So you are telling me that a game that gives you simple building blocks and lets you choose what to do with it has a soundtrack where the composer gave the performer simple building blocks and let them choose what to do with them? Sounds dope.
@eleven This is the exact opposite of how it's usually used. Inversion refers to the note in the bass part, not the shape of the higher up chord. First inversion the 3rd is in the bass, 2nd inversion the 5th is in the bass. The shape of the chord above the bass doesn't have as big of an effect on the sound as what note is in the bass. A/x can be an effective way to describe a chord, but I think that's usually used when the note in the bass is a note outside the chord / passing note. It could be different in the jazz world, but that's what I learned for the classical style.
@@frederickzukowski530 You are correct. The x in A/X refers to whatever is in the bass, the shape of the chord above it matters not. I could have A, E, G, and Bb, in any conjugation over C#... and it's still Ab9/C#. And that's how a jazz musician would expect to see it represented on a lead sheet. And you're correct, the bass note greatly colours the way your ear perceives the chord. The same, though, can be said of first inversion Amajor (b9), but in jazz, when improvisation comes more into play, having the bass note given to you somewhat reduces the amount of processing your brain requires, rather than having to recall what the major third would be, in order to play first inversion. So it's a sort of shortcut. Other times, writing an inversion as an X/Y might also aid in planning for economy of movement. If a pianist knows they've got the go-ahead to play an inversion, they can feel free to navigate the keyboard with fewer jumps between chords. And this also changes chordal colours. For example, A, B/G, F is much different than A, B, F, in several ways.
@@paulstatezny4185 joke /jōk/ noun a thing that someone says to cause amusement or laughter, especially a story with a funny punchline. "she was in a mood to tell jokes"
This is how it starts. You're minding your own business, you notice something interesting in a video game's soundtrack, you do a cute little transcription, ya make a video about it, and next thing you know you're the next 8-Bit Music Theory.
Wow, it's so cool to see how many people liked the Sims stuff. You are totally right: Jerry just gave me basic sketches to improvise on. Fun to see it analyzed! Of course it was Jerry's brilliant editing that made it actually work so well. At the time, I had no idea that the Sims was popular world wide, thought it was some small boutique video game. Pretty amazing, love your take on it
Wow I was not expecting a comment from the actual pianist in the comment section lol. I hope you know your playing was a very important part of the soundtrack of mine (and many others) childhoods!
So glad you talked about the Sims! I got really excited for the possibility of you looking at Build 4, my all time favourite (also LYDIAN!), but then every Build track is a joy.
Love your work. I forever associate many Zelda themes with your arrangements. Every time I hum Zora's Domain, your version pops up in my head before the original.
Building Mode 1 was my FAVORITE song from the original Sims game. So much so that a few years back I actually looked up and found the piano sheet music for the song, that some poor musician actually transcribed note for note. And I could not get past the first 16 measures lmao. This makes SO much sense that it was all improvisation - what an amazing soundtrack!
Love the old soundtracks so Much! Jerry Martin and those who worked with him are legends! I highly recommend signing up to his website! He sends occasional emails with some behind the scenes stuff of his music career and gives free high quality downloads of his music! Very cool! 👍🏻
Those first three notes might be the most evocative and nostalgic sound I can think of. Everytime I hear them, they immediately paint a picture in my head of me playing this game alongside my little sister for hours amd hours. (And the time the house burmed down, our sim died, and we both felt guilty for days😂)
As a kid I remember trying to force the game to play the build3 theme. Then I turned off the light and went on meditation mode like full yogi style. I always thought I was kinda weird but NOW I HAVE THE PROOF THAT I'VE BEEN TRICKED !
Dude, years ago I legitimately played this whole "album" on loop, jamming out for hours and days. I recently dug it up to pass some time with some good old jams, and thought, "Man, this was legitimately really good." I honestly thought I was the only one that did this back then or now. It's so cool to see you pull this music out for this video. I feel seen!
Yeah you used to be able to go right into the game cd and locate the mp3s of the music lol. I burned a cd of it ages ago and listened to at least 1000 hours
The hot date expansion definitely upped the sims’ jazz palette, and for that I’m so grateful, but I can’t help but just look at the current soundtrack with such overwhelming pity in comparison to the first couple releases
Nahh playing sims 4 the music is still really fun to listen to. I also like the selection of tracks that they put in the radio stations, there's a good bit of variety there.
@@beidouvirus3978 Nahh bro Hot Date's OST is still better. (lol jk I love both, just laughed at how you started that reply) Being serious, I agree completely with the OP. Hot Date's music was *amazing...* reminded me a lot of the incredible jazzy soundtrack in Simcity 3000.
I gotta agree. A few years ago I listened to a bunch of Sims/Sim City soundtracks and only the SimCity 3000, Sim City 4 and The Sims (1) ended up in my favorites. The rest wasn't really that great...
Glad you’re starting to do video game soundtracks. There so much underrated video game music that is absolutely stunning and needs to be talked about. Id recommend checking out the street fighter EX3 ost. Jazz fusion at its finest
Agree VGM is very underrated. If you don't mind, I would recommend these talented boys who acknowledge VGM in the best way possible (I've been addicted to their music for the last 5 years): ua-cam.com/users/TheConsoulsBandvideos
I love knowing nothing about music theory or piano and you hit it at 4:50 and just start jamming on the piano and you end with "right?" And I'm here like "oh, yeah, I was TOTALLY following"
It kind of fascinates me just how important improvisation was to the original Sims. Not only was the music apparently very heavy on improvisation, they also hired voice actors based on how well they could speak gibberish on the spot. They weren't warned or given a script of any sort, they just showed up to the casting call and were asked to make up words and speech on the spot and make it sound natural.
Here's how you can have everything you need to play this track. Proceeds to say a lot of stuff that doesn't make sense. Me, who's never played a piano in his life: Ah yes, it's so clear now.
This is actually how I wrote most of the score for a silent film short I did music for once. The low end was basically doing the jumpy chords over and over in the key of C, while the upper register was pure improvisation.
