Ahh but Terra's theme also has a snare behind it, turning a lyrical music into march, emphasizing her past work as a soldier, as if it was haunting her. Really beautiful music
It's not just about her past, but also her future. As Terra has to keep moving forward to see any peace for the future. Her arc in the second half is about her stopping, thinking that she can get away from all these problems by settling down, before being reminded that no, in order to solve the problems she hopes to solve, she must get moving again. It's all about this constancy of moving forward with Terra.
Wow, hearing that Uematsu is self-taught is a huge inspiration to me. I’m also a self-taught musician and Uematsu is a very important role model of mine. It was the opera that convinced me to learn as much of the FFVI soundtrack as I could on the piano. Uematsu is a genius! My favorite piece of his is definitely Dancing Mad. I love how it’s classical-inspired and just how epic it is!
If you could just go through the whole Final Fantasy series, that'd be great. Love the content 😘 (Edit: If you could also analyze how we're able to listen to battle music for hours and not get tired of it, that'd be pretty radical too.)
Sideways did a really cool video about repeated music recently. tl:dw; It turns out hearing music more often messes with your brain and actually makes you like it more. Of course, the music has to be good enough to not completely drive you away from the game first :P
I sometimes like to play around with the idea of turning FF6 into scripts for a blockbuster saga, and one of the bigger challenges is being true to Setzer's character and not making him sound like a creep.
@@aldeayeah He is a creep. But he's attractive so women give him a pass. That's how it works. If you're attractive you can do things that on anyone else would be creepy. But on the attractive person they just say they're "incorrigible."
This is such a great breakdown of why Uematsu's music WORKS. It isn't just pretty, or fun, or fitting. It WORKS. That was always my composition professor's highest praise. Functional music is so important to understanding composition, and Uematsu absolutely makes functional music that is also fun, and pretty, and fitting! Great stuff, looking forward to the rest of this series!
This game, and its soundtrack, always get to me on a very deep, philosophical and emotional level. I can't stress how much I'm glad that you picked to do a 3 parter on THIS game above all the other Final Fantasy games you could have picked. And the first two songs are basically the themes of the two leading ladies. BRAVO!
I've said it before but I'll say it again. I truly love how you've found your editing and structural style first extracting the core thing that is being played on a piano with a transparant visual and then bringing back in the actual song with the sheet music itself. Also I really love the slight additions of you softly hammering in the difference in sound between alternative choices. Your channel was already great before but recently with the cleaner look and structure it became amazing.
His playing and experimenting with alternate chords is by far my favorite thing he incorporates. It's so cool to hear different ideas in songs I grew up with. I wholeheartedly agree with you. He's become so good at this.
I love, love, *love* this series. Uematsu is almost single-handedly responsible for me getting into composition. (The rest was bad luck--I broke my left hand and no longer had the grip strength to keep playing bass.) I almost wish this were a second channel, doing this kind of analysis for *all* of Uematsu's work. Especially with what you have planned for the second episode--while I see where you're going, *the* game, if you're looking at how to reuse material in new ways, is Final Fantasy 8, not 6. (Listen to the soundtrack, and count how many times "Eyes on Me" and "Ami" get reused. Don't do this as a drinking game, though, or you'll die of alcohol poisoning.)
As much as I agree with you, you're so wrong about FF8 being a better showcase of reoccurring leitmotifs. FF6 has 14(!!) playable characters, all of them have their unique character theme, and each of them are referenced to across the game and occur when the character is of importance to the plot/setting. Each character theme is rearranged in 2, three or four different pieces. Every town has their own theme which reoccurs, even side characters have themes. Oh, did I mention the main antagonist Kefka has a theme that reoccurs 10 times, and is rearranged 3 times? Also the massive final boss music that references some 17 previously heard themes. Not to mention the ending theme that features all 14 characters' themes combined in a single epic arrangement, bringing it all full circle? Eyes on Me sure is repeated a lot in FF8, but nothing in that game comes close to this scale of leitmotifs. FF6's soundtrack stands alongside Wagner's Ring des Nibelungen and Shore's LOTR score as the three most elaborate uses of leitmotifs as a musical storytelling device ever composed.
Dancing Mad is such an awesome theme, especially when you put all of the different sections together, perhaps loop each of them once before moving onto the next section. Five separate pieces of music that loop endlessly in the game, but change seamlessly as you move up the statue and eventually to Kefka himself... that had to be an absolute marvel to do with the SNES hardware, because each of those is its own track. It's not one giant track that plays, because if you rip the SPC audio from the ROM, you get 5 separate SPC tracks. I'm not sure I know of any other SNES game that does this, that has a multi-part continuous track (without stops/breaks except for when Kefka himself finally comes down) that changes depending on the action in the game. I know Parasite Eve did the same thing with the Ultimate Being theme, but that's a PS1 game.
