Into the Score - March 17, 2007

3 of 3 - Chrono Trigger/Cross 

1) Intro
2) Contact Info
3) Power Up references
4) CT/CC borrowings in the overworlds
a. Also, where else does the CT theme come in?
i. Dreamwatch of Time 
1. Opens with the Another World's theme (i.e. the theme of Radical Dreamers), but readies the expectation of the Chrono Trigger theme through the galloping tambourine.  A gallop is a rhythm that goes (example).  Then, we have a turnaround, which doesn't sound like either Radical Dreamers or Chrono Trigger, then we catapult into the B section of the CT theme - note that the shaker never changes, it's just like a solid rhythm engine through the whole thing.


5) Lucca's Theme/Fanfare
6) More obscure borrowings (through use of similarities in feel and orchestration)
a. Galloping Tambourine / 8th -note bass.
i. Voyage Home World/ To Far Away Times
1. This also supports the claim that Mitsuda made in the liner notes and that we've said earlier in the podcast, where the themes from the Home World are borrowed more from Chrono Trigger than from Radical Dreamers.  
b. Festive 6/8
i. Millenial Fair/Another Termina
1. Similarity in castanets and tambourine rhythm
2. Both have melodies played by the bagpipes or a chanter (which is the melody pipe for the instrument, where the player blows into and can put their fingers over the varied holes to change the pitch).
3. The 6/8 grooves are generally slow - in fact, if Mitsuda didn't say that Another Termina was in 6/8, I would've said it was in 3/4, same with Millenial Fair.
c. Frog's Theme/Dragon Knights
i. 6/8 groove
ii. Timpani/String ostinato
iii. Flute plays the melody in both parts, but with Dragon Knights it plays the melodies with an oboe and violins.
7) Chrono Cross borrowing from Radical Dreamers
a. Almost note for note:
i. Day of Summer/Jellyfish Sea
1. To me, there's a textural similarity, like a blanket of drones overtop of a polychordal instruments doing arpeggios.  A polychordal instrument is an instrument that can play more than one note at the same time and an arpeggio is musical line that's made up of notes of a chord.
ii. Exactly the same pieces.
1. Gale/Hurricane
2. Snakebone Mansion/Snake Remains Chamber
3. The Girl Who Stole the Star/Star-Stealing Girl
4. Frozen Flame
8) What links it all together - the motive
a. A small cell of successive notes that is used, either independently or entirely to produce melodies.
b. 7-8-5
c. Beethoven 5
d. Carmen
e. B section of CT theme
f. In CT
i. Chrono Trigger (B section)
ii. Peaceful Days (large leap to the 5th degree of the scale)
iii. Guardia Castle - Pride and Courage (slightly modified, instead of 7-8-5, the first two notes are shifted up a tone, resulting in 1-2-5... the whole cell of notes is 5-1-2-5)
iv. To Far Away Times (1-2-5, similar to Guardia Castle)
v. *** Not as prevalent because it is specifically played in the theme of the game.
g. In CC
i. Time's Scar
ii. Plains of Time (which is CT's theme)
iii. Both Aruni Villages (second note brought down two tones)
iv. Both Guldoves (same as Aruni with the second note brought down to tones, making the last leap an octave instead of a minor-6th)
v. Lost Pieces (same melody as Time's Scar)
vi. Death Volcano (motive doesn't occur on 7-8-5 of the home key, so it sounds really off, but it's definitely the same pattern of notes).
vii. Beginning of a Dream (flute part)
viii. Chronomantique (same as CT theme)
ix. Dead Sea - Ruined Tower
x. Chronopolis (piano vamp, first time; also uses the same chord progression as CT)
xi. Star-Stealing Girl  (not necessarily a 7-8-5, but the motive seems to be implied in the second bar when the right hand of the piano has its top note to be the fifth of the second chord through a large leap, so of the three notes, it's like 2-5-5, or it could be 1-4-4)
xii. (moments in all the pieces that play Kid's Theme, but no definitive motive that can be derived as thematic to the overall concept of the game).
1. Dream Fragments
2. Life ~ Faraway Promise
3. Radical Dreamers - Unstolen Jewel


Intro

OPENING

(Time's Scar)

I'm Kenley Kristofferson and this is Into the Score.

