Beginner's Guide to Voicing and Voiceleading || How Nobuo Uematsu Writes a String Part
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- Опубліковано 22 кві 2021
- Nobuo Uematsu is inarguably one of the greatest video game music composers in history, and yet his work often has a certain simplicity to it. Uematsu has the ability to take an extremely basic melody and chord progression and make them sound fantastic, and a big part of that is his approach to both voice leading and chord voicings in his harmony parts. This expert level approach to simple ideas makes Uematsu the perfect vehicle to explore the basics of these concepts of voicings and voice leading in a way that anyone could learn something from, and so we take a close look at the string pads in Final Fantasy IX's track 'Eye to Eye'. Enjoy!
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![How To Arrange Chords into BEAUTIFUL 4-PART HARMONIES [Music Theory - Voice Leading]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/UkatcvIuF4U/mqdefault.jpg)
Uematsu made me become a musician. I hated playing piano as a child until i heard the final fantasy piano collections. From this day on i practiced every day. Now I‘m a professional jazz pianist. Thank you Mr. Uematsu ❤️
That’s a great story. What is your favorite song of his? To me To Zanarkand can’t be beat
@@user-zq9su8jv2k i‘m sorry to disappoint you cutie, you‘re wrong 🙂
@@dannyv2230 battle with gilgamesh was the piece i fell in love with when i was a child. I always loved the battle themes. To Zanarkand is awesome 🙂
@@user-zq9su8jv2k So you wanna buy my new album? 🙂
@@user-zq9su8jv2k @aba aba I need a follow up :D
I'm an alto, I understand voice leading! C C C C C C C A
I'm a bass, I understand voice leading! C C C F G G C
imagine unironically being an inner voice rather than outer voice
That’s my favorite alto part!
Wait what is this A note I'm suddenly hearing about?
@@Antilles1974 I'm not either.
All I understand is the key of H.
I see Uematsu, I click.
I see a music theory video I won't actually understand, I click.
I see a music theory video about Uematsu music that I won't actually understand, I click even harder.
Pretty much this.
I've never felt so called out
Hey hey hey i understood this one. It took a few passes though.
This is my life now
After understanding the video, i click smoothly.
I teach music professionally and I am very impressed with the true TEACHING that happens in this video. So many videos simply explain something without actually /teaching/. People will begin this video not knowing anything about voice leading or why it's important, and leave understanding it on a deeper level than they ever thought was possible. I can see all of the forethought that went into this video and commend you for being a fantastic teacher. I am definitely going to send this to my students. Thank you for this.
This is absolutely why I watch this channel, before I came across it music theory was pretty impenetrable no matter what or who I read.
It still doesn’t explain much.
@@kconrad5893 then you either weren't paying attention, jumped straight ahead to this before even learning what a mode is, or both
@@kconrad5893 How so? Because there is quite a bit of explanation packed into this video, especially accounting for the videos length. He focused on an example and broke down the different was voicing and voice leading can be used in planning and orchestration.
This dude is crazy good
Uematsu is a genius.
The fact we're still being mind-blown by the music he made for games that are more than 20 years old just shows how much of a visionary he is.
That becomes even more apparent when we hear how his music translates when re-arrange in a more modern fashion in the Remakes.
Personally, I keep discovering new things in his tracks everyday, even tho I've been listening to them for most of my life at this point!
God Tier composer right here!
That's why he'll always be my favorite composer in gaming!
Alexxxx!! Awesome to see you here :D More FF thicc bassy lofi music coming soon??
A visionary... Or an auditionary? 🤔
Yeah man, his music is so refreshing and I can still keep listening and get goosebumps every time! Really awesome music that made me want to pursue a music career. So if one day I can I have to thank him personally and throughout my music...
Did you even watch the video? This is basically theory 1 stuff. Not sure how this is 'genius'.
Musicians explaining how they wrote a piece: I moved this note half a step to smooth the transition into an Am7#b11-13 chord.
Musicians actually writing a piece: dis soun goo.
In all honesty, I think he didn't give much thought at all to the beginning of this piece. To me the first eight bars look like he thought like this: "ok, let's pick a simple chord pattern for this part... I VI IV III IV I II V will do, who cares. Now, lets just slap some garbage on top by walking back and forth the scale... Done. Can't be bothered to make too large of an arrangement, let's just have a string quartet play long notes. The less they move around, the easier it is for me to write, so that's what I'll go for." The actual composing in this piece happens from measure 9 onward.
