# Can anyone identify this music? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 11, 2007, 3:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-identify-this-music/422310 "2007-10-11T03:28:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![pinkfreud](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pinkfreud/32/17603_2.png) [@pinkfreud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pinkfreud)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2007, 3:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-identify-this-music/422310/1 "2007-10-11T03:28:47Z")
[This](http://www.mortalwombat.com/SoundAudio/music.wav) snippet of music was recorded from a telephone while on hold. It sounds very familiar, yet I haven’t been able to identify it. Anyone? ---
**Author:** ![Lisa-go-Blind](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7c8e57/32.png) [@Lisa-go-Blind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lisa-go-Blind)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2007, 3:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-identify-this-music/422310/2 "2007-10-11T03:47:22Z")
The snippet I heard only has 2.5 notes - is that the whole thing? If so, it’s almost impossible to judge based on that. ---
**Author:** ![pinkfreud](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pinkfreud/32/17603_2.png) [@pinkfreud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pinkfreud)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2007, 3:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-identify-this-music/422310/3 "2007-10-11T03:52:47Z")
[QUOTE=Lisa-go-Blind] The snippet I heard only has 2.5 notes - is that the whole thing? If so, it’s almost impossible to judge based on that. [/QUOTE] Gee, I don’t know how to explain that. It’s a .wav file that’s about a minute long. I have no idea why you only got a bit of it. 😕 ---
**Author:** ![Khampelf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Khampelf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khampelf)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2007, 3:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-identify-this-music/422310/4 "2007-10-11T03:58:15Z")
[QUOTE=pinkfreud] Gee, I don’t know how to explain that. It’s a .wav file that’s about a minute long. I have no idea why you only got a bit of it. 😕 [/QUOTE] I heard the whole thing with RealPlayer/Rhapsody, but only identified it as ‘hold music’, slightly less jazzy then ours. ---
**Author:** ![DooWahDiddy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e9bcb4/32.png) [@DooWahDiddy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DooWahDiddy)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2007, 6:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-identify-this-music/422310/5 "2007-10-11T06:03:41Z")
I don’t know, but it kind of sounds like something from _The Truman Show_… maybe a Philip Glass piece? Or it could also be Enya… ---
**Author:** ![Dijon\_Warlock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a9a28c/32.png) [@Dijon\_Warlock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dijon_Warlock)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2007, 1:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-identify-this-music/422310/6 "2007-10-11T13:41:58Z")
Doesn’t sound like Phillip Glass, but I don’t know what it is. The voiceover advising me to hold for the next available operator was weird. That helps a lot, right? Sorry. Don’t know. ---
**Author:** ![Mike\_Fun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a9adbd/32.png) [@Mike\_Fun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mike_Fun)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2007, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-identify-this-music/422310/7 "2007-10-11T15:18:16Z")
It’s just generic hold music. It probably sounds familiar because other companies have used it also. ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2007, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-identify-this-music/422310/8 "2007-10-11T15:46:23Z")
[QUOTE=pinkfreud] [This](http://www.mortalwombat.com/SoundAudio/music.wav) snippet of music was recorded from a telephone while on hold. It sounds very familiar, yet I haven’t been able to identify it. Anyone? [/QUOTE] A quick listen suggests to me that it is a piece of piano chamber music, played with a bit more modern interpretation. Maybe something by George Winston on Windham Hill records? You could check Amazon - he has a ton of CD’s out… ---
**Author:** ![Smith8762](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9de0a6/32.png) [@Smith8762](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smith8762)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2007, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-identify-this-music/422310/9 "2007-10-11T17:57:29Z")
Reminds me of the first song on Brian Eno’s _Ambient 1: Music for Airports_ album. ---
**Author:** ![pinkfreud](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pinkfreud/32/17603_2.png) [@pinkfreud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pinkfreud)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2007, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-identify-this-music/422310/10 "2007-10-11T18:15:08Z")
Many thanks for the input, folks, To me, the endless arpeggios sound like something by Philip Glass, but I can’t put my finger on it. I think I’ve heard this in a movie recently. Of course, it might be it’s something that was deliberately created to be bland music to be played while “on hold.” ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2007, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-identify-this-music/422310/11 "2007-10-11T19:57:41Z")
[QUOTE=Dijon Warlock] The voiceover advising me to hold for the next available operator was weird. [/QUOTE] 😕 What was weird about it? ---
**Author:** ![wonky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonky/32/393_2.png) [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2007, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-identify-this-music/422310/12 "2007-10-11T20:55:05Z")
I’m sure I’ve heard that piece before, too. I’ll have to think about it. ---
**Author:** ![wonky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonky/32/393_2.png) [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2007, 3:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-identify-this-music/422310/13 "2007-10-13T03:20:29Z")
I still haven’t thought of it, but you should check out this site I just found for uploading pieces of music. It’s also fun to try to identify the ones that have been uploaded. I got one, but it turned out that someone else had already answered. (And I thought my knowledge of Van Halen was going to be useful! Damn!) [http://iden.tify.us/](http://iden.tify.us/) ---
**Author:** ![pinkfreud](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pinkfreud/32/17603_2.png) [@pinkfreud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pinkfreud)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2007, 3:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-identify-this-music/422310/14 "2007-10-13T03:44:25Z")
[QUOTE=jsgoddess] I still haven’t thought of it, but you should check out this site I just found for uploading pieces of music. It’s also fun to try to identify the ones that have been uploaded. I got one, but it turned out that someone else had already answered. (And I thought my knowledge of Van Halen was going to be useful! Damn!) [http://iden.tify.us/](http://iden.tify.us/) [/QUOTE] Wow, that’s a fascinating site, **jsgoddess**! Thanks. I tried to upload an MP3 of the music, but when the site plays it back, it is impossibly fast. I don’t know why. The same MP3 plays normally on my computer. I am still thinking that this was written by Philip Glass. It sounds like so many of his repetitive, minimalist piano works. ---
**Author:** ![Dijon\_Warlock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a9a28c/32.png) [@Dijon\_Warlock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dijon_Warlock)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2007, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-identify-this-music/422310/15 "2007-10-13T20:40:26Z")
[QUOTE=Walloon] 😕 What was weird about it? [/QUOTE] :shrug and throw up my hands at my humble admission that I didn’t absorb the entire content of the OP smiley: I just expected a music clip, so when the voiceover happened, I was rather 😕 Upon re-reading the OP, I see I shouldn’t have been. ---
**Author:** ![Mike\_Fun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a9adbd/32.png) [@Mike\_Fun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mike_Fun)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2007, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-identify-this-music/422310/16 "2007-10-16T14:48:11Z")
It’s definitely not Philip Glass. It sounds more like a Hanon exercise than Glass. ---
**Author:** ![Gukumatz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/74df32/32.png) [@Gukumatz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gukumatz)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2007, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-identify-this-music/422310/17 "2007-10-16T16:32:57Z")
It reminds me of a Dead Like Me song, “Nomah’s Land” - have you watched that show, lately?