OPENING II

Good evening my dearest listeners.  It's Wednesday, March 21 of 2007 and you are listening to Into the Score the only podcast dedicated to the academic study of video game music.  I'm Kenley Kristofferson and tonight we're going to finish up our "Chrono Triple Tech" three-parter that's been going on for, oh I don't know... 6 weeks? Long time.  The first episode was the study of Chrono Trigger, then Chrono Cross and now in tonight's episode, we're going to talk about the musical connections between the two.  It's going to be awesome, let's start this up.

CONTACT INFO:

If you want to check out our website it is www.songofthefates.com, all one word.  To reach me, you can just type in Kenley@songofthefates.com, so k-e-n-l-ey@songofthefates.com.  The podcast is recorded at Naked Dave's Basement Productions, which is the studio that Jeremy and I own, there are pictures of it on the website. 

Forgive the lateness of this episode - life has been a bit insane.  I'm student teaching at as school in Winnipeg called Maples Collegiate and we just took all of the jazz bands (like, five of them) to the Brandon Jazz Festival, which is a huge festival in Manitoba.  I am pleased to say that they did amazing and that my band, the Intermediate Jazz Band, rocked the dead and Herbie Hancock was groovin' to our beats... yeah yeah yeah... okay, enough about funk, down to the Chronos...


POWER UP

I recently picked up a book about gaming and it has been one of the best reads I've ever had.  It's called "Power Up: How Japanese Video Games Gave the World an Extra Life" and it's by Chris Kohler and it's published by BradyGames.  If I were to write a book on video games, this would be it.  It essentially looks at the beginnings of cinematic elements in video games - in other words, when games began to have stories, themes and movie-esque moments - when games became art.  It starts with arcades, moving into Donkey Kong, Pac-Man, Mario Brothers and into the RPG... in fact, there's an entire chapter on it, dwarfed by Dragon Quest and Final Fantasy.  Chris Kohler has seriously done his research and everyone who is interested in gaming should pick up this book.  It is brilliant.

Where I'm going with this, is that Mr. Kohler features an interview he had with Yasunori Mitsuda in Chapter 5, entitled "Game Music, Music Games."  The interview took place in November 2002 at a restaurant called Jonathon's, near Mitsuda's Procyon Studios.  When coming upon the Chrono chapter of his life, Kohler documents the following...

"Chrono Trigger was a collaboration of epic proportions.  Dragon Quest's scenario writer Yuji Horii and character designer Akira Toriyama would partner with the Final Fantasy designers to create an original RPG.  With some of the best graphics on the Super Famicom and a time-travel story far more offbeat and crazy than anything Final Fantasy could, by design, ever be, Chrono Trigger needed a unique and appealing soundtrack to match."

That's from page 148 of Power Up, and from the same page, Mitsuda comments on his experience with CT:

"I wanted to create music that wouldn't fit into any established genre... music of an imaginary world.  The game's director, Masato Kato, was my close friend, and so I'd always talk with about the setting and the scene before going into writing."

On the following page, Mitsuda talks about his approach to game music composition, focusing around the concept that he wants to write music that he would listen to himself, not just placing music for a scene in the game.  He quotes the following:

"Whenever I talk to my colleagues, all of them say that I should compose music without ever thinking about putting out a CD. They see this as a side project. But of course, what I want you to know is that the first priority is that the music has to match the scene of the game.  The second priority is that it has to be a piece of music that I can listen to by itself."

Moderately contradictory, but he melds the two concepts together really well - one can enjoy the music of Chrono Cross without ever having played the game.  There are a few comments on the Amazon.com board that say that about CC as well.

Now, let's listen to some of that music... this is one we've heard before, but it's going to lead us into the next section of the episode... this is "Chrono Trigger" from the game Chrono Trigger, hahaha.  It's the theme of the game, it's played several times, but most importantly just after the title screen of the game, it's written by Yasunori Mitsuda and here we go, this is "Chrono Trigger."

(Chrono Trigger - whole thing)

Okay, so there are two main melodic sections in that piece, the A theme and the B theme and the form is AAB, so the A theme is played twice, then we hear the B theme.  The A theme is this...

(Chrono Trigger - 0:15 - 0:27ish)

... and before we play the B theme, listen to the shaker pattern and the harmony, as well as the melody...the B theme is this...

