music

musical concepts

duration - the lengths of sounds and silences in music

aspects

• beat

• rhythm

• metre (regular, recurring pattern of strong and weak beats that organize rhythm into measurable framework)

• tempo

• pulse rates & absence of pulse

pitch - the relative highness and lowness of sounds

aspects

• high, low

• tonality (major, minor)

• direction of pitch (ascending, descending, linear)

• melody

• harmony

• indefinite and definite pitch

texture - the layers of sound

aspects

• different layers of sound

• types of textures

• the way it is created or used

tone colour - the aspects of sound that allows the listener to identify the sound source or combination of sources

aspects

• instrument/section/ensemble

• tone colour description

• playing technique

dynamics & expressive techniques - dynamics refers to volume of sound, expressive techniques refer to musical details that articulates a style

aspects

• relative softness and loudness of sound

• change of loudness (contrast)

• emphasis on individual sounds (accent)

structure - how the music is organised

aspects

• sections

• how the other concepts are used within each section

• overall structure

key points

• evolution from early sounds of sound chips (early 1980s) to full blown orchestral scores

• soundtracks to early video games here made up of simple melodies from sound synthesizer tech, inspiring the “chiptune” style of music

• has grown to become as complex and as popular as film and TV series

• japan has a long and celebrated history of video game composition

• 8-bit sound quality is lower than 16-bit

• 8-bt and 16-bit refers to the bit depth of an image

• 8-bit can display up to 16.7 million colours

• 16-bit can display up to 281 million colours

• 16-bit are more detailed and offer a wider range of colours

• video game soundtracks today perfectly match the game’s timing in innovative ways, changing and adapting to the player’s speed and scenery

• we are moving into a realm of a future shaped by advancements in AI, virtual reality, augmented reality, and the expansion of metaverse

fun facts

• yoko shimomura’s “kingdom of hearts” & jeremy joule’s “the elder scrolls V:skyrim” gave grown significantly

• “kingdom of hearts” has the chart’s highest climber at number 86

• classic FM 2016 poll, japanese maestro nobuo uematsu’s “final fantasy” soundtrack reached number 17, making it into the top 20 for the 5th year in a row

• koji kondo composed the soundtracks for supermario bros and the legend of zelda

identify videogame music and key musical characteristics

role of music in videogames

• set atmosphere or mood,

• represent character, place, player achievements, change in scene or prompt player actions

• enhance emotion of the player/scene/plot storytelling

• creates tension

• lyrics in songs and tone can support a particular moment

• diegetic music

common characteristics of video game music

• repetitive melody (pitch)

• clear sense of pulse (duration)

• thin texture for early video game music, thicker for contemporary game music (texture)

• SFX (special effects) with a variety of tone colours to motion visuals/scene (tone colour)

• repetitive overall structure, no arranged ending (structure)

• large range of dynamics to match the visuals/scenes (dynamics)

evolution of video game music

• input of the player was really important in videogame music

• first videogame to have music - pong (1972)

• first videogame to have continual background music - taito space invaders (1978)

• digital audio - electrical impulses are converted into sound waves

  • al alcorn incorporated it in videogames

• digital sampling was used to progression, first recording an analogue signal → converted and stored digitally → digital data is converted to sound waves that we can hear using digital to analogue converters