# Those musical bits on Who Wants to Be a Millionaire **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 19, 2017, 5:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/those-musical-bits-on-who-wants-to-be-a-millionaire/782533 "2017-03-19T05:41:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 3\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![dougie\_monty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/439d5e/32.png) [@dougie\_monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dougie_monty)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2017, 5:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/those-musical-bits-on-who-wants-to-be-a-millionaire/782533/1 "2017-03-19T05:41:10Z")
They have changed a little since Regis Philbin hosted the show, I admit… Are there names for those short bits of music? For example, the dramatic passage just before some questions appear…it was a lot more dramatic originally…I call it the “descend riff,” because the stage lights move downward as the music runs. Then there’s the bit that plays during the audience-vote lifeline, which used to be accompanied by lights circling the center of the stage until the audience’s vote is toted up… ---
**Author:** ![Santos\_L\_Halper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/santos_l_halper/32/1_2.png) [@Santos\_L\_Halper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Santos_L_Halper)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2017, 6:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/those-musical-bits-on-who-wants-to-be-a-millionaire/782533/2 "2017-03-19T06:26:03Z")
Musical stinger? ---
**Author:** ![dougie\_monty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/439d5e/32.png) [@dougie\_monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dougie_monty)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2017, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/those-musical-bits-on-who-wants-to-be-a-millionaire/782533/3 "2017-03-19T14:46:06Z")
> [@Santos\_L\_Halper](#): > > Musical stinger? Yeah, that’s a good word…a TV encyclopedia I have used it for the musical bits on \*Dragnet \*when Sgt. Friday spoke some telling remark…