As a trumpet player, a lot of people know I'm a pretty chill guy. I like to crack jokes in rehearsals, make fun of the usual trumpet stereotypes of "blastissimo," and generally get giddy when things are big and brassy and loud. Sometimes, I begin to worry that people only recognize that side of me. I'm also super-serious when it comes to music, and while I like to make jokes because I'm honestly having fun with the music, when shit needs to go down, I make sure that I, my section, and if need be, the entire ensemble is sounding its absolute best. You don't see that side of me outside of rehearsal that often, but when it comes out, watch out, someone's not doing it right and gonna get told.
That being said, a lot of people I know would think "How can you be serious but also constantly want things to be louder? That's like the key sign of an immature trumpet player." Well, I've thought a lot about that, and I've come to the following conclusion:
Most music students don't actually understand how dynamics work
As a graduate-level trumpet student (and I've only allowed myself to refer to myself as such recently; I've been feeling a lot more comfortable with my playing ever since having a lesson with Yoda, and taking a day off to fly back to Hyrule), it's really important that I understand dynamics, since on one hand, I could bury the orchestra (save perhaps a few low brassers I know) if I wanted to, and on the other, being told to play louder is a matter of the greatest shame for a non-horn brass player. Now, before I continue, I'm gonna protect myself here: I stand by what I said above, most music students don't actually understand how dynamics work. I have complete confidence in that statement. I am, also, a music student. Therefore, I'm going to give you my understanding of the topic, but I'll let you know that it could very well be subject to the music student clause above. Odds are I might change my mind after a few more years of experience, and if this blog is still up and running, I'll do another post like this where we can laugh at how silly and immature I was back now. I'm also not saying I get what I preach right every time. I am, after all, still a student, and the difference between a student and professional can often be nothing more than consistency (though I still have a ways to go on way more fronts than that). I just aim to follow this approach as closely as I can in my playing.
Now, I've heard a lot of advice on dynamic from different brass professors, and interestingly enough, my favourite advice has always come from horn players. This is probably due to the fact that the horn points backwards, and therefore horn players need to play with more power relative to the rest of the brass section. Brass students know that, if you stand directly next to the bell of a professional horn player, they often sound like a steamroller, in a non-flattering way. However, stand in the middle of a concert hall while they play the same thing, and it's as if the heavens opened up and the most beautiful sound in the world echoes through the building. Same guy, doing the same thing, but that's the nature of the horn, and what really matters is what the audience hears, not what the guy beside you hears.
So now, I'm going to give you my two "rules" of dynamics, and explain how each one makes sense to me, as a trumpet player (I'm thinking from a brass perspective, but I'm sure other instruments can make it apply to them as well). And they are:
Rule #1: "Piano" means "soft," and "soft" means "not prickly."
Rule #2: "Forte" means "strong." Vegeta is strong, Nappa is not.
These might sound odd right off the bat, so let's go into more detail.
First, consider piano. What's the mistake you expect a beginning brass student to make when they play a passage softly? Easy, not enough air, support, or "body" to the sound, and it fizzles and dies. I've even heard this happen to string students, they try so hard to be soft that the sound crackles like a bad microphone. The horn professor back in Hyrule had my favourite way of getting students to get over this: have them play it mezzo-forte or louder, and then play it "the same intensity and direction and support, just less volume." And it worked. Here in Termina, Obi-Wan had an idea that "piano is a colour," which was essentially a way to get his students to use a "forte" amount of air, but sweeten the sound out so that it comes across to the listener as being softer than it is.
Both of these approaches are true, and both are very good ways to conceptualize "softness." My way of conceptualizing it is to think of soft as a texture, as opposed to prickly. When the player isn't adequately supporting, their sound becomes full of bubbles and holes and burrs and shit... basically, it becomes "prickly." Playing with a soft, velvety texture allows a full use of air. Look at freshly-dyed velvet; it's not faded, it's full of vibrant, solid, pure ink. That is soft. Of course, the decibel level IS physically lower, but that ends up being a by-product of having the proper texture of tone. It will have less volume, but more importantly, it will actually be a softer note.
Now, for the controversial one... forte. What does forte mean to a trumpet player... the bane of strings and woodwinds everywhere. Well, it's along the same lines, but it's actually quite a bit deeper than piano.
Take a look at these two fine gentlemen. For those of you who missed the 1990s, the one on the left is Nappa, and the one on the right is Vegeta, the primary antagonists (and in Vegeta's case, eventual triagonist) of the first story arc of Dragon Ball Z. And they also present an excellent example of what inexperienced players think loud is, versus what I believe a correct loud to actually be.
When these two Saiyans land on Earth, the heroes instantly single out Nappa as their primary concern, and he actually fights them by himself for the first little while, with Vegeta throwing in comments and barking out orders on occasion. What the Earth's finest didn't realize is that size ≠ strength. So, inexperienced players, with their often shrill or bland tone, play louder by filling the room with MORE of a shrill or bland tone, and this really does nothing but hurt peoples' ears.
Vegeta is the real strength of this operation. Sure, he may look smaller, but to Saiyans, size really means nothing. Size is secondary. Vegeta has a higher level of chi, or power/energy, depending on whether you go by the manga or the anime.
And that's really what it's about. Forte, strong, loudness, is about filling the room with a FULL, VIBRANT, BRILLIANT sound, not just a "loud and no other quality but loud" tone. Nappa is big, and just big, and he was easily dispatched by Goku. Vegeta was powerful, and gave the Earth's heroes a huge run for their money. From this, we discover that there are two errors often made by inexperienced trumpet players. The first, of course, is what I said before: making more of a sub-par tone colour, and calling that loud. True, the decibel level goes up, but it's not STRONG, which is the literal translation of the Italian word forte. It's like, having a whole keg of a weak beer, rather than just a pint, doesn't make the beer stronger.
The second mistake, and this is an odd but common one (especially for players who were often told "you're too loud, stop smacking the audience in the face!"), is to attempt to bring up the volume, but do so with a soft, piano tone. Even a mezzo-forte tone. Notice what I said above: "forte is filling the room with a full, vibrant, brilliant tone." The trumpet is a naturally brilliant instrument. That's why we play it, rather than cornet, or some odd kind of soprano Bb or C horn that probably exists but I'm too lazy to look it up (or a descant horn, I guess). Players who have fallen to the trap of the first error, loud in an unpleasant way, often try to remedy it with this. The answer is not to take anything away from what the player was doing, it's to FILL THE TONE until it matches the dynamic level. If your playing is crass and therefore incorrectly loud, the answer isn't necessarily to play softer, it's to add beauty until your volume makes sense. And as a bonus, this will actually sound easier on the ear, and BLENDS! A proper, full sound will fit in an ensemble, even when the player is nearing the top of their dynamic register (though, this probably never happens in actual orchestra playing).
I should just throw in: THIS DOES NOT GIVE YOU LICENSE TO PLAY YOUR LOUDEST AT EVERY FORTISSIMO. There's still the matter of being tasteful. This does, however, give you the license to not be AFRAID to play the trumpet in a full way. A real orchestral trumpet player rarely needs to strain for a dynamic, no matter how many f's are on the page, because they can ride the wave of the rest of the brass section. And when they do need to put more power behind it, keeping it beautiful, vibrant, colourful, and brilliant will also keep it pleasant to the ear, and balance better with the rest of the ensemble, meaning you won't APPEAR to be "loud for the sake of being loud" like so many non-brassers assume us trumpets are (especially those, like me, who like to goof around and play up the stereotype in a non-serious way outside of rehearsals).
Here's a case study for you: go out and listen to Bud Herseth. Listen to basically anything the CSO released between 1948-2001. It's my firm belief that, from what I've heard of them so far, Bud has never played an incorrect dynamic caught on tape. In fact, let me give you a recording.