Amazing analysis, nice and simple. Since this isn't mentioned in the video and I couldn't find any comments about it either I'll point it out here (even tho it's kind of obvious if you think about it for a minute): The modulations in Building Mode 1 are all done through pivot chords, that is to say, chords which are present in the key we are currently in and the one we are modulating to. The last chord of the progression is the bVII of our tonic, but also the IV of the new key, a fourth up from the previous tonic. Example: in the key of E, D is both the bVII of E and the IV of A, when A is our tonic, G is the bVII but it's also the IV of D, etc. That's why these modulations sounds so smooth instead of dramatic and attention grabbing, because no out of key chord is borrowed to create tension towards the key we are modulating to, we just slide into it more naturally.
I love the sims music!! I did sax covers of the Sims 2 and 3 themes because it’s just so nostalgic and relaxing haha - it’s nice understanding the theory behind why it sounds so nice.
Yooo I accidentally did this when I was playing last week after our church service(kinda)😂 I had that baseline(not exactly this one but very similar) in my head for some reason but I didn’t remember where I’d heard it b4. My buddies an I were shedding over it lol. Great content as always Charles!
I took waaay longer than needed in the construction mode of The Sims because of it. I could say that 30, 40% of my liking of music derives from game soundtracks. Thanks for the nostalgia Charles!
Dude this made me tear up. This piece is such a fantastic example of a strong knowledge of music theory helps back up your playing. I (and I think most casual players) have always put little effort into learning and applying the theory. I just take songs I like and try and play them. But just 3 chords carries this entire tune through improvisation, and not just random improv but calculated improv. Absolutely fantastic. This definitely inspired me to learn a little more theory. Thank you!
I’d really like this guy to break down a song that is called “ya es muy tarde” by Elías lopés y la compañía.... it’s a salsa song and it’s more or less a big band so... I think it would really make an interesting video to see his opinion on it 😊
For some reason with this kind of progression my brain hears it as A Ionian rather than E mixolydian, even tho A major is never even played so it's just like it never resolves
Well, it is actually being played. I think you can analyze it in both ways, because the IV in E mixolydian is A. So it might be indeed: V I6 IV V ... And, eventually, the sequence continues to D major, or "A Mixolydian". I really can hear it both as a resolution (i.e. as A mixolydian), but also as D major...
@@vilo159 If you hear it that way, then it makes more sense. But I hear the first chord as the tonic, so calling it anything other than the tonic would make it more complicated (because I would have to fight against my intuition). I understand why you could hear it as V I IV in A major, but I just don't hear it that way. Sometimes a simple explanation on paper just isn't the simplest explanation in practice (if it goes against what you are hearing). Always trust your ears. For you, since you hear it as V I IV, it would make no sense to think of it as I IV bVII, if you don't hear it that way. What I think makes me hear it as I IV bVII is the fact that it spends twice as much time on the first chord than the other chords (and the first chord of a loop also naturally gets more emphasis). Also, the second chord is weakened by playing it as an inversion. I hear it like the chords in the beginning of Highway to Hell.
@@MaggaraMarine I agree that the duration and inversion issues might strengthen the feeling of tonic, but I think it mostly depends on the accent, or on where the sequence begins. I6 IV V * in contrast to V * I6 IV. And since it begins with V, I really hear I IV bVII. But the transition to A Mixolydian or D major makes me think in retrospect, that the last key was the V - which is A major.
@@etai.hakaryan Sure, in the transition, it is functioning as the V of the next key. But in the loop, I'm hearing it as the I chord. (A single chord having two functions is really common in modulations, for example if you play C Dm7 G7 C Am7 D7 G, then that Am7 chord has two functions. When you first hear it, you relate it to the previous chord, and it sounds like I vi - the relative major and minor. But after you hear the next two chords, you also hear it as the ii of G. So, is it the vi in the key of C or ii in the key of G? It is both at the same time - it's a pivot chord.) My main point is, we should analyze things based on how we hear them, not on what makes them look simple on paper. Music is sound after all, and if the explanation doesn't match the sound, then it makes little sense. But in this case, I can definitely see why someone might hear it as V I IV instead of I IV bVII. Sometimes people hear things differently, especially when we aren't talking about a "tonally strong" progression.
3 роки тому+12
I swear there's one specific part of the piano soundtrack that for me sounds EXACTLY like the final portion of the piano version of the Prelude Villa Lobos Bachianas Brasileiras Num. 4. It might be a coincidence, but it blew my mind when I listened to it.
Ok, but... now let's talking about one of the most masterpieces ever made for The Sims series: THE BUILDING MODE 5, from The Sims 1, also called "Now What?", from Jerry Martin. This song made me cry on the first listen. I don't have words to express how beautiful and deep this song touch me. Incredible. Jerry Martin is a genius.
I remember back in 2000, being in...I think it was a Virgin Megastore, where you could buy whatever kind of media you liked: music, movies, print, and yes, even computer games. I heard some of the most heart-achingly beautiful piano music playing somewhere in the store. "What IS that album?!?" I thought. "I've got to find out and buy it!" Lo and behold, I found a computer that had been set up to demo The Sims, and had been left in build mode. That's when I swore to save up my pennies to buy my copy of the digital crack-cocaine that is The Sims. Even though I switched to Linux fifteen years ago,, I still have my original discs.
I remember being like 5 and playing this on a machine that took 10 minutes to turn on with a massive CRT monitor and super crackly speakers ... I feel old 😞
I recall turning on the computer and then going for breakfast and coming back and still having to wait for it to be thinking about what it's supposed to be doing. Like, that era of 'don't touch the mouse while the hourglass is showing or it'll take twice as long' in computers. x')
I love how your videos don't just do a deep dive into a piece, but you use it to give really practical advice to those of us studying composition, performance, improvisation etc. Thank you!!
The Building Mode pieces of this soundtrack still amaze me to this very day. Building Mode 5("Now What?") especially remains a favorite of mine. An absolute master class piece.
Great video! I knew it's improvised but on the other hand I knew that few pieces are actually written like the beginning (new beginning) and the end. Thanks for explaining chords. I love theory of music!
OH MY GOD YASUNORI MITSUDA PLEEASE. Or any other JRPG composer. Had my first experience with Mitsudas music through Final Fantasy XVs Episode Ignis DLC and oh my god, I've been in love with it ever since.
@@matthewhartwig8442 YES YES YES PLEASE. Shoji Meguro is literally one of my greatest influences when it comes to Funk, Acid Jazz and Rock. I even suggested it to Charles on another video! (Albeit on a different account, lol)
I am soo glad to see this video! I used to linger in the construction mode of the game just to listen to the piano tracks. For some reason this music left a huge impression on me, and I am glad I'm not the only one! Great video!