That's kinda what I mean. The process of writing isn't that intricate and once you compose a few pieces you copy patterns as well. He has composed several other pieces with similar openings and we can say the same about most if not all composers. You don't put this amount of thought to every single note in a score for every piece you write. You just know what works and use those patterns when you write almost unconsciously.
@@65fhd4d6h5 I think it's a good explanation to WHY we think it sounds good. Music has been around for millennia and there's a reason it's developed the way it has, why we think it sounds good. Music that has a traditional "good" sound follows basic rules that a master like Uematsu wouldn't actually be thinking about. I like this channel because it shows the more technical side of music and it sort of helps explain why something sounds a certain way or evokes a certain emotion. Same way an "irregular" piece of music that doesn't follow certain rules or uses a weird time signature can make you feel uneasy, because it isn't "right."
I do believe he was thinking about chords, voicing and all... Just that he had enough practice that it took much less time and effort than we think.
I get the impression it's a bit like speaking a language. When you put together a sentence in your mind, you don't think about all the grammatical rules that govern why you put it together the way you did, you just do it. For example, as English speakers if we were given a noun and a list of adjectives, we'd almost always put them together in the same way. To the average person, it's just what soun goo and takes almost no thought, but there's actually a defined order. If a learner asked you why you assembled a phrase in a certain way, though, you might be able to go back and dissect those rules you unconsciously followed. I admittedly don't know too much about music theory, but music seems to be like a language in that way. A musician could spitball a quick tune much like you could blurt out a sentence, but then go back and say "Why did I choose to do that? Oh, I must've been following this rule."
You literally explained these concepts better than my undergrad music theory professor.
@L Train45 you need a sociology teacher to teach you how to interact with people
Except I don’t think that’s what sociology teachers teach in the slightest but sh
@L Train45 You need a UA-cam commenter to tell you that it's entirely possible OP is being literal.
Same. I'm studying for an undergrad and i find these videos so helpful. This guy explains things in such a clear and easy-to-understand way.
@@AaronRotenberg I litteraly didn't understand what he was mad about
Nobuo Uematsu tricked me into liking classical music
the bastard
He tricked me into techno too
You tricked yourself, his music is pretty classical in nature (in so much in his compositional work, he's obviously shown of a far wider range of musicality outside of that work).
Classical music simply takes a lot more exposure to appreciate. Our brains are lazy and like things they're familiar with. Listening to a piece for the 7th time is a vastly different experience than for the 1st time. Look up Rachmaninoff's Isle of the Dead for a good ear-catching piece.
He tricked me into learning music theory.
People don't understand how tough voice leading is as a composer. When you understand part of it, but not all of it, you end up giving altos or tenors 1-3 notes over the whole song. One of the most important things to do is to mute other tracks and listen to one voice on its own. By doing that, you usually find that you can give each voice something interesting to do without breaking the chords. Oh, and this is also, as he said, the tell that new composers give that they synthesized everything. You have voices going in and out, one chord that has double the amount of notes of all the others, etc.
This. 100 times this. Also a good reason for knowing what counterpoint means and having interesting things for the musicians to do. It's why Brahms and Mahler are lauded so highly by audiences AND musicians. It's interesting for both when there's something going on in the middle voices that adds a little complexity/texture not totally noticed, but definitely perks up the ears.
When I was doing Bach chorales I always told myself “if the altos move outside of a cadence, I’ve done it wrong”, although that was probably more to do with trying to score high on the marking scheme than it was accurately assessing stylistic voice leading features
So true, approaching the voices melodically/with a motif even for short amounts of time is a great way to add so much musicality to pretty much anything.
100%, great post. Samples are a blessing and a curse. Good composition is bloody hard and for good reason: it's complicated, and you need to understand the sections of an orchestra idiomatically to write accordingly.
Thanks for this comment, brah! IAre there any books you would recommend that deal with these basic things?
The only channel where a subject as dauntingly complex as voice leading seems easy and intuitive...
It's fairly simple, just not easily conveyed
It's very elementary
it is easy and intuitive! that's how i write a lot of chord progression for my music :D
"This is some super smooth voice leading. Now in measure 9 Uematsu goes sicko mode . . . ."
I love Uematsu. His music is infinitely inspiring, especially in the context of the games he makes them for. Then again, even the other Final Fantasy composers are all vastly impressive.
