Greetings friends,

I am doing my senior capstone on the use of classical theory in the composition of game music. Primarily I will focus on forms and progressive function.

I've already used the fugue from Suikoden. So now I am enlisting the aid of you, my musical brethren.

Name a piece of game music, what classical technique it uses.

Thank you all in advance.

Also, there is no hurry, my capstone isn't actually due for another two years.

EDIT: Anime music is ALSO acceptable.

Cruise Elroy (http://cruiseelroy.net/) has some really neat stuff, though it focuses more on rhythmic and melodic oddities rather than on traditional form. I know the Death Note OST had a few intriguing mass settings, and was co-composed by a Julliard grad. Some of those chorales might be traditional enough for your purposes.

So, off the top of my head:

Journey to the West (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=okeO34-47NI) from the Princess Mononoke Symphonic suite has a fugato portion.
Mystery Train (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2IA8x69Hhko) from Final Fantasy VI Grand Finale starts off as a jazz waltz, but might not be what you're looking for. Actually, that whole OST has some pretty rockin' leitmotif, but once again, that's probably not what you're looking for.
Dancing Mad (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FwKVAapXBQQ), from the Final Fantasy VI OST is one gigantic theme and variation, and switches between a pseudo-baroque style and who-knows-what at an alarming rate.


Hmm, that's a tough one. It's rare to see stuff like rondo form or period form in these OSTs; I'm guessing that most anime/VG composers come from a pop-influenced background.

If you want to go deep enough, you will find classical influences in the composition of everything.

This is because all music is about other music in one way or another. Game music, for example, is quite repetitive. You can't reinvent or redefine repetition- it is what it was or is in any age and culture. If you compare for example its function in Western tradition to its function in Eastern tradition, it serves the same essential purpose which is to give the music a sense of form; if you have random ideas everywhere and nothing is repeated then there is no logic to the music so it is not nice to listen to. In Western tradition, especially in early forms, the repetition is more likely to be melodic, for example in the fugue structure or the whole idea of subject groups within sonata form or the chorus/verse idea in songs, be they popular or classical. In Eastern tradition they favoured rhythmic for example in Gamelan music or Japanese gagaku you have the larger percussive instruments repeating tiny motifs to mark of the passage of time in the piece. So although they are manifested in different ways, they serve the same function of giving the piece a sense of continuity.

I think if you were to think in those deeper kinds of terms rather than presenting your assessor with a semi-exhaustive list of music that follows the rules of Baroque counterpoint to the letter then not only would you make the task easier and more interesting for yourself, but you would definitely get a higher mark for it for showing an ability to look beneath face value.

I wrote an essay on music about other music in the 20th century, and an absolute gem for backing up a deeper viewpoint with actual references is the book 'Formalised Music' by Iannis Xenakis. Forget the chapter number, but it's called "Towards a New Philosophy of Music".