I know, right? But it's really interesting at the same time. I can't say I'm learning anything because I'm not retaining it, but I enjoy hearing about it.
It helps to understand that Uematsu has no formal music training at all. He's an extremely instinctive composer who may not even be aware of how complex or interesting his stuff is in terms of music theory. Also, subbed for the mutual hatred of Cb.
As my piano teacher (who said Uematsu is his favorite composer) pointed out when I asked "How the fuck does he come up with this stuff?" He responded with, "Well, he's obviously a very good listener."
Yes this. Good listening makes a good composer. Makes yourself your own best critic. Music theory should only be learned to help in this matter not hinder it.
I know right, I took some ap music theory classes in high school... but that was back in high school lmao. I could've understood most of what he was saying back then, but now its escaping me :(
fuck yeah dude. it's like little golf clubs growing out of the ground and some of em are even upside down? sometimes? what a crazy world we live in. I lvoe I love arpeggios
Enharmonic equivalents are fine on a stave, and that's the whole point of Cb in the first place, but "saying" Cb is like saying L O L out loud, it's just pedantic and unecessary. Don't get me started on "jof vs gif" pronunciation...
ditto. I have *no* idea what he's talking about but the combination of GameMusic and his "how it's made" narration voice *compels* me to click the vids. ... I think this guy might be actually be hypno-toad.
Yeah I play guitar, piano, drums, I love music but don't know anything about theory. It's strangely therapeutic even though I have no idea what's going on.
I’m a music student who’s been taking Theory classes for awhile now and this guy definitely knows his stuff. The way he analyzes things is extremely well educated and professional, despite understand quite a bit of terminology I can barely follow him as well lol
I personally only understand what he's saying because my college made me take 3 semesters of jazz harmony as a part of my core music courses. But even then, his analysis is pretty quick and takes me a second to process.
In addition to a suspended chord; "sus" is a particular form of sentence-mixing-based joke popular in youtube poop, in which a word beginning with "s" is reversed after the first instance of a vowel, causing it to sound as if the voice was saying "sus".
Randomly came across your videos about an hour ago, and I was honestly saddened by the fact that you only have a few videos up. Your channel is already one of my favorites, regardless of the fact that i have no clue what half of what you said even meant. Please continue your hard work, and know that you now have a yet another fan for life.
If you're really aching for learning more music theory via videogame music, i highly recommend the channel Ongaku Concept. The dude who runs it really knows his stuff and is a great teacher!
Not to be discouraging, but if you cannot read music or understand musical theory or are trained in such, you are NOT a composer. A song writer would be a better title.
+Shitpost Sunkern is right. You don't need to know music theory to "compose" music. You can just put together notes and stuff that sounds good and all the music theory will go in there without thought, naturally.
That's true. I see your point. To be able to get the most out of your potential as a composer and artist, you should have a firm grasp on the concepts of music theory or else you won't really get anywhere. I guess I just said that because I don't know as much music theory as 8-Bit does, and most of the concepts fly over my head. I know the basics, and that has been enough for me to make some pretty decent tracks by ear. I am able to use the concepts that 8-Bit talks about, but I guess I'm just not aware of it as I'm using them. Like it just comes naturally
Well, respect to you for pointing out what you don't know. That's rare on the internet. The issue with Music often, is composition and performance both suffer greatly from Dunning-Kruger effect. You don't know how much you don't know. I've spent a decade studying music, with a Masters degree in music literature and performance. Many years of that Masters was studying theory. What I've learned is that even with an advanced degree, I'm a mental midget compared to real composers. I can literally take a couple days and compose you a listenable Symphony, but composing ok music is EASY. Composing GOOD music is damn near impossible. The more you learn about music and theory, the more you learn how stupid you really are. I suppose that's the way of most advanced professions though.
1. Get yourself a note. 2. Search up it's most common chord-progressions 3. Search up the pentatonic scale of your notes scale 4. Play a random selection of notes of the pentatonic scale over a selected chord-progression That's what you need music theory for. The rest is done by experienced rule-breaking.
gmoderX Did you major in music? Because I did and teach it for a living. You can deconstruct the music to show the ground work of the song. I - flat VI - flat VII | I - flat VII - I... that's the final fantasy victory song again. Likewise, you could hypothetically compose a song going in "I want to go I - iii - flat vi | V - I" or go with what's in your head disregarding theory and analyze it later or even go full on theory. Really though, two different beasts under the same umbrella.
I get what gmoder is saying, this is technically useless as in you can compose music without this, correct. But I'm an engineering student and I see people like that as "music technicians", you can make reasonably popular music buut if you want to take your compositions to a higher level to evoke more complex emotion through instrumentation and not only lyrics you NEED this.
All depends man.. this music is objectively good, cause it does sound triumphant to people with a western musical background.. even to those who think it sucks. Videos like these, and analyzing music is a great way to limit your search for writing pieces that need to meet certain requirements. If jamming in a band is your thing (which is awesome), I'm not sure if these videos are meant for you. As to your point regarding musictheory.. there can be a science, cause music may not be as subjective as you think. As you pointed out.. the human ear is pretty great at relative hearing.. Hence we can fill in chords under a melody. We can pick out the strong and weak notes in a scale. We can hear dissonance and consonance. Why can't there be a science devoted to it?
From the earliest moments, I knew I was in too deep, far far out of my league in understanding this. I kept watching, because not having a single touchstone I can leverage to further understanding of something is a novel experience for me.
"Not having a single touchstone I can leverage to further understanding of something is a novel experience for me." How long that take to construct? lol
He basically tries to make logic of a musical construct which wasn't made with logic. He's like the master class of theoretic analysis of song structures, but the composer of this song never learned how to make music. He just puts notes together. In music there are like two camps. One camp has the over-analytical music nerds, who try to make sense out of stuff and the other one is making music by melodies which are stuck in their head.
@@Gloriankithsanus I've seen a couple of your comments on here so I'd better reply. You're absolutely trivializing what the composer has done here. You seem to think that because Uematsu didn't have formal music training that he must "just put notes together". You know it can be somewhere in between, right? Uematsu doesn't think about every note in terms of its formal definitions like this analysis, but he sure as hell knows plenty of music theory at this point. I dont know if you've ever tried to write music but trust me, you don't get music like this just by "putting notes together". I don't know exactly how Uematsu thinks about the notes he's writing, but it doesn't even matter. The fact is he knows the effect each note will create. I'm guessing the overall process is a combination of naturally hearing melodies and chords and writing them down, and using musical theory that he's developed and probably learned over the years to achieve what he's going for. Uematsu is not just placing notes.
@@BodTheGrinch Did you just write 6 lines of text to tell me he didn't play roulette to decide which notes he uses? I'm sorry, next time I will mention that he: - didn't create the song in 2 min - has experience in his business - somehow needs to have a clue what sounds good Everyone here seems to think he's an expert theorist godly inhuman creature of music, when in fact, he's just some dude who loves music. And if you saw him playing along in one of his shows, you can see exactly that. Don't get me wrong, he's doing an insane good job of delivering the correct feelings for the current situation to the listener, but if a man who had his first contact with music when he was 23 can do it, anyone can. It's no use to reserve music for elitist music theorists. That's stupid and arrogant. And Nobuo Uematsu is the perfect example for human-like people achieving good scores. I'm rambling so much around this place, to show people that he came from nothing and achieving what he's doing here is very much doable. The point of my comments here isn't to downgrade Uematsu, it's to lift people up who wander by and think "I'd never be able to do that".