Yes 10000% agree. Terra's theme NEVER fails to deliver the teary eyes or goosebumps. It always reminds me of how perfect this music is, and the amazing, ageless and epic piece of art FFVI is in every possible sense.
Aria Di Mezzo Carattere will always be in my top 10 videogame themes of all time, despite never having gotten past the opening parts of FF6 (though it is on my to-finish list, once I get a copy of my own). It is just such a beautiful piece, y'know...?
Uematsu-san is a pillar of VGM, arguably with FFVI being his best work. 16 well-developed characters with distinct leitmotifs? Genius. I look forward to all 3 of these videos!
I think that the fact that ffvi was a masterpiece in itself really helped. It makes me wonder if the story and characters were influenced by the soundtrack as the game was being made. Everything just work so well together that it doesn't make sense that the music was added last.
3:04 "It's also worth noting the Uematsu harmonized the end of this phrase with a minor dominant chord and not a... Dominant dominant chord... Wait I'm just gonna call this the 5 chord" LMAO
So happy to see this series coming out. The first piece of MIDI I ever tried to study on day one of learning music theory was Into the Darkness. FF has the best VGM ever! Love the channel. Thanks!
Uematsu is probably most in his element in bass line driven tunes, of which many examples come to mind from FF6 - 9 and his contributions to Chrono Trigger. From FF6, consider "Phantom Forest", which features a beautiful haunting melody, but the acoustic bass almost steals the show completely. Consider CT's "Silent Light" where he put particular attention not only to the structure of the bass melody but even portamentos that emulate a live performer. This in the 16-bit era where every byte of ROM still had to be accounted for. You can't talk about Uematsu without talking about his charismatic bass lines.
i don't really know much about music theory, but i think it's pretty cool to see how a song was structured, the ideas behind it, and the feeling that the result can create... but it's true, it can be confusing sometimes xD
I'm writing my composer demo reel for my senior project at uni right now, and it's on video game scoring. Considering FF6 is one of the games that got me interested in vgm in the first place, this series is perfectly timed
From this the most interesting thing for me was in the manner of how Nobuo gets as much mileage as he does out of very brief, repetitious motifs with minimally simplistic permutations to follow the cadence and chord changes.
Uematsu is a true genius! I've always considered him up there with Mozart, Beethoven and all the greats and your videos just make that feeling stronger!
Thank you for this 8 bit music theory, this is my favorite final fantasy game! Thank you Focussing on this game! It truly has a beautiful soundtrack engulfed in emotion
Glad that you finally touch on Uematsu. I loved his style in the old 8 to 16 bit era, though I started growing less fond of him once we jumped to the 32 bit era. Maybe a video on how the restrictions of 8 and 16 bit music were what made some of these tunes so memorable would be interesting? Unless I missed it in the archives, of course, and if so, I'm sure someone will point it to me. Oh, and while FFVI was the pinnacle of the series on the SNES, I hope you eventually touch on FFIV and FFV, that have their own unique musical styles, eventually
I loved that you quoted Schoenburg in this video. If you can, keep quoting composers' thoughts on music. It gives me, at least, a good meta-understanding of the structure behind music besides just music. Love your videos. Seriously, you gave me inspiration to start composing again about a year ago, now I watch every video that you do! Thanks a bunch for doing these!
This is an ode to the Spaghetti Western, i.e., Ennio Morricone, and closer to home, it's feel is borrowed from _The Lonely Shepherd_ by James Last, who worked closely with Morricone. And how do we know this? This is what the producers wanted... note Final Fantasy VI 'A Fistful of Nickels'. You can over analyze the piece if you'd like but this wasn't written with organization in mind. It was written by Usematsu's ears while trying to capture the spaghetti western feel of Morricone.
I can't tell you how much I love this video. I have been scouring youtube for a long time now trying to find someone doing some heavy analysis of video game music, especially of Nobuo Uematsu's work (my favorite of which is from this game). And you absolutely came through! I cannot wait for the next video in the series.
I would love to double-like your videos man. I feel like every time I watch them I learn more and more. I've been rewatching every single video (about 5 times each) and analyzing them myself and I just can't get enough! I love the way you explain and the way you always seem to make them enjoyable for everyone, having enough jokes and swiftly explaining each step. Seriously... THANKS! 😊
So awesome.... not only are your videos some of the best out there, you're covering probably my #1 video game soundtrack of all time.... great work, can't wait for the other parts!
Honestly, the level of production value, detail, and polish in these videos is something that makes you stand out like a lighthouse on the ocean. Excellent craftsmanship as usual. These videos make my, and many others', days, and I hope you enjoy making them enough to continue doing them. Bravo! Look forward to this series!
