Music affects everyone in one way or another. There is music that speaks to everyone in some way or form. My brain has always been stimulated by video game soundtracks and most video game music as a whole. As of writing this I am listening to the Hollow Knight official soundtrack (or OST), which has beautifully pieced orchestral and rock style songs that accompany the entirety of the game.
I often find myself also listening to OST’s from games like Hades and The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth, which are some of my personal favorite games. Music in video games helps allure the player into an experience and creates a world like no other for players to enjoy and immerse themselves in, whether it would be to relieve stress or for a distraction from their responsibilities (I swear I’ve never done the latter).
Although music helps guide the experience in any media, such as movies, tv shows, and of course, video games, I’ve heard this idea floating around making zero sense to me: which is the idea that video game soundtracks and musical pieces aren’t real music.
Everywhere from anything is music in some way shape or form, even if both forms are music, one cant be ignored because of its difference. Music helps affect the entire experience of the video game you play as well, arguably it being even more important or just as important as the gameplay itself.
“Music to me, being an eternal student of it, is defined as a development of ideas that fit into a specific time and space. It has a beginning and an end, a destination – so to speak,” says Jessica Lopa, instructor teacher at Nonnewaug High School. “If I were to get technical about the musical language, I would agree that video game music uses it in the same way in its development as real music. Necessary things like chord progressions are the basis from which melody, harmony and all instrumentation stem from.”
The most information people give when arguing about this is that music needs to have lyrics, and that the lyrics are the base to go off when creating music overall. This is completely illogical and isn’t even close to the reality that music’s light is in. The definition of music sums it up perfectly.
“Vocal or instrumental sounds (or both) combined in such a way as to produce beauty of form, harmony, and expression of emotion,” according to the Oxford dictionary. This roughly meaning music is created as music when it provokes human emotion and is structured in the correct way in a harmonic manner. This of course, includes video game OSTs and unofficial soundtracks and musical pieces made by fans of all different video games.
Here at Nonnewaug, music can take many forms as it can be used as the background for the video games made in Williams Michaels video game design class. “A Video Game soundtrack is very important for engaging the player into the game flow. One of the most memorable aspects of popular video games is the music,” said William Michael, video game design teacher at Nonnewaug High School. “Aside from filling silence, catchy music entrances the gamer to a certain degree – making them play longer and submerging them deeper into the gameplay itself.”
Music is created for more than just filling silence. It bridges the gaps between reality and the media we absorb on a daily basis, and helps increase the enjoyment of experiences involving it and experiences in life as a whole. All human beings enjoy some sort of music in a way, shape or form, and why should we put each other down because of what different kinds of music means to all of us separately.
“Having an open mind in music requires a larger perspective than different people are capable of at one time or another in their lives,” says Lopa. “I think musical tastes can draw lines in the sand especially between the younger and older generations. Some are willing to defend their criticism of different types of music.”
This is the opinion of Chief Advocate reporter Ethan Gelinas.