@@Gloriankithsanus Really, REALLY weird approach. Uematsu started playing at 12, for a start. Broadly I agree with you; Uematsu isn't some super human with divine gifts. He's just a dude who's played music for a long time and has a natural feel for composition. If you want to encourage people, why not, y'know, say something encouraging. Like "Hey everyone, don't forget that you can write great music like Uematsu too, just spend time on the craft and keep at it". Instead, you're going around making weird, trivializing, factually incorrect comments that, whether intended or not, totally trivialize what undeniably is incredible work by a gifted composer. Seems to me like you have some kind of issue with people using intimidating musical terms to analyse great music. The reason the 8bitmusictheory, or anyone else, uses those terms to analyse music is because they're the most efficient way. That's why they're there. He's not using them to be elitist or whatever. If you don't understand those terms or find them elitist, you're probably not the intended audience. I don't see any elitism whatsoever in the video or in the comments. Just because the guy in the video is accurately analysing what's happening in the music doesn't mean Uematsu went through that same thought process when he wrote it. The video doesn't imply that and nobody else thinks he did. So why come out with nonsense like "he's just putting notes together"? Weird, ass-backwards way of encouraging people to follow their musical dreams.
guitarskills2 The bVII is common because it introduces that Dorian feel. Both the bVII and the bVI add an extra flair common to the parallel minor scale, while still retaining a "major scale" feel, because both chords are major chords. It's good stuff.
Could you explain what exactly the "b" in bVI or bVII stands for? I have seen my share of sheet music (for guitar mainly) and am familiar with the roman numerals in general. I have just never seen the flat-b outside of 8-bit Music Theory's videos. So what exactly is flattened in a bVI chord?
@ollerich32 The sixth note itself. In this case it becomes a flattened bVI chord. To explain what this means, let's make the 7th flat for instance in the C major scale (which, if you're only doing that by its own, you're entering the mixolydian mode, as flattening the 7th in any major scale will shift the mode from the Ionian mode which C was originally in). The C major scale goes like this: C D E F G A B then an octave C. Now, flattening the 7th means the 7th note of this scale itself. This means the B in C major becomes a flattened B, or Bb (or bVII). Now let's talk about how this makes sense in a chord progression: in this case, you could play a C major triad, then move onto a Bb major triad, and perhaps too you will want to go ahead, flatten the A note in the C major scale and play an Ab major triad before jumping on down to a G major chord. Congratulations: you know the chord progression for most of early Nintendo music used by Koji Kondo in Mario, Zelda, etc, particularly the overture for the original Legend of Zelda (except that's in Bb major, not C major, but the SAME priniciple applies - find all the notes in Bb major scale, then flatten the 7th and 6th, and use the progression I-bVII-bVI-V-I). Sorry I rambled. Hope that helps.
It doesn't sound like a victory theme at all... Imagine that you beat the game, and everyone is happy, but suddenly it turns out it's not the ending, and some big mystery unfolds that perplexes the protagonists. That's how this song feels like.
Yntec I feel like the first part is the only "victorious" part of the theme, and the second is the "hey, let's check all this exp and items you've earned from this battle" part, or in the case of Smash it's the "wait a sec, let me save this sick replay" part.
Okay, but it still sounds like this to me: "hey, let's check all this exp and items you've earned from this battle... holy cow! you find out you actually killed a good guy and you found evidence that you're actually being manipulated and working for the wrong side, because..." Or something. It's an awesome music theme, but I can't shake the feeling of intrigue and "something important is happening, pay attention!" instead of celebration...
+mezzyjezze Exactly. The normal battle theme (not ending theme) is meant to impart a sense of *temporary* victory, but you know you still have more troubles and mysteries ahead of you yet... That's my interpretation at least ;)
This is the first video of yours I ever watched, and it's still my favorite. The depth of the analysis is so great I get something new from it every time I come back around to it.
I watched this video 2 years ago when I first started learning music and understood none of this, a lot of learning later and I'm coming back to rewatch all of your videos now actually understanding everything you are saying and man, you offer a very good service. There really isn't any harmony analysis like this on youtube for video games and I respect what you are doing even more. Keep up the good work!
Uemastu: ".... I dunno about any of that theory stuff this guy is talking about... I was just jamming one day and found a melody that fit together well 🤷♂️." 😆
I just found out your channel and I wanted to say thanks: my childhood is inside videogame music, having been exposed to it for very long periods of time :) As a musician seeing it fully disclosed (with sheet music too) brings me a level of joy I can't describe
How have I not known about your chanel before?? instant subscribe. I thought I'd just take music theory classes for fun but it's really cool to watch you go so in depth and understand it all
I too, like many commenters, have no idea what you were saying most of the time, but I love the channel idea. If I could give a suggestion, I would say edit in more example chords rather than using terms, which is pretty heavy (at least in this video). For example, 8:30 to 9:30 goes way too fast and has no chord audio, so I lose you after the section about the augmented chord equality. I've played music for a while but have mostly been a by-ear guy, and I'm trying to learn more of the fundamentals. I think you could rope in a lot more subscribers if you give some more audio examples, making the more important notes to watch for in voicings louder than others to highlight what's going on, etc. Keep it up!
Doing god's work, I was talking recently how there is so much info on making video games available but there is nothing about the music that makes it up, shining a light on a dark art thank you.
*double fist pump* *raise sword* *use a movement-based materia to spin sword* (the actual physical process of rotating that sword so perfectly can only be done by magic)' *sheathe sword*
Ok so, watching this... I compose music for games sometimes. I had a look at the one time I made a victory time, and I actually used a variation of the I - bVI - bVII - I chord sequence. Thing is, I didn't intentionally go into the theory side of things to make something that sounded like a "victory theme", I guess I just did what seemed natural. Its curious to me that I instinctively stuck to that formula without realising it. I wonder how many other composers do this stuff without even meaning to.
WillRock07 most music creators don't go out of their way to incorporate specific music theories into their compositions, however have a decent theory base can lead to less repetitive music and much less instances of getting 'stuck' while composing as it's easier to look at relative chords/notes to compose the next passage or cycle around back to the beginning
Lots of music is instinctive in all of us. Same reason you can go anywhere in the world and start singing the pentatonic scale and everyone will be able to finish it for you. It's our shared language.
Most of them are doing this, lol. It happens to me too, even before I knew theory. I was "discovering" the right notes or the right chords/progressions on my own, just by how they "felt."
@@DeathBringer769 You interpete that the wrong way. You don't make something "right" in music by intuition. Music theory tries to explain why your intuition sounds "right".
As a music major stuck at home due to the pandemic... watching these videos again makes me smile... and makes me realize I gotta start reviewing my old music theory notes by myself now.... lol.