I'll even help you out more, here's the first trumpet part. Don't mind the minor blip at nine after rehearsal 10, it gets back on track. Listen to the pianissimo at rehearsal 13 in the first movement. Sure, it's actually fairly high in decibels, but he plays with such a velvet, "precious" tone colour, that we hear it as having a "solo soft" quality. Same thing at six before 19. Then, compare that to the fortissimo back at rehearsal 9. He's not overtly trying to blast, because he's filling the room with his radiating, vibrant, colourful sound. This man knows how to make a dynamic happen. It's worth listening to him in their Solti recording of Beethoven 5, the fourth movement is balanced wonderfully, I would say even better than the Mahler above. It's not that he's not doing extremes in dynamics, it's that the WAY he does them is by using tone colour to his advantage, and that makes it happen SO MUCH more effectively than mindless blasting or holding back to the point of not properly sustaining the tone. That's part of why this guy is my trumpet idol, he knows just what to do to get the job done in an orchestra.
So, that's my rant, and I hope you guys either learned something, or at the very least, don't think I'm a delusional, misguided fool who'll never succeed with that attitude. Next time... well, maybe a little Christmas surprise if I remember/have time, but if I don't... MOAR MUSIC.
Hey internet. I'm listening to Berlin play Tchaik 4 as I write this. Since you totally were wondering. It was actually in my top three symphonies for a little while, though that was before I knew Mahlers 1 and 3, and its younger brother Tchaik 2, which I enjoy more due to the personal connection (in that I've actually played it, and it was one of my strongest concerts to date, plus the ending is just so comically triumphant and it makes me very happy).
I'm gonna try to not sound too bummed out, because I really shouldn't be. Jeez, this whole blog's been a real downer for the past couple life-related posts, hasn't it? First term's over, I somehow got my Biblio paper "written," and I'm generally doing successful in school and classes and ensembles sometimes and stuff.
I had a bad concert last week. We performed Britten's Four Sea Interludesfrom Peter Grimes and Handel's Dettingen Te Deum, as I may have mentioned last time. And... wow... that lineup was really hard on me. >.< I was playing Trumpet 3: Director's Cut for the Britten, and I ended up having to drop a lot of the unison parts of the second movement, which was probably noticeable since my picc sound is so different from the other guys' C sounds, but I kind of sort of maybe got some of that nasty run after rehearsal four. To be honest, I kind of blocked the memory from my mind, so I *think* I got the high concert D, but I can't be sure.
The Handel, on the other hand, was another story. I actually started the first two movements much stronger than I expected, but the stupid amount of trumpet lines caught up to me. And then... the worst happened. I farted all over the introduction to the sixth movement, the trumpet and bass duet. Kind of the most important movement to get right. It was definitely the most embarrassing moment of the term for me, and the next concert's so far away that I don't have a way to "redeem myself" before people forget about it. Which I know sounds unnecessary, but I'd really rather there be a big show sooner rather than later, so instead of people thinking "Oh look, he improved," they'd think "Oh look, he's actually not as bad as Handel led me to believe." Which is me being immature. I admit it. I'm sure eventually I'll be glad I had the experience to do a bad show so that I know mentally how to deal with it, but... that's later and this is now. So I'm going to be bitter. So THERE.
(Wrote this paragraph as an afterthought, so I'm almost at the end of the third movement of Tchaik, at the part where it quotes the fourth movement... or... vice-versa, I guess) I guess the thing about this that's the most humbling is the fact that... well... real trumpet players CAN do this. There are shows out there that are worse. Apparently Handel's Music for the Royal Fireworks is an even MORE tiring trumpet part, and looking at the excerpts, I can tell. But... real players can pull it off. And I can't. Not yet. So... that's not acceptable. I NEED to be able to do this. No getting away with "oh, that was a hard show, you did your best." NO. Not allowed. So it's time to get back to practicing, cuz my best better pick up the pace.
So I'm ditching Termina and heading back to Hyrule for a couple weeks, later this week. It's going to be nice to see people again. I mean, I am making some pretty good friends here, but I've generally been less social than I have been in the past (part of this because of not being in a youth orchestra, and part because I'm practicing on average 2-3x as long per day as I did last year). Damn guys the second movement just started playing, I love this one... sorry, easily distracted. As I was saying... being less social in general. I'm actually curious as to whether that'll carry on when I go back home, playing 4-5 hours a day and pissing off the folks (maybe I'll go to the school some days so they don't have to deal with it, maybe not, idk). I can't imagine why it wouldn't, except that I won't be entirely on my own schedule and have to conform to the family's routine, so there's that.
So I'm applying for like five or six summer programmes, I've decided, which means... audition DVDs! Totally using the grad degree as a (legitimate) excuse to not be able to travel or spend money on auditions, meaning I have to record a bunch over the next two months (I'll end up making a big graph to see which recordings I could technically do back-to-back without stopping the camera, might make bookings easier). I want to do a few over the break, back home, though I'd also rather get some done here in January, since I'd have more practice time, and get to have a lesson or two with Yoda first. There's two in particular I'm hoping for, due to complementary schedules and excellent opportunities/resume lines, though if nothing goes through, there's always the Pallet Town Ping Pong Festival (which I'd love to do, don't get me wrong I really enjoy it, but another programme that I REALLY SHOULD go to overlaps with the end a bit).
Okay, I'm gonna go continue to reorganize my iPhone music library (whyyyyyyy didn't I splurge for a 16GB device?). I leave you with thisawesomemasterclassfromTanglewood, it's about an hour, but really worth the watch. Ohhey, the third movement's starting up, I love this one, too! K, peace out, y'all.
Hello fellow internetters, it's that one guy again. It's been close to a month since my last post, and I've had a long string of feeling like I haven't accomplished much, so I decided to spend another hour not accomplishing things and write a blog post. Logic! I know.
Of course, playing's the first thing I have to mention. I've had three gigs outside school now, so I'm slowly getting to be known, but it's going to take a while to get off the ground, especially in a city with so many strong casual musicians. Seriously, though, the average instrument owner in Termina seems two or three levels more advanced than the ones in Hyrule, and I've heard that it's because there's a lot of military retirees here... though, a stronger music programme in schools helps, for sure.
Either way, playing's being frustrating, as usual. Every lesson I hear the same piece of advice, and it's the same I've been hearing for years. I tried to explain to Obi-Wan what I'm thinking, and he's doing his best to help me, but I've really just got to re-program myself. When I play, I instinctively feel a need to end the current note before beginning the next one, and so the faster I go, the worse that is for air flow. It's like, for strings, at a certain speed, playing off the string just doesn't happen. I've really got to learn to keep fast notes on the string... and then, when I'm getting close to being right, the notes that are allowed to be off the string become uncharacteristically long. I guess it's just being able to switch back and forth, and being aware of which style to be playing at which moment... and not playing the wrong style out of habit. It's getting better, but it's still going to take a lot of work. After all, I'd love to play this some day, and that's just not going to happen the way I'm playing now.
We've got a pretty tank concert coming up next week, playing Britten's Four Sea Interludes from Peter Grimes, and Handel's Dettingen Te Deum (and some Mozart I'm not in... and rumours of a Cage). That Handel part is BEASTLY... the trumpet basically plants itself on A5 for about half an hour. The thing is, I know I can do it... once. I just need to make sure I don't have any other playing commitments on concert day, and everything will be fine. Thankfully, it's written in such a way that you can play tank without destroying the other sections. Handel knew how to handle brass instruments. Note the distinct lack of pun. That was on purpose.
