Musical Chairs: Solution
By Justin Melvin, Wes Carroll, and Elizabeth French
Answer:
GERI HALLIWELL
Each snippet is from a popular song or famous piece of classical music, transposed to the key of C major or A minor, and subjected to a note-to-note substitution cipher.
| Plain note | Cipher note |
|---|---|
| C’ | F’’ |
| D’ | C’’ |
| E’ | C’’’ |
| F’ | G’’ |
| G’ | A’ |
| A’ | D’’ |
| B’ | B’ |
| C’’ | D’ |
| D’’ | B’’ |
| E’’ | C’ |
| F’’ | A’’ |
| G’’ | E’’ |
| A’’ | F’ |
| B’’ | G’ |
| C’’’ | E’ |
In addition, each song has an extra note. The songs are presented in alphabetical order by title. Decrypt the songs and order the songs by the location of the extra notes:
| Note Index | Song | Artist |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | “Ritt der Walküren” | Richard Wagner |
| 2 | “Eye of the Tiger” | Survivor |
| 3 | “Don’t Stop Believin’” | Journey |
| 4 | “Hey Jude” | The Beatles |
| 5 | “Eine Kleine Nachtmusik” | Mozart |
| 6 | “Alouette” | Traditional |
| 7 | “Don’t Stop Me Now” | Queen |
| 8 | “Escape” | Rupert Holmes |
| 9 | “Don’t Worry, Be Happy” | Bobby McFerrin |
| 10 | “O Susanna” | Stephen Foster |
| 11 | “Never Gonna Give You Up” | Rick Astley |
| 12 | “Every Breath You Take” | The Police |
| 13 | “New Slang” | The Shins |
| 14 | “Edelweiss” | Rodgers and Hammerstein |
| 15 | “Everybody Wants To Rule The World” | Tears for Fears |
Acrostically, the titles give the clue RED-HEADED ONE NEE. If you play the extra notes in order, they play the refrain from “Wannabe” by the Spice Girls. Using the clue, Ginger Spice’s maiden name is GERI HALLIWELL. The decrypted songs can be seen here:
