound(s)
Up until recently, Pat and I had a very bare-bones basic plan on our cell phone. We used the phone only rarely, and had it mainly for emergencies, so we had a plan that didn’t cost much to start with, but that charged hefty fees for long distance, roaming, and going over the allotted minutes. Recently, we’ve been using the phone a lot more, to the point where it actually made sense to upgrade the service. So now we have a plan that includes free roaming, free long distance, a large number of “anytime” minutes, and unlimited nights and weekends.
This new and improved service also includes a few features we didn’t have before, such as voice messaging and caller ID. And along with the caller ID comes the ability to have the phone use a different ringtone depending on who’s calling – sort of an audio ID. Of course, we’d have to pay extra to get any ringtones beyond the thirty or forty that come with the phone, but it is interesting to speculate what we’d set for different people that we know.
For example, Dino would be Rod Stewart’s “Do You Think I’m Sexy?” His significant other, Sister Rosebia, is absolutely “Takin’ Care Of Business” by Bachman-Turner Overdrive. Some people have already defined themselves: Zorro uses Frank Sinatra’s “I’ve Got The World On A String” on his answering machine, and Yoda has a piece from Mozart’s Magic Flute as his own ringtone on his cell.
Of course, not all ringtones have to be musical. Dialogue from television and movies can be appropriate; we have a friend whose mind is often in outer space, who would be well suited to “(beep-beep) Kirk to Enterprise.” Sound effects also can work, so we might use a meow for the vet.
Then I got to thinking about ringtones for people who aren’t likely to be calling me on my cell, but just as a mind exercise see if I could select something appropriate. Take Tillerman, for instance: He likes the Beatles, is cheerful and humorous, and would also be nautical … “Yellow Submarine.”
So, faithful readers, what music or sound would you use to define yourself, to say to the person you’re calling, “Hey, it’s me”?
Up until recently, Pat and I had a very bare-bones basic plan on our cell phone. We used the phone only rarely, and had it mainly for emergencies, so we had a plan that didn’t cost much to start with, but that charged hefty fees for long distance, roaming, and going over the allotted minutes. Recently, we’ve been using the phone a lot more, to the point where it actually made sense to upgrade the service. So now we have a plan that includes free roaming, free long distance, a large number of “anytime” minutes, and unlimited nights and weekends.
This new and improved service also includes a few features we didn’t have before, such as voice messaging and caller ID. And along with the caller ID comes the ability to have the phone use a different ringtone depending on who’s calling – sort of an audio ID. Of course, we’d have to pay extra to get any ringtones beyond the thirty or forty that come with the phone, but it is interesting to speculate what we’d set for different people that we know.
For example, Dino would be Rod Stewart’s “Do You Think I’m Sexy?” His significant other, Sister Rosebia, is absolutely “Takin’ Care Of Business” by Bachman-Turner Overdrive. Some people have already defined themselves: Zorro uses Frank Sinatra’s “I’ve Got The World On A String” on his answering machine, and Yoda has a piece from Mozart’s Magic Flute as his own ringtone on his cell.
Of course, not all ringtones have to be musical. Dialogue from television and movies can be appropriate; we have a friend whose mind is often in outer space, who would be well suited to “(beep-beep) Kirk to Enterprise.” Sound effects also can work, so we might use a meow for the vet.
Then I got to thinking about ringtones for people who aren’t likely to be calling me on my cell, but just as a mind exercise see if I could select something appropriate. Take Tillerman, for instance: He likes the Beatles, is cheerful and humorous, and would also be nautical … “Yellow Submarine.”
So, faithful readers, what music or sound would you use to define yourself, to say to the person you’re calling, “Hey, it’s me”?
posted by Carol Anne | 11:18 AM
4 Comments:
Full speed ahead, Mr. Parker, full speed ahead!
A very interesting question. I was discussing with Buggy just yesterday about taking sound bites of a place rather than photos. Prague, for instance, has several distinctive sounds -- the tram bells, the crosswalk tickers, and the rumble of the trams in the quiet city late at night. Spend a bit of time in any place and you will come to know the unique sounds that define it.
But people, that's not so easy. People change, moment to moment, and their sounds change with them. I might wake up in the morning and have an extra cup of tea, and then I'm all about "EMI" by the Sex Pistols, but by mid-afternoon I've crashed off that wave and "Like an Engine" by amilia k spicer is not just entertainment but food.
In the end, music that someone else did is sound you relate to, but not necessarily sound that defines you.
My favorite sounds: the crack of a bat on a Sunday afternoon in a crowded ballpark, the ping of the hockey puck off the crossbar, the sound of coyotes crying in the night. Finally, though, I have to go to my strength, to the most powerful moments of my life. The skunk (my totem animal) struggling along the gutter, badly wounded by an encounter with an automobile, just wanting to get home. Sitting across the kitchen from my wife, with thirty miles separating us. The moment, in Barcelona, when I could have said something but didn't.
Silence. That's my sound. When your phone doesn't ring, that's me calling.
My friends would probably use Beethoven's Ninth Symphony for me.... it is regularly used as the theme for movie villians ever since A Clockwork Orange. It is also one of my favorite symphonies. Maybe there's a correlation here... hmm...
Theme from
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
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