It sounds like Uematsu taught himself by listening to rock music--moving a melody/riff to a different root note in the same key is a very common method in rock music. For example: in Metallica's "Hero of the Day" they started the song in A Major and then shifted to the relative minor F# for the bridge/outro--and in the outro is an overdubbed riff that is the intro riff transposed from A Major to F# Minor. Also, the infamous "playing a riff in E and then shifting it to A for a chorus or solo".
Brilliant video, 8bmt. I didn't think I could love Uematsu more than I already did, but this video changed that. Absolutely looking forward to parts 2 and 3!
The thing i love about this video (and pretty much all your videos) is that you really really love and have a deep fascination for all the pieces and composers you analyze. It'd be one thing just to be able to decompose and see patterns and motifs in these things, but your passion and love bleeds through your words and videos and I love to hear what you have to say because it comes from someone who has a personal attachment to the music instead of coming off as just cold or calculating. Wish that I had not only the talent but also the heart to be able to analyze and fully enjoy such bangers Keep it up my dude can't wait to see what you have next
I've watched this video series so many times. Probably one of my favorite 3 part video series on UA-cam with the pacing of this and what ultimately launched my interest in pursuing music more seriously.
Love this video. FFVI was my favorite game of all time for most of my young life, so as a musician and composer, it has naturally bled into my own musical language. Love that you're dissecting it!
I have been listening to different arrangements of dancing mad today so I am fully expecting an in depth analysis of it here now! Keep up the good work!
I squealed with delight when I saw this show up in my subscription list - thank you for taking on this game (it's my all-time favorite, in case that isn't obvious)! I look forward to part 2!
2 minutes and already added to my favorites list. Thanks for making these, 8bit! Between your videos and hanging on the music theory discord channel, my composing has improved immensely.
I remember when this channel had one video. Glad to see how much it has grown in such a short time, and how many appreciate the art form of video game music. This guy is a genius, I couldn't even understand what he was saying when I first started watching, but I've started to understand more as time went on. Thank you for making this content!
The opera scene is the first time my brain was utterly captivated by the music - I knew what my soul felt but I could never find the words to explain it... and you do it masterfully. I'm actually tearing up. Love this channel so much.
I think Final Fantasy VI has the best soundtrack of both the SNES library and the entire Final Fantasy series. It's beautifully crafted. Nobuo Uematsu really expressed his talent in this little gem of a game, and that's not in spite of the limited SNES sound hardware, but I think it's partially because of it.
Agreed. That’s why I love old video game music. They didn’t have a beautiful orchestra to carry them. No, they had potentially obnoxious incessant beeping noises. If the tune wasn’t absolutely incredible, it was horrific. As a result, they HAD to make everything gloriously good, and, holy catfish, old Uematsu (I apologize if I misspelled his name) and Kondo music
This is like the first time I've actually understood motivic development and what effective motivic development looks like. Thanks for this video, it kicked ass!
One of the first songs I ever learn to play was Celes Theme on the piano. My dad taught it to me because we were both fans of FF6 and he knew his way around music. He sadly passed away in 2011 and It's thanks to him I got into the Final Fantasy series in the first place and I can still playing Celes theme by heart thanks to him. Keep up the good work maybe next video I'll try to cry less.
That opera scene is so well-done...and the new arrangements of that piece for distant worlds/the black mages shows what a genius uematsu is! Great video man!
OMG. I remember finding this video when it first came out and watched it with a coworker, who quickly turned it off because "yeah ok i get it he used the phrase again and again" and I was never able to rediscover it- till today!! So happy to find it again and give it the love it deserves!!!
Bruh, I really like how you aproach the theory of the music, it can be very confusing sometimes but i think you are nailing it from my point of perspective. I learned good things from this video, keep up.
Final Fantasy VI has always been my favorite FF game due to its iconic villain and amazing soundtrack. I'm absolutely thrilled you chose this one of all the games to use as your focal point! It's awesome to hear how brilliantly Uematsu put this soundtrack together. :D Can't wait for Part 2.
Nobuo Uematsu is the Einstein of Music, he knows perfectly what is doing, where the notes should be, how emotions are represented in his pieces. It's incredible and it's my favorite composer of all time.
This is so great. Introducing my wife to Final Fantasy and last night we made it through the opera and Terra's theme is her favorite piece of music so far. Really appreciate the time, energy, and thought you put into your videos.
This just proves that Nobuo Umatsu is a music genius. My favourite game composer EVER! I wish I could ever shake Uematsu-sensei's hand. And boy, I would probably cry doing that. I love his music with my whole heart!