Man, the Sims piano tracks always make me feel so at home. Will always be transported to my childhood back in my old country in a dusty office playing Sims 2 on a huge, old pc... And buying everything in the game because of 'motherlode'. Good times.
Okay, this is amazing. I love such videos on how to do those things. I'm not proficient with my chords and scales, but I do have software that shows me. Like the link to the improvisation course, that's what I needed
That piano key tap at 7:02 is not supposed to be funny in any stretch of the imagination. Yet here you have me, giggling at it like a little kid for about a minute now.
Trilha sonora da minha infância, até hoje me emociona... A minha MAIOR motivação para não passar por essa vida sem aprender a tocar piano. No dia que eu conseguir aprender as 6 eu posso descansar em paz, hahaha. E mesmo sendo brasileiro, meu primeiro contato com Bossa Nova ou Jazz foi por conta dos temas neighborhood
Mixolydian smoothly walks counterclockwise on the circle of fifth as it has both the fourth and the flat fifth. What's your thoughts on Dorian mode going clockwise on the circle of fifth, since it still has the natural sixth? How would you go to improvise a "Negative harmony" Sims?
Thank you so much for these videos! I just started piano classes a few months ago and.... I'm pretty much a theory nerd, or at least and aspiring one. And your videos are SO instructive! Your uploads seriously makes my days. Shout out to the Guy behind the scenes, too! The editing is so clean that's so awesome ! Thank you so much guys, keep doing great work :D Edit: Oh wow there's actually a scales circle- That's so cool!!
Hey! So first off, I love your content and your personality. Your passion for your content and music in general is obvious and it shows! This video got me to check out the sims soundtrack for the first time and when I did something weird happened. I skipped to maybe an hour and twenty mins in and was loving the piano, so I did what normal people do and I "shazammed" it. Without jumping around, shazam kept giving me different pieces of music. Maybe give this a try and look into why that is or how Shazam works in general! At the end of my little experiment, Shazam picked out 5 different pieces just from listening to a minute of sims music lol. Thanks for giving this a read!
I barely understand the vocabulary used but still somehow got the gist of it and enjoyed it! More video game content, pls and thank you! Edit to add: Stardew Valley has some of the most soothing music I've ever heard and Sonic the Hedgehog 1 & 2 have really fun songs per level!
Hey, Charles would you mind doing a theory analysis on Lemon Demon’s music, namely Spirit Phone? I know a lot of people, including myself, would enjoy it.
YAYAYAYA I don't know where you came from but I literally just listened to Indie Cindy & The Lo-Fi Lullabies and The Much Too Much Song again yesterday. Props to this idea! Problem is... there's so much to pick from... and it would _all_ be golden to analyse.........
Perfect timing! Just on a whim, I searched "Sims piano music" and found this. Sometimes when I watch another piano-based UA-cam video, I think of think of those songs because they were so present when I was growing up and so pleasant to listen to even now.
I've been listening to this soundtrack all week, and literally yesterday I thought "I wish someone would do a video analysing how awesome these songs are"! Thank you! ♥
I've been playing this song for years and would improvise when it changes keys. I would just blindly follow the sheet music and had no idea what was going on. Thank you so much for showing this! Now I can do whatever I want with this peice!
About 10 years ago I ran a radio show and played my favorite video game tunes. This came on one week and in the following days people asked me why I was letting them sleep on The Sims soundtrack. A decade later and validation is finally mine!
There's so many gems in the Sims 1 soundtrack. I really love the brazilian inspired songs as well the British light music ones. The later soundtracks from the newer games just don't have the same magic.
thank you SO much for this video! i do a radio show on music in film + televison and decided to branch out into games, and i credited you in my show because this was beyond helpful in breaking down the music (and also absolutely fascinating.)
I maintain that the Sims 1 is the best Sims game, and the music is absolutely a huge reason for that. Can't be nostalgic if I never stopped playing it haha.
I always loved "Living Mice", it was so emotional for me, I loved it's soft beggining and I absolutely loved what it did at 2:00 minute mark. I had my moments with it, I just love listening to this piece.
Last weeks seems like this channel is made for me, altough i have a notion of music theory i never went far on my studies but seems that you always try to explain things in a way that everybody can understand even though i would bet that most of your viewers have a firm music education. I absolutely love your content just would like some more of you just playing.
Honestly I can’t believe you’ve made a video on this, THANK YOU it’s such a perfectly produced breakdown. I remember when I was just getting into piano I sought to play this song and found the sheet music online and then came to all these same amazing discoveries as you describe. Thank you for making this thing and putting it under so many people’s fingers, just such amazing stuff ✨🦚✨
I would love to see a video (or Nebula exclusive video) of just you improvising over this track! Seeing you improvise is fascinating to me and I myself am trying to get better at improv.
@@douglasalves3287 Sério. Até mesmo essa música de exemplo do The Sims tem um feeling parecido com o do baião (por causa do mixolídio - e do baixo também)
I just started watching and he might address this... But did they also use like, stock music? Because every once in a while in a commercial or tv show a sims song pops up, and I look like an idiot for pointing it out to everyone. 😂
Omg! Im so stoked that i found your channel through the one of my favorites the sims building theme songs! As a guitar player, i’m familiar with all of these music theory. The way you demonstrate the music theory on the piano is so fun to watch and very easy to understand! Hope i could play it the way i play it on the guitar to the piano lol
Really enjoyed this video! This may be a weird compliment but I really like how you voice chords. I spend most of my time looking up songs online and playing block chords, but I feel like I have trouble voicing chords in a sonically pleasing way. I basically play an octave in the left hand and root position in the right hand with an occasional inversion here or there. It would be awesome if you could do a video explaining how you voice chords and maybe highlight some of the tricks that you use to spice things up
FF music is some of the best VGM (and there is quite a lot of other stuff too). You might like what these guys do to it (no theory, just addictive music): ua-cam.com/users/TheConsoulsBandvideos
This is so eye opening for me. Over a decade ago, when I played the first Sims game, before I started studying and learning about modes, I actually thought they'd sat down and composed every note of these pieces. I still maintain that they're great but to have it broken down and realise how beautifully simple it is blows my mind!
