VIDEO GAMES VS CLASSICAL MUSIC – are they the same? Can they co-exist?!

40 Comments

1. 0:20 I always fall asleep when Mozart and Chaikovskiy r played! No matter how hard I try to stay awake, it always lulls me to sleep. During concerts especially 😀
   since they put the most “calm” stuff there for some reason xd

2. I love SOOOOO much 1812.

3. If there was ever a Nier Automata or Bloodborne symphony to come around near me, I'm dropping everything to go see it

4. I dream of the day I hear Fatalis in a symphony hall.

5. Japan is HUGE on videogame symphony orchestras, there's been a bunch for the Ace Attorney series alone. The Melbourne Symphony Orchestra is also big on working with videogames – they've done the music of Psychonauts!

6. I feel like the best music is found mainly in anime and video games in general. They still incorporate the basics and understanding of what music is. Music is an art or a dance, not just random sounds

7. I 100% would love to see more VGM in symphony halls. I'm a season subscriber to the major symphony in my area. There are times when they perform "contemporary" pieces that are honestly just noise with no discernible melody and you can tell the audience is mostly applauding to be polite. I'm sure there are some people who like that, but I make note of these composers and when I see their names pop up again I simply don't go to that concert. Something like a Suite from Legend of Zelda, Genshin Impact, or Journey – a 10-15 minute collection of a few of the songs arranged in movements would fit in much better than some of the modern things symphonies play. These could stand with suites you occasionally see at concerts that include film music. I wouldn't be surprised if the lack of this kind of content and why you mostly just see it in special touring performances just comes down to licensing issues. Could be that Nintendo, Microsoft, Square-Enix etc are not willing to allow that sort of thing, which would be unfortunate.

8. I honestly believe video game soundtracks are the next evolution of classical music. I would include anime soundtrack also but i feel like they're already almost there with Composers like Joe Hisaishi, Kevin Penkin, Hiroyuki Sawano and Yuki Kajiura.

9. Hollow Knight's soundtrack would be perfect for a symphony hall

10. No, is contemporary music.

    It WILL be classical, in 2 century or so.

11. I consider myself a very visual person. While I always appreciated the music in my video games, I glossed over so many little details, I couldn't understand why I like the pieces that I did. I didn't know how to express the emotions that the music brought out. But after watching your videos, