Since video game music has become more commonly performed live around the world, it has sparked debate about its value, most recently in the article by Matt Wills on WiredController.com titled “Is Video Game Music Worthy of the Concert Halls?” This is a very provocative question, but is it the right one?
In my opinion, the entire notion of classifying what is or is not worthy art strikes me as rather contrived. Since when did anyone ever have a monopoly on the definition of what art is?
So, how can we talk about this in a way that actually means something to everyone? Let’s instead ask: is this music something truly worth experiencing, no matter who you are?
There are two further questions we should ask to decide this:
- Is it well-crafted?
- Does it fulfill its purpose?
Let’s first talk about craft. This is a little bit subjective, but it’s not too difficult to have general agreement. This is related to the golden mean – does everything fit together just so? Is there a balance between tension and release? In a live performance, I believe there are two primary components to this: technical skill and passion. It’s not difficult for anyone to tell whether someone is passionate as they perform, and it is equally awe-inspiring to see someone do something you never imagined possible.
Fulfilling its purpose: does the music accomplish what it was intended to accomplish? If game music really does what it is meant to, it will set the mood, enhance the overall experience, or even act as a critical character in a story. Didn’t the soundtrack for Dead Space make for an insanely creepy environment?
With this much more concrete way of judging this music, now to the other question posed in Mr. Wills’s article: does this music belong in a concert hall?
In the early part of Mozart’s life, he was employed as a court musician in Salzburg for several years, given room and board and a little bit of money in order to write music for his employer’s events. His purpose was to please a specific target audience, and he did well satisfying that audience, his employer and concertgoers of the time. Here’s the thing about classical music: in general, the masters wrote extremely well-crafted music (what I’d call masterpieces). So, why doesn’t everyone listen to classical music? Though Mozart’s Symphony No. 40 is incredibly well-put-together from a craftsmanship standpoint, it was not written for the average listener of 2011. It definitely doesn’t follow a verse-chorus structure, and the first movement (of four) is over 7 minutes long. How would that fare on mainstream radio?
So, if the implication is that Mozart’s music definitely belongs in a concert hall, why is that? Is it because of its complex harmonic structure and form? Why is that more important than other musical elements? Is it because most people don’t like or understand it, so attending those concerts makes you “sophisticated?” Here’s my opinion: if people are willing to pay to attend a show, it belongs in a concert hall! It’s really pompous to think that some music is objectively better or more valuable than another kind, much less that a certain venue is above certain types of music.
By the same token, just because music is performed by a symphony orchestra in a concert hall doesn’t grant it special value. There are a few concerts that do focus on performing video game music live in concert halls, most notably (at least in my mind) Video Games Live and Distant Worlds. While it might help with marketing, attempting to legitimize the concert because it is in a concert hall being performed by an orchestra sells video game music short: good video game music is, by itself, already worth paying attention to.
So, now the question becomes, should everyone care about these shows? Let’s use the questions I posed above.
Do they fit their purpose? These shows are presenting a rare opportunity to hear video game music played live with a rather grandiose instrumentation, the symphony orchestra. Where else are you going to go for that? They fit this purpose extremely well, and a lot of people are interested in something that fills this void in their lives. However, this music wasn’t originally intended for a stand-alone stage performance, so does it make complete sense in that context?
Are they well-crafted? Their performances are solid, but I believe they could be better. You get a lot when you have a professional symphony orchestra playing your music, but you will probably be left wanting more when many of the musicians simply lack the passion or interest in the music they are performing.
Hideo, however, intends to hit both marks as hard as possible. We focus on the craftsmanship of the performances to a high degree by involving skilled musicians who are also passionate about performing this music; in my humble opinion, you can hear the difference. We also adapt the show to more closely match this music’s original purpose: to tell a story. Unifying our show around an original story, with the music acting as a supporting character, gives us a more fully-realized live performance.
Video game music is an incredibly important aspect of modern culture and it deserves no less than the best in a live show. We aim to honor it by presenting it in the most compelling way we can imagine. So is video game music worthy of live performance? In a concert hall? If done right, absolutely.