The only thing that would make these videos better would be to play the full piece at the beginning before the analysis. Or at least the main parts for longer pieces. It would make the whole analysis easier to follow.
Woah, awesome video! I can't say I'm well versed in music theory, but it was a really interesting watch nevertheless! My only suggestion to make it easier to follow is to add a vertical bar over the sheet when the song plays (like in various music programs) so we can see exactly which notes are sounding.
You're not alone. All the people here saying they subbed for the Cb hatred are ridiculous. If he said B instead of Cb it would have made no freaking sense in this context. Worse than that, it would have been misleading. Functional harmony is all about, gasp, the *function* of the harmony. Calling a Cb a B is saying that that notes function in the music is doing a completely different thing. It's the same reason you wouldn't say A# when you mean Bb. People need to get woke.
Love this! When you pointed out how Uematsu used as little motion as possible in the chords, I remembered my graduate arranging professor going on and on about Chopin's "chromatic wandering" technique, and how you can use it to craft super strange progressions that all tie together by using that chromatic voice leading. But he was right, when he made us compose a jazz tune using chromatic wandering, we would get harmonic motion that one wouldn't otherwise consider. I felt very smart at that point in the video, and I thank you for that. Keep up the great work!
So as someone who knows basically zero about music theory it occurred to me halfway through the video that you could be saying complete garbage and i would have no idea either way :D It's very cool that you're give this much time and attention to the subtleties of video game music.
It's like watching a video in a totally different language. I've watched a lot of his videos, considering how little I actually understand. Umm...fake it until you make it?
Please please please keep making awesome videos like this. I mean, obviously do what you want because that's most important. But you are helping me out a lot with this, thank you
By any chance have you heard of an indie game for the PC called La-Mulana? I've talked about how the game makes great use of leitmotifs before but I'd love to hear an opinion from someone more well-versed in music theory.
Love your videos.. I'm a huge fan of Uematsu! I have to admit I left this one on hold to rewatch till I learned more theory and applied them in songs, but I also gotta admit it was very rewarding comprehending this video! Also, the Dancing Mad one was brutal, too! Congrats on the amazing work, dude.. hope you keep it up! Cheers!
I barely understand anything anything in this video, but at the same time i find it very facinating and a good way to start piecing together an understand of the concepts at play. Subscribed.
Some constructive criticism: your analysis lacks melodic considerations. The G below the F chord can be considered an escape tone and I would argue that it is heard that way. It's easier to hear a basic F major triad with a "wrong note" in the base than it is to hear a 13th chord with several notes missing. Especially with the way the notes are spelled. The same applies to the Gb below the C+, except in this case we hear V+ with a, measure long, Gb chromatic appoggiatura. I think it's important when doing these analysis to take a step back and just sing or play the part. Do you really hear a bIII maj7 #11? Or do you simply hear a direct modulation a half step higher. I think the melodic alteration at the end trumps the harmony and as a result we hear the tonality of Gb major followed by another half step modulation up to G minor. The harmony actually supports this idea since it mimics the same motion. We have Ab in the bass and Eb in the treble THEN we have Gb, Bb, Db. See the pattern? Our destination is F so the Eb is a retardation and the Ab is an escape tone. What's left ? a Gb major triad followed by a G minor triad. Pretty simple stuff, but of course, hard to see between the lines.
Playing an F Major triad over a G bass is a very common sus voicing (it sounds the Root, 4th, 9th, and 11th... it's only "missing" the 5th which is often omitted anyways). It's used regularly in music and has been for far too many years to say it's "hard to hear" or that it's a "wrong note." That said, "D" is actually in the voicing given to the strings. They play a closed Root position D-7 over a G bass (or in other words a complete G9sus). It helps to analyze the notes that are actually there and not just the ones in this transcription.
Actually he replicates stuff that plays in his head. Sorry guys, there most likely wasn't any deeper thought put into that. You might wanna watch his mini-interview on creation of "One Winged Angel".
A composer's thought process is not relevant to surface level analysis. It doesn't matter how he composed the piece, it can still be analyzed. That said, I highly doubt Nobuo Uematsu does little more than "hear it in his head." There is more to composition than that. That's like saying authors just "hear words in their heads."
you gotta take the path of least resistance with chord analysis. A "C+/Gb?" it serves no sonoric function to call it that. It also isn't functioning as an "augmented chord", much less an augmented slash chord whose bass note would ruin its function as an augmented chord anyway. Augmented chords are artifices born out of the harmonic minor, in the III+ position leading to a iv. Your chord there is a Gb9(#11). Seeing that chord as a b2, or tritone substitution for a C dominant, tells us more functional information than a C+/Gb. It's also a well known gesture that is the path of lesser resistance. There is no "Gm/Ab." Again, that doesn't convey any functional information. Nor would you call a chord "maj7(#11)" unless there was an explicitly omitted 9, which there isn't. The Bb in your "Gm" is the 9 of the chord. Since there is a 9, the chord is simply "Abmaj11." It's arguable whether you can hear the C or Eb in the percussive synth hits. If they're not there, it's still just an Abmaj11 omit3, omit5, because that's how it's functioning. I also wouldn't have attempted to relate these chords to Fm. They're just free modulation. The Gb/Ab and others like it are "dominant" chords of their own space, and they resolve to angular places. It's the path of lesser resistance to do one of two things. A, chalk that moment up to free modulation, or have a series of small modulations with new tonal centers as they resolve to those maj11th shapes.
Great analysis! All of your videos so far have been extremely informative and entertaining. Looking forward to more of them. Wouldn't mind a dive into Ori and the Blind Forest's score.
This is really friggin great man. I'm still struggling with keeping up with all the chords and notation. But everything makes sense. Keep up the great work man!
I actually just got back into music classes and aiming to become a video game composer. It's amazing how much this makes more sense to me now, and awesome to see the musical analysis of one of my most nostalgic soundtracks. Good shit.
For people that don't know what the heck he's talking about, study some music theory and learn what chords are. Here's some things to look up first: What is a key? What is the difference between major and minor keys? The difference between a major and minor chord? What other chords are there aside from major and minor? (hint: augmented, sustained, diminished, seventh) What is an interval? Once you know these basic terms, you can start to learn their functions: What is a cadence? What is a tonic chord? What other kinds of chords are there? (hint: dominant, subdominant, etc) Why do we number these chords with roman numerals? How do these chords function together to create a sense of tension and resolution? If you know these things then you should be able to grasp most of what he's saying, even if you can't read musical notes. It's helpful to have an instrument that can play chords (I recommend piano) to learn this stuff, since you can very easily test chords out just by pushing the keys down.
I feel like you can stop right after cadence and already produce fine sounding music. I'd always add pentatonic scales because they're such a cheat to easily create stuff that sounds good, but ye. Music theory isn't too hard to get into. (everything given enough experience with the techniques, that is. Rule breaking needs some extensive training as well, but that's the most of what you actually NEED to know)
I've never seen this channel before, but it's nice to see music theory crossed with ff7. I don't usually sub on the first date, but music theory and video games are seldom blended so well. Your video made me feel like my own music degree wasn't a waste, because it made your video more accessible. I'll have to get my money's worth and watch the rest of your videos.
