Nonfunctional Harmony in Chrono Trigger

Today I take a look at the way the Chrono Trigger soundtrack uses "nonfunctional chord progressions".

Thanks to my lovely wife for making the intro art!

[opsimathics]

I thought this was going to be some aspergers BS overanalysis, and it was, but at the same time it taught me music theory and notation which I don't know, and now I'm a little less of an ignorant idiot

[prolo]

Fun fact: The music composer for Chrono Trigger made some of the soundtrack sound like melodies he hears in his dreams.

[teohyc]

The music is so good people are still listening, remixing and covering it decades later. I dare to say hundreds of years later too.

[ToxicxEternity]

somebody once told me there's a secret in this forestttt

[IRJustman]

What's really sad is that Mitsuda's original work is lost to a hard drive crash. We will likely never know what his original work was like, especially given this analysis. I really enjoyed the music as distributed, but I'm always saddened to hear about data loss events like that.

[KyleHohn]

10:35, that's not the original melody, is it? Then again, I ain't the sharpest tool in the shed.

[hanschristiaanhylkema]

Finally someone who acknowledges the technical ingenuity of retro game composers. In my mind many composers of 8-bit and 16-bit games are on par with the great renaissance composers. Both composed for a very limited number of voices, yet they made the most interesting compositions with it which sound good on almost any instrument. I'm gonna watch a hell of a lot more of these vids and it's an instant subscribe for me!

[TheImpolitelad]

The greatest part of all of this is the work that was put into it all. The composer put his career on the line demanding a project from his boss or he would quit. His boss gave him all of Chrono Trigger. Mitsuda worked until he passed out, writing some songs in his sleep. By the end he was hospitalized with stomach ulcers.

[Meuterei]

The crazy part was, Mitsuda composed this soundtrack when he was 22-23 years old.

[ichaukan]

Being a band geek during the mid to late 90's, and always trying to figure out how to play things by ear, I always wondered why I loved Chrono Trigger's soundtrack so much and yet found it so damn difficult to follow out.
You, sir, have my utmost respect.

[RainbowDemon]

10:50 somebody once told me, the world was gonna roll me, I aint the sharpest tool in the she-ed

[twelveminusone]

When I was a kid I would get my tape recorder and record songs from video games and force my piano teacher to teach them to me. Most of the songs came from games like the Final Fantasy Series, Castlevania, Lufia II, and Super Mario World. But when I discovered Chrono Trigger my piano teacher was blown away by the complexity. Rather than attempting to explain the theory, we both just learned the fingering. As an aspiring composer myself, this video finally taught me the reasoning behind some of my favorite songs that I've been playing for years and I can't thank you enough. While most of this is still a bit over my head, I'm going to rewatch this and all your other videos. Thanks so much for what you're doing!

[Rubberman]

10:38 - 10:51 I literally had to stop a play back the video to make sure I heard that right.

Who are you, SiIvaGunner?

[dewinmoonl]

god 10:35

talk about playing with expectations

we've all been trolled...

[BackdoorShenanigans]

As a composer who was largely inspired by Mitsuda and Uematsu in my early years, most of this is stuff I've said before, but it's really nice to hear it said in such a way that is organized and accessible. It's cool to hear someone speak of music in one of these youtube videos that is actually theoretically accurate, but shown and explained in a way that my kid could get. Thanks so much for this!

[insaneintherainmusic]

GREAT video. I played along with all your examples and analyses and they make sense. Here's a thought:

What if in Secret of the Forest, the Gbma7 chord is analyzed as the bIIma7 (from the parallel Phrygian) in the key of F minor? bIIma7's chord scale would be Lydian (as all borrowed ma7 chords are), and Fmi9 would just be aeolian. Don't know if you looked at it that way, that's what makes the most sense to me.

Edit: Also, that Ami7 to F#mi7 just seems like modal mixture, with the F#mi7 borrowed from the parallel major.

[katiegertz]

I feel like I just took an entire college course on nonfunctional harmony. Thank you so much, this will really help my compositions from now on, because I do them by feel and I always get unsure of myself when I stray from functional harmony. Awesome, just lovely, thank you.

[NaikoArt]

7:08 this might be one of the most iconic pieces in gaming history, it always gives me chills

[vinisun]

Being a music student at an university an having a difficult time with the harmony classes, your videos make me literally cry with joy. Dealing with my best memories in gaming and all, such an awesome content! You're really helping me out, thanks so much!

[音姫soundprincess]

Did you know there is an acid jazz album called The Brink of Time, with the music of Chrono Trigger arranged by the own Mitsuda?