One note.
That piano theme from Eyes Wide Shut
“Shave and a Hair Cut”
First three or four notes of “Here Comes the Bride.”
[slight hijack] How sad is it that several references are made above to TV theme songs and commercial jingles? What kind of a world are we living in?[/slight hijack]
My vote’s on the opening of Beethoven’s Fifth.
I’ll throw in “The Wedding March” here.
Caught m’self playing it on my daughter’s toy xylophone one afternoon, with no idea what I was playing. I just hit on this interesting progression down the scale, which lead me into plinking out the whole intro. I knew it was a tune I recognized, but I couldn’t identify it.
It was about 4 days later that it hit me what the hell that song I’d been playing was.
[sub]All you need is the first two notes, really.[/sub]
A one where the majority of people possess a TV and maybe fewer people possess a collection of classical CDs, perhaps.
Toccata and Fugue in D minor. Three notes.
Nah, I kept thinking they were going into the Pretenders version of ‘Thin Line Between Love and Hate’.
That got me several times.
Maria from West Side Story has a very distinctive tri-tone.
Any piano student will get Chopsticks, Heart and Soul, and Three Blind Mice very quickly.
dang, as_u_wish beat me by half an hour – another vote for Maria.
Not humming, but if anyone sang the word “kid” at middle C, any Pretenders fan would recognize it.
There’s an eight note melody that a lot people have on their doorbell. Not as short as some of the others here, but still pretty short. Also, the first three notes of “Bali Ha’i” (sp?) from South Pacific, maybe.
That’s called the Westminster Chimes TJ. There’s a good sized clock that plays that tune…
I third the theme music froms Jaws. Almost anyone in America cvould get it from only two notes. Many could get it in one. You can’t beat that. There is your answer or at least a tie for an answer.
Actually, the name of that tune is “MOMMMMMM-EEEEEEEEE.” It predates the age when kids gather together to taunt.
Colonel Boogie March, John Philips Sousa - the first two notes as whistled (as the theme?) of “The Bridge Over The River Kwai” I also use this to call my cats in to the house.
How about complete recognisable melodies of two notes. Navy vets will always recognise the bosun’s pipe over the 1MC for a general announcement.
Two notes, and everyone knew what it meant.
The first two notes of the Bridge over the River Kwai theme are, in fact, the tune I have named “MOMMMMMM-EEEEEEEEE”. Just a different tempo.
Another complete recognizable melody of 2 notes (subject to cultural experiences) might be “Wah - wah”, tone - down-a-tritone, which also carries a specific meaning, to wit, “Something sucky, yet funny to the rest of us, just happened to you.”
Hmmm…how about the first two notes of “Louie, Louie”? I know we’re sort of deviating from the OP’s intention here, since you’d have to be a rock fan, but still…
a wolf whistle?