It's funny, because when you released the video on voice leading in Donkey Kong, my theory course was talking about voice leading. Now, we've just finished up temporary tonicization and modulation, and are moving on to musical form, which is partially what this video is about (though we're focusing initially on binary rounded). It's such a coincidence, but it's fun to learn in class and in here as well.
I love you videos so much! Always leaves me appreciating the music even more. I studied music theory for years but I don’t use it directly for my career (though I do use the underlying systematic intellectual habits it formed). It’s nice to follow along so as to not forget.
I have a relaxing video game music youtube playlist that I listen too all the time and you've made me realize theres a ton of final fantasy music I need in there. Terra's theme is truly a surprising combination of simple structure and beauty.
One of my favorite aspects of this score is the many clever ways Uematsu incorporates Terra’s theme into various pieces. Hoping future videos explore that.
Incredibly interesting video - I've never considered how melodic content can be derived in this manner! I'll be excited to hear what else you talk about as you continue this series!
Really looking forward to the following part(s) to this episode. It's amazing how structured and "by the book" the music is, and yet it doesn't feel boring.
That joke outta nowhere almost ended my 27 years on this earth. Well written.
What joke xD
LagAttack I think it is 0:48.
I was drinking coffee. This joke is dangerous.
It was mildly amusing, I don't know about life-ending, though
Back here in 2024 to say I remember this joke, I'm think about it as I'm typing it, and I'm going to laugh just now when it's being made
Ahh but Terra's theme also has a snare behind it, turning a lyrical music into march, emphasizing her past work as a soldier, as if it was haunting her. Really beautiful music
To me it makes it feel much grander and more epic and adds so much more depth
@@skriller7102yeah and turns into a bit of a fanfare on the last section
It's not just about her past, but also her future. As Terra has to keep moving forward to see any peace for the future. Her arc in the second half is about her stopping, thinking that she can get away from all these problems by settling down, before being reminded that no, in order to solve the problems she hopes to solve, she must get moving again. It's all about this constancy of moving forward with Terra.
Gives it an Ennio Morricone kinda vibe
Wow, hearing that Uematsu is self-taught is a huge inspiration to me. I’m also a self-taught musician and Uematsu is a very important role model of mine. It was the opera that convinced me to learn as much of the FFVI soundtrack as I could on the piano. Uematsu is a genius! My favorite piece of his is definitely Dancing Mad. I love how it’s classical-inspired and just how epic it is!
Agreed dancing mad is a masterpiece
Wait what he's self taught?
Let's go bro me too!
That makes me feel better as someone mostly self-taught who has been having difficulty understanding music in a formal, university level context.
Let's just ignore the fact that 8-bMT is hungry for brains.
CEASE YOUR INVESTIGATIONS
Quick! Throw a Phoenix Down on him!
As long as it helps him put out content!
@@jamesgrey13 *Revivify 😁
This is probably my favorite youtube channel of all time.
Agreed, I'd be a patreon supporter in a heartbeat if I, you know, had any money
It's not my favorite but it's close and a good choice
If you could just go through the whole Final Fantasy series, that'd be great. Love the content 😘
(Edit: If you could also analyze how we're able to listen to battle music for hours and not get tired of it, that'd be pretty radical too.)
McMenemy5orSomething agreed.
A nonspecific video on looping battle music would be great.
The battle theme even borrows a few things from Terra's theme.
Sideways did a really cool video about repeated music recently. tl:dw; It turns out hearing music more often messes with your brain and actually makes you like it more.
Of course, the music has to be good enough to not completely drive you away from the game first :P
McMenemy5orSomething omggg!!! All I wanted is him to analyse battle themes from Nobuo Uematsu! This would be my Christmas present 😵😵❤️❤️🙏🏻🙏🏻
Never thought I'd see the day where I hear Setzer get called a "Degenerate Otaku Fanboy".
Pretty true though
Hè really is though..
I sometimes like to play around with the idea of turning FF6 into scripts for a blockbuster saga, and one of the bigger challenges is being true to Setzer's character and not making him sound like a creep.
@@aldeayeah He is a creep. But he's attractive so women give him a pass. That's how it works. If you're attractive you can do things that on anyone else would be creepy. But on the attractive person they just say they're "incorrigible."
This is such a great breakdown of why Uematsu's music WORKS. It isn't just pretty, or fun, or fitting. It WORKS. That was always my composition professor's highest praise. Functional music is so important to understanding composition, and Uematsu absolutely makes functional music that is also fun, and pretty, and fitting! Great stuff, looking forward to the rest of this series!
This game, and its soundtrack, always get to me on a very deep, philosophical and emotional level. I can't stress how much I'm glad that you picked to do a 3 parter on THIS game above all the other Final Fantasy games you could have picked. And the first two songs are basically the themes of the two leading ladies. BRAVO!
