Theme music: a slightly longer musical piece often played during the intro to a radio or TV show, video game, film, or other media, sometimes vocal, sometimes not. probably shouldn’t be used in cases where existing music is used, such as the iconic Borderlands title themes
all the iconic title themes for the James Bond movies, like Goldfinger [MB]
the NFL on Fox theme [MB], which has become the theme of the whole Fox Sports channel
possibly related is sports entrance themes, many of which are preexisting compositions, but some are original, especially in wrestling, such as John Cena’s entrance theme (appears at about 1:20) [MB recording]
Video game fanfare/jingle: little tunes that play when you get an important item, finish a level, or other events in-game. I’m not too attached to this name, but I’ve heard them called jingles or fanfares before (and I only add “video game” to differentiate them from other types of fanfare)
the pair of themes for opening a chest and getting an item in Ocarina of Time [MB], [MB]
this pair of themes for getting a power star in Super Mario 64 [MB], [MB]
Brass fanfare: different from the above, usually longer and played on trumpets, French horns, or other brass instruments, usually played before or during the arrival of an important person. the Wikipedia article on fanfares talks about these
Sports chants: short musical chants often either played by instruments at sports games (like the iconic baseball Charge mentioned above) or chanted by the crowd in the stadium. @sound.and.vision started a forum thread about the latter some time ago, and Wikipedia has an article on Football chants which might be of use here
several examples in the forum thread, which due to the folk nature of many of these, don’t have official titles
again, not too attached to most of the names, but I wanted to get these out there. lemme know if there’s any types I might have missed
The sounds in an airplane cockpit, like Voice warning system - Wikipedia (which can use tone and rhythm in addition to words to convey information), Marker beacon - Wikipedia, or the various combinations/patterns of beepers and buzzers that can indicate non-normal conditions like stall or ground proximity.
Basically every other audible signal that uses memorable combinations of tone and rhythm to tell people something important.
on a similar note, there has been discussion about those end-of-cycle jingles that some home appliances play, and how relevant they are to MusicBrainz
(my opinion might have changed in the last 3 years, lol)
I’m not sure where I might draw the line here, because the washing machine tunes are pretty clearly musical, but is a back-up beeper? a smoke alarm? a car horn? I don’t know what the answer is here…
if I do make tickets, I’ll try and remember to add one for bugle calls tho~ that’s exactly the sort of thing I’m talking about here
oh, good additions Ivan~ I’ve definitely heard songs that sample the Skype dialtone, it wouldn’t be much of a stretch to cover it, lol
actually, looked it up, and yeah, there are quite a few covers of it, lol
related, you reminded me of something I wanted to add to the OP, but I don’t know what the actual name is; logo sounds and music, like the THX Deep Note or the one for Walt Disney Pictures. there’s even a Wikipedia page for the former
Most Hollywood movies are about thieves who succeed in their theft. Moreover, they evoke our sympathy and we feel sorry for them when they are caught by the police.
Who knows how much real criminals took advice and tips from movies…
my favorite little fun fact about the “You wouldn’t download a car” promo is that it accidentally told many who didn’t already know you could download pirated movies, thereby backfiring, lol
