ipl-logo

Old White Guys Analysis

869 Words4 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Features of baroque era music

Timothy Hayden Dennison
Dr. Phill
IMS 317
12/02/16
Old White Guys and Video Game Music Old, white, European dead guys (OWG’s) get a bad rap, but between 1650 and 1750 (the Baroque period), they laid the theoretical groundwork for the soundtracks to Super Mario Bros., the Legend of Zelda, Final Fantasy, and other such classics, in the chiptune style. A polyphonic writing style, based on repetitive melodic fragments that develop and change, with a strong rhythmic drive and varied instrumentation: these are all defining characteristics of both chiptune soundtracks and Baroque dance suites. Additionally, modern composers use the rules of Baroque polyphony to create adaptive music engines for more immersive games.
If Baroque music is a train, its …show more content…

Polyphony is the musical result of layering various separate melodies on top of each other such that they sound good together. Instead of chaining together fully-developed chunks of music, a composer can write a Baroque-style bassline and rhythm section, then add melodies on top using polyphonic rules. Some modern games even randomly generate the melodies based on the player’s movements and actions. For example, swinging a sword or collecting an item could each be associated with a separate melody that stacks onto the bassline in a pleasing …show more content…

Instead the bassline acquires a rhythm all its own, becoming the true melody of the piece, with repeating melodic fragments that propel the piece forward layered on top. This technique has been used by Nobuo Uematsu in writing battle music for the Final Fantasy series. The bassline (or other additional low instrument if the bass is extremely low) play alternating on-beat, off-beat patterns which produces an adrenaline rush. Though some OWGs might not be happy about their techniques being used for “frivolous entertainment”, most would be excited given how video games give modern composers innovative opportunities (and worthy compensation) they would never find in film or academia. The rules that underpin Baroque music provide structure and inspiration to modern composers to recreate the music of the chiptune era and create the future of video game soundtracks: adaptive music.

VENUE NOTES I wrote this article to bring more attention to Baroque counterpoint theory, which I think is the future of video game adaptive music. It would be appropriate for submission to Gamasutra.com, where anyone can upload a blog post concerning video game development. Many blog posts in the audio department are in the 700-1300 word

Show More
Related

Classical Music Frq Worksheet

509 Words | 3 Pages

In the period 1600’s and early 1700’s. Europeans set out to develop musical approaches designed to “ramp up” various emotional states and help listeners experience their diversity more deeply. A composer would be Johann Sebastian Bach and one of his composition would be Wachet auf (Sleepers, Awake). 6.

Read More

Summary Of Battle Notes: The Effect Of Music During The Vietnam War

1643 Words | 7 Pages

At the same time, “a growing number of American composers of art music became active participants in this televised war.” Arnold showed several examples of variations of art music that composers created. These included music in which “composers satirized their own troops” and “actively wrote genuine laments for their own soldiers wounded and killed.” Many composers “intensified the horror in its portrayal of war. Composers use electronic machine gun fire, sounds of actual bombs exploding, indeterminant sections with singers shouting and screaming, and other realistic sounds.”

Read More

Tim Wise Explaining White Privilege Analysis

923 Words | 4 Pages

The White Advantage “Explaining White Privilege” by Tim Wise was more or less a defense of a more detailed argument on the subject of white advantages based solely on race. Tim Wise did provide several examples from several studies that did explain his theory as it was intended and how it was received. Apparently the original article was not very receptive from the audience when it was published: hence the reason for this short excerpt. The author was trying very hard, not only to defend his article on white privileges, but to provide reasons why the majority of the United States should consider his suggestion as a valid and accurate argument. Though “Explaining White Privilege” was a defense of Tim Wise’s original article, which was not included, he also managed to provide one example using disability people as evidence to support his argument.

Read More

White Male Driver Observation

382 Words | 2 Pages

On the above date and time, I observed a grey Toyota 4 door bearing Florida tag (HBVF84), traveling South on US 19. I observed the vehicle to continuously apply pressure to its brakes abruptly. Due to the erratic driving patterns of the vehicle, I activated my emergency lights and conducted a lawful traffic stop on the vehicle, to conduct a welfare check. The vehicle came to a final stop at US 19 and Limit Dr.

Read More

Henry Purcell's Fairy Queen: A Case Study

1003 Words | 5 Pages

Henry Purcell’s The Fairy Queen: A Case Study The evolution of music can be viewed as a linear timeline of key, innovative composers who have far-reaching influences upon the musical continuum and perhaps epitomises the societal views which are relevant to their time period through their canonical pieces. As a result, in order to conduct a case study into any piece of music one must first realise said piece in regards to the concurrent political climate. Between 1642 and 1651 England was characterised by turmoil through civil war, which was essentially caused over the conduct of British government. This war was between the Parliamentarians and the Royalists, with the Parliamentarians being the victor.