As amazing an explaination of this all was, I couldn't follow any of it... all that technical music jargen us common folk are clueless of. Great disection of this classic piece all the same.
This is kind of the point though. It doesn't matter whether he intensely micromanaged the composition, or just "thought it sounded nice". The goal of analyzing it is always the same: to figure out what's going on under the hood and WHY it sounds nice. It's also very common (even throughout history) for composers to write something that sounds nice, then go back and analyze it to figure out exactly what they did, and use that knowledge to elaborate on the sound they liked and make it more cohesive going forward.
It also underestimates the amount of "ingredients" that go into the metaphorical "soup pot" brain a composer has. He may not have worked it out deliberately theoretically, but the reason he's able to do so is quite likely through a crapload of transcription, attentive listening, and/or musical training. It's pretty fun when stuff starts to come out automatically and you can more quickly write down what you hear in your head.
But that's the point of music theory. It's descriptive. It's there to _describe_ what's happening and why it sounds good, regardless of whether the composer consciously knew of the ideas or not.
You are my new favorite. I can hear and rationalize why music is the way it is and I understand question and answer, but I totally sucked at theory (or just didn't take enough prerequisites), so I don't understand all the nuances of what you're saying, but you explain well enough that I see the point. Subscribed!
I'm impressed at your thorough investigation. I grew up listening to this music. Now that I understand the language of harmony I can go back and learn from Uematsu's approach. Studying this music closely has taken away from the magic I once felt, but in place I have a new found respect and admiration for his craft.
Hahahahaha 1:11 caught me so off guard, made me spit up my coffee a little. you are the best! seriously, as someone who has played music his whole life but kind of struggled to truly appreciate the theory of it all, hearing an analysis of the songs I grew up with has made all the difference.
Ok, I have no clue what you are saying, but I am entranced with what you are saying. I have never been able to read music or understand it, even during my 3 to 4 years of piano. I don't know why but I feel like I have to watch and listen to everything you are saying. You have my subscription.
I just found this channel and I'm loving it. I'll be starting cllassical music composition classes after the summer and I'm really interested in video game music. I hope you'll have alot more videos by the time I start composing!
As someone that cannot really read anything beyond a basic guitar tab of a song I've already heard to save my life, this was absolutely enthralling! I understood almost none of it, but holy crap I was glued to it! Do more!
Nice analysis!!! A standard victory theme as in the other FF's would have belied the dark atmosphere of the game, but Uematsu really crafted a beautiful fanfare with this that feels celebratory yet restrained and foreshadowing, which I think in large part is due to the parsimonious voice leading which dramatically alters the harmony but doesn't take the listener far away from home. Nicely done.
Игры
Final Fantasy bVII
I honestly laughed out loud
Courtney
I honestly laughed out cloud
Remnant - 72 ......no
Kevin Sanson .... No(buo Uematsu)
Nice! FF bVII! 😂
I have no idea what you're saying half the time.
Subscribed.
I know, right? But it's really interesting at the same time. I can't say I'm learning anything because I'm not retaining it, but I enjoy hearing about it.
Papallion Sunspell I feel the same way.
Exactly my situation. "What the hell am I hearing? SUB!!!"
Same and same.
I am with you.
It helps to understand that Uematsu has no formal music training at all. He's an extremely instinctive composer who may not even be aware of how complex or interesting his stuff is in terms of music theory. Also, subbed for the mutual hatred of Cb.
SpeakerCone some people just have really good instincts I guess.
As my piano teacher (who said Uematsu is his favorite composer) pointed out when I asked "How the fuck does he come up with this stuff?" He responded with, "Well, he's obviously a very good listener."
Yes this. Good listening makes a good composer. Makes yourself your own best critic. Music theory should only be learned to help in this matter not hinder it.
grimpify Can I have your piano teacher
@@ourDreamcatcher oh ok then I still have a chance then
Yes... I know some of these words.
Flat! he said flat! That means that note has no air, right?
LMAO SAME
Was that a good burger reference?
@@squibsterMhm, mhm, mhm...
I know right, I took some ap music theory classes in high school... but that was back in high school lmao. I could've understood most of what he was saying back then, but now its escaping me :(
Ah yes, I too do the musics. I especially like the round thingys at the end of the lines. They make the great boops on the SNES.
Ahahahahahahahah
fuck yeah dude. it's like little golf clubs growing out of the ground and some of em are even upside down? sometimes? what a crazy world we live in. I lvoe I love arpeggios
greetings fellow kids
And then there are the boops that have little families of boops! What a world.
Hello, fellow musicians!
Subscribed for the "I hate having to say C flat"
haha this one also made me subscribe :D
The videos are well worth keeping up with but this was what got me to hit subscribe at this specific moment.
same
C flat is technically correct so good luck with not caring about enharmonic equivalents.
Enharmonic equivalents are fine on a stave, and that's the whole point of Cb in the first place, but "saying" Cb is like saying L O L out loud, it's just pedantic and unecessary. Don't get me started on "jof vs gif" pronunciation...
Tbh I barely knew what you were talking about but I was still intrigued nonetheless
ditto. I have *no* idea what he's talking about but the combination of GameMusic and his "how it's made" narration voice *compels* me to click the vids.
... I think this guy might be actually be hypno-toad.
I literally didn't understand anything but somehow I like this.
TPotShax I'd bet a decent amount of this guy's subscribers barely understand what he's saying. I am a part of that group.
Yeah I play guitar, piano, drums, I love music but don't know anything about theory. It's strangely therapeutic even though I have no idea what's going on.
I’m a music student who’s been taking Theory classes for awhile now and this guy definitely knows his stuff. The way he analyzes things is extremely well educated and professional, despite understand quite a bit of terminology I can barely follow him as well lol
I personally only understand what he's saying because my college made me take 3 semesters of jazz harmony as a part of my core music courses. But even then, his analysis is pretty quick and takes me a second to process.
The mini rant of Cb was possibly one of the best things I've seen in a while in regards to music theory. Very nice!
Let's play Fb next!
I died laughing and had to pause the vid here lol
Me this whole video: "Ah yes, of course! The "sus" I should of known Uematsu-san would do that."
Inner monologue: *WHAT THE HELL IS A SUS??*
At the end of the video: "Ah yes, listen to those sweet, sweet susses and arpeggios. Beautiful."
and subbed of course, I can't hear those phat drum lines anywhere else.
Sus = suspended. It refers to a chord where the third is replaced by a fourth or major second, usually.
In addition to a suspended chord; "sus" is a particular form of sentence-mixing-based joke popular in youtube poop, in which a word beginning with "s" is reversed after the first instance of a vowel, causing it to sound as if the voice was saying "sus".
If you don't know what sus is you have no chance of understanding anything else in his videos lol. Sus is the simplest thing he talks about.
Randomly came across your videos about an hour ago, and I was honestly saddened by the fact that you only have a few videos up. Your channel is already one of my favorites, regardless of the fact that i have no clue what half of what you said even meant.
Please continue your hard work, and know that you now have a yet another fan for life.
