Comments on: Koji Kondo’s favorite cadence

By: Mike

Mike — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 04:34:50 +0000

I just wanted to say that I just discovered this blog, it is absolutely fantastic that I know have some resource to talk to people about the substance and theory behind video game music. I have been doing it for years and no one understands what the heck I’m saying. BRAVO and I look forward to posting frequently. THERE ARE OTHER PEOPLE OUT THERE LIKE ME :D

By: mouseonthemoon

mouseonthemoon — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 00:02:32 +0000

While bVI-bVII-I is fairly uncommon in major, it’s fairly commonly used in minor pieces of music, as in VI-VII-i. (In natural minor, it’s virtually indispensable.) In either case, I find it a much more interesting ending to a piece than the usual V-I, which, for much of history, was the ending to 90% of all music!

By: ninj4 guy d4n

ninj4 guy d4n — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 08:41:34 +0000

Hey, I found your blog via SU, and I’ve always been very interested in video game music, so I thought I’d share my thoughts.

I could talk forever on the bVI – bVII – i progression, and I somehow completely missed just how often Kondo used it his variation of it. In hindsight, it also makes up a considerable portion of the Dire, Dire Docks theme from Mario 64, as well.

I’ve noticed, in other games, that there is a lot of VI – VII – Isus – I, with the tonic triad originally being minor, but having a Picardy 3rd thrown in after the suspension to serve as the end to a section, i.e.

- The Musashi Legend, Brave Fencer Musashi
- Battle Theme, Golden Sun

The title theme from a very little-known NES game called Magic of Scheherazade has (what I think is) an interesting variation of this progression, as well. It has a bIII – IV – Vsus4 – V – I.

A lot of video game scores – not just by Kondo – use VI – VII – i in the minor mode, and I’d love to see you do a post on that. Some examples:

- I Am Impact! from Legend of the Mystical Ninja: Starring Goemon
- Mountain Theme, Angry Sea Theme from Crystalis
- Battle Theme, Last Castle, Lava Dome from Final Fantasy: Mystic Quest
- Elf Field from Lagoon
- Frog’s Theme from Chrono Trigger
- War Demon from Wild ARMs
- Twinpeak Mountain from Brave Fencer Musashi (which also has an awesome octatonic opening)
- Battle with Gilgamesh from FFV (and I’m sure many other Uematsu pieces, this is just the first that comes to mind)
- Dr. Wily’s Castle from Megaman 2
- Guile’s Theme from Street Fighter 2
- Level 1 Theme from Journey to Silius

I’ve been arranging video game music for a little ensemble I lead, and the VI – VII – i progression is one that seems to pop up all over the place. I totally never made the connection with Kondo, though.

By: Caleb

Caleb — Thu, 28 May 2009 20:46:47 +0000

Actually, Gusty Garden Galaxy was composed by Koji Kondo, so it makes sense. The soundtrack states which tracks were composed by each composer. It’s funny that you happened to find that cadence in SMG as well, and on one of the reletively few tracks Koji composed for the game.

By: Rafi

Rafi — Sun, 17 May 2009 03:51:13 +0000

In my experience with common practice theory, a chord based on the seventh degree without an explicit flat sign assumes the leading tone and functions as a (diminished) dominant. A major chord built on a subtonic bVII (occurring in natural minor) usually functions modally rather than harmonically, unless it’s a secondary dominant of bIII (suggesting a shift to the relative mode). Even though the subtonic triad occurs diatonically in the natural minor, the raised seventh is usually used in progressions, which gives us the harmonic minor scale.

Like Dan said, the labels bVI and bVII keep consistency, but with the use of predominance of major chords, the progression seems to reside more in the major mode, making the labeled flats seem even more appropriate.

By: Dan Bruno

Dan Bruno — Sat, 16 May 2009 16:26:11 +0000

Hey b rad,

You’re right that the VI and VII chords I’m talking about are diatonic to minor keys, as in “Minuet” and “Serenade.” I only called them bVI and bVII throughout for consistency; I wanted to emphasize the similarity with the same progression in the major pieces like the SMB theme and “Gusty Garden.” Hopefully that wasn’t too confusing!

By: b rad

b rad — Sat, 16 May 2009 15:56:34 +0000

Hi. Great article btw. But im confused about one thing. You keep calling them the flat VI and flat VII, but the chords you’ve written out seem, to me, to be the natural VI and VII seven chords to those relative minor keys. Am i missing something? Thanks.

By: Rafi

Rafi — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 18:55:05 +0000

Upon closer inspection, I realized I was a bit hasty to call them the “same harmonic progression”.

Functionally, both snippets follow the same pattern (with four coinciding chords), but there are some slight chordal differences, which I was curious enough to analyze:

http://raficus.blogspot.com/2009/02/hyrule-field-vs-good-egg-galaxy-follow.html

By: Rafi

Rafi — Mon, 02 Feb 2009 03:21:55 +0000

And here I thought I was the only one who analyzed the music theory behind video game music. I’m glad to see there are others.

This is the first post I stumbled across, but I thought I’d mention (somewhat related) that part of the ‘Good Egg Galaxy’ theme shares the same harmonic progression as ‘Hyrule Field’ from The Ocarina of Time (I apologize if you’ve already pointed that out in another post).

http://www.stwing.org/~rafi/blogfiles/galaxy_goodegg.mp3
http://www.stwing.org/~rafi/blogfiles/ocarina_hyrule.mp3

I look forward to reading (and commenting) on your posts.

By: Nathan McCoy

Nathan McCoy — Sun, 25 Jan 2009 06:52:30 +0000

I may be wrong, but it seems to me that the classic level-completion music of Super Mario Bros. is simply nothing more than an arpeggiation of this cadence, too.