I've said it before but I'll say it again. I truly love how you've found your editing and structural style first extracting the core thing that is being played on a piano with a transparant visual and then bringing back in the actual song with the sheet music itself. Also I really love the slight additions of you softly hammering in the difference in sound between alternative choices. Your channel was already great before but recently with the cleaner look and structure it became amazing.
His playing and experimenting with alternate chords is by far my favorite thing he incorporates. It's so cool to hear different ideas in songs I grew up with. I wholeheartedly agree with you. He's become so good at this.
REALLY would be mind blown were he to do the same thing to any part of Der Ring des Nibelungen. (THE greatest human artistic creation of any medium.)
"Meticulously crafted with everything in the right place" - same could be said of your analyses. Love this channel!
I love, love, *love* this series. Uematsu is almost single-handedly responsible for me getting into composition. (The rest was bad luck--I broke my left hand and no longer had the grip strength to keep playing bass.)
I almost wish this were a second channel, doing this kind of analysis for *all* of Uematsu's work. Especially with what you have planned for the second episode--while I see where you're going, *the* game, if you're looking at how to reuse material in new ways, is Final Fantasy 8, not 6. (Listen to the soundtrack, and count how many times "Eyes on Me" and "Ami" get reused. Don't do this as a drinking game, though, or you'll die of alcohol poisoning.)
As much as I agree with you, you're so wrong about FF8 being a better showcase of reoccurring leitmotifs. FF6 has 14(!!) playable characters, all of them have their unique character theme, and each of them are referenced to across the game and occur when the character is of importance to the plot/setting. Each character theme is rearranged in 2, three or four different pieces. Every town has their own theme which reoccurs, even side characters have themes. Oh, did I mention the main antagonist Kefka has a theme that reoccurs 10 times, and is rearranged 3 times? Also the massive final boss music that references some 17 previously heard themes. Not to mention the ending theme that features all 14 characters' themes combined in a single epic arrangement, bringing it all full circle?
Eyes on Me sure is repeated a lot in FF8, but nothing in that game comes close to this scale of leitmotifs. FF6's soundtrack stands alongside Wagner's Ring des Nibelungen and Shore's LOTR score as the three most elaborate uses of leitmotifs as a musical storytelling device ever composed.
Dancing Mad is such an awesome theme, especially when you put all of the different sections together, perhaps loop each of them once before moving onto the next section. Five separate pieces of music that loop endlessly in the game, but change seamlessly as you move up the statue and eventually to Kefka himself... that had to be an absolute marvel to do with the SNES hardware, because each of those is its own track. It's not one giant track that plays, because if you rip the SPC audio from the ROM, you get 5 separate SPC tracks. I'm not sure I know of any other SNES game that does this, that has a multi-part continuous track (without stops/breaks except for when Kefka himself finally comes down) that changes depending on the action in the game. I know Parasite Eve did the same thing with the Ultimate Being theme, but that's a PS1 game.
you were supposed to break your hand and start composing
maybe
Terra's Theme always gets my eyes welled up.
E: AND THE OPERA BRINGS IT HOME. This isn't fair.
Terra's theme sounds very Morricone.
Yes 10000% agree. Terra's theme NEVER fails to deliver the teary eyes or goosebumps. It always reminds me of how perfect this music is, and the amazing, ageless and epic piece of art FFVI is in every possible sense.
Aria Di Mezzo Carattere will always be in my top 10 videogame themes of all time, despite never having gotten past the opening parts of FF6 (though it is on my to-finish list, once I get a copy of my own). It is just such a beautiful piece, y'know...?
This is the first video of your's that I've seen, and it is fantastic. After seeing A New World last night, this is exactly what I needed today!
Uematsu-san is a pillar of VGM, arguably with FFVI being his best work. 16 well-developed characters with distinct leitmotifs? Genius. I look forward to all 3 of these videos!
Maki best idol
6 is great but 10-2 soundtrack is probably my favorite and seriously underrated.
I think that the fact that ffvi was a masterpiece in itself really helped.
It makes me wonder if the story and characters were influenced by the soundtrack as the game was being made.
Everything just work so well together that it doesn't make sense that the music was added last.
Nah bby. VIII is his zenith.
@@mason4882 | 😁🍅
3:04 "It's also worth noting the Uematsu harmonized the end of this phrase with a minor dominant chord and not a... Dominant dominant chord... Wait I'm just gonna call this the 5 chord" LMAO
Makes sense. I just thought it was funny lol
I liked your 31-EDO song
Helped me inspire me on learning more music theory
same my dude
Boy pulled out a Schoenberg quote for tonal music? Just crazy enough to work.
As a music theory nerd and gamer, I find your content the best in youtube. Thank you for doing this.