Thank you for the kind words! It's only gonna get bigger from here!
If you're really aching for learning more music theory via videogame music, i highly recommend the channel Ongaku Concept. The dude who runs it really knows his stuff and is a great teacher!
No problem dude.
I think I'll check out that channel at some point.
Woha. As a composer who's only able to write music by ear, I find this super interesting. Keep it up!
Not to be discouraging, but if you cannot read music or understand musical theory or are trained in such, you are NOT a composer. A song writer would be a better title.
"Songwriter" would only be correct if Alex here writes for vocals, because a piece of music isn't a song if it isn't sung.
+Shitpost Sunkern is right. You don't need to know music theory to "compose" music. You can just put together notes and stuff that sounds good and all the music theory will go in there without thought, naturally.
That's true. I see your point. To be able to get the most out of your potential as a composer and artist, you should have a firm grasp on the concepts of music theory or else you won't really get anywhere. I guess I just said that because I don't know as much music theory as 8-Bit does, and most of the concepts fly over my head. I know the basics, and that has been enough for me to make some pretty decent tracks by ear. I am able to use the concepts that 8-Bit talks about, but I guess I'm just not aware of it as I'm using them. Like it just comes naturally
Well, respect to you for pointing out what you don't know. That's rare on the internet. The issue with Music often, is composition and performance both suffer greatly from Dunning-Kruger effect. You don't know how much you don't know.
I've spent a decade studying music, with a Masters degree in music literature and performance. Many years of that Masters was studying theory. What I've learned is that even with an advanced degree, I'm a mental midget compared to real composers. I can literally take a couple days and compose you a listenable Symphony, but composing ok music is EASY. Composing GOOD music is damn near impossible. The more you learn about music and theory, the more you learn how stupid you really are. I suppose that's the way of most advanced professions though.
even if people have no idea what you're talking about, it's worth watching for 7:40 alone
New meme at 7:40 #740blazeit
Hey, now you know why they call him Cloud.
RIGHT ON DUDE! ^__^
=)
Exactly how I feel.
This p h a t drum beat
in this video you have shown me that I need to learn music theory.
1. Get yourself a note.
2. Search up it's most common chord-progressions
3. Search up the pentatonic scale of your notes scale
4. Play a random selection of notes of the pentatonic scale over a selected chord-progression
That's what you need music theory for. The rest is done by experienced rule-breaking.
Shit I wish i understood any of this.
HeadHunter455 this is just one semester of college music theory. luckily there are some RUclips videos out there that teach music theory.
gmoderX It's an analysis of the music and how it works, not how it's composed. Two different things.
gmoderX Did you major in music? Because I did and teach it for a living. You can deconstruct the music to show the ground work of the song. I - flat VI - flat VII | I - flat VII - I... that's the final fantasy victory song again.
Likewise, you could hypothetically compose a song going in "I want to go I - iii - flat vi | V - I" or go with what's in your head disregarding theory and analyze it later or even go full on theory.
Really though, two different beasts under the same umbrella.
I get what gmoder is saying, this is technically useless as in you can compose music without this, correct.
But I'm an engineering student and I see people like that as "music technicians", you can make reasonably popular music buut if you want to take your compositions to a higher level to evoke more complex emotion through instrumentation and not only lyrics you NEED this.
All depends man.. this music is objectively good, cause it does sound triumphant to people with a western musical background.. even to those who think it sucks. Videos like these, and analyzing music is a great way to limit your search for writing pieces that need to meet certain requirements. If jamming in a band is your thing (which is awesome), I'm not sure if these videos are meant for you.
As to your point regarding musictheory.. there can be a science, cause music may not be as subjective as you think. As you pointed out.. the human ear is pretty great at relative hearing.. Hence we can fill in chords under a melody. We can pick out the strong and weak notes in a scale. We can hear dissonance and consonance. Why can't there be a science devoted to it?
From the earliest moments, I knew I was in too deep, far far out of my league in understanding this. I kept watching, because not having a single touchstone I can leverage to further understanding of something is a novel experience for me.
"Not having a single touchstone I can leverage to further understanding of something is a novel experience for me." How long that take to construct? lol
He basically tries to make logic of a musical construct which wasn't made with logic. He's like the master class of theoretic analysis of song structures, but the composer of this song never learned how to make music. He just puts notes together.
In music there are like two camps. One camp has the over-analytical music nerds, who try to make sense out of stuff and the other one is making music by melodies which are stuck in their head.
@@Gloriankithsanus I've seen a couple of your comments on here so I'd better reply. You're absolutely trivializing what the composer has done here. You seem to think that because Uematsu didn't have formal music training that he must "just put notes together". You know it can be somewhere in between, right?
Uematsu doesn't think about every note in terms of its formal definitions like this analysis, but he sure as hell knows plenty of music theory at this point. I dont know if you've ever tried to write music but trust me, you don't get music like this just by "putting notes together".
I don't know exactly how Uematsu thinks about the notes he's writing, but it doesn't even matter. The fact is he knows the effect each note will create. I'm guessing the overall process is a combination of naturally hearing melodies and chords and writing them down, and using musical theory that he's developed and probably learned over the years to achieve what he's going for.
Uematsu is not just placing notes.
@@BodTheGrinch
Did you just write 6 lines of text to tell me he didn't play roulette to decide which notes he uses?
I'm sorry, next time I will mention that he:
- didn't create the song in 2 min
- has experience in his business
- somehow needs to have a clue what sounds good
Everyone here seems to think he's an expert theorist godly inhuman creature of music, when in fact, he's just some dude
who loves music. And if you saw him playing along in one of his shows, you can see exactly that.
Don't get me wrong, he's doing an insane good job of delivering the correct feelings for the current situation to the listener,
but if a man who had his first contact with music when he was 23 can do it, anyone can.
It's no use to reserve music for elitist music theorists. That's stupid and arrogant. And Nobuo Uematsu is the perfect
example for human-like people achieving good scores. I'm rambling so much around this place, to show people that he came from nothing and
achieving what he's doing here is very much doable. The point of my comments here isn't to downgrade Uematsu, it's to lift people up who wander by and think "I'd never be able to do that".
@@Gloriankithsanus Really, REALLY weird approach. Uematsu started playing at 12, for a start.
Broadly I agree with you; Uematsu isn't some super human with divine gifts. He's just a dude who's played music for a long time and has a natural feel for composition. If you want to encourage people, why not, y'know, say something encouraging. Like "Hey everyone, don't forget that you can write great music like Uematsu too, just spend time on the craft and keep at it".
Instead, you're going around making weird, trivializing, factually incorrect comments that, whether intended or not, totally trivialize what undeniably is incredible work by a gifted composer.
Seems to me like you have some kind of issue with people using intimidating musical terms to analyse great music. The reason the 8bitmusictheory, or anyone else, uses those terms to analyse music is because they're the most efficient way. That's why they're there. He's not using them to be elitist or whatever. If you don't understand those terms or find them elitist, you're probably not the intended audience.