I've been having kind of a hard time getting motivated as of late. Part of it is probably due to the year off I took last year. Don't get me wrong, it was super beneficial and I'd recommend it to everyone thinking about grad school, especially in music. However, I really got used to not doing homework, and though I haven't missed anything yet (I was always really good at knocking off short assignments early), some of the longer projects are really a drag to start. I just want to get past the course work and to the part where I'm doing nothing but playing, is that too much to ask? Part of it is also probably that reading week was last week, and though it was nice to have time off and practice, I didn't get a whole lot of human interaction, which is kind of something I thrive on, though something at which I admit I'm terrible. Cascade never believes me when I claim I'm like the most antisocial person ever, and that's because, living in a house of technically six (though really two tribes of three), I kind of have to force myself to be social, for fear of the others thinking I'm a terrible grinch of a person. It's not really the same at school, and I'm really not good at getting to know people (I like to stick to two or three really good friends, and am not usually great at branching out past that), and so I end up kind of keeping to myself a lot. Which is good when I need to practice, but not as good for morale. I know, I make no sense. But that's how it is.
As a few of you know, I got really interested in competitive Pokémon back when Heart Gold and Soul Silver came out. The competitive scene is really not similar to the game, and if you bring in a team from the campaign and expect to play it like you did against computer opponents, you will suffer a swift demise. But, because musician and therefore have no time to breed and EV train and win all those Life Orbs and Choice Bands and Power Anklets and stuff, most of my battling I do on simulators. When I went to pick up my copy of White 2, I met a few people that are part of a fan club here, and so I went to a few of the sessions. There's a really heavy focus on the card game, though, which is something in which I'm really not that interested. I'll give it a few more sessions, though, see if anything I'm interested in happens, or if I end up getting to know any cool people. There's even another music student in the group, which is nice.
So yeah, all in all, life is life, and that's that. I submitted an application for our national youth orchestra today, which would be absolutely fantastic. Since the local youth orchestra here never emailed me back when I asked if I could do a distance audition from Hyrule, I've been without my weekend rehearsal commitment, and I kind of miss it. Oh, well, I'm in town now, so I can totally apply for next year. After all, I keep telling people, don't turn down a gig if you can help it. It's not really fair, in that I'm graduate and therefore have no courses, and a lot of the others are music undergrad, or music ed, with huge course loads. But, I'm usually decent at not getting burned out (last two orch rehearsals I'm calling the exception to the rule, it got kinda rough), so hopefully that'll keep up. We'll see, there's still a couple weeks left, plus all of next term. Time to kick it up a notch. Awesome mode, activate!
(Obi-Wan's suggested listening for a particular piece on almost every instrument's excerpt list for this season, check it out:)
So, time to take a brief break from music to talk about a few nerdy things that come to mind, so it's time to get back to an old favourite: The Legend of Zelda. The idea for this post came from ScrewAttack.com's list of Top 10 Nintendo GameCube titles, in which The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess claimed the number two spot, beating out The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker due to the only-one-game-per-franchise rule. The Wind Waker was then dismissed as being "stupid" and "for kids" by this overtly "bro" website. That sparked a bit of rage in me, and that's because... The Wind Waker is maybe the best damn thing Nintendo has accomplished in the past ten years
This is the part where you're probably like "what, that silly thing? How so?" Well, hypothetical reader, I'm glad you asked, so allow me to present you with my own list:
FIVE REASONS WHY THE LEGEND OF ZELDA: THE WIND WAKER IS SO DAMN GOOD YOU JUST DON'T EVEN KNOW ANYMORE
So, without further ado, let us jump into the awesome of this game that you might just have a higher opinion of by the end of the next ten minutes or so.
(Spoiler Warning: Obviously, the ending of this game will be ruined, but also several references to The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword's religious implications and revelations will be made, complete with a spoiler warning when they do pop up)
#5: A huge world... that you actually WANT to explore
Obviously, the overworld oceanin this game is the largest of any Zelda game so far, but I suppose you could argue that if you go by just land mass and not the sailing sections, it probably loses out barely to Twilight Princess. Fun fact: the islands are so far apart so that the GameCube can load them while you're sailing, making the entire overworld seamless, UNLIKE in Twilight Princess. However, this is where games like Ocarina of Time, Twilight Princess, and even Skyward Sword lose out: sure, the world is big, but it gives you no incentive to explore it. The sky in Skyward Sword is the worst perpetrator: you have an entire SKY to explore, complete with islands, but the idiotic Goddess Cube system I mentioned in this article makes traversing it boring and a waste of time.
This is where The Wind Waker got it right: you start with virtually nothing on your map, and your Sea Chart, even when complete, has minimal information on it. You collect other charts, but no one chart has everything, you have to piece the information together, even cross-referencing treasure charts with your main Sea Chart. This sounds like a lot of work if you haven't played the game, but it has a wonderful side-effect: you WANT to see everything there is to see. Some islands have no plot relevance... so what are they hiding? What secrets can you get? You're sailing between islands, and you see... a lookout tower! A submarine! A fish! Sunken treasure! Let's stop and fight/explore/ask for hints/scavenge. There's so many things, and this is the secret. Unlike the other games I mentioned, where the overworld feels frankly mechanical, the ocean here feels ALIVE. You can ignore the plot for days on end and just... explore. There's so much depth, and that's what The Legend of Zelda has been about since 1986. The original game had so many useless areas, but that's because you didn't care, you just wanted to see everything, to explore. And that's what almost every 3D Zelda game did wrong, but The Wind Waker did right.
#4: Finding the Triforce of Courage... without main dungeon-crawling
There comes a point in the plot of the game where the dungeon-crawling comes to a halt, and you are expected to find eight pieces of the Triforce of Courage, which might be the longest stretch outside of a dungeon in a Zelda game to date, depending on how much exploration you've done up until this point in the game.
Again, this is another thing so many Zelda games do one way, but The Wind Waker tries another way... and gets it perfect. The shards of the Triforce themselves are located under the sea, meaning the player must salvage them manually, but cannot do so without a chart. Getting the chart, on the other hand, is where the adventure comes in. For example, one is found on the bottom floor of the Savage Labyrinth, which puts Link's endurance and courage to the test. One requires you to solve what you thought was a side-quest involving schoolkids and a teacher on Windfall Island in order to get a key to a private villa. One involves traversing a maze to get the Ghost Ship Chart, which then sends you chasing a vessel that changes location depending on the phase of the moon.
Sounds like an awful lot of work, doesn't it? But again, this is a game that makes you WANT to explore. The Triforce Charts really integrate the ocean into the plot of the game, making the overworld feel just as puzzling and exciting as the dungeons, and gives the game a homogenous feeling of exploration throughout, something the other games don't always accomplish. Sure, you're not finding a dungeon item and beating a boss with it, but this is really what makes it feel less artificial, less like a "game," and more like an adventure. Because at the heart of it, that's where The Wind Waker really gets it right - it's an adventure.
#3: Ganon is a total badass
Thanks to Hyrule Historia, we now have the Nintendo-Approved timeline to The Legend of Zelda, so we can make statements on the progression of the one character who exists in the most titles in the series: Ganon (remember, each Link is generally considered a separate person in a line of spiritual successors of the Hero of Time; same goes for Zelda).At the end of Ocarina of Time, Ganon is sealed in the Sacred Realm by the Seven Sages, and Zelda sends Link seven years into the past so he may live the childhood he missed, due to being sealed in the Temple of Time for seven years. According to the official timeline, Link and past Zelda reveal Ganon's plot before he can enact it, which leads to the execution scene from the flashback in Twilight Princess. However, in the future Link just left, his bloodline is permanently removed, thanks to Zelda sending him back. If we continue among this timeline, Ganon eventually breaks out of the Sacred Realm and amasses an army, and the people of the land pray for the Hero of Time to save them again. ...but the hero did not appear.