I was looking through the comments to see if anyone else heard it that way too! If you see/hear it in the key of A then they're just improvising with the A major scale instead of E mixolydian. Interesting that with just the three chords you can hear different tonal centers
@@AjanaFerner in this video it uses the E ionian which means it’s on E major scale, and also said that the D major is the flat seventh. The problem is I dont think the flat seventh is necessary if you can simplify it to be one, four, and five chord instead of one, four, and flat seventh. Also I can’t lie, to my ear the E major chord sounds absolutely like five chord.
@@AjanaFerner oh sorry, I havent watch when he explain the E mixolydian. My comment was based on the first part of this video when he explained the one, four, and flat seventh chord
😂 lets see how much comments like these does it takes to make him rethink this. I mean - yes you can define a mixolydian sound as tonic but in this case it was quite inappropriate. Would choose this approach just in a more modal context.
You should take a look at a Japanese band called Lamp. Their music has kind of a semi-modern jazz feel and the chord progressions they use and other aspects of their music are nuts.
Some nice listening there. Might I suggest The Consouls Band - I've been a fan of their genius brand of jazz for years: ua-cam.com/users/TheConsoulsBandvideos
Great analysis! I love the build themes from the Sims and have been playing them for years. I knew there was something simple and catchy about the first build theme but couldn't quite figure it out to this detail. I think a lot of these principles are reflected especially in build theme #3.
im interested as to why you said it was in E mixolydian instead of A, would save the b7maj and can just be written as V I(first inversion idk if theres a symbol for that) IV. Not saying its wrong to say its in E, does deciding the tonal centre come down to what “sounds like home” to you? great video as always though :)
Jerry Martin has also authored what's possibly my favourite videogame soundtrack ever - SimCity 3000. In fact it was his work (especially on tunes such as Night Life, Magic City and New Terrain) that made me the jazz aficionado that I am today.
Go share stupid memes in the new subreddit, we're going to be using it for all kinds of things coming up, GO JOIN www.reddit.com/r/CharlesCornell/
r/lingling40hrs jazz edition
@@anachr0nism104 yessss
Reply to this
hello
Honestly, I have wanted this for so long. Thank Charles "it's pronounced colonel" Cornell. You now take Adam's place as my favorite youtube music man.
So you are telling me that a game that gives you simple building blocks and lets you choose what to do with it has a soundtrack where the composer gave the performer simple building blocks and let them choose what to do with them? Sounds dope.
Gotta love a cohesive theme
Hahaha perfection in every way
Poetic
I really wish that it's as simple to build in the sims as you put it, but it's really not lol.
I think the music really made the game.
Theory profs: "You don't have to say 'over the third' you can just say 'first inversion'."
Jazz musicians: "Absquedilyboply not."
;)
Ohhhhhhhhh he meant first inversion
thanks
That's easy for you to say. :-/
@eleven This is the exact opposite of how it's usually used. Inversion refers to the note in the bass part, not the shape of the higher up chord. First inversion the 3rd is in the bass, 2nd inversion the 5th is in the bass. The shape of the chord above the bass doesn't have as big of an effect on the sound as what note is in the bass. A/x can be an effective way to describe a chord, but I think that's usually used when the note in the bass is a note outside the chord / passing note. It could be different in the jazz world, but that's what I learned for the classical style.
@@frederickzukowski530 You are correct. The x in A/X refers to whatever is in the bass, the shape of the chord above it matters not. I could have A, E, G, and Bb, in any conjugation over C#... and it's still Ab9/C#. And that's how a jazz musician would expect to see it represented on a lead sheet. And you're correct, the bass note greatly colours the way your ear perceives the chord.
The same, though, can be said of first inversion Amajor (b9), but in jazz, when improvisation comes more into play, having the bass note given to you somewhat reduces the amount of processing your brain requires, rather than having to recall what the major third would be, in order to play first inversion. So it's a sort of shortcut. Other times, writing an inversion as an X/Y might also aid in planning for economy of movement. If a pianist knows they've got the go-ahead to play an inversion, they can feel free to navigate the keyboard with fewer jumps between chords. And this also changes chordal colours. For example, A, B/G, F is much different than A, B, F, in several ways.
The true secret of everything Jerry Martin did for Maxis is "douse eveything in mixolydian and boom that's jazz baby".
🤔 Only this song and Build 6 are mixolydian.
@@paulstatezny4185
joke
/jōk/
noun
a thing that someone says to cause amusement or laughter, especially a story with a funny punchline.
"she was in a mood to tell jokes"
@@harrylane4 Hehe. Tone gets lost sometimes over text mediums. Cheers.
Gotta love Jerry Martin!
Have you noticed that Indian music tends to sound mixolydian? Why is that?
This is how it starts. You're minding your own business, you notice something interesting in a video game's soundtrack, you do a cute little transcription, ya make a video about it, and next thing you know you're the next 8-Bit Music Theory.
It's all downhill from here :(
The slippery slope of Music Theorist UA-camr
Wow, it's so cool to see how many people liked the Sims stuff. You are totally right: Jerry just gave me basic sketches to improvise on. Fun to see it analyzed! Of course it was Jerry's brilliant editing that made it actually work so well. At the time, I had no idea that the Sims was popular world wide, thought it was some small boutique video game. Pretty amazing, love your take on it
What an underrated comment
Wow I was not expecting a comment from the actual pianist in the comment section lol. I hope you know your playing was a very important part of the soundtrack of mine (and many others) childhoods!
Oh my god the legend himself
I want to believe this is the guy who played it ❤
Dude you’re a legend!!! This song is getting me through my PhD program lol
So glad you talked about the Sims! I got really excited for the possibility of you looking at Build 4, my all time favourite (also LYDIAN!), but then every Build track is a joy.
Love your work. I forever associate many Zelda themes with your arrangements.
Every time I hum Zora's Domain, your version pops up in my head before the original.
Familiar name + picture of harp = Bath Spa flashback :) Hope you're well!
Build 3 team over here 🙋
@@LoopMySound since we met is one of the best video game songs ever made
@@LoopMySound build 3 is the best
OH MY GOD FINALLY SOMEONE APPRECIATES THE SIMS 1 SOUNDTRACK
WHO ELSE CAN SING ALL THE SOLOS LMAO
Transcribing level 100
I sing the soundtrack in my car. All the time.
Meeeee
Me!
My fav!!!!
That soundtrack is my version of therapy
How about you distribute some grain to celebrate that game?