So happy to see this series coming out. The first piece of MIDI I ever tried to study on day one of learning music theory was Into the Darkness. FF has the best VGM ever!
Love the channel. Thanks!
Currently playing Chrono Trigger and I’m super excited to play FFVI afterwards now
13:01 that melody will haunt me forever... This game is such a crucial moment in my life.
Great analysis, as always! It's hard not to enjoy the music that you choose to look at, too.
Uematsu is probably most in his element in bass line driven tunes, of which many examples come to mind from FF6 - 9 and his contributions to Chrono Trigger. From FF6, consider "Phantom Forest", which features a beautiful haunting melody, but the acoustic bass almost steals the show completely. Consider CT's "Silent Light" where he put particular attention not only to the structure of the bass melody but even portamentos that emulate a live performer. This in the 16-bit era where every byte of ROM still had to be accounted for. You can't talk about Uematsu without talking about his charismatic bass lines.
Time to be confused as usual.
nah this vid was hella intelligible tbh
mate, you don't understand; i'm an idiot
lol u dumb im smart lole
SirBanana Same, but still I enjoy watching these videos. I feel like I would understand if I could.
i don't really know much about music theory, but i think it's pretty cool to see how a song was structured, the ideas behind it, and the feeling that the result can create... but it's true, it can be confusing sometimes xD
I'm writing my composer demo reel for my senior project at uni right now, and it's on video game scoring. Considering FF6 is one of the games that got me interested in vgm in the first place, this series is perfectly timed
From this the most interesting thing for me was in the manner of how Nobuo gets as much mileage as he does out of very brief, repetitious motifs with minimally simplistic permutations to follow the cadence and chord changes.
Your channel deserves substantially more than 167K subscribers. You put forth incredible effort and coherence and it really shows.
He didnt cover the structure of dancing mad...
4 days later its 169K...I subbed like a year ago and I feel like it was under 100K then, though I might be wrong. He'll get there.
Still cool that a channel not afraid to jump into the deep end of music theory can have 167k though
Subscriber count low because is this even English? No, it’s unfiltered music theory terms, to most people a magic 8-ball of words.
@Keithustus Almost like its called 8 bit music theory
This is perfect man. Love the structural approach you give to the whole subject of melodic development! It really gives you ideas 💡
describing the musical phrases in terms of their ideas is the only music theory that makes sense to me. That's how I've always heard music.
Uematsu is a true genius! I've always considered him up there with Mozart, Beethoven and all the greats and your videos just make that feeling stronger!
Thank you for this 8 bit music theory, this is my favorite final fantasy game! Thank you Focussing on this game! It truly has a beautiful soundtrack engulfed in emotion
Glad that you finally touch on Uematsu. I loved his style in the old 8 to 16 bit era, though I started growing less fond of him once we jumped to the 32 bit era. Maybe a video on how the restrictions of 8 and 16 bit music were what made some of these tunes so memorable would be interesting? Unless I missed it in the archives, of course, and if so, I'm sure someone will point it to me.
Oh, and while FFVI was the pinnacle of the series on the SNES, I hope you eventually touch on FFIV and FFV, that have their own unique musical styles, eventually
To be fair, he was starting to get burned out while making the soundtrack for FFVIII. Its why his quality kinda drops after 7.
I loved that you quoted Schoenburg in this video. If you can, keep quoting composers' thoughts on music. It gives me, at least, a good meta-understanding of the structure behind music besides just music.
Love your videos. Seriously, you gave me inspiration to start composing again about a year ago, now I watch every video that you do! Thanks a bunch for doing these!
I am so happy you are doing a whole series about one of my favorite videogames ever, probably my favorite VGM. Looking forward to your next videos!
Hey 8-bit! You probably won’t notice this, but I think any video of odd time signatures in splatoon 2 would be really great! Have a great day!
This man knows what's up, a Splatoon vid would be awesome!
E
I personally feel like a dissection of pop tunes in general through Splatoon would be nice.
I would help make that video. Splatoon references a lot of cool music. Polysics was probably an influence concerning odd-time signatures
This is an ode to the Spaghetti Western, i.e., Ennio Morricone, and closer to home, it's feel is borrowed from _The Lonely Shepherd_ by James Last, who worked closely with Morricone. And how do we know this? This is what the producers wanted... note Final Fantasy VI 'A Fistful of Nickels'. You can over analyze the piece if you'd like but this wasn't written with organization in mind. It was written by Usematsu's ears while trying to capture the spaghetti western feel of Morricone.
0:55 gah why are my eyes tearing up? Is this all it takes, for real?!?
This is gonna be a good series.
What theme is this? Main theme to 6? opening theme?
all right! Time to watch this video in 80-second increments over and over again until i understand what you are really talking about.
