That jarring iPhone alarm tone has been turned into a sweeping piano fantasia

8 March 2023, 17:33

Tony Ann turns the iPhone alarm into a sweeping soundscape
Tony Ann turns the iPhone alarm into a sweeping soundscape. Picture: Tony Ann / YouTube

By Sophia Alexandra Hall

Transforming an iPhone alarm into a soothing piano ballad...

How many people actually like waking up to the sound of their alarm? Whether you have the most beautiful piece of music set to start you on your day or just a default tone chosen by your phone, chances are you’re not always ecstatic to hear the familiar refrain.

However, this piano reimagining of the classic iPhone alarm (called Opening) by Canadian pianist, Tony Ann, may just be the exception to this rule.

In this auspiciously adept arrangement, Ann takes the four musical notes which make up Opening’s motif and repurposes them, setting them against a sweeping slurry of left hand quavers.

The result is a two-and-a-half minute ballad which feels like it could easily be slotted into an epic film score, as the camera pans across a breathtaking landscape.

Not a bad mental image to have in your head first thing as you stir from your sleep... take a listen below.

Read more: A cappella choir imitates iPhone sound effects with terrifying virtuosity

tony ann - iPhone alarm as a piano ballad

Ann is a Decca-signed pianist, composer, and songwriter hailing from Toronto, Canada, and has found popularity thanks to his remarkable reimaginings of familiar melodies, as well as his own compositions inspired by the everyday.

From writing fantasias accompanying his neighbour’s car alarm, to contemporary reimaginings of popular classical music works such as Pachelbel’s Canon in D, Ann has brought in a loyal, and ever growing community of supporters.

His videos have been viewed hundreds of millions of times across social media platforms, and his debut album, EMOTIONALLY BLUE, releases on Friday 10 March 2023.