I don't see any elitism whatsoever in the video or in the comments. Just because the guy in the video is accurately analysing what's happening in the music doesn't mean Uematsu went through that same thought process when he wrote it. The video doesn't imply that and nobody else thinks he did.
So why come out with nonsense like "he's just putting notes together"? Weird, ass-backwards way of encouraging people to follow their musical dreams.
Man, I never realized how often bVI and bVII are used in video game music. It's even in Final Fantasy's Prelude, and Dire Dire Docks from Mario.
Also in Ocarina of Time title theme, also in Main Theme for Final Fantasy VII. It's not video game music, this progression is everywhere.
guitarskills2 The bVII is common because it introduces that Dorian feel. Both the bVII and the bVI add an extra flair common to the parallel minor scale, while still retaining a "major scale" feel, because both chords are major chords.
It's good stuff.
fuck touhou normie ass chords
Could you explain what exactly the "b" in bVI or bVII stands for? I have seen my share of sheet music (for guitar mainly) and am familiar with the roman numerals in general. I have just never seen the flat-b outside of 8-bit Music Theory's videos. So what exactly is flattened in a bVI chord?
@ollerich32 The sixth note itself. In this case it becomes a flattened bVI chord.
To explain what this means, let's make the 7th flat for instance in the C major scale (which, if you're only doing that by its own, you're entering the mixolydian mode, as flattening the 7th in any major scale will shift the mode from the Ionian mode which C was originally in). The C major scale goes like this: C D E F G A B then an octave C. Now, flattening the 7th means the 7th note of this scale itself. This means the B in C major becomes a flattened B, or Bb (or bVII).
Now let's talk about how this makes sense in a chord progression: in this case, you could play a C major triad, then move onto a Bb major triad, and perhaps too you will want to go ahead, flatten the A note in the C major scale and play an Ab major triad before jumping on down to a G major chord. Congratulations: you know the chord progression for most of early Nintendo music used by Koji Kondo in Mario, Zelda, etc, particularly the overture for the original Legend of Zelda (except that's in Bb major, not C major, but the SAME priniciple applies - find all the notes in Bb major scale, then flatten the 7th and 6th, and use the progression I-bVII-bVI-V-I).
Sorry I rambled. Hope that helps.
I am so happy that I subscribed to this channel on a whim. Will be sharing this on Facebook because I'm a wee bit of a theory slut.
The best kind of sluts
I am so lost with all the theory. But I'll keep trying to understand !
Dude! Nice analysis! You kept me entertained the entire time (which isn't always easy when it comes to theory analysis.)
No idea what he’s saying, just love this kickass song lmao
It doesn't sound like a victory theme at all...
Imagine that you beat the game, and everyone is happy, but suddenly it turns out it's not the ending, and some big mystery unfolds that perplexes the protagonists. That's how this song feels like.
I agree. I am not musical but I always felt this song a little out of place for victory music.
Yntec I feel like the first part is the only "victorious" part of the theme, and the second is the "hey, let's check all this exp and items you've earned from this battle" part, or in the case of Smash it's the "wait a sec, let me save this sick replay" part.
Okay, but it still sounds like this to me:
"hey, let's check all this exp and items you've earned from this battle...
holy cow! you find out you actually killed a good guy and you found evidence that you're actually being manipulated and working for the wrong side, because..."
Or something.
It's an awesome music theme, but I can't shake the feeling of intrigue and "something important is happening, pay attention!" instead of celebration...
That's why the theme doesn't play when you beat the game lol
+mezzyjezze Exactly. The normal battle theme (not ending theme) is meant to impart a sense of *temporary* victory, but you know you still have more troubles and mysteries ahead of you yet... That's my interpretation at least ;)
his names in FF I are “8BIT” “MUSI” “C TH” and “EORY" hahahaha
Oh wow, can't believe I missed that, lol. I was too entranced by the tidal wave of music knowledge.
@@holyflutterofgod sounds fair
This is the first video of yours I ever watched, and it's still my favorite. The depth of the analysis is so great I get something new from it every time I come back around to it.
I watched this video 2 years ago when I first started learning music and understood none of this, a lot of learning later and I'm coming back to rewatch all of your videos now actually understanding everything you are saying and man, you offer a very good service. There really isn't any harmony analysis like this on youtube for video games and I respect what you are doing even more. Keep up the good work!
I like musical analysis and theory but without term knowledge it's pretty hard to follow lol
Uemastu: ".... I dunno about any of that theory stuff this guy is talking about... I was just jamming one day and found a melody that fit together well 🤷♂️." 😆
Still an awesome video after all these years bro. Appreciate it once again.
Really enjoyed how in depth you went with this one, strong stuff as always. Looking forward to more.
THIS CHANNEL COMBINES EVERYTHING I LOVE
You should definitely take a look at some of Hamauzu's work from the Final Fantasy series from X and XIII.
I'd be interested in that too!
YES, PLEASE.
It's 8bit theory but if there's anything like that anywhere for, say, the seymour theme, I'd love that
He’s very good
I just found out your channel and I wanted to say thanks: my childhood is inside videogame music, having been exposed to it for very long periods of time :) As a musician seeing it fully disclosed (with sheet music too) brings me a level of joy I can't describe
How have I not known about your chanel before?? instant subscribe. I thought I'd just take music theory classes for fun but it's really cool to watch you go so in depth and understand it all
I too, like many commenters, have no idea what you were saying most of the time, but I love the channel idea. If I could give a suggestion, I would say edit in more example chords rather than using terms, which is pretty heavy (at least in this video). For example, 8:30 to 9:30 goes way too fast and has no chord audio, so I lose you after the section about the augmented chord equality.
I've played music for a while but have mostly been a by-ear guy, and I'm trying to learn more of the fundamentals. I think you could rope in a lot more subscribers if you give some more audio examples, making the more important notes to watch for in voicings louder than others to highlight what's going on, etc. Keep it up!
totally agree
I like listening to these, despite having no idea what you're talking about.
Doing god's work, I was talking recently how there is so much info on making video games available but there is nothing about the music that makes it up, shining a light on a dark art thank you.
You put so much effort into your work, passion! Keep up the great work.
*double fist pump*
*raise sword*
*use a movement-based materia to spin sword* (the actual physical process of rotating that sword so perfectly can only be done by magic)'
*sheathe sword*
Ok so, watching this... I compose music for games sometimes. I had a look at the one time I made a victory time, and I actually used a variation of the I - bVI - bVII - I chord sequence. Thing is, I didn't intentionally go into the theory side of things to make something that sounded like a "victory theme", I guess I just did what seemed natural. Its curious to me that I instinctively stuck to that formula without realising it. I wonder how many other composers do this stuff without even meaning to.
WillRock07 most music creators don't go out of their way to incorporate specific music theories into their compositions, however have a decent theory base can lead to less repetitive music and much less instances of getting 'stuck' while composing as it's easier to look at relative chords/notes to compose the next passage or cycle around back to the beginning
Lots of music is instinctive in all of us. Same reason you can go anywhere in the world and start singing the pentatonic scale and everyone will be able to finish it for you. It's our shared language.
Most of them are doing this, lol. It happens to me too, even before I knew theory. I was "discovering" the right notes or the right chords/progressions on my own, just by how they "felt."