Eventually, the Goddesses "answer" the Hylians' prayers by flooding the land, killing basically everyone not living on top of a mountain (except, ironically, Ganon), and resetting everything. The Wind Waker takes place while Hyrule is still underwater, and Ganon has realized he can once again return Hyrule to its former state through the power of the Triforce.
Eventually, when Link meets Ganon, he learns Ganon's motives, and the player's hatred of this man hits a brick wall. Ganon just wanted the Gerudo people to be able to experience the fresh world, the feeling of inclusion and acceptance, that the Hylians had. I mean, granted, he's a proven lying bastard, so the fact that he's [SPOILER] a being manifested out of Demise's pure hatred, making him essentially Hyrule's Anti-Christ, probably has something to do with it, too.
In the final fight, Ganon's true colours emerge. Once he's deprived of his chance to rule the beautiful lands he coveted, he decides that, since he's about to die under the crushing weight of the ENTIRE OCEAN, he might as well take you down with him. And this is arguably the most spectacular and fun fight in the entire franchise, with Koloktos from Skyward Sword being the only enemy I can think of to even come CLOSE to the scope of this particular bout with Ganon.
Of course, he must eventually be defeated, but even when he is, he closes with one of the most badass last lines in gaming.
"The wind... it is blowing..."
#2: Traditional Gender Roles are skewed, then re-established... then upended all over again
I'm not talking much about Aryll here, who serves as our damsel in distress for most of this game. It's Tetra that's the interesting one. Tetra starts out the game as a pirate captain, bossing around the boys, and looking several years too young for some of the lewd implications the other pirates make about her. She's tough, she's confident, she's the girl in charge... and then everything changes when she and Link go to Hyrule Castle, which is held in suspended animation under the sea.
It turns out that, surprise surprise, Tetra is actually this game's princess Zelda, and therefore [SPOILER] the physical manifestation of Hylia, making her this game's Jesus. This is where the game really rubs me the wrong way, similar to how Pokémopolis claims Togepi ruined the strong female lead of Pokémon by turning her into a one-dimensional maternal figure (couldn't find the link, sorry). Zelda remains in Hyrule Castle, where the King wants her to be safe from Ganon... of course, she is kidnapped eventually. She went from ass-kicker to helpless maiden locked away to damsel in distress... way to "feminize" in the worst possible way, Nintendo.
Eventually Link makes it to the final battle with Ganon, and promptly gets his ass handed to him. Before Ganon is victorious, the King buys Link a couple seconds of time, and guess who shows up... ZELDA. With the Master Sword. Link ends up taking the sword, and Zelda the Light Arrows, and they gear up for a two-on-one battle against Ganon.
Here's where things are really shaken up. Sure, in Ocarina of Time you fight Ganon with Zelda, and she uses magic to pin him down for you to deliver the final blow, but it's pretty damn obvious that you don't need help. You're the Hero of Time, dammit, you just owned this fight all by yourself, you could keep going for hours. Yeah... not in this game. In The Wind Waker, Ganon is more than a match for BOTH of you. Pay attention to the third phase of the fight, after Zelda re-awakens after being knocked unconscious, but before she gets the idea to reflect light arrows off of your shield. How many times did you hit Ganon? Oh, that's right... NONE. Without breaking into the code to confirm, I feel I can safely say that short of exploiting glitches, you CANNOT hit Ganon in this phase. He is infinitely better than you, poor player.
This is where Zelda comes in. You see, she started as being the badass you hoped to be, was then diminished to passive female lead, and then to damsel in distress. All of a sudden, she's now your only hope of defeating Ganon. The fight is impossible to win on your own, and she becomes your lifeline. Partnering with Zelda is the way you overcome, and when you finally do triumph over Ganon, it's because the lead female character opened up a can of whoop-asson him. However, don't forget, there's still one more thing even better about this game...
#1: The Hero of Winds is better than you at everything
Hey, he used the title of the post in the post, how cute.Anyways, let's jump back to Hyrule Historia for a second, and realize something pretty huge about Link. You see, at the end of Ocarina of Time, Zelda sends Link back to the past, but in doing so, removes Link's bloodline from this chronology. When Ganon eventually breaks from the seal holding him in the Sacred Realm, there is no descendant of the Hero. Ganon's entire purpose, [SPOILER] being the incarnation of Demise's hatred for the Hero of Time, is now lost, and so he's free to go about his slightly-less-mindlessly-evil evil ways.
Enter this Link. The Hero of Winds. Link here is treated in the beginning of the game as the butt of almost any joke. He's smashed against walls, ridiculed by pirates, strapped in barrels and catapulted into evil fortresses, thrown into the sea, chased around by snot-nosed kids and pigs, and all sorts of humiliating things. He just can't get a break. Then, of course, in traditional Zelda style, it turns out you're the hero... BUT WAIT.
No, go ahead, watch it again. I'll wait while it sinks in.
Seriously, this has to be the greatest idea Nintendo had in The Wind Waker. Previous games use incarnations of the legendary Hero of Time, knight of Skyloft who [SPOILER] vanquished this game's equivalent of the devil, Demise, and whose bloodline is burdened with keeping his malevolent intentions at bay. The Wind Waker does nothing like that. Link is not the reincarnation of a legendary hero. Link is not connected by fate to the Blade of Evil's Bane, the Master Sword. Link is not destined to wield the Triforce of Courage.
But you know what? HE DOES IT ANYWAYS.
Seriously, this is brilliant. It's all because Ganon kidnaps Link's sister, thinking she looks enough like what Zelda is supposed to look like that maybe she is. Obviously, we find out it's Tetra, but Ganon's not above kidnapping girls until he stumbles across the right one by chance. And that's his mistake... he messes with this little kid with no destiny, no background, no anything. Just a whole lot of courage, and a whole lot of determination. Ganon could have never seen it coming. He lets Link live at the beginning of the game, because he's not the Hero of Time, he's some worthless kid.
But Ganon KIDNAPPED HIS SISTER.
And for that... he dies.
Link, the Hero of Winds, goes down in the books as one of the biggest badasses in video games.
Hello, Internet! How are you today? Looking fine, I see. Is that a new haircut? No, wait... new frames. Yeah, that's it. Been working on any good Bach lately?
Okay, all introductions aside, I do have the ideas for two nerdy posts I'm probably going to do back-to-back, but first, I thought this might be relevant. It's something that's come up a lot for me recently, and something I'm also getting really adamant about, mostly because I'm angry with myself that it's something I even have to work on. This should be instinctive, but... alas.
I've been enjoying my lessons with Obi-Wan, though I've noticed a recurring theme. It's something that I haven't really thought of as an issue before, though I've heard it said in a few different ways in retrospect, but never in a way that's made it out-prioritize everything else I'm working on until now. Now, several people in the non-trumpet brass department back in Pallet Town have been on my case for several reasons in the past, and rightly so, I don't consider myself to be that fantastic a player. As I've said before, I don't think anyone should consider themselves that fantastic a player, since once you do, you risk allowing yourself to not improve, and justify it by saying you've reached your goal.
Random aside, because it seems appropriate in the moment. I came up with this plan to keep myself motivated throughout my career, and I encourage you to do the same. It's a very basic plan, and when you'll hear it, you'll think it trivial, but it's necessary. All you have to do is make sure that, once you achieve a goal, you set a more impossible one. For example, one of these days, I'm going to perform Brandenburg. That's my first goal. Once I do that, don't remain satisfied. I set a new goal: I'm going to perform Hungarian Schnapsodie. After that monster is under my belt, I'm not done. By that point, I'll be considerably more skilled than I am now, so I have to make my goal more impossible... how about this? If I manage to accomplish that (and before you scoff, I've heard it performed ON THE TRUMPET, so it's possible! Look up Malcolm McNab, I think he's on iTunes), then I just aim higher. This way, there is the sad reality that I will never accomplish all of my goals, because I'd have a never-ending stream of goals going. But, it means that I never stop working to just get better and better.