Thank you Kim Jong-un
Commy
This video is almost as glorious as you.
@Number One Like the federation is one to lecture....
Building Mode 1 was my FAVORITE song from the original Sims game. So much so that a few years back I actually looked up and found the piano sheet music for the song, that some poor musician actually transcribed note for note. And I could not get past the first 16 measures lmao. This makes SO much sense that it was all improvisation - what an amazing soundtrack!
Building Mode 3 team over here 🙋
the building mode ones are all so good I feel actual sadness trying to pick a favorite
Love them all but 5 is my therapy piece
Love the old soundtracks so Much! Jerry Martin and those who worked with him are legends! I highly recommend signing up to his website! He sends occasional emails with some behind the scenes stuff of his music career and gives free high quality downloads of his music! Very cool! 👍🏻
@@CWelton6 I was searching for this comment ! That's also my fav !
The first sims soundtrack hit me so hard. It has this odd nostalgic, eerie, weird vibe to it.
Waa Lee Ye
Bado Wa Lee Oh
Bado Wa Lee Ye Aa Ooh
Badada Da Dup (Dup Du Lalup)
@@Manas-co8wl I don't know if I'm mad or proud that I 100% know which song that is lmao
@@Manas-co8wl i always heard this lol
Ba dee yay
Ba doo ba dee yo
Ba doo ba de ey yah
Lmao
@@Manas-co8wl wat
@@MidnightCyanide Same except "ba dee yah" 😂
Those first three notes might be the most evocative and nostalgic sound I can think of. Everytime I hear them, they immediately paint a picture in my head of me playing this game alongside my little sister for hours amd hours. (And the time the house burmed down, our sim died, and we both felt guilty for days😂)
oof that escalated quickly
As a kid I remember trying to force the game to play the build3 theme. Then I turned off the light and went on meditation mode like full yogi style. I always thought I was kinda weird but NOW I HAVE THE PROOF THAT I'VE BEEN TRICKED !
Dude, years ago I legitimately played this whole "album" on loop, jamming out for hours and days. I recently dug it up to pass some time with some good old jams, and thought, "Man, this was legitimately really good." I honestly thought I was the only one that did this back then or now. It's so cool to see you pull this music out for this video. I feel seen!
Yeah you used to be able to go right into the game cd and locate the mp3s of the music lol. I burned a cd of it ages ago and listened to at least 1000 hours
@@whollypotatoes Clearly a man of distinguished taste.
The hot date expansion definitely upped the sims’ jazz palette, and for that I’m so grateful, but I can’t help but just look at the current soundtrack with such overwhelming pity in comparison to the first couple releases
Nahh playing sims 4 the music is still really fun to listen to. I also like the selection of tracks that they put in the radio stations, there's a good bit of variety there.
@@beidouvirus3978 ... I’m disappointed
@@beidouvirus3978 You can’t just “Nahh” someone’s opinion lol
@@beidouvirus3978 Nahh bro Hot Date's OST is still better. (lol jk I love both, just laughed at how you started that reply)
Being serious, I agree completely with the OP. Hot Date's music was *amazing...* reminded me a lot of the incredible jazzy soundtrack in Simcity 3000.
I gotta agree. A few years ago I listened to a bunch of Sims/Sim City soundtracks and only the SimCity 3000, Sim City 4 and The Sims (1) ended up in my favorites. The rest wasn't really that great...
You just unintentionally gave a better piano tutorial than any of those "Piano tutorials" that just use synthia.
the musicians: _rosebud;!;!;!;!;!;_
Klapaucius???
Classic.
Only OGs know what this is lol.
I think we hit the motherload here 😉😉😉
Money money money
Glad you’re starting to do video game soundtracks. There so much underrated video game music that is absolutely stunning and needs to be talked about. Id recommend checking out the street fighter EX3 ost. Jazz fusion at its finest
Agree VGM is very underrated. If you don't mind, I would recommend these talented boys who acknowledge VGM in the best way possible (I've been addicted to their music for the last 5 years): ua-cam.com/users/TheConsoulsBandvideos
There's so much great game music! Also so much jazz in video game music too!
Random Arika mention on a Sims 1 video, appreciate it.
The first Sims had such mature, sophisticated music. By comparison, the rest of the series became way to cartoony in their soundtracks.
I agree it got more cartoony, but Sims 2 has some iconic tracks in it!
@@StereoTyp0 Sims 3 Solstice of the Ancients
I have two words for ya: Bare Bones.
and I have five words, a number and a symbol for ya: The Sims™ 2 Seasons: Neighborhood Theme
@@ember9361 It's kinda up there with the build themes, but the latin themes in Sims 1 are still at the top for me
I love knowing nothing about music theory or piano and you hit it at 4:50 and just start jamming on the piano and you end with "right?" And I'm here like "oh, yeah, I was TOTALLY following"
I never have any idea what you're talking about, but I love watching your passion and hearing you play.
It kind of fascinates me just how important improvisation was to the original Sims. Not only was the music apparently very heavy on improvisation, they also hired voice actors based on how well they could speak gibberish on the spot. They weren't warned or given a script of any sort, they just showed up to the casting call and were asked to make up words and speech on the spot and make it sound natural.
Here's how you can have everything you need to play this track.
Proceeds to say a lot of stuff that doesn't make sense.
Me, who's never played a piano in his life: Ah yes, it's so clear now.
Ah yes, it's nice to listen to talent as you cause chaos
Yooo can you review that one song from like 2016? It’s goes like “we was in the club, bottoms up when I first met you” thanks 😊
Sims 1 soundtrack sounds like the pleasant and simple magic of domestic life.
This is actually how I wrote most of the score for a silent film short I did music for once. The low end was basically doing the jumpy chords over and over in the key of C, while the upper register was pure improvisation.
Amazing analysis, nice and simple. Since this isn't mentioned in the video and I couldn't find any comments about it either I'll point it out here (even tho it's kind of obvious if you think about it for a minute): The modulations in Building Mode 1 are all done through pivot chords, that is to say, chords which are present in the key we are currently in and the one we are modulating to. The last chord of the progression is the bVII of our tonic, but also the IV of the new key, a fourth up from the previous tonic. Example: in the key of E, D is both the bVII of E and the IV of A, when A is our tonic, G is the bVII but it's also the IV of D, etc. That's why these modulations sounds so smooth instead of dramatic and attention grabbing, because no out of key chord is borrowed to create tension towards the key we are modulating to, we just slide into it more naturally.
