How to Compose Music like The Legend of Zelda

How to compose Zelda music like Koji Kondo? Let's take a look at some composition techniques that you can use to achieve this sound.

#becomeagamecomposer #kojikondo #zeldamusic

[StevenMelin]

What other composers / styles would you like me to dissect?

[CatalogK]

I’ve always heard it described as the “flat six major seven” but this approach makes a lot of sense as well.

[FatalMuffin]

Holy crap glad I stumbled on this channel! It's tough to find people actually dissecting the theory behind this music without overly sugar-coating it, thank you sir!

[hayala]

That zelda chord progression and your original village theme reminds me a lot of the Traverse Town music style from Kingdom Hearts.

[ernestdayne]

Great stuff in this video. You are a great pianist as well. I’ve been working hard trying to become a good composer on my own, and your wisdom helps so I appreciate it

[kevinarmes]

Hey I love the type of content you’re covering! Really good to see someone dig in a little bit.
Your composition going from D Maj to F Major seven weeks s gorgeous. Very Koji Kondo like. He loves using mode mixture (think IIb IIIb VIb VIIb chords) with a major seven in the melody. Well done

[TrueTydin]

Do a series on David Wise :) I know he’d love that. He’s a great guy

[shwormy]

This is amazing, I'm still new so I don't really get a lot of it but I'm going to try and teach myself. Thank you so much for making this video.

[drewwilken]

love dude thanks for the awesome video! Was expecting this to have like a mil views, deserves it!!

[XxLeatonSxX]

Wow really nice breakdown Steven, thanks a ton for this video and great playing!!

[FactionMember]

Great series with a lot of info here. Loved the Disasterpeace one as well.

[jcong]

Hey! do you have analysis videos for VGM?

[willsanders]

Maybe I'm splitting hairs here, but isn't the II chord in the beginning of Zelda's lullaby just a II chord in Lydian mode, not a secondary dominant? Secondary dominants typically resolve down a 5th, whereas this just cycles back to the I (Cmaj7).

[WinterVibrations]

What is the song playing in the background around 3:15?

[gasoline.]

Hey man, what's the keyboard you're using? I'm looking for one similar to yours, most of the time I use mechanical piano but I'm in college and kinda don't have space in my room nor money to buy one, I'm looking to buy an electric piano.
What's your suggestion??
Nice video btw, really enjoy it.

[misawasfx]

After all, the geniality in his compositions are in the variations he created within the tonality table?

[MesaTheAalfa]

What does he meant by "lowered third degree" ?

[stereo]

If I can't really follow this video because of the lack of written info along it, what should I study more?

[ZagnutBar]

Very interesting, Steven.


The music may sound a bit basic to modern ears but remember the tunes were specific to location, like in Zelda (overworld theme, castle theme, dungeon theme, town theme, meditation shrines, etc.) Remember this was most likely the very first time CRPG gamers had a soundtrack synchronized with gameplay. Both the Ultima IV and V soundtracks were equally excellent. (Things began to fall apart for me with Ultima VI, which was released for IMB PCs and the midi synth available at the time sounded somehow duller to me when compared with the Mockingboard tones).

I agree with you that the dark world music in "A Link to the Past" was among the best in the Zelda series (I've played all of the major Zelda games as they were released, beginning with the original Zelda on the NES in 1987 and up to the Wii Twilight Princess). However, like my experience with Ultima VI, the tunes in 3D Zelda began to feel a bit washed out. Gone were the infinitely hummable heroic themes and instead we got these kind of wispy, etherial sounding and sometimes goofy tunes that really diminished my interest. (I was quite surprised to learn from you that Kondo was the composer who led the shift to this new style of music.) At least, the 3D Zelda music didn't engage me in the same way that those bold tunes from the early games did. I always preferred the US CRPGs because they tended to take the subject matter more seriously overall, which lent gravitas to the experience which I found a great deal more fulfilling. Ultima V (32-year old spoiler alert!) had a really cool mechanic where you played a specific harpsichord tune (you actually had to play it with the computer keyboard) which would open a secret room that was essential to completing the game.

If you like, please take a listen to those old Ultima tunes (from III, IV and V especially) and let me know what you think. I had a Yamaha organ in the early 80s and, like you, the tunes inspired me to figure out how to play them :)

[voteforpedro]

I think thats called an Andalusian cadence the other one is also a cadence i believe