“Is this good enough?”
We’ve all been there with our music, art, and work. That pestering feeling that we haven’t added enough complexity to yield a high-quality result can accidentally turn a great musical idea into a muddled mess. In this post, I’m going to point out 5 very simple pieces of video game music which have become instantly recognizable and well-loved.
“Prelude,” Final Fantasy series
This theme can be played on a piano with one hand. Literally. It’s the same finger pattern four times up the keyboard, and then that same pattern inverted four times on the way back down before you repeat the same thing on a different chord. Some form of this theme has been in every Final Fantasy game since the original Final Fantasy for NES.
Nest theme, Tiny Wings
The music that plays when your Tiny Wings bird is napping in his nest is a wonderful, dreamy little tune. It’s a simple keyboard tune that loops over and over, but the keyboard voice, chords, and melody are so damned pleasant it makes me want to sit on the menu screen for as long as possible. If you have a decent ear and some basic keyboard chops, this tune is simple enough to pick up by ear.
“Dearly Beloved,” Kingdom Hearts series
This Kingdom Hearts theme plays during the title screen and returns as a major theme during key moments in the story. Every Kingdom Hearts game has had an arrangement of this piece for the title screen, and several performance ensembles have played orchestrated versions for live performance. The piece is simple enough for a beginner piano student to play, and only utilizes four different chords (IV, V, I, and vi). A lilting melody and slow, legato chord arpeggios have made this piece a classic that pulls you right into the world of Kingdom Hearts.
“Home,” Clash of Clans
This is a great little piece with several short sections to keep it interesting as it loops, providing a pleasant backdrop to players as they build their war bases, upgrade cannons, and train new troops. Clash of Clans has frequently sat at the top of iTunes’ Top Grossing games list, yet it only has 3-4 pieces of music in the entire game. None of these tracks have use high-quality orchestra samples, yet the quality is very good and perfectly matched to the gameplay.
“Grasswalk,” from Plants Vs Zombies
Also known as the “daytime” music, this track is played while you’re defending your lawn from waves of zombies during the day lit levels of the game. Another perfectly-appropriate piece of music that is extremely pleasant-sounding and matches perfectly with the sound effects for gameplay. This is probably the most diverse/complex piece of music in this list, but this complexity is accomplished by an intelligent combination of smaller, simple sections and musical ideas – just like the previous example from Clash of Clans.
The Point? Simple video game music can be AMAZING!
These pieces are all examples of composers nailing the fundamentals of music composition. Effective melodies, basic chord progressions, simplistic instrumentation choices – it’s all there. While I fought hard against completing simple composition exercises back in college with such objections as “This exercise is too boring!” or “Why can’t I write what I want to write?”, I ended up shooting myself in the foot because I was too afraid to struggle through the fundamentals. If you can write a solid melody and know how to use chord theory effectively, those skills don’t go away and can be applied to your more complex compositions later on.
At the end of the day, nothing can beat simple-yet-intelligent choices. Simple chord progressions are pleasing to the ears, and a well-conceived melody can be enough to make a great piece of music that elevates the gameplay. If you find yourself toiling over a piece of music, make sure you have the basics in place and ask someone else to give it a listen – you might be overcomplicating it. Everyone has trouble seeing the forrest through the trees sometimes, so take a minute to ask yourself – “Am I over-thinking my music?”
Know another piece of simple-yet-great video game music? Share it in the comments below!
Great reminder that sometimes simple is best. I struggle with that in my own music, but it all comes back to fundamentals. Once you’ve got those down, you can add complexity… But if the fundamentals aren’t there, you’ll have problems no matter what.
A beautifully simple track I’ve heard recently is Ken Nakagawa’s “I Can Still Walk” from Atelier Totori: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Ay88iqADq0
Barring the intro, it’s got a very soothing melody over a simple progression that only uses the I, IV, V, and vi chords. There are several instruments, but most of them are there more for texture, rather than adding countermelodies or additional harmonies. In particular, the glockenspiel is almost unnoticeable but adds so much to the song, in my opinion.
Thanks for the comment, Joshua! I had never heard of this game before – seems there are a lot of great examples of quality, simple music on the Atelier Totori OST! I especially like “Carefree”.
In case my tweet made no sense (hard to fit everything in 140 characters), I just wanted to say this article is very interesting, especially when thinking about our discussion at AC’s class about simple songs during selection screens and the lengths of songs needed for other scenes. It seems fundamentally strong themes can fit just about anywhere! As far as one of my favorites, I still love the Fairy Fountain Theme from all the Zeldas.
Another great addition to the list – the Fairy Fountain theme is a great example. Two simple arpeggio patterns laid on top of each other, over and over again as the chords change.
That really caetprus the spirit of it. Thanks for posting.
I am not a pianist at all, but I found it super simple and enjoyable to experiment with Dearly Beloved. I could start with the main repeating piano part (it was easy enough, even for me, to eek out a version) and just do whatever I wanted to with other orchestration on top! It was a really nice little exercise for me.
Yes – Dearly Beloved is one of my favorites! It’s a great example of a piece that can work just as well with a solo piano as it does with a full orchestra.
Good article and a great reminder! I’ve always been a fan of the pieces of music that are simple but effective. Sometimes the simplest things sound the best and leave the most impact. One thing, that I think affects this impact, is how well the instruments are phrased. Phrasing can truly be everything, especially in a simple piece. Something I always try to keep in mind, is that you should write what feels right. In some instances, having too many instruments playing together, especially when not mixed well, can take away from the experience. The goal is always to have the music enrich the gaming experience by serving it, NOT overtaking it. The best example I can think of at the moment is a piece by David Clynick from Perfect Dark Zero. It’s used when you pause the game. It gives you the feeling of being on a “break” while still retaining the spy theme of the game, as a whole. I feel that it’s a perfect example of simple music being very effective.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bn_yPl91jgE
Agreed! Excellent points, Joshua – and that piece is a great example. Kind of reminds me of a similar piece – “Chronopolis” from Chrono Cross – which achieves the same effect. It plays in a visually-intense part of the game, but communicates the danger of your surrounding without distracting you. Thanks for sharing!
This reminds me a lot of my perennial complaint about jazz soloists, who far too often fly around scales and chords with impressive agility but don’t produce a coherent melody. We’d all do well to remember that more notes ≠ more music.
Who Are You from FF7 probably doesn’t qualify as a “smash hit” but it’s one of my favorite examples of super-effective minimalism: https://youtu.be/MK84iaAjI2c
I couldn’t agree more – being purposeful with your notes is way more impressive than being quick.
As for “Who Are You?,” it’s totally not a smash hit… but it freaks me out, which is why it made my recent Halloween playlist on the blog 🙂