(Chrono Trigger - 1:15 - 1:27ish)

Okay, these two themes are borrowed extensively through the game and are one linking device throughout the series.  The next piece is one example, this is "Chronomantique" and it's playing when you're sailing on the map in the Home World.  Instead of arranging the piece like Chrono Trigger, Mitsuda inverts the A and B sections, so that the piece starts with the B section and then moves into the A, so instead of AAB, it's BBA... you'll hear it, here's "Chronomantique."

(Chronomantique - Home World - 0:00 - 1:40)

He does the same thing in another piece that we heard last episode, called "Plains of Time - Home World" and it's being played when you're walking on the map.  It also uses the A and B themes from "Chrono Trigger", and arranged in BBA form.

(Plains of Time - Home World - 0:00 - 1:40)

Okay, so that was the world map theme.  We're going to talk about the significance of world map themes in a few episodes, but briefly, the theme while walking on the world map is usually the theme of the game.  In this case, Mitsuda takes the theme from the first game in the series, Chrono Trigger, and uses it as the world map theme in Chrono Cross for the Home World.  Here is the world map theme from Another World, this is "Dream of the Shore Near Another World," another piece that we heard last time...

(Dream of the Shore Near Another World - 0:00 - 1:05)

Hmm... no trace of the CT theme there... is he only picking and choosing when and where to use the Chrono Trigger theme? As North American listeners, we would think that - but, in fact, there is a system to this... I'm going to blow your minds right now.  This is "Faraway Promise - Dream Shore," written by Mitsuda in 1996, from Radical Dreamers.

(Faraway Promise - Dream Shore - 0:00 - 1:00ish)

Now listen to "Dream of the Shore" one more time...

(Dream of the Shore Near Another World - 0:00 - 1:05)

All of the borrowed themes in the Home World come from Chrono Trigger and all of the borrowed themes from Another World, come from Radical Dreamers.   



However, CT is not the only game that Chrono Cross borrows from.  Let's have a listen to "Dream of the Shore Near Another World" - a piece we got very familiar with last episode.  This is when you're walking on the map in Another World.  I have to be honest, I didn't figure that out, I read it in the liner notes for the Japanese release of the Chrono Cross OST.  You can find the notes at the Chrono Compendium at http://www.chronocompendium.com.  

Another of amalgamation of the two scores in a single piece of music is "Dreamwatch of Time," which we heard last episode.  It opens with the Another World's theme (i.e. the theme of Radical Dreamers), but readies the expectation of the Chrono Trigger theme through the galloping tambourine.  A gallop is a rhythm that goes (example).  Then, we have a turnaround, which doesn't sound like either Radical Dreamers or Chrono Trigger, then we catapult into the B section of the CT theme - note that the shaker never changes, it's just like a solid rhythm engine through the whole thing.  Let's have a listen, this is "Dreamwatch of Time."

(Dreamwatch of Time - 0:00 - 1:58)

This brings us to our next section of the podcast, and that involves thematic relationships... I'm going to call this section "Borrowings."

BORROWINGS

We're going to start with the more obvious ones, then work into relationships that are a bit more obscure... some may even be a bit of a stretch.  We've already talked about how the composer has used to the main themes of CT and Radical Dreamers in Chrono Cross, but there's another theme that gets used extensively in the game.  

Next is how Mitsuda uses Lucca's Theme from Chrono Trigger as the battle fanfare for Chrono Cross.  Here's Lucca's Theme from CT.

(Lucca's Theme [Fanfare] - 0:00 - 0:20)

     Now here's "Triumph - Gift of Spring" from Chrono Cross...

(Triumph - Gift of Spring" - 0:00 - 0:25)

Yeah, but it's not the same, right? You're going to have to beat a boss to hear a closer rendition of Lucca's Theme... this is "Victory - Call of Summer."

(Victory - Call of Summer - 0:00 - 0:25)

Now, for a bit more general musical connections, comparing CT and CC, the first is the galloping tambourine and an 8th -note bass. - this happens in "Voyage Home World" and "To Far Away Times."  A gallop rhythm is (_________) and the eighth-note bass line that I've referring to is __________.  This also supports the claim that Mitsuda made in the liner notes and that we've said earlier in the podcast, where the themes from the Home World are borrowed more from Chrono Trigger than from Radical Dreamers.  Have a listen to the feel and the texture of the next two pieces and listen to the similarities between them - maybe not in the melody, but most definitely in the accompaniment.  Here's "To Far Away Times."

(To Far Away Times - 0:00 - 1:30)

And now for "Voyage - Home World" from Chrono Cross, listen for the galloping tambourine and the eighth-note bass line.