Anyways, back to business. I don't consider myself a fantastic player, but I'm trying really damn hard, and I'm getting more legit as time goes on. Anyways, people have been getting on me for ages about various flaws. The usual trumpet ones always pop up: your sound is too brassy, your sound is too shrill, your attacks are too harsh, you're too loud (heh, going to rebut that one in a second), your notes are too short, and so on, and so on. All you trumpets have heard this all before, I'm sure. So, when I went to Viridian City, I expected the comments to be mostly the same.
Then, Obi-Wan's very first comment in my lesson came as a shock. I find people here are very nice when they critique... sometimes I wish people would be meaner, I'm certainly used to them being that way! He told me my sound was too small, too contained, too lacking in colour, too... careful. Part of it was just an inhale thing, but even when we sorted that out, my sound would start big, then revert during moving lines. After some experimentation (as O-W so correctly said, we're all essentially learning the instrument on our own, and our teachers only hear us one hour a week, so they give advice, but the other 167 hours, we have to critique ourselves and teach ourselves), I figured it out... I had become so self-conscious of all these little things that I had inadvertently made an introvert out of myself. I had become afraid to go out there and play. I had become afraid of my own instrument.
Probably the two most useful pieces of information I have gained in the past month of lessons is this fact, and on just how useful air patterns away from the horn are (seriously, they fix like all the things). O-W was right in saying that, in a real 60-piece orchestra, I'd be dead tired in no time, I'd conditioned myself to play to myself, and not PLAY the TRUMPET for people. This has been the main focus of my practice for the past couple weeks, is just getting a relaxed, confident, colourful, free-flowing, full, broad, TRUMPET sound. So many other issues don't even need fixing when this happens, because they no longer become issues, you're playing the instrument the way it's meant to be played, and so everything works out.
Now don't get me wrong, the advice everyone has given me in the past is valuable, and I'm not going to disregard anything. I've just learned the most important lesson about the trumpet: don't let anything, and I mean ANYTHING, get in the way of filling the entire room, concert hall, even WORLD (conceptually, of course) with your huge, gorgeous trumpet sound. And it's not volume, you can still play pianissimo, but a THICK pianissimo. If you think of the quality and dynamic of your sound as the size and colour of an object (it really doesn't matter which is which, they're interchangeable), changing one shouldn't effect the other, so why let it? A nice, thick, ringing pianissimo and a nice, thick, ringing fortissimo differ in dynamic, and a little bit in colour (I don't want you to get the wrong idea when I say that), but need the same intensity, the same depth, and the same ringing quality. Really, the secret is simple: immediate, deliberate, continuous, advancing air. Never step back, never give up, never surrender. It's that easy.
So, that's my little rant of the day. As I said before, I have two nerdy posts to make (maaaaaybe three, given the events happening this and next week), and by that point it'll be after the masterclass and probably after the orchestra concert, so back to the trumpet. See you then!
Hey guys, it's two weeks into the new year, and a whole lot of cool stuff has been going down. Since the internet has made it possible to write arrogantly long rants wreathed with vanity on ones own experiences, I figured I might as well chat about things for a bit, fill y'all in on the first little while of my time here in Termina.
(Termina rather than Viridian City because I've realized that almost everyone I see here looks like someone I've seen before, just edited somewhat... it's kind of freaky, really)
Obviously the biggest thing I've had to worry about was my ensemble placement audition, which was on the first Friday of my being back. I had to play the last movement of JS Bach's cello Suite #1, a short melody blatantly ripped from the violin line in the first movement of Mahler 5, and another wind ensemble-esque fanfare thing. And... I thought it went poorly, at first. I got a huge hit of nerves partway through the Bach excerpt, and had a really hard time breathing for the rest of the page, which isn't exactly the best thing on brass. I took a bit of extra time to try and catch my breath for the Mahler-esque one, but I still felt like my breathing was really shallow (I played the Mahlery one on C, for that added touch of detail, I think it went over well; can't say for sure as the audition was blind). Finally, by the concert band one, I had calmed down enough to play normally, and that one actually kind of rocked.
Thankfully, it worked out for me, and I ended up getting into the orchestra rather than the wind symphony, which is exactly what I was hoping for. I guess, if people would ask me what my advice would be for a stressful situation like that, it's "keep going, no matter what." I really think my nerves were audible, but at the same time, I didn't let anything stop me. Even when I was struggling for air, I kept the flow of the piece (I may have sped up a tad >.>) and tanked my way through. It's kind of the same in rep class / perf class / masterclass / whatever your school calls it: you're trying to emulate a performance, so DON'T STOP. Tank your way through, and if you do want to stop, have a good, justifiable reason for it.
Firebird was making fun of me because I discovered something I had made fun of her for once: the half-hour practice session. I used to do the marathon thing when it came to practicing, and I kind of hate my old habits of doing that. Doing 3-5 half-hour sessions in a day is CLEARLY the superior option, as I've been feeling fresh for each one, having an easier time concentrating, and getting tired less often, not to mention having a better batting average in ensemble rehearsals. Maurice frickin' André was an advocate of the half-hour session, for crying out loud... how have I not discovered this before? But, yeah... do it.
We had our first quintet rehearsal today, and it looks like we'll probably be doing two per week, one coached and one independently. It was good to read through some things, and I think we'll work out to be a pretty solid group, once we start doing some serious woodshedding.
It's a little unusual to me, but ensembles are really early at this school. Like, the latest I'm usually done is by 6pm, meaning I generally get back home by 7. This means, being the antisocial hermit that I am, and since I don't have an undergraduate amount of homework to do, I get bored a lot easier at night. Not that that's interesting to anyone, but as I said, laced with vanity or something.
And so yeah, that was my not-terribly-interesting post of the night. Not sure what's in store next time, might be another one of these, might be a silly one, might be something completely different. I do have an idea for a silly one, but it's a very rough plan. So, instead, I'll leave you with something that's just... also silly. Peace out!
(This is the second part of the Mahl Wars franchise. The first part is here. Also, I was too lazy to look up rehearsal numbers this time. Remember to follow along with your own recording at home! Mine's Chicago with Claudio Abbado)
Part I - Allegro Maestoso
The scene opens with the vast, deep emptiness of space. As the oboe enters, the scene pans to a fleet of Imperial Planet Renders. Darth Wagner makes his first appearance, accompanied by a demonic brass fanfare. As he announces to the ship his plan to capture the grave of Anti-Non Brucknobi, two Schöentroopers exchange confident glances on a lower deck. The camera pans in and reveals these two to be none other than Gustav Skywalker and Hugan Wolfo, disguised and infiltrating the Empire ships. They slip into the crowd as the fleet departs from Viennescant. There is a brief struggle around the 3-minute mark as Gustav steals security codes from an officer, and he and Wolfo make a daring close escape, fooling the guards on the next floor into thinking they're helping pursue the intruders (did you hear Gustav's theme from the first movie in the flute around 4 minutes?).
However, their escape is short-lived as Darth Wagner comes down to their floor (sehr langsam begginend). As the Deus Irae begins, Wagner reveals his plan to extract the essence of Master Brucknobi in order to fully wield the power of Titan for himself. He makes his departure cackling maniacally at the extremely John Williams-sounding chords. Skywalker and Wolfo start making their daring escape, sneaking through the Planet Render to get to the escape pods without being noticed by the Schöentroopers. They escape, but not unnoticed. When asked if the pod should be shot down, Wagner orders his troops to hold their fire, saying he has his own plans for Skywalker. As the movement ends, Wagner says to the helmsman, "Set a course for Viennescant."