I love the sims music!! I did sax covers of the Sims 2 and 3 themes because it’s just so nostalgic and relaxing haha - it’s nice understanding the theory behind why it sounds so nice.
Yooo I accidentally did this when I was playing last week after our church service(kinda)😂 I had that baseline(not exactly this one but very similar) in my head for some reason but I didn’t remember where I’d heard it b4. My buddies an I were shedding over it lol. Great content as always Charles!
No wonder there’s literally mods to play the sims 1 music in the sims 4. So perfect.
You know you’re tired when you read “A mixolydian for improv” and think to yourself; “a mixolydian what?”
A mixolydian mixologist obviously!
@@Shrooblord I like your funny words, magic man
I took waaay longer than needed in the construction mode of The Sims because of it. I could say that 30, 40% of my liking of music derives from game soundtracks.
Thanks for the nostalgia Charles!
Dude this made me tear up.
This piece is such a fantastic example of a strong knowledge of music theory helps back up your playing. I (and I think most casual players) have always put little effort into learning and applying the theory. I just take songs I like and try and play them. But just 3 chords carries this entire tune through improvisation, and not just random improv but calculated improv. Absolutely fantastic. This definitely inspired me to learn a little more theory.
Thank you!
I love this soundtrack so much. They nailed the 1950s catalogue shopping style genre with the "buy" tracks. I love to jam on these tracks.
I’d really like this guy to break down a song that is called “ya es muy tarde” by Elías lopés y la compañía.... it’s a salsa song and it’s more or less a big band so... I think it would really make an interesting video to see his opinion on it 😊
never heard of it but sounds like it might be interesting, so here’s a reply for visibility
For some reason with this kind of progression my brain hears it as A Ionian rather than E mixolydian, even tho A major is never even played so it's just like it never resolves
Well, it is actually being played. I think you can analyze it in both ways, because the IV in E mixolydian is A. So it might be indeed:
V I6 IV V ...
And, eventually, the sequence continues to D major, or "A Mixolydian".
I really can hear it both as a resolution (i.e. as A mixolydian), but also as D major...
This is how I hear it too, and this explanation is much simpler and makes more sense to me.
@@vilo159 If you hear it that way, then it makes more sense. But I hear the first chord as the tonic, so calling it anything other than the tonic would make it more complicated (because I would have to fight against my intuition). I understand why you could hear it as V I IV in A major, but I just don't hear it that way. Sometimes a simple explanation on paper just isn't the simplest explanation in practice (if it goes against what you are hearing). Always trust your ears.
For you, since you hear it as V I IV, it would make no sense to think of it as I IV bVII, if you don't hear it that way.
What I think makes me hear it as I IV bVII is the fact that it spends twice as much time on the first chord than the other chords (and the first chord of a loop also naturally gets more emphasis). Also, the second chord is weakened by playing it as an inversion. I hear it like the chords in the beginning of Highway to Hell.
@@MaggaraMarine I agree that the duration and inversion issues might strengthen the feeling of tonic, but I think it mostly depends on the accent, or on where the sequence begins. I6 IV V * in contrast to V * I6 IV. And since it begins with V, I really hear I IV bVII.
But the transition to A Mixolydian or D major makes me think in retrospect, that the last key was the V - which is A major.
@@etai.hakaryan Sure, in the transition, it is functioning as the V of the next key. But in the loop, I'm hearing it as the I chord. (A single chord having two functions is really common in modulations, for example if you play C Dm7 G7 C Am7 D7 G, then that Am7 chord has two functions. When you first hear it, you relate it to the previous chord, and it sounds like I vi - the relative major and minor. But after you hear the next two chords, you also hear it as the ii of G. So, is it the vi in the key of C or ii in the key of G? It is both at the same time - it's a pivot chord.)
My main point is, we should analyze things based on how we hear them, not on what makes them look simple on paper. Music is sound after all, and if the explanation doesn't match the sound, then it makes little sense. But in this case, I can definitely see why someone might hear it as V I IV instead of I IV bVII. Sometimes people hear things differently, especially when we aren't talking about a "tonally strong" progression.
I swear there's one specific part of the piano soundtrack that for me sounds EXACTLY like the final portion of the piano version of the Prelude Villa Lobos Bachianas Brasileiras Num. 4. It might be a coincidence, but it blew my mind when I listened to it.
this song sounds a lot like baião.
Ok, but... now let's talking about one of the most masterpieces ever made for The Sims series: THE BUILDING MODE 5, from The Sims 1, also called "Now What?", from Jerry Martin. This song made me cry on the first listen. I don't have words to express how beautiful and deep this song touch me. Incredible. Jerry Martin is a genius.
I remember back in 2000, being in...I think it was a Virgin Megastore, where you could buy whatever kind of media you liked: music, movies, print, and yes, even computer games. I heard some of the most heart-achingly beautiful piano music playing somewhere in the store. "What IS that album?!?" I thought. "I've got to find out and buy it!" Lo and behold, I found a computer that had been set up to demo The Sims, and had been left in build mode.
That's when I swore to save up my pennies to buy my copy of the digital crack-cocaine that is The Sims.
Even though I switched to Linux fifteen years ago,, I still have my original discs.
I remember being like 5 and playing this on a machine that took 10 minutes to turn on with a massive CRT monitor and super crackly speakers ... I feel old 😞
Those were the good times ,such a wonderful game
I recall turning on the computer and then going for breakfast and coming back and still having to wait for it to be thinking about what it's supposed to be doing. Like, that era of 'don't touch the mouse while the hourglass is showing or it'll take twice as long' in computers. x')
I was like 15... Y'all babies
I love how your videos don't just do a deep dive into a piece, but you use it to give really practical advice to those of us studying composition, performance, improvisation etc. Thank you!!
Damn it now i'm gonna have to listen the entire soundtrack
You won’t be disappointed! The first Sims had its music down pat
I don’t even play the game but I gonna do the same thing😂
Yup, same, preparing tissues for mourning my childhood as well
Make sure you find the actual full soundtrack! The version they released on streaming platforms is missing several tracks 😢
Yeah hate him for it
The Building Mode pieces of this soundtrack still amaze me to this very day. Building Mode 5("Now What?") especially remains a favorite of mine. An absolute master class piece.