(Voyage - Home World - 0:00 - 1:15)

Another thematic comparison between the two games of the series involves what Mitsuda calls a "festive 6/8," and it exists between CT's "Millenial Fair" and CC's "Another Termina."  There is a strong similarity between the tambourine rhythm in "Millenial Fair" and the tambourine part in "Termina;" as well, both have melodies played by the bagpipes or a chanter (which is the melody pipe for the instrument, where the player blows into and can put their fingers over the varied holes to change pitch).  Here's "Millenial Fair" from Chrono Trigger.

(Millenial Fair - 0:00 - 1:10)

And now, one of my favorite pieces from the Chrono Cross, "Another Termina."

(Another Termina - 0:00 - 1:00)

The 6/8 grooves are generally slow - in fact, if Mitsuda didn't say that Another Termina was in 6/8, I would've said it was in 3/4, same with Millenial Fair.  In which case, let's move on.

There is a strong resemblance between "Frog's Theme" in CT and "Dragon Knights" in CC, and here's where I'm drawing the similarity: There's a 6/8 groove, a timpani/string ostinato and the flute plays the melody in both parts, but in Dragon Knight, it plays the melodies with an oboe and violins... here's "Frog's Theme."

(Frog's Theme - 0:00 - 0:45)

And now, compare it to "Dragon Knights" from Chrono Cross.

(Dragon Knights - 0:00 - 1:10)

In terms of Chrono Cross borrowing from Radical Dreamers, a lot of it is directly taken from RD: "Gale/Hurricane,"  "Snakebone Mansion/Snake Remains Chamber," "The Girl Who Stole the Star/Star-Stealing Girl," and "Frozen Flame."  There is another piece that I think has thematic comparisons, and that's "Day of Summer" and "Jellyfish Sea," from RD and CC, respectively.  To me, there's a textural similarity, like a blanket of drones overtop of a polychordal instruments doing arpeggios.  A polychordal instrument is an instrument that can play more than one note at the same time and an arpeggio is musical line that's made up of notes of a chord.  Here's "Day of Summer:"

(Day of Summer - 0:00 - 1:00)

And now compare to the very ambient "Jellyfish Sea."

(Jellyfish Sea - 0:00 - 1:00)

And now this brings us to the big question that we've been asking for the last six or seven weeks - what brings it all together? And that brings us to our concept of the episode: THE MOTIVE.

THE MOTIVE

A motive is a small cell of successive notes that is used, either indepently or entirely, to produce melodies.  Let's take a look at one of the most famous motives in all of music, here's the main motive from the first movement of Beethoven's 5th Symphony.  It's quick, so get ready.

(Beethoven 5 - 0:00 - 0:02)

Here it is one more time...

(Beethoven 5 - 0:00 - 0:02)

Now here's the first two repetitions of the motive.

(Beethoven 5 - 0:00 - 0:05)

Kind of the same as the first, right? Just moved down a little bit...then he takes that first 4-note motive and moves it around all over the place... absolutely brilliant.

(Beethoven 5 - 0:00 - 0:45)

Each motive represents the unrelenting knocking of fate at our door, reminding us or our mortality.  In the last 200 years or so, motives have usually been used to remind the audience of particular themes or characters, one example is the "Death of Carmen" from Georges Bizet's Romantic Opera, Carmen.  Listen to how the whole melody is a repetition of that first cell...

(Carmen Prelude - 2:15 - 3:20)

Another example is the opening cell from Darth Vader's theme in Star Wars, same kind of thing.

(Imperial March - 0:09 - 0:18)

The second cell is the same as the first, but every time that we hear that, we know that it's the coming of the Empire, you know? Consciously or not, it's that motive that reminds us of it.  Similar to listening to the Lord of the Rings soundtrack separate from watching it in the movie, you can hear the ring theme, the hobbit theme... similar to concepts we talked about in Episode 2.  Now, what is the motive that links the games of the Chrono series together?

Well... a small three-note cell that we first hear in the B section of the Chrono Trigger theme (from Episode 4, it's the smoother section of the theme), it's so small, but through all of my studying of this score, I think that this is what the link really is... here's the B section - we'll play the theme, then I'll isolate the motive... well, Jeremy will :).

(Chrono Trigger - 1:14 - 1:28)

Now here's the section it's from...

(Chrono Trigger - 1:14 - 1:21)

And this is the motive...