Part II - Andante Moderato
The scene opens in the relaxed Resistance base on Viennescant (unlike their Lucasean counterpart, these rebels are largely inexperienced and tend to not worry about things too much). Gustav goes to a closed-door meeting, where he meets up with Princess Alma. As he explains Darth Wagner's plans to the council (which is obviously represented by the scherzo-esque sounds here), they have a hard time believing him, since they aren't privy on the ways of Muzyk, a "dying old religion." Princess Alma (obviously represented by the waltz) makes her case that they should listen to Gustav and protect the tomb from a possible Imperial assault. At the big brass entrance, a call-to-arms has been organized, and the Resistance members are put back into combat training to protect the planet from Imperial action. As Gustav thanks Alma for helping out, we get the first hints of their non-sibling attraction. Gustav leaves the meeting in a daze, and the pizzicato show how in-the-clouds his head is.
Part III - In Ruhig Fleißender Bewegung
Nighttime. Anti-Non Brucknobi's tomb. Enter the incredibly handsome bounty hunter, Bobaszt Franz. The Resistance guards start questioning him on his whereabouts, but his dazzle proves too much for their weak minds, and as he sweet-talks them, he manages to hit them both with stun blasts from his blasterforte. He escapes from the tomb with Brucknobi's urn, making an overly-heroic brassy clamour as he does. He retreats from the tomb to his ship across the city, charming the patrolling guards all the way down. No one, regardless of gender, orientation, or identity, can resist the overwhelming power that is Bobaszt Franz. Even Gustav, who bumps into him while walking still in that daze, doesn't notice through his Muzyk that something is amiss. With a big brassy cacophony, Franz can't help radioing to Resistance headquarters to brag about how he stole Brucknobi's remains, and the guards are too entranced to do anything about it.
Part IV - Urlicht.Sehr Feierlich, Aber Schlicht
Darth Wagner is meditating, and in a vision, sees Anti-Non Brucknobi. Wagner is no longer a robotic excuse for a human, but appears whole as before his fateful confrontation with the dragon Fafner. Wagner demands Brucknobi honour his promise of years ago and explain the full secrets of the Titan for him.Brucknobi explains that there is no secret, and that the Titan's power exists within everyone. He goes on to clarify that Gustav was not granted power by anyone, but has total mastery of Muzyk on his own accord. Enraged by his old master's words, Wagner vows not only to master Muzyk, but to become a Gesamptkunstmaster, having total control of every aspect of everything, an accomplishment that the Composer's Guild both banned and thought impossible. Anti-non bids that he has nothing more to say to a man he once called his friend, and departs.
Part V - Im Tempo Des Scherzos
An Imperial Planet Render approaches Viennescant space, but the Resistance is ready. Gustav, meditating before the inevitable struggle, sees Anti-Non in a vision, who tells him that he has the power to ward off Darth Wagner for now, as he is blinded by his own ambition. Wagner radios the Resistance command, saying he is holding the remains of the hero Brucknobi, and demands an easy surrender. Gustav is in the room, and makes a speech on how the body means nothing, and Brucknobi will always be with the Resistance through Muzyk. As the connection is cut, the council must decide whether it's worth it to make an offensive, as the Empire does not appear to be hostile, and it's decided that the safety of the planet's inhabitants must come first.Gustav decides to go on a solo covert mission to retrieve the urn from the Empire.
(Am Anfang Sehr Zurückgehalten) By using his Muzyk to confuse the Schöentroopers, Gustav manages to sneak aboard the main Planet Render. Sneaking through the corridors, he discovers the urn guarded only by a few troopers, and entrances them with his Muzyk, taking the urn and heading back to his ship. (Wieder Sehr Breit) He takes off successfully, and heads back into Resistance space, but not before leaving an identical (though empty) urn behind. (Maestoso. Sehr Zurückhaltend) Gustav is surprised to see that a firefight has broken out between the Planet Render and a Resistance Frigate Pathetique. However, the Frigate quickly causes the Imperial ship to fall back, not expecting the Resistance to have been anticipating combat.
(Wieder Zurückhaltend) Gustav is confronted by Bobaszt Franz on the surface, who tries to use his charm to get him to return the urn, which wasn't his to begin with. Gustav's Muzyk thankfully is with him this time, and he can see through Franz's faulty charm to the logic underneath, refusing to give back the urn, and after a brief struggle, manages to slice the blasterforte in half in Franz's hands with his violsabre.
(Sehr Langsam Und Gedehnt) The next day, Gustav is honoured by the Resistance and the Olde Castlee that was the ancient base of the Composer's Guild. Suddenly, the lights dim and a heavenly chorus can be heard singing all around. Anti-Non Brucknobi appears to those present, causing cries of "He's alive! He's returned!" Master Brucknobi says softly that he has not returned, but through his Muzyk, is making himself alive in the souls of the Resistance members, and that every act they take to making the galaxy better for the listeners out there is honouring his memory and work as a Composer. He charges the Resistance to continue to spread the power of Muzyk through the galaxy, and though his image vanishes, the chorus continues to sing. The scene pans up and out to space, as the chorus continues to sing, and the credits roll.
Hello people of the internet! Most of the people I'm writing this for are either currently in or have histories of being in Pallet Town, so this is directed at them. It's the end of my first full day in Viridian City, after a twelve hour flight and a four hour time difference, and I'm just starting to get settled. I'm having a bit of a time getting all the things out of my suitcase, mostly due to laziness combined with the lack of a proper desk, but probably moreso the first one.
The first thing I've definitely noticed is I've had less chances to talk to people from Pallet Town than I've wanted, and I worry that this may end up being a recurring theme. Which sucks, I have so many good friends from there. I'm going to do everything in my power to make sure those connections aren't lost, so don't you fret, M. Marius.
My first plan in decorating is to put up a few posters, hide some of the awkwardly green walls. As I said, I lack a desk, which is really bugging me. However, I have a SOFA that I didn't think I had. So, the bedside table might become a desk, the chair might become a bedside table, and the sofa might take over for the chair. Plus, it means I can have guests without awkwardly making them sleep in plain view of five other roommates. I also have a wardrobe, which will be used as such, and another thing with shelves that'll probably become a bookcase against its will. And I have a little closet-under-the-stairs style closet, but no hangars in there, so it'll be... for something. Maybe storing these suitcases... though one of them will likely become an impromptu laundry basket.
I have an office at the university, which is kind of awesome. It's a glorified practice room with a desk, but still. I'm waiting to see if there's a music orientation, since I haven't heard of one yet, and would really like to familiarize myself with the department a bit more... find out all the details that I took for granted that I knew at the old school. About halfway through writing that last sentence, I found the department handbook online, and it looks like a lot of things will be starting fresh next week, so I'm not alone in this. Which is good.
I got an e-mail from the guy that's teaching trumpet first term (yes, I don't get "my" teacher until January, but I knew that going into this, and I think two different approaches might be a good thing), and have sent him a brief bio of myself as per his request. So that's taken care of, looks like Tuesday lessons will be the norm for another year.
Ensemble rehearsals are generally twice a week for large ensembles, and looks like once a week for brass choir. Presumably smaller brass ensembles would also be once a week, not sure since they haven't been assigned. What they do with rep classes is kind of cool, though. I have two rep classes per week. One of them is for all trumpet majors, and just trumpets. The other, and this is a neat one, is restricted to performance majors only, BUT isn't segregated by instrument. All the performance majors are divided into three groups, and those groups have rep class throughout the year, coached by instructors of different instruments each time. I think it's pretty nifty.