That joke was really well, done, especially the way it's just clipped off. Good job. :D
And the rest of the video was fascinating as usual.
I’ve been waiting for this very video/series since I subscribed.
This is the most important video game to me, musically.
Thank you so much!
I can't tell you how much I love this video. I have been scouring youtube for a long time now trying to find someone doing some heavy analysis of video game music, especially of Nobuo Uematsu's work (my favorite of which is from this game). And you absolutely came through! I cannot wait for the next video in the series.
This is amazing. thank you for taking the time to do videos like this.
I would love to double-like your videos man. I feel like every time I watch them I learn more and more. I've been rewatching every single video (about 5 times each) and analyzing them myself and I just can't get enough! I love the way you explain and the way you always seem to make them enjoyable for everyone, having enough jokes and swiftly explaining each step. Seriously... THANKS! 😊
So awesome.... not only are your videos some of the best out there, you're covering probably my #1 video game soundtrack of all time.... great work, can't wait for the other parts!
He is probably my favorite video game composers. Keeping a solid structure to his compositions without sounding robotic, or monotonous.
Honestly, the level of production value, detail, and polish in these videos is something that makes you stand out like a lighthouse on the ocean. Excellent craftsmanship as usual. These videos make my, and many others', days, and I hope you enjoy making them enough to continue doing them. Bravo! Look forward to this series!
Your videos are so good! I love learning about the music in my favorite games and you’re fantastic at teaching it!
It sounds like Uematsu taught himself by listening to rock music--moving a melody/riff to a different root note in the same key is a very common method in rock music. For example: in Metallica's "Hero of the Day" they started the song in A Major and then shifted to the relative minor F# for the bridge/outro--and in the outro is an overdubbed riff that is the intro riff transposed from A Major to F# Minor. Also, the infamous "playing a riff in E and then shifting it to A for a chorus or solo".
Uematsu is confirmed to be a big fan of metal, so I think you're on to something.
Rock music is weird...
You're correct. He did learn from rock music as he grew up with it.
Brilliant video, 8bmt. I didn't think I could love Uematsu more than I already did, but this video changed that. Absolutely looking forward to parts 2 and 3!
The thing i love about this video (and pretty much all your videos) is that you really really love and have a deep fascination for all the pieces and composers you analyze. It'd be one thing just to be able to decompose and see patterns and motifs in these things, but your passion and love bleeds through your words and videos and I love to hear what you have to say because it comes from someone who has a personal attachment to the music instead of coming off as just cold or calculating. Wish that I had not only the talent but also the heart to be able to analyze and fully enjoy such bangers
Keep it up my dude can't wait to see what you have next
Yes. I've been looking forward to this ever since I first discovered your channel. Thank you so much!
I've watched this video series so many times. Probably one of my favorite 3 part video series on UA-cam with the pacing of this and what ultimately launched my interest in pursuing music more seriously.
Loved this... Everything you'll be will to do on this matter will be highly valuable and totally appreciated!!!
Nobuo is my hero, this video was unexpected but I'm so happy you're back talking about Final Fantasy. More, please! Can't wait!
Love this video. FFVI was my favorite game of all time for most of my young life, so as a musician and composer, it has naturally bled into my own musical language. Love that you're dissecting it!
I have been listening to different arrangements of dancing mad today so I am fully expecting an in depth analysis of it here now! Keep up the good work!
I squealed with delight when I saw this show up in my subscription list - thank you for taking on this game (it's my all-time favorite, in case that isn't obvious)! I look forward to part 2!
I love watching these videos and playing along to some sections. Great work!
2 minutes and already added to my favorites list. Thanks for making these, 8bit! Between your videos and hanging on the music theory discord channel, my composing has improved immensely.
I really like your videos and I appreciate the amount of detail you put into analyzing the music. Always happy to see new content to learn from.
Can't seriously explain how much I LOVED the youtube algorithm when it showed me this channel!!
I remember when this channel had one video. Glad to see how much it has grown in such a short time, and how many appreciate the art form of video game music. This guy is a genius, I couldn't even understand what he was saying when I first started watching, but I've started to understand more as time went on. Thank you for making this content!
The opera scene is the first time my brain was utterly captivated by the music - I knew what my soul felt but I could never find the words to explain it... and you do it masterfully. I'm actually tearing up. Love this channel so much.
Yes! FFVI is my favorite RPG, largely because of the music. Thank you for doing this video, I’m watching it immediately!
I've always found the FFVI opening theme so beautiful. Thank you for doing such content about this song, it is exactly what i wanted to watch.
Is it strange that I got shivers just from the first 3 notes of Terra's theme?
Now I need to go and replay through ffvi again.