(Chrono Trigger - 1:18 - 1:20) (x2)

In terms of scale degrees (or numbered notes of the scale), it's 7-8-5, or an ascending minor second, followed by a jump of an ascending perfect fifth... 7-8-5.  Though it is not ALWAYS exactly the same intervallic relationship, meaning it's not always minor-second-perfect-fifth, that's okay, because Beethoven's motives weren't always exactly the same in his music either, neither were Bizet's... so that's cool with me.  It occurs in only 4 times in Chrono Trigger, which I think is because the motive is directly in the main theme of the game.  It's implied in "Peaceful Days" through the ascending leap of a fifth, have a listen, this is "Peaceful Days."

(Peaceful Days - 0:00 - 0:18)

(Peaceful Days - 0:10 - 0:12) (MOTIVE)

In this case, the motive is approached from above.  So instead of 7-8-5 or 7-1-5, where the first note is one tone below the second note, this one is above, so it's like 2-1-5 instead of 7-15, here it is again.

(Peaceful Days - 0:00 - 0:18)

(Peaceful Days - 0:10 - 0:12) (MOTIVE)

Same kind of thing in "Guardia Castle - Pride and Courage," the first two notes are shifted up a tone, so instead of 7-8-5 or 7-1-5. it's 1-2-5... here's a listen.

(Guardia - 0:00 - 0:30)

(Guardia - 0:22 - 0:25) (MOTIVE)

Same with "To Far Away Times," 1-2-5, same kind of thing with Guardia Castle

(To Far Away Times - 0:00 - 0:55)

(To Far Away Times - 0:44 - 0:48) (MOTIVE)

In Chrono Cross, there are much more, 11 that I can count directly but there are a few more that could be a bit more... well... obscure, they're pretty broad comparisons.  We're not going to play them all, but I'll list them on the website.  The first and most obvious quote happens in the game's opening (thus tying the game back to CT right away), this is "Time's Scar."

(Time's Scar - 0:58 - 1:23)

(Time's Scar - 1:21 - 1:23) (MOTIVE)

It also happens in "Plain's of Time - Home World" and "Chronomantique" because both of which use the theme from CT.  Both Aruni Villages (Home and Another) as well both Guldoves use this motive, but the first two tones are shifted down, making the last leap an octave instead of a minor-sixth.  Here's a snippet from "Home Aruni"

(Home Aruni - 0:00 - 0:06)

(Home Aruni - 0:04 - 0:06)

And Guldove...

(Home Guldove - 0:00 - 0:21)

(Home Guldove - 0:19 - 0:21) (MOTIVE)

It happens in "Beginning of a Dream" in the flute part...

(Beginning of a Dream - 0:00 - 0:15) 

(Beginning of a Dream - 0:13 - 0:15) (MOTIVE)

It happens in "Death Volcano" (where you fight the Red Dragon... you know what part I'm talking about), but in this case, it doesn't happen in the home key, so the relationship of tones is the same, but they sound wickedly crazy and off... here's "Death Volcano."

(Death Volcano - 0:00 - 0:51)

(Death Volcano - 0:45 - 0:49) (MOTIVE)

The opening of "Dead Sea - Ruined Tower"

(Dead Sea -  0:00 - 0:10)

(Dead Sea - 0:00 - 0:04)

I hope that we get it - there are more examples, but I think that six examples is enough :)  Let's get to a remix...

REMIX

This remix is from OCR, meaning OverClocked Remix and is called "Molding of Destinies" by ____________.  It combines the ostinato of "Plains of Time - Home World" (except with pizzicato strings instead of guitar) and includes the CT theme and Schala's Theme, as though it is also trying to meld the two games together.  This is "Molding of Destinies."


END

Awesome guys, it's been great.  This is going to wrap up this episode of "Into the Score," which is the only podcast devoted to the academic study of the genre of video game music.  I'm Kenley Kristofferson and I've been hosting the show, Jeremy MacIntosh has been our engineer and has made it sound amazing as usual.  The show was recorded in Naked Dave's Basement Productions, a solid sound studio.  If you want to reach me, you can check out the website at www.songofthefates.com or email me at Kenley@songofthefates.com, so that's k-e-n-l-e-y@songofthefates.com, all one word.  Next week, we'll be delving into the North American school of game music composition and be featuring the LucasArts' pirate classic of "Monkey Island!" Yargh, have a good two weeks!