@@DeathBringer769 You interpete that the wrong way. You don't make something "right" in music by intuition. Music theory tries to explain why your intuition sounds "right".
As a music major stuck at home due to the pandemic... watching these videos again makes me smile... and makes me realize I gotta start reviewing my old music theory notes by myself now.... lol.
I love FF7 and Uematsu's music. Great video you made here, invokes a lot of thought. Keep up the good work!
The only thing that would make these videos better would be to play the full piece at the beginning before the analysis. Or at least the main parts for longer pieces. It would make the whole analysis easier to follow.
i know right? when he went straight into FF7 analysis without even playing it it totally threw me off
Yeah, but he could get flagged for copyright infringement
Woah, awesome video! I can't say I'm well versed in music theory, but it was a really interesting watch nevertheless! My only suggestion to make it easier to follow is to add a vertical bar over the sheet when the song plays (like in various music programs) so we can see exactly which notes are sounding.
Always been fascinated by this tune every since I heard it. Pretty much sums up what I like in music in around 20 seconds. Great video!
Thank you RUclips for recommending this video 2 years later
maybe i'm just a masochist but i like Cb and B#.
Joshua Nussbaum So... B and B#? Because Cb is B, so...
Kimberly, and what do you think a B# is
You're not alone. All the people here saying they subbed for the Cb hatred are ridiculous. If he said B instead of Cb it would have made no freaking sense in this context. Worse than that, it would have been misleading. Functional harmony is all about, gasp, the *function* of the harmony. Calling a Cb a B is saying that that notes function in the music is doing a completely different thing. It's the same reason you wouldn't say A# when you mean Bb. People need to get woke.
If it is voiced correctly I don't see the issue.
I like Fb##
I've done music for over five years and I still have no idea what you're saying good job
I absolutely love all the appreciation of video game music! There are some real gems out there and they deserve the attention. Keep it up c:
Just when I thought I had discovered every good channel on RUclips. How did I miss this one?!
Ive been scavenging for good composition/theory channels. sooooo many bad ones. Thanks for being you.
"Let's look at this next section." *sheet music*
"Oh yes I definitely see exactly what you mean, hahaha" *existential panic*
The youtube channel i’ve been waiting to watch. Thanks for making it happen!
Love this! When you pointed out how Uematsu used as little motion as possible in the chords, I remembered my graduate arranging professor going on and on about Chopin's "chromatic wandering" technique, and how you can use it to craft super strange progressions that all tie together by using that chromatic voice leading. But he was right, when he made us compose a jazz tune using chromatic wandering, we would get harmonic motion that one wouldn't otherwise consider. I felt very smart at that point in the video, and I thank you for that. Keep up the great work!
So as someone who knows basically zero about music theory it occurred to me halfway through the video that you could be saying complete garbage and i would have no idea either way :D It's very cool that you're give this much time and attention to the subtleties of video game music.
Toledosteal I barely understand it, but I'm pretty sure it's legit from my small knowledge of music theory.
It's like watching a video in a totally different language. I've watched a lot of his videos, considering how little I actually understand. Umm...fake it until you make it?
I wish I understood theory like this...
Please please please keep making awesome videos like this. I mean, obviously do what you want because that's most important. But you are helping me out a lot with this, thank you
These videos have helped me so much when writing music for games. Thank you so much
It is interesting to note that the victory music is switched to a minor key when you lose the chocobo race.
By any chance have you heard of an indie game for the PC called La-Mulana? I've talked about how the game makes great use of leitmotifs before but I'd love to hear an opinion from someone more well-versed in music theory.
Zennistrad2 Another indie game that uses leitmotifs really well is Undertale.
CzochiaBoll id approximate to like 10 leitmotifs but yeah, very repetitive
Love your videos.. I'm a huge fan of Uematsu! I have to admit I left this one on hold to rewatch till I learned more theory and applied them in songs, but I also gotta admit it was very rewarding comprehending this video! Also, the Dancing Mad one was brutal, too! Congrats on the amazing work, dude.. hope you keep it up! Cheers!
even tho I have no clue about flats, keys and whatnots, I allways enjoy watching your videos. Keep it up!
Nobou Uematsu: Yes....I...er....meant to do that! *sweats nervously*
Everytime we hear FF7 Victory Theme:
3:46 - 4:18 - 6:24 - 7:39 - 9:59 - 10:14 - 11:20
I barely understand anything anything in this video, but at the same time i find it very facinating and a good way to start piecing together an understand of the concepts at play. Subscribed.
Than you for explaining! You have no idea how long this has been bothering me!
Some constructive criticism: your analysis lacks melodic considerations. The G below the F chord can be considered an escape tone and I would argue that it is heard that way. It's easier to hear a basic F major triad with a "wrong note" in the base than it is to hear a 13th chord with several notes missing. Especially with the way the notes are spelled. The same applies to the Gb below the C+, except in this case we hear V+ with a, measure long, Gb chromatic appoggiatura.
I think it's important when doing these analysis to take a step back and just sing or play the part. Do you really hear a bIII maj7 #11? Or do you simply hear a direct modulation a half step higher. I think the melodic alteration at the end trumps the harmony and as a result we hear the tonality of Gb major followed by another half step modulation up to G minor. The harmony actually supports this idea since it mimics the same motion. We have Ab in the bass and Eb in the treble THEN we have Gb, Bb, Db. See the pattern? Our destination is F so the Eb is a retardation and the Ab is an escape tone. What's left ? a Gb major triad followed by a G minor triad. Pretty simple stuff, but of course, hard to see between the lines.
Playing an F Major triad over a G bass is a very common sus voicing (it sounds the Root, 4th, 9th, and 11th... it's only "missing" the 5th which is often omitted anyways). It's used regularly in music and has been for far too many years to say it's "hard to hear" or that it's a "wrong note." That said, "D" is actually in the voicing given to the strings. They play a closed Root position D-7 over a G bass (or in other words a complete G9sus). It helps to analyze the notes that are actually there and not just the ones in this transcription.
Actually he replicates stuff that plays in his head. Sorry guys, there most likely wasn't any deeper thought put into that.
You might wanna watch his mini-interview on creation of "One Winged Angel".
A composer's thought process is not relevant to surface level analysis. It doesn't matter how he composed the piece, it can still be analyzed.
That said, I highly doubt Nobuo Uematsu does little more than "hear it in his head." There is more to composition than that. That's like saying authors just "hear words in their heads."
"I hate having to say C flat"
Great video again, your work is appreciated
Nathan Ford
Looks like you're first, so you get a Crown: 👑
Excellent analysis! Keep them videos coming!
But that's just a theory, an 8-bit music theory!
I can see why you didn't go with that. :p
I'd love to hear it at the end of one of his (more speculative) videos
I simply expected to hear just that.
FF7 was more than 8 bits. IIRC,
NES 8 bit
SNES 16 bit
PS1 32 bit
Jerstah phucku wasn't the N64 64 bit and PS1 128 bit and from there is stopped mattering. I don't think 32 is correct.
you gotta take the path of least resistance with chord analysis. A "C+/Gb?" it serves no sonoric function to call it that. It also isn't functioning as an "augmented chord", much less an augmented slash chord whose bass note would ruin its function as an augmented chord anyway.