I'd love to see someone talk theory about Sakimoto's Tactics score. From what I've heard out of him, it's his best, yet it seems underrecognized.
Uematsu is my idol, a lot of his music is very simple but that works in its favour. Initially it was due to limitations of the systems as to how many voices they could handle, but even as that limitation ceased to exist, Uematsu maintained this style. There's a lot of great composers in the game industry, but none have so consistently made music that hits the soul, while being very hummable.
That's usually the thing with his music, there's always a very clear main melody, and the way it interacts with the chords behind it is always masterful. He knows how to critical hit your soul with the least notes possible, and that's a rare talent, even among the talented.
As you say, he also is excellent at marrying the music to what is happening in the game. Nothing ever feels out of place; it's very clear that he knows exactly the context the music will be used in, and writes accordingly. I could write a thesis on how he does this in FF7!
@@Fuchsia_tude I thought FFT's OST was widely regarded as a masterpiece?
The fact that these videos are so high quality but you make them free is so crazy to me.
I feel like thanks to services like Patreon we live in the best time for content, maybe ever. People who can and feel like it fund the creation of these things, and then the creators just make them available to everyone for free. It's win/win/win.
Cos he’s a legend who understands that sharing knowledge is a joy and a privilege. Thank you 8 bit theory for your wonderful videos and wisdom.
@@donkeyfacekilla1 I actually met him at after work drinks one time. That's what lead me here. He's a genuinely nice dude.
I always considered one of Nobuo's most distinct traits was composing music that seemed simplistic on the surface but deep down was actually genius
imo some of the best music does exactly this. It's the reason Mozart is considered one of the best (if not _the_ best) composers of all time.
@@klop4228 Bach*
@@meuboui him too, though a lot of his masterworks are less accessible than Mozart's.
@@meuboui Bach is definitely the superior composer. However, I don't see how in any way shape or form you consider him to be 'simplistic'. On the surface or otherwise.
@@klop4228 “the best” ... do any professional musicians say this, or is this public perception?
Serious question, because it does seem like an odd thing to state about what is essentially an art form. Being appreciated by the masses doesn’t mean anything (otherwise Baby Shark would be considered musical genius....).
There have also been a lot of composers since Mozart who have explored different ideas in music that he didn’t have accessible at his time. Is it really possible to compare the richness of a Rachmaninov piano concerto with a Mozart one, or the interesting ideas in Schönberg’s orchestral pieces with Mozart’s, and say one composer is “better” than the other?
My man really made worksheets that’s so mf PRECIOUS I love this channel omfg
Never thought I'd be happy to be given homework by a youtube video.
When I saw Uematsu in the thumbnail, I instantly clicked
aye. I’m a simple man.
aye. the reason why I clicked
The Mozart of our generation 100%
Literally me.
Honestly, videos like these are incredible. There are many terms that music discussion and theory channels use without fully letting the audience understand what's meant. Breakdowns of simpler, more fundamental techniques like these are always nice, as they help your audience be able to keep up with your more in-depth videos. I say keep it up!
I would second this, I watch the channel without knowing super much about music theory (though I have a friend who watches and explains some of it to me) so having a video like this that breaks down some of those important concepts is really helpful and interesting. I mean, I already enjoy the videos a ton even if I only get like half of them most of the time, but slowly moving that amount that I understand up would be fun.
Agreed. I know some music theory, so your videos don't completely sound like a foreign language to me. However, I'd appreciate more videos like these, going into what certain terms mean. It's a good primer for newbies, a good review for experts, and a good means of showing how much thought goes into video game music.
@@genius11433 Don't you mean "primer", not "printer"?
@@1685Violin I had caught that and edited it before I saw your reply. But thanks anyway for the correction.
The way you cover the actual decision-making process of composition for a piece like this is really impressive. I think what a lot of new musicians miss are the choices a composer could have made, but didn't, and this video does a good job of placing the viewer at those crossroads and giving them a moment to consider the problem before providing the solution.
This video saved my music diploma I'm not even joking. I was severely struggling with voice leading and the way you explained it here just made it click
Your videos are always engaging and educational but this might be your most accessible one to date. You basically just taught a class on voicing in 16 minutes. Incredible work!
@2:55 “I guess if you’re playing on a keyboard you only have ten fingers, so let’s say ten notes for the second chord.”
_stretches left hand two full octaves_
Maybe it’s arpeggiated.