So yeah. Still alive, still going, getting ready for school, getting bored, getting nervous... lots of getting going on. I have no idea how frequently I'll be updating this throughout the next term, but I'm going to try and keep a steady stream going, both for you folks at home, and for the new folks that may flock to this in the coming months. Either way, it'll be an adventure!
I'm going to preface this by saying I don't watch CSI: Miami, to the extent where I actually had to go look up the fact that it IS the Miami one I'm talking about here, so this probably could be longer.
Anyways, THIS GUY.
Sigh... where do I begin? As someone who has seen maybe four episodes of this show, all at different times, and with the most recent one well over a year ago, I have no idea why this guy is the star. I mean... he's kind of lame, his jokes aren't funny, and he just kind of reeks of loser. See, I don't even know enough about the show to tell you what I don't like about him. I just don't like him. Yet, he's the star, and considering TV shows like this usually don't mind switching their cast around, there has to be a reason for it.
And then it hit me.
Horatio Caine is us.
That's right, people of the internet. This guy is EXACTLY what each of us wants to be. In him, we see ourselves as we want to see ourselves. Mr. Caine makes some big enemies in his time, and pulls off some spectacular kills (or so the internet/Wikipedia/IMDb tells me, I'm just kinda rolling with that). He always puts justice and the innocent first. He's generally a badass.
And here's the thing about that: he kinda just comes across as an average Joe. He's not an Arnold Schwarzenegger, more buff than we'll ever be. He's not a Ryan Gosling, more good-looking than we'll ever be. He's not a Rowan Atkinson, funnier than we'll ever be. He's not a Stephen Hawking, more brilliant than we'll ever be (though I'm sure he's pretty sharp, don't get me wrong). He's just kind of a guy, and an incredibly badass one. He has no reason to be badass other than he just is.
And that's what's so appealing about him. All of us average Joes on the internet, either see ourselves or want to see ourselves as much more badass than what we are. Enter Horatio Caine: someone we can identify with because he seems to be just an average guy. He has no unrealistic superpowers. He's not a super-genius like Charlie Eppes. Though his past is far from pleasant, it's not shrouded in mystery like Dean Winchester. This is someone who, through a lot of off-screen hard work and determination we don't like to think about, has achieved a level of awesome we'd all like to see ourselves. He always does the right thing, which obviously we all do every time, right? He's basically John McClane but still has hair.
"But person whose name I probably know but might not," you say, "why are you singling him out instead of John McClane, or Meredith Gray, or Fox Mulder?" Well, to combat your pseudo-random list of characters... it's the one-liners.
These one-liners serve a dual function: first, they de-idolize him in a sense, bringing him from a "perfect" TV character, to someone who sometimes says stupid things. You know, KIND OF LIKE US. Admit it, you say stupid things, too. Their other function is to make it clear to the viewer: regardless of how bad most of his one-liners are, he's still the big bad guy on the scene. By giving him a common trait among us (incredibly bad joke attempts), and showing that it in no way lowers his awesome level, viewers come to sympathize with him, while also hoping "maybe I can be as way past cool as that, since I can TOTALLY come up with better one-liners than he can!"
And so, dear internet, a toast for our idol. For the man we want to be. For Horatio put-your-damn-glasses-on Caine.
I didn't own any game systems when I was a little kid, so when I got Sonic 3 & Knuckles for the PC one day for Christmas, about two years after its original PC release and five years after its Genesis release, I didn't know what to expect, since I didn't know anything about games. I would soon come to consider this the title that defines my childhood as a gamer, and the game with the most personal value. And back in the day, I was damn good at it, too. I got to the point where I could do a virtually flawless run to get the best ending in an afternoon, which is more work than I have ever put into a game, including Super Smash Bros (I used to try and play that one competitively, it didn't work out very well). Anyways, being an avid fan of the Fastest Thing Alive, I felt I'd dedicate a post to the way his game's themes have evolved to follow their audience over the years. For this one, I'm only going to talk about titles that actually have distinct theme songs with lyrics, so the godly Sonic 3 & Knuckles will be left off the list. All right, let's begin!
Sonic CD - "Sonic Boom"
GUYS LOOK AT HOW INCREDIBLY '90s IT IS. Now that I have that out of my system, Sonic CD came out at the peak of what I call the "First Golden Age" of Sonic games, which takes us from the Genesis release of Sonic the Hedgehog 2 to the release of Sonic & Knuckles. These three games (StH2, CD, and S3&K) are still revered as the best in the series by most modern Sonic fans, or at least most fans my age, and all modern games are critiqued as to how faithfully they carry the mood of 2 and 3.
At this point in the blue blur's lifestyle, he was Sega's card-carrying member against a slew of Nintendo heroes, most popularly Mario and Donkey Kong, though in retrospect Link and Samus got the real "golden" games of the Super Nintendo. To compete against Nintendo's family-friendly demeanour, Sega had to play up Sonic's badass factor. In this wonderful opening, the kids who were "2 kool 4 skool" enough to have a Genesis with the CD attachment are reaffirmed by Sega that yes, you are a badass, and look how much of a damn Sonic does not give right now. That's you, not caring. Because you're awesome.
Sonic 3D Blast - "You're My Hero"
Sonic 3D Blast was smack in the middle of the first shaky era for Sonic games... there was a bit of a trouble finding Sonic's true 3D niche, and as much as Sega hates to admit it, it really took the inspiration of Super Mario 64 to finally find the right direction to go with 3D Sonic (more on that later). For now, we got the lacklustre Sonic 3D Blast, which wasn't particularly fast, wasn't particularly challenging, and... well, it just didn't play up the badassery we had come to expect. Our hero is now rescuing birds by sending them to another dimension... right. And this game was basically a replacement for what would have been Super Mario Galaxy over ten years before Galaxy came out, a project that Sega cancelled in its early stages, but a demo of which can be seen in its early stages of production here.
This tune is technically credits music, and not a main theme, so I can be a little more lenient in that it's meant for something different than what "Sonic Boom" was. However, when we look at the next one, we realize that Sega was taking a different direction for a couple years.
Sonic R - "Super Sonic Racing"
Sonic R is a game that polarizes Sonic fans, mostly because of its short length, being a racing game (with... *shudder*... FREEZE TAG), and having all the tracks sung by the same woman, TJ Davis, who is distinctly NOT "2 kool 4 skool" like the gals in "Sonic Boom" were. I'm not sure what had gotten into Sega by this point, but this does have a very... Sega Saturn sound to it. This is thanks to Richard Jacques, the game's composer, who was steering Sega more in the direction of pop music (not in an MJ/S3&K way either). It's not a surprise to hear that Davis sings in an ABBA cover band.
Sonic Adventure - "Open Your Heart"
Now... HERE we go! Sonic Adventure brings in the "Second Golden Age" of Sonic gaming, which lasts until the release of its sequel (these two titles themselves are enough to constitute an age, yes). The main theme here, sung from the perspective of our hero as he prepares to fight Perfect Chaos at the end of the game, has become what we expect from Sonic titles.
This was the first song written by the collaboration of Jun Senoue, a guitarist who worked on Sonic the Hedgehog 3, and vocalist Johnny Gioeli, who would later be known to Sonic fans as Crush 40, the defining band of Sonic music. In fact, Gioeli's vocals are heard on more Sonic music tracks than anyone else combined.
Most people might not notice it at first, but Sonic Adventure was greatly inspired by Super Mario 64, what with the new (to Sonic) style of proper 3D movement, fixing the errors of Sonic 3D Blast,and reliance on central hub worlds to connect to the levels. Thus, since Sonic was actually straying back into Mario's territory, it made sense for the music to take an even further leap from Nintendo's plumber and play up the "way past cool"ness of our hedgehog. And none of us fans are complaining.