Charles ever so lightly tapping the D at 7:03 feeds my soul and waters my crops.
What if someone reads this without any context lol
@@noraandreasson AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHA
@@noraandreasson THE NAME OF THE COMMENTER TOO AHAJSHQHDJJDKWJSNFNKFE
I never played the first sims. Only 2,3 and 4 religiously. But somehow the sims 1 music sounds nostalgic to me even though I never heard it
Jerry Martin also did the SimCity 3000 soundtrack, which I consider a masterpiece
Yes! This, 100%! A massively underappreciated soundtrack
YES HE DID, AND YES IT IS!!!
Great video! I knew it's improvised but on the other hand I knew that few pieces are actually written like the beginning (new beginning) and the end. Thanks for explaining chords. I love theory of music!
Cowboy Bebop, now The Sims? What's next? Yasunori Mitsuda and David Wise? Do you want the world to end in awesomeness?
OH MY GOD YASUNORI MITSUDA PLEEASE. Or any other JRPG composer. Had my first experience with Mitsudas music through Final Fantasy XVs Episode Ignis DLC and oh my god, I've been in love with it ever since.
Persona!
@@matthewhartwig8442 YES YES YES PLEASE. Shoji Meguro is literally one of my greatest influences when it comes to Funk, Acid Jazz and Rock. I even suggested it to Charles on another video! (Albeit on a different account, lol)
Mitsdua fans, check out his solo album Kirite. You won't be disappointed!
I am soo glad to see this video! I used to linger in the construction mode of the game just to listen to the piano tracks. For some reason this music left a huge impression on me, and I am glad I'm not the only one! Great video!
Man, the Sims piano tracks always make me feel so at home. Will always be transported to my childhood back in my old country in a dusty office playing Sims 2 on a huge, old pc... And buying everything in the game because of 'motherlode'. Good times.
Okay, this is amazing. I love such videos on how to do those things. I'm not proficient with my chords and scales, but I do have software that shows me.
Like the link to the improvisation course, that's what I needed
That piano key tap at 7:02 is not supposed to be funny in any stretch of the imagination. Yet here you have me, giggling at it like a little kid for about a minute now.
It's the little things man. I LOVE those moments.
Jake edits those in in almost every video and we sit there laughing at the edit for like 5 minutes every time. Maybe he'll make a compilation..
WHY IS THAT SO FUNNY??? THAT SHOULDN'T BE FUNNY
@@CharlesCornellStudios PLEASE we would not complain one bit!
Omg i rewatched it like a 100 times 😂😂
Please consider doing an overhead view for the piano! It's much easier to follow that way and better for learning :)
Everytime I hear the sims soundtrack I go into a nostalgia coma of which I cannot be awoken.
Trilha sonora da minha infância, até hoje me emociona... A minha MAIOR motivação para não passar por essa vida sem aprender a tocar piano. No dia que eu conseguir aprender as 6 eu posso descansar em paz, hahaha.
E mesmo sendo brasileiro, meu primeiro contato com Bossa Nova ou Jazz foi por conta dos temas neighborhood
Mixolydian smoothly walks counterclockwise on the circle of fifth as it has both the fourth and the flat fifth.
What's your thoughts on Dorian mode going clockwise on the circle of fifth, since it still has the natural sixth?
How would you go to improvise a "Negative harmony" Sims?
Ridiculous amounts of nostalgia for this game, great analysis!
Build mode > Buy mode
What you're doing with your channel is so valuable. Thank you!
Thank you so much for these videos! I just started piano classes a few months ago and.... I'm pretty much a theory nerd, or at least and aspiring one. And your videos are SO instructive! Your uploads seriously makes my days. Shout out to the Guy behind the scenes, too! The editing is so clean that's so awesome ! Thank you so much guys, keep doing great work :D
Edit: Oh wow there's actually a scales circle-
That's so cool!!
Welcome to the theory nerd club!! Learn all the ‘rules’ so that we can break them later in musical context😂😂
never touched a musical instrument in my life, still watching every single Charles video
My understanding: 7%
My enjoyment: 100%
Hey! So first off, I love your content and your personality. Your passion for your content and music in general is obvious and it shows! This video got me to check out the sims soundtrack for the first time and when I did something weird happened. I skipped to maybe an hour and twenty mins in and was loving the piano, so I did what normal people do and I "shazammed" it. Without jumping around, shazam kept giving me different pieces of music. Maybe give this a try and look into why that is or how Shazam works in general! At the end of my little experiment, Shazam picked out 5 different pieces just from listening to a minute of sims music lol. Thanks for giving this a read!
I barely understand the vocabulary used but still somehow got the gist of it and enjoyed it! More video game content, pls and thank you!
Edit to add: Stardew Valley has some of the most soothing music I've ever heard and Sonic the Hedgehog 1 & 2 have really fun songs per level!
hey man, how about Gran Turismo 2 or 4 soundtrack? definitely recommended to listen to some recognizable japanese jazz flows
Hey, Charles would you mind doing a theory analysis on Lemon Demon’s music, namely Spirit Phone? I know a lot of people, including myself, would enjoy it.
Two trucks analysis when
YAYAYAYA I don't know where you came from but I literally just listened to Indie Cindy & The Lo-Fi Lullabies and The Much Too Much Song again yesterday.
Props to this idea! Problem is... there's so much to pick from... and it would _all_ be golden to analyse.........
Perfect timing! Just on a whim, I searched "Sims piano music" and found this. Sometimes when I watch another piano-based UA-cam video, I think of think of those songs because they were so present when I was growing up and so pleasant to listen to even now.
I've been listening to this soundtrack all week, and literally yesterday I thought "I wish someone would do a video analysing how awesome these songs are"! Thank you! ♥
I've been playing this song for years and would improvise when it changes keys. I would just blindly follow the sheet music and had no idea what was going on. Thank you so much for showing this! Now I can do whatever I want with this peice!
It's so sad to me that they basically abandoned the old sims music. It's actually really beautiful.
About 10 years ago I ran a radio show and played my favorite video game tunes. This came on one week and in the following days people asked me why I was letting them sleep on The Sims soundtrack. A decade later and validation is finally mine!
There's so many gems in the Sims 1 soundtrack. I really love the brazilian inspired songs as well the British light music ones. The later soundtracks from the newer games just don't have the same magic.
thank you SO much for this video! i do a radio show on music in film + televison and decided to branch out into games, and i credited you in my show because this was beyond helpful in breaking down the music (and also absolutely fascinating.)