Franz Liszt didn’t seem to care
true musicians can play chords that span 8 octaves
@@wofls2713 like the Super Ultra Hyper Mega Meta Lydian chord
@@wofls2713 and practice 40 hours a day
I low-key want SUSPENSION in that metal font at 11:02 on a t-shirt.
Also great analysis and a very helpful way to look at harmony.
As a concert pianist and FF fan I’m always looking forward to your videos on Final Fantasy music, especially Nobuo Uematsu.
You just put into words a thing that I feel I always knew, but don't remotely have the capacity to try and analyze. This was very satisfying to watch.
Worksheets are definitely worth doing more often, imo.
Coming from a person that just recently finished rearranging a full 2.5 hour long orchestral concert that consists only of music from both Nobuo Uematsu and Yasunori Mitsuda; I fully agree with how you describe the beauty in their works. The simple, yet interactive qualities of their music is one of the reasons I am paying tribute to these two giants. The voice leading is just as you say, along with the use of non functional harmony, quartal harmony, and melody first mentality. Thank you to you for all that you do for the community, and thank you to these two composers for saving my life and fostering my love of music.
I am literally learning more from this channel than I learned in my music theory class
Uematsu is the reason I began composing. His work in Final Fantasy 7, and the development of his soundtrack in the remake especially were a catalyst for me.
One thing I will note is it's often advantageous to not consider the bass when analyzing for closed/open position. You get almost the same effect with the 3rd/4th vs 6th/6th voicings when you have the bass down an octave or not in the closed voicing, but when writing for physical instruments you often can't get all voices into a single octave, or if you can, it only works for limited chords without bringing in inversion. This becomes especially true when working with larger numbers of voices.
Another neat thing you can do is for some voice sets, you can get really neat effects by crossing over voices because of how physical instruments and especially singers have different timbre in different parts of the range. You can get a really interesting effect when you put the tenor up on the fifth and the alto on the third in closed position, with soprano and bass on the root. It feels very different to when you put them in the more common order
Edit base/bass. English is dumb
I don’t know much about music but I just like listening to your voice and how you speak about music makes concepts easier to follow. You make me feel smart, and inspire love for art king!!
I think I have subconsciously done the "Drop 2+4 voicing" trick before, simply by mimicking what I've seen in other choir music. Seeing an actual method behind it is very eye-opening!
This is such a great break down! I've always found it unsatisfying when someone says "It's just voice leading, bro" without getting more specific about what they mean. Nice job!
Of course I do! I look up to 8-bit senpai :)
I worked on Finale and SmartMusic for a decade & love your transformative use of the software to illustrate concepts. Many of us at MakeMusic hoped to see these creative directions people could take but were really locked in to engraving as the only function. Thank you for these videos!
I learnt to how to voice lead from uematsu, from pieces like this. So I can't overstate how happy it made me to see this video. He is undoubtedly a genius, and inspiring enough to a kid to make me want to become a composer. Some other great examples from other games: the oath from ff8, the truth revealed from ff10, on that day 5 years ago from ff7, and mourning from the sky from this game. But the examples are just endless. It amazes me that he got this good by the age of 20, after which he said he never really learnt anything. Thank you Uematsu, you changed my life, and thank you 8 bit music theory for making this video ❤
I have school but it’s added to my watch later :)
I love these worksheets so much! Thanks!
Great video, and thanks for the worksheets!
I wonder how much of this comes from Uemtasu’s experience playing the Hammond organ. A lot of the techniques used in making the Hammond in particular work within a band translate very well to writing voicing like this, particularly in the way you manage inversions and chord transitions-it doesn’t matter if you’re Jimmy Smith or Jon Lord, you have to keep the playing smooth. There’s also the fact that playing the Hammond well requires a lighter touch than other organs-the sound is so distinctive and powerful (especially with some registrations) that less is more, more often than not, which might partially account for his use of around four notes or so for his chords.
I studied music theory, aural skills, jazz theory, and everything in university, but I left without having any true skills in voice leading. This video has completely opened up a new world for me! Thank you!
Explained so well and simply, great job!
loved this video so much; favorite of yours so far
Very well put and very nice visuals to go along with this!
The worksheet is amazing! Please do more stuff like this
Great video. Thanks for the worksheets, too. I appreciate it.
This was fantastic and definitely something I’d like to see more of.