Augmented chords are artifices born out of the harmonic minor, in the III+ position leading to a iv.
Your chord there is a Gb9(#11). Seeing that chord as a b2, or tritone substitution for a C dominant, tells us more functional information than a C+/Gb. It's also a well known gesture that is the path of lesser resistance.
There is no "Gm/Ab." Again, that doesn't convey any functional information. Nor would you call a chord "maj7(#11)" unless there was an explicitly omitted 9, which there isn't. The Bb in your "Gm" is the 9 of the chord. Since there is a 9, the chord is simply "Abmaj11." It's arguable whether you can hear the C or Eb in the percussive synth hits. If they're not there, it's still just an Abmaj11 omit3, omit5, because that's how it's functioning.
I also wouldn't have attempted to relate these chords to Fm. They're just free modulation. The Gb/Ab and others like it are "dominant" chords of their own space, and they resolve to angular places. It's the path of lesser resistance to do one of two things. A, chalk that moment up to free modulation, or have a series of small modulations with new tonal centers as they resolve to those maj11th shapes.
Great analysis! All of your videos so far have been extremely informative and entertaining. Looking forward to more of them. Wouldn't mind a dive into Ori and the Blind Forest's score.
This is really friggin great man. I'm still struggling with keeping up with all the chords and notation. But everything makes sense. Keep up the great work man!
"Everything makes sense"
We got the galaxy brain meme over here.
I understand 70% of this....subscribed 😂😂
Jack Marshall i hear chords. But doesn't get what he is talking about :D
Lucky you, I get about less than 30%
4:03 SUS
I just knew that someone would point this out lol.
I actually just got back into music classes and aiming to become a video game composer. It's amazing how much this makes more sense to me now, and awesome to see the musical analysis of one of my most nostalgic soundtracks. Good shit.
Subbed cause of the praise given to Nobuo (Also cause your work is great dude)
For people that don't know what the heck he's talking about, study some music theory and learn what chords are.
Here's some things to look up first:
What is a key?
What is the difference between major and minor keys?
The difference between a major and minor chord?
What other chords are there aside from major and minor? (hint: augmented, sustained, diminished, seventh)
What is an interval?
Once you know these basic terms, you can start to learn their functions:
What is a cadence?
What is a tonic chord?
What other kinds of chords are there? (hint: dominant, subdominant, etc)
Why do we number these chords with roman numerals?
How do these chords function together to create a sense of tension and resolution?
If you know these things then you should be able to grasp most of what he's saying, even if you can't read musical notes. It's helpful to have an instrument that can play chords (I recommend piano) to learn this stuff, since you can very easily test chords out just by pushing the keys down.
I feel like you can stop right after cadence and already produce fine sounding music. I'd always add pentatonic scales because they're such a cheat to easily create stuff that sounds good, but ye. Music theory isn't too hard to get into.
(everything given enough experience with the techniques, that is. Rule breaking needs some extensive training as well, but that's the most of what you actually NEED to know)
4:03
I've never seen this channel before, but it's nice to see music theory crossed with ff7. I don't usually sub on the first date, but music theory and video games are seldom blended so well. Your video made me feel like my own music degree wasn't a waste, because it made your video more accessible. I'll have to get my money's worth and watch the rest of your videos.
aw man i needed a channel on this topic
As amazing an explaination of this all was, I couldn't follow any of it... all that technical music jargen us common folk are clueless of. Great disection of this classic piece all the same.
A Flat is Sus guys
I'm so glad I stumbled upon this channel! I'm a Music Major in college and I wanna be a video game composer so this is truly everything I could want.
You are one of my new favorite people on RUclips.
Wouldn't you say that the 4th bar of the victory theme in 7 is a phrygian/neapolitan cadence? Implying that it's a V is kind of exaggerating...
Inb4 Uematsu just thought it sounded nice and your over interpretation misses the point of music entirely.
Jai Guru You underestimate the complexity of music composition.
Jai Guru Yeah, he's a keyboardist, ya know?
This is kind of the point though. It doesn't matter whether he intensely micromanaged the composition, or just "thought it sounded nice". The goal of analyzing it is always the same: to figure out what's going on under the hood and WHY it sounds nice.
It's also very common (even throughout history) for composers to write something that sounds nice, then go back and analyze it to figure out exactly what they did, and use that knowledge to elaborate on the sound they liked and make it more cohesive going forward.
It also underestimates the amount of "ingredients" that go into the metaphorical "soup pot" brain a composer has. He may not have worked it out deliberately theoretically, but the reason he's able to do so is quite likely through a crapload of transcription, attentive listening, and/or musical training. It's pretty fun when stuff starts to come out automatically and you can more quickly write down what you hear in your head.
But that's the point of music theory. It's descriptive. It's there to _describe_ what's happening and why it sounds good, regardless of whether the composer consciously knew of the ideas or not.
This is easily the best thing on RUclips of which I only understand every 7th word! subscribed.
Just found your channel and I'm in heaven!!
You are my new favorite. I can hear and rationalize why music is the way it is and I understand question and answer, but I totally sucked at theory (or just didn't take enough prerequisites), so I don't understand all the nuances of what you're saying, but you explain well enough that I see the point. Subscribed!
I'm impressed at your thorough investigation. I grew up listening to this music. Now that I understand the language of harmony I can go back and learn from Uematsu's approach. Studying this music closely has taken away from the magic I once felt, but in place I have a new found respect and admiration for his craft.
As a classical music student who also loves videogames and pulling apart their music thank you! You are awesome, keep it up man!
Hahahahaha 1:11 caught me so off guard, made me spit up my coffee a little. you are the best! seriously, as someone who has played music his whole life but kind of struggled to truly appreciate the theory of it all, hearing an analysis of the songs I grew up with has made all the difference.
I love this video. I don't understand half of this stuff but the parts I do understand are really refreshing content.
Ok, I have no clue what you are saying, but I am entranced with what you are saying. I have never been able to read music or understand it, even during my 3 to 4 years of piano. I don't know why but I feel like I have to watch and listen to everything you are saying. You have my subscription.
I have no idea how I ended up here or what I just watched, but I regret nothing!
I just found this channel and I'm loving it. I'll be starting cllassical music composition classes after the summer and I'm really interested in video game music. I hope you'll have alot more videos by the time I start composing!
As someone that cannot really read anything beyond a basic guitar tab of a song I've already heard to save my life, this was absolutely enthralling!
I understood almost none of it, but holy crap I was glued to it!
Do more!
I think I just found my new favorite channel.
Very glad you have taken an especial consideration for the victory theme of my fav FF game
Nice analysis!!! A standard victory theme as in the other FF's would have belied the dark atmosphere of the game, but Uematsu really crafted a beautiful fanfare with this that feels celebratory yet restrained and foreshadowing, which I think in large part is due to the parsimonious voice leading which dramatically alters the harmony but doesn't take the listener far away from home. Nicely done.