I think Final Fantasy VI has the best soundtrack of both the SNES library and the entire Final Fantasy series. It's beautifully crafted. Nobuo Uematsu really expressed his talent in this little gem of a game, and that's not in spite of the limited SNES sound hardware, but I think it's partially because of it.
Agreed. That’s why I love old video game music. They didn’t have a beautiful orchestra to carry them. No, they had potentially obnoxious incessant beeping noises. If the tune wasn’t absolutely incredible, it was horrific. As a result, they HAD to make everything gloriously good, and, holy catfish, old Uematsu (I apologize if I misspelled his name) and Kondo music
@@theleftfootedsultan Exactly! The limited sound capabilities forced them to think creatively, and they both did an incredible job!
This is like the first time I've actually understood motivic development and what effective motivic development looks like. Thanks for this video, it kicked ass!
One of the first songs I ever learn to play was Celes Theme on the piano. My dad taught it to me because we were both fans of FF6 and he knew his way around music. He sadly passed away in 2011 and It's thanks to him I got into the Final Fantasy series in the first place and I can still playing Celes theme by heart thanks to him. Keep up the good work maybe next video I'll try to cry less.
That opera scene is so well-done...and the new arrangements of that piece for distant worlds/the black mages shows what a genius uematsu is!
Great video man!
OMG. I remember finding this video when it first came out and watched it with a coworker, who quickly turned it off because "yeah ok i get it he used the phrase again and again" and I was never able to rediscover it- till today!! So happy to find it again and give it the love it deserves!!!
Bruh, I really like how you aproach the theory of the music, it can be very confusing sometimes but i think you are nailing it from my point of perspective. I learned good things from this video, keep up.
I knew it, you transcribe all of these yourself. Dude you are amazing. The gaming community needs you continue this work.
Final Fantasy VI has always been my favorite FF game due to its iconic villain and amazing soundtrack. I'm absolutely thrilled you chose this one of all the games to use as your focal point! It's awesome to hear how brilliantly Uematsu put this soundtrack together. :D
Can't wait for Part 2.
Finally, I fantasize about these videos 😁
I would just like to mention that the opera scene's music is quite possibly the best peice of video game music ever.
This channel is everything! Thank you, i appreciate your works. Keep doing it sir!
Nobuo Uematsu is the Einstein of Music, he knows perfectly what is doing, where the notes should be, how emotions are represented in his pieces. It's incredible and it's my favorite composer of all time.
This is so great. Introducing my wife to Final Fantasy and last night we made it through the opera and Terra's theme is her favorite piece of music so far. Really appreciate the time, energy, and thought you put into your videos.
This just proves that Nobuo Umatsu is a music genius. My favourite game composer EVER! I wish I could ever shake Uematsu-sensei's hand. And boy, I would probably cry doing that. I love his music with my whole heart!
This is phenomenal, great job! Thank you for focusing on this incredible music.
This is everything I could have possibly wanted. Thank you so much.
This is so inspiring. Thank you for your work. ❤️
Thank you for keeping the music alive. The Celes song brings a tear to my eye everytime I hear it.
It's funny, because when you released the video on voice leading in Donkey Kong, my theory course was talking about voice leading. Now, we've just finished up temporary tonicization and modulation, and are moving on to musical form, which is partially what this video is about (though we're focusing initially on binary rounded).
It's such a coincidence, but it's fun to learn in class and in here as well.
Really looking forward to hearing you talk about Dancing Mad >:)
I love you videos so much! Always leaves me appreciating the music even more. I studied music theory for years but I don’t use it directly for my career (though I do use the underlying systematic intellectual habits it formed). It’s nice to follow along so as to not forget.
I have a relaxing video game music youtube playlist that I listen too all the time and you've made me realize theres a ton of final fantasy music I need in there. Terra's theme is truly a surprising combination of simple structure and beauty.
One of my favorite aspects of this score is the many clever ways Uematsu incorporates Terra’s theme into various pieces. Hoping future videos explore that.
Incredibly interesting video - I've never considered how melodic content can be derived in this manner! I'll be excited to hear what else you talk about as you continue this series!
Never clicked a video faster..
When I first saw your channel, I knew that Final Fantasy 6 would be the perfect subject for you to talk about. I'm so happy to finally see it happen!
These melodies are deeply imprinted on my soul. Thanks for the featured analysis!
Really looking forward to the following part(s) to this episode. It's amazing how structured and "by the book" the music is, and yet it doesn't feel boring.
Outstanding analysis. Enjoyed the whole thing. Cheers.
I'm so happy you exist, and your channel exists. This content is so niche, and SOOOO pleasing for me^^
Thanks for sharing your knowledge mate , fantastic work!
This is delightful, I can't wait for part 2!