Read More

Analysis Of White Privilege

259 Words | 2 Pages

Reading the article White Privilege, I was reflected back to the 2 past classes. I disagree with some of the article because I believe that women and black people can have the same amount of power as men and whites. The 2008 election showed no matter what skin color you have, anything is possible. On the other side, I see where it’s coming from. In our country, there’s still discrimination about women and blacks.

Read More

Black Men In Jail Analysis

692 Words | 3 Pages

My older brother Larry has been in and out of jail since he was 17 years old for hanging out with the wrong crowd. Soon after my brother’s first arrest, my mother lost strength in both her knees and was unable to stand and walk for long periods of time, which made it impossible to work. She developed blood clots in her legs. I was home for spring break during my first year of college when a blood clot in my mother’s leg traveled to her heart and killed her.

Read More

White Man Dissimilarity

313 Words | 2 Pages

Equality among races was troublesome at this point in history, and speaking about equality between the white and the black was not an easy task. The black man was not the white man equal. Circumstances such color, moral, and intellectual endowments were among the dissimilarities between them. The idea of the white man supremacy was part of the popular predicament; thus, the government was made for the benefit and posterity of the white man. Abraham Lincoln declared that he has no purpose to introduce political and social equality between races; in fact, he was in favor of the race that he belongs.

Read More

How Did American Culture Affect The 1940s

828 Words | 4 Pages

One of the most important and influential composers was Bernard Herrmann, who broke many barriers and traditions to create music that greatly enhanced the films for which he wrote.” , (“The 1940s”,

Read More

Comparing Bach And Handel's Music

575 Words | 3 Pages

Both J.S. Bach and G.F. Handel use different aspects of music to compose important pieces of music. The baroque period is often known as the time when artists exaggerated their motion and produced drama through interpreted detail. Both of these composers used this baroque style to convey messages through their music. The similarity in their music was that it is in a spiritual manner. J.S. Bach’s style was a harmonic and motivation manner, which Handel’s is more of a narrative.

Read More

Beijing And Italian Opera Comparison Essay

650 Words | 3 Pages

A comparison of the Beijing Opera and the Italian Opera reveals a significant contrast in almost all fundamental areas of music between the two examples. Because of cultural influences, the two performances share little commonalities, as the timbre, medium, elements of pitch, rhythm, dynamics, form and phonic structure are definitely not similar. For instance, the musical and physical performance dynamics of the Beijing opera music are forceful, the timbre is loud, tinny and harsh, the rhythm is lively and vigorous, while the Italian Opera music has a gentle dynamic, steady and rolling rhythm and an emotionally deep timbre. One commonality that is noted for both examples, is the powerful delivery of the entertainment.

Read More

Wall-E Film Analysis

1565 Words | 7 Pages

To help explain this analysis I am using the animated movie Wall-E made in 2008 by Ben Burtt as a case study . Ben Burtt is known as “The Father of Modern Sound” (Ciccarellli, 2009) because of his

Read More

Black Men In Public Spaces Analysis

456 Words | 2 Pages

Americans Stereotypes: Loosening stereotypes Americans are always scared when they see a black man and think about them trying to harm them. Actually, that isn’t always the case and isn’t the case a lot of the time. Brent Staples in his writing Black Men in Public Spaces shows some of the societies stereotype issues. Americans should stop stereotyping blacks, not purposely go around them at night, and he shouldn’t have to whistle to make people comfortable around him. Americans put stereotypes on different ethnicities.

Read More

Richard E. Rodda's View On Minimalistic Music

1839 Words | 8 Pages

The post 1945 period saw a considerable amount of changes in music. Different styles emerged, such as serial music, electroacoustic music, minimalistic music, and many others. Minimalism originated in ‘downtown’ New York City ring the early 1960s, and was initially considered to be a form of experimental music, as it was a totally different style of music as to what Stravinsky or Shostakovich wrote. Richard E. Rodda’s view on Minimalistic music was that it was based upon multiple repetitions of slowly changing chords. Minimalism evolved due to the ambitions of composers during that time.

Read More

Music History From Medieval Period To Baroque Period

1614 Words | 7 Pages

There are several theories that regard where and when the music originated. The historiographers pointed out that there are different periods of music with each period having its own characteristics, its composers, its instruments, its rhythm and significance to the existing music today. The first three periods; Medieval, Renaissance and Baroque are expounded in this essay. The periods span through different times albeit some overlapped one another. The essay also focuses on the common factor that triggered the existence of the music periods and its impacts on each period.

Read More

More about Old White Guys Analysis

Related Topics

Open Document