What do you do when your viola recital gets interrupted by someone in the audience getting a call on their cellphone? Improvise.
posted by scalefree on Jan 24, 2012 - 26 comments

In 1902, Francisco Tárrega wrote a very nice waltz. Little did he realize that 91 years later, a few bars in the middle would be plucked from obscurity to become the most-frequently heard tune in the world. And now, the beguilingly irksome Nokia Tune has begotten its own subgenre of pieces - some silly, some lovely - that take its theme as a starting point. Fugues! Improvisations! Orchestrations! Parodies! And perhaps my favourite: A whole new waltz. [more inside]
posted by bicyclefish on Feb 23, 2010 - 23 comments

Composer Max Richter's newest work, 24 Postcards in Full Colour, is a series of ringtones.
posted by 1f2frfbf on Nov 18, 2008 - 6 comments

The Crazy Frog / Axel F Song (previously mentioned on the Blue) is about to make history by being the first ringtone / pop music crossover to successfully invade the British charts. How successful? A little band named Coldplay also have a new single out; as it stands, Crazy Frog is outselling their effort by a factor of 4 to 1. People, this is serious. Prepare for some major league irritation to descend upon us. The success of this single will only spawn a legion of imitators, and that can only lead to the dark side. As Malcolm McLaren, ex Sex Pistols manager puts it: "Listen to this song and you can hear the death knell of the traditional music industry."
posted by LondonYank on May 28, 2005 - 40 comments