Songs that are worth the wait

Now that cellphone ring tones are a multimillion-dollar business, “Composers on Hold” was probably inevitable. That’s the name of a program recently launched by the American Music Center, a New York-based service organization, so it could have original compositions to play for callers put on hold.

Six composers received commissions to write pieces for the endeavor, which the center undertook in partnership with the Eric and Edith Siday Charitable Foundation. Eric Siday was a pioneering electro-acoustic composer who invented “identitones,” those musical tags that identify a product or company, such as Maxwell House coffee or ABC-TV.

The “On Hold” composers, chosen from a field of a dozen, are Halim El-Dabh, Raz Mesinai, Ira J. Mowitz, Larry Polansky, Roddy Schrock and Randall Woolf. Each received $1,000 for a catchy one-to-three-minute composition. The works -- some of which involve percolating noises or repeated voices -- incorporate a variety of techniques to modify voices and tones, and percussion and other instruments.

“We tried to pick people who were uniquely qualified,” says AMC grants manager Anna Smith. “Those included both really experienced and accomplished composers and some much younger composers. The youngest was 28-year-old Roddy Schrock and the oldest was 84-year-old Halim El-Dabh.”

“Part of the idea was that the concept might catch on, especially for museums or art galleries,” says AMC marketing associate Ian Moss. “It could be potentially a new listening opportunity that composers would have to showcase their music. For the companies involved, it would be a chance to have a sense of brand identity, musically speaking.”

You can hear the pieces by going to www.amc.net or calling (212) 366-5260. Hope you get put on hold.

-- Chris Pasles