I maintain that the Sims 1 is the best Sims game, and the music is absolutely a huge reason for that.
Can't be nostalgic if I never stopped playing it haha.
I always loved "Living Mice", it was so emotional for me, I loved it's soft beggining and I absolutely loved what it did at 2:00 minute mark. I had my moments with it, I just love listening to this piece.
The sleek explanation, editing, cozy room and choosing the Sims has earned you a sub from me.
First key change sounds like Bridge in Dave Matthew’s Band Stay.
I think the first one is good for all the reasons he said, but anybody else find the more recent soundtracks annoying?
A little, yeah. And it doesn't help when the game keeps freezing up 😂
Last weeks seems like this channel is made for me, altough i have a notion of music theory i never went far on my studies but seems that you always try to explain things in a way that everybody can understand even though i would bet that most of your viewers have a firm music education. I absolutely love your content just would like some more of you just playing.
I wanna go back to the time when I could immerse myself in video game playing without ever feeling guilty about it
Honestly I can’t believe you’ve made a video on this, THANK YOU it’s such a perfectly produced breakdown. I remember when I was just getting into piano I sought to play this song and found the sheet music online and then came to all these same amazing discoveries as you describe. Thank you for making this thing and putting it under so many people’s fingers, just such amazing stuff ✨🦚✨
This is the game that started my musical journey of Jazz when I was 7
I would love to see a video (or Nebula exclusive video) of just you improvising over this track! Seeing you improvise is fascinating to me and I myself am trying to get better at improv.
Mixolydian, the “baião” scale
@@douglasalves3287 Sério. Até mesmo essa música de exemplo do The Sims tem um feeling parecido com o do baião (por causa do mixolídio - e do baixo também)
@@victorcanesin8978 sempre brisei nisso mano!! é estranho pq o groove é do baião mas as melodias levam pra outro lugar kkk
Também não sabia
Nossa real velho, só agora q eu fui perceber hahahaha
Finalmente achei os br nesse canal kkksk
Oh boy, I have been waiting for this!!
Hope you do the other build tracks one day too. Particularly Build 2 (Bittersweet).
YOU DID IT! The Sims OST. I asked and I received :)
I just started watching and he might address this... But did they also use like, stock music? Because every once in a while in a commercial or tv show a sims song pops up, and I look like an idiot for pointing it out to everyone. 😂
I played The Sims 2 since I was 12, so that soundtrack is more nostalgic to me than the OG, but it's really clever
Omg! Im so stoked that i found your channel through the one of my favorites the sims building theme songs! As a guitar player, i’m familiar with all of these music theory. The way you demonstrate the music theory on the piano is so fun to watch and very easy to understand! Hope i could play it the way i play it on the guitar to the piano lol
I think the more iconic is the loading screen music. They revise the music for every The Sims upgrade
Really enjoyed this video! This may be a weird compliment but I really like how you voice chords. I spend most of my time looking up songs online and playing block chords, but I feel like I have trouble voicing chords in a sonically pleasing way. I basically play an octave in the left hand and root position in the right hand with an occasional inversion here or there. It would be awesome if you could do a video explaining how you voice chords and maybe highlight some of the tricks that you use to spice things up
Not sure if you've covered Nobuo Uematsu but I'd love to hear your thoughts on him. He's one of my favorite composers.
FF music is some of the best VGM (and there is quite a lot of other stuff too). You might like what these guys do to it (no theory, just addictive music): ua-cam.com/users/TheConsoulsBandvideos
@@cooldebt I love the consouls 👍🏻 thanks for looking out
This is so eye opening for me. Over a decade ago, when I played the first Sims game, before I started studying and learning about modes, I actually thought they'd sat down and composed every note of these pieces. I still maintain that they're great but to have it broken down and realise how beautifully simple it is blows my mind!
Why do I hear it A for the one chord instead of E? So it sounds like V-I-IV
So when you say E for the one chord, it really confused me
I was looking through the comments to see if anyone else heard it that way too! If you see/hear it in the key of A then they're just improvising with the A major scale instead of E mixolydian. Interesting that with just the three chords you can hear different tonal centers
@@AjanaFerner in this video it uses the E ionian which means it’s on E major scale, and also said that the D major is the flat seventh. The problem is I dont think the flat seventh is necessary if you can simplify it to be one, four, and five chord instead of one, four, and flat seventh. Also I can’t lie, to my ear the E major chord sounds absolutely like five chord.
@@AjanaFerner oh sorry, I havent watch when he explain the E mixolydian. My comment was based on the first part of this video when he explained the one, four, and flat seventh chord
😂 lets see how much comments like these does it takes to make him rethink this. I mean - yes you can define a mixolydian sound as tonic but in this case it was quite inappropriate. Would choose this approach just in a more modal context.
I'm torn!!!
I'm not sure if I'm more inspired to try improving with the Mixolydian scale, or to go play the sims!
WHAT DO I DO?!?!
You should take a look at a Japanese band called Lamp. Their music has kind of a semi-modern jazz feel and the chord progressions they use and other aspects of their music are nuts.
nice suggesion thanks
Thank you so much! I love them!
Some nice listening there. Might I suggest The Consouls Band - I've been a fan of their genius brand of jazz for years: ua-cam.com/users/TheConsoulsBandvideos
Great analysis! I love the build themes from the Sims and have been playing them for years. I knew there was something simple and catchy about the first build theme but couldn't quite figure it out to this detail. I think a lot of these principles are reflected especially in build theme #3.
Hey Charles, you should check the Sims 2 Apartment Life startup music theme! It has a beautiful arp and piano melody on it!
im interested as to why you said it was in E mixolydian instead of A, would save the b7maj and can just be written as V I(first inversion idk if theres a symbol for that) IV.
Not saying its wrong to say its in E, does deciding the tonal centre come down to what “sounds like home” to you? great video as always though :)
Same here... Would choose this approach just in a more modal context... in this case its quite inappropriate but as you said also not wrong
Neighborhood 2 also from sims 1 has an AMAZINGLY good mood energy
Jerry Martin has also authored what's possibly my favourite videogame soundtrack ever - SimCity 3000. In fact it was his work (especially on tunes such as Night Life, Magic City and New Terrain) that made me the jazz aficionado that I am today.