Real Life: Ringtones

Intro

O, remember the days when a telephone actually rang? They’re long gone, my friend. Nowadays, people load their favorite songs and jingles into their mobile phones. Instead of hearing the ringing bell when you get a phone call, now you hear Michael Jackson belting” … just leave me alone..”

Or Snoop Dog waxing philosoph about “….sippin” on gin and juice…”

Both Taylor and John have ringtones on their mobile phones. Listen in on their conversation

Dialogue

John: Got any cool rightones on your mobile device, Taylor?

Taylor: Yeah, right now, ah, I’ve been listening to the wonderful instrumental ditty, China Cat Sunflower by The Greateful Dead.

John: Oh, that sounds pretty cool. Where’d you download that from?

Taylor: From, ah, Dead-ringers.net

John: That’s nice. How much did you pay for that?

Taylor: Two dollars, you know. It’s not monotone like the old ringtones used to be. It’s, It’s got some dynamics and even shows some of the jamming skills of The Dead, You can really snap your fingers to it.

John: Oh,that’s cool. So you could personalize the kind of ringtone you got, between the digital sound or the real recording?

Taylor: Correct. You can

Discussion

Ringtones let you personalize your mobile phone so it makes the sounds you want it to make. There are lots of sites where you can download ringtones. Some of them charge a small fee, others let you download the sounds for free.

Vocab

Ditty

Definition

n. short song; a short, catchy tune or piece of music

Examples

I’ve had that Oscar Meyer ditty in my head all day.

Monotone

Definition

Adj. Unvaried sound

Examples

Japanese is kind of a monotone language, but that is very tonal

Dynamics

Definition

n. patterns or contrasts in sound

Examples

I like the dynamics of this song. The music goes back and forth between being intense and calm

Jamming

Definition

Adj. Freestyle way of playing music; playing music without a plan

Examples

They’re jamming in the garage. Grab a guitar and go play with them

Long gone

Definition

Expr. Far in the past; far away

Examples

The days of the horse and carriage are long gone.

Belting

Definition

v. singing loudly

Examples

I could hear you belting out that song from downstairs

Waxing philosoph

Definition

v. talking about large, complicated or abstract ideas; philosophizing

Examples

We had a few cocktails and waxed philosoph about life

Mobile device

Definition

n. small piece of technology, such as an mp3 player, pocket pc, cell phone, etc

Examples

I need to get a bag for all of my mobile devices

Instrumental

Definition

Adj. Music without lyrics or spoken sounds; music with only the sound of instruments

Examples

A lot of techno music is instrumental