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Tech

This Virtuoso Makes Every Annoying Ringtone Beautiful on a Piano

Consider sampling part of this to turn old ringtones on their heads.

Tony Ann's Youtube channel shows him covering a wide variety of contemporary music. He has applied his virtuoso keyboard skills to everything from Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody" to Adele's "Someone Like You" and his original piece, "Prelude in A-flat Major."

His latest went in an unexpected direction and the result is—well, it's delightful, as if Mozart was reincarnated and composing for the media division of one of the giant smart phone makers. "I recently had an idea of creating a mashup consisting of famous cellphone ringtones so ……. here is that," Ann writes on his Facebook page.

Ann also kindly provided sheet music for the medley, which begins with the iPhone's familiar classic "Marimba" tone before smoothly transitioning with classically-inspired flourishes through some of our mobile phones' greatest and most annoying hits, like T-Mobile's "T Jingle" and AT&T's old "Original Cingular."

Ann's pleasing work tricks the ear into reconsidering tones that in their original form quickly became so much background noise—it's like sampling static then tweaking it to sound like a symphony.

The medley also takes music that in the past has symbolized stress and unwanted demands on our attention—like paying bills or just waking up—and turns it into pleasing background music. The kind you might hear while texting around the table at a quiet Sunday brunch. The anonymous musical mind behind Apple's classic "Opening" ringtone would surely be pleased.