Sonic Adventure 2 - "Live and Learn"
Sonic Adventure 2. My second-favourite Sonic game, and definitely in my personal top ten game soundtracks. This song, another Crush 40 composition, is the quintessential Sonic song, being referenced in the finale of Shadow the Hedgehog and the Super Smash Bros Brawl Sonic trailer.
Something the Adventure series really gets right is that its songs reflect the emotion of the game, and especially of their respective finales. Shadow is discovering the error in his ways, and the promises he made in the past that he has forgotten, and this song is representative of the trials our amnesiac anti-hero must overcome. Also, how many video game theme songs do you know that have gotten an entire room fist-pumping?
Sonic Heroes - "Sonic Heroes"
Although this is another Crush 40 tune, the Sonic Heroes theme seems a little too... nice, compared to the previous two. This comes from a kind of "Silver Age" in Sonic history, where the games were actually still alright, but couldn't really live up to the Adventure series. However, the biggest thing, I believe, about Heroes is that it was slated for multiple platforms right away. Whereas previous Sonic titles were meant for Sega platforms, and Sega knew that their followers were more badass than others, this was to be released on the Nintendo GameCube, and even the PC. Therefore, though it still has the same rock sound, it's a gentler message, showing the characters as infallible idols than broken heroes in need of redemption.
Speaking of broken heroes in need of redemption...
Shadow the Hedgehog - "I Am.. All of Me"
Shadow the Hedgehog is a... different game. It's the first game aimed at a "more mature" audience (haha, E10+), and contains dubious morality, in that the player's choices determine whether they take the role of a hero or villain. Crush 40's theme this time is MUCH more intense, and matches the nature of the game, which is itself much more intense. Players expecting to see the happy Team Rose-esque nature of Heroes will definitely have to "step inside and hold on for dear life." I also suggest you check out the credits theme, one of Crush 40's crowning achievements, in my opinion.
Sonic Riders - "Sonic Speed Riders"...? Or something?
I don't know much about Sonic Riders, besides the fact that Sonic's on a hoverboard... when he's the fastest thing alive... because that makes sense... I don't even know about this one, guys. Sonic the Hedgehog (2006) - "His World"
Sigh... Sonic '06 will be forever known as the game that ruined it all. Terrible acting, an abundance of glitches, poor synchronization, lazy animating... this game had it all. Or, rather, lacked it all. The only (and I mean ONLY) upside is that, as usual, the soundtrack isn't half bad. "His World" shows a change of direction from the usual theme, what with rapping and strings thrown in. On one hand, it's a nice tune and a nice change, but on the other, I can't get over this game.
"His World" was written by Zebrahead, who did an alternate version here that has a more traditional rock band sound. Crush 40 also did a version here.
Sonic Unleashed - "Endless Possibility"
Sega knew they had to redeem themselves. Unleashed was their first attempt, and though it did a few things right, it did several things wrong (werehog). Like the werehog. There probably should have been more Sonic-running-through-levels-as-himself in it. Did I mention the werehog? That aside, Sega seems to like the direction "Endless Possibility" has brought Sonic music. It is lighter than most Crush 40 things, but it seems they're trying to almost channel the pre-Adventure days. For the past several games, Sega knows that they had a perfect formula, they just can't seem to remember what it was, and so they look back to the older games, with varying degrees of success. This was beaten out by...
Sonic Colours - "Reach for the Stars"
Besides the obviousin Generations, Colours is the closest Sega has gotten since 2006 to recapturing their lost glory. This theme very closely resembles the previous, and I see this as Sega trying again. They realized something wasn't quite right last time *cough*werehog*cough*, and so they fixed the mistake and gave it another shot. And so Colours was born. "Reach for the Stars" is again one of the lighter, happy themes, but I do see a reason for this:
Even if we take out the bad controls, bad acting, bad animation, and glitches, Sonic '06 was too serious. There was too much plot, and fans didn't particularly care. We just want to run through levels and smash robots. And so, by cooling down and taking it easy even in the main theme, Sega is showing us that they're relaxing and going back to the good old days of "I just want to run really fast." Because in the end, that's what Sonic is about. You're the fastest thing alive.
I'll leave you with this gem from the Sonic Colours soundtrack. Next time... I don't know, possibly Mahl Wars, possibly something else, but definitely music. We shall see!
So, if you happen to have been at the recent production put on by a drama troupe and members of a local community orchestra founded last year by an alumnus from my university, you'd recognize that quote as being the dramatic lead-in to the first movement of Borodin's second symphony. This concert, though I was a little wary at first of the combination, ended up actually being really cool. Allow me to explain.
First off, the orchestra. This was a project started by two people in the area, and they've really put everything on the line for it. And it's been much more successful than I had anticipated. I've played with them only last summer and this, and I've noticed an improvement in ability and morale over the past year of my not-being-there-enough-to-not-notice-gradual-things. It just seemed like a much better attitude this time around. I still miss the youth orchestra, but that's okay. I'm not sure how ALL the competition stacks up at my new school (they've had trumpets in the National Youth Orchestra, so that's a thing), but I just hope I make it into the school orchestra, I can't stand going from two to none. I mean... I am one of only two doing a masters degree, you'd think I should be able to, but I can't just go around underestimating the other students, so for the sake of making sure I'm prepared for the audition, I'm going to assume that every one of them has the potential to oust me.
This concert's gimmick was that there was music and dramatics going on at (mostly) the same time, and instead of short scenes, the four pieces were actually one long production, like a movie or something where you sit through the whole thing before applauding (this is where you go "Silly person whose name I don't actually know if I'm one of the random people that doesn't know you in real life, people don't clap at movies" and I go "You didn't see Deathly Hallows Part 2 in theatres"). I'm not entirely sure what the plot was, since, y'know, I was PLAYING a lot of the time. Something about a woman whose husband is killed while at sea and then she goes crazy and thinks the ocean IS her husband...? Maybe? Let's go with that.
Now, of course, I have to rant about how I, personally, did. That's like, what I do here. And you guys read it. Maybe. It's actually kind of silly. Anyways, if I'm really nice to myself, then there were some pretty excellent moments. Except, me being the masochistic musician everyone really has to be, I've decided that every time I have excellent moments, I change my scale so that those are considered "standard" moments, which really just means a larger percentage of what I played is now sub-par moments. Yes, that's silly and demoralizing, but that's the kind of thing that I need. If you ever need a kick in the pants to improve, take what used to be excellent, and make it your norm. All of a sudden, your usual doesn't cut it, EVERYTHING has to be what was, yesterday, excellent.
But, you know what? It works. I'm used to hating things about how I play, so I can deal with that, and I think that's something you really need as a musician. A lot of people I know (anyone reading this thinks I'm singling them out, go stand over there with the other fifty people I know who probably also think that) have the advantage of having always been the local maximum. Best in your high school, for example. Well, when you get to a certain level, everyone who's left has the advantage of having been best in their high school, and eventually best in their university. So, all of your competition is waving that same flag of entitlement. I had the advantage of not having any chances at a young age of being the best in any particular group, so I'm used to always having to work at surpassing people, and I don't plan to stop that any time soon. However, there are a lot of people who seem to think they're there already, and if that's what you think, my lesson to you is thus: maybe you should adjust your scale. Bump your expectations up a few degrees. And don't use being a student as an excuse, your time as a student is ever-diminishing.
I have a few stories to keep people tied through the rest of the summer (including the next installment of Mahl Wars), and then I'll be moving cross-country at the end of August, so get ready for lots of exciting experiences! This is where you'll hear it first three weeks later!