Absolutely fantastic! Easy to follow and very useful!
Love this video. The worksheets idea is phenomenal
This is awesome! Thanks for the excellent explanation and worksheets!
A crystal-clear presentation!!
Wonderful video! Yes, please make more of these. Thank you!
THIS IS SO HELPFUL. GREAT JOB!
This was beautifully explained.Thank you for this video!
Thanks for the worksheets you’re a life saver
I loved this! Please do this more often :) such a beautiful piece you chose
I watched this a while back, always a nice refresher
Love this format! And the worksheets are an excellent addition
This video is absolute gold, thank you so much for your work
The work sheets are so nice! Thank you for all the work! :)
I love your videos dude. Thank you for your passion ❤️
the worksheets are a great idea!!!! i would love to see more of them
I love the ideia of little exercises that we can pratice the video's concepts! Keep it up man!
Retired engineer/intermediate piano student here with a bucket-list-commitment-to-piano (six years and loving it). Currently learning harmonization from a very capable piano teacher/composer, but one hour a week makes it hard to bridge the gaps sometimes. Your material really helps fill in between one-hour-weekly lessons. It also connects well with my engineering background. Voice leading has always seemed like something that makes sense for analysis, but which is difficult to work with as a constructive/creative tool. Glad to have found your channel. Subbed with thanks.
amazing as always, thanks for your work!
I love the idea of worksheets, I would enjoy seeing that be an option more often
You’re a great teacher. The lessons you put together are valuable.
This is absolutely worth doing more of!! Please
As someone who is interested in music, but is not a student of music, I am 100% here for these basics.
I love this format of video! Great to see more on a subject that gets touched on in other videos. Now I want to watch and re-watch a bunch more of your videos with this in mind!
Can't thank you enough for all these videos
What a cool video. Your animations have improved so much!
Thanks so much! Great videos, I've been super busy, but I always enjoy your channel.
This was nice! I was glad to be able to follow along better than usual
Beautiful explanation, as always. The patreon notifications never disappoint :)
what a wonderful video. Thank you so much for making it and sharing your knowledge in such a great, didactic manner.
Absolutely love these kinds of back-to-basics theory illustrations!
This is definitely one of Uematsu's most beautiful melodies ever! Thank you for a great analysis on the piece!
Love this! Please do videos like this more often :)
The exercises were super helpful. Thanks a bunch :)
I have learned more from your channel in the last 2 days than the 50 other music theory channels I've followed for the last 2 years
Thank you for an amazing analysis! That was an absolute pleasure to watch
Final Fantasy IX - still my favorite of the series. The music still sticks with me and makes me feel everything going on in the game. Uematsu is a genius.
I love your videos, post anything you like and I'll watch it! Amazing content as always
Yeah this was awesome. Extremely clear explanation and your enthusiasm whilst explaining this stuff is super inspiring. Definitely hope to see more!
Just want to say that I absolutely love your beginner videos.
I like having worksheets, and would love to see more in the future!
Very informative. Gives an insight into arranging.
Thank you so much for this! I would love to see more tutorials on things that are kinda taken for granted, and I LOVE that you added in the worksheets. I will have some great fun with those later. Love your content!
Super well explained, man. Exactly what I've been looking for. Thank you.
Loved this... watched the whole thing!!
Really great video. Keep going and I enjoyed and learned a lot!
This was perfect. Still got to learn a lot. Thank you
What an incredible video, very informative and the pacing is great
Yesss. Nobuo is a huge inspiration in general, but FF9 music especially was such a big part of my childhood and I still listen to it today with the some wonder as I did when I heard it as a teenager. It's jsut so good and I really hope it gets more recognition, since it's usually the FF7 score in the spotlight.
I really liked this turn from analyzing famous tunes and discovering it musical components to teaching musical concepts using famous tune as an example
Loved this video! I watch pretty much everything you upload, but this time I actually understood most of it! :D
Please keep making more stuff in this style!
Loved this more slow pace and detailed video. The wroksheets are a great plus. Love your channel one of my favorites right now :D
The worksheets are an amazing concept. I love watching your videos and a lot of your analysis, but to have some sort of exercise to apply a topic you're talking about makes this even more exceptional and incredibly valuable. Thank you!
8BMT, you've made so many great educational videos over the years, but this may be one of your best yet. You are a fantastic teacher. Thank you for your content, it's been a blessing. 🙏
The worksheets are sooo good!