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© Copyright 1998, Jim Loy
The title of this essay is that sound that we make when we do something that we are proud of. I've heard people wondering out loud just where that came from. I have a theory.
This sound reminds me of the last notes of a symphony (or other piece of "classical" music). But, some study reveals that only one popular piece ends like that. Almost all the rest just end with a simple Ta (not a Ta-Da). The piece of music, which does end in Ta-Da, is The William Tell Overture, perhaps the most popular of all "classical" music.
So, is my detective work over? Did millions of people start saying Ta-Da, because they watched the Lone Ranger (whose theme song was the last half of the William Tell Overture) on TV? That doesn't quite make sense, does it? The Lone Ranger never went Ta-Da (I may have missed that episode).
It has been many years since I've gone to a circus. But, I seem to recall the little circus band playing that little tune (Ta-Da), every time that one of the performers did his/her spectacular stunt. Sometimes they interrupted some other tune, to play Ta-Da. Isn't that where we picked up our Ta-Da?
I suspect that the circus band got their Ta-Da from the William Tell Overture (probably a very popular circus tune long before the Lone Ranger), and eventually played Ta-Da without the original tune.
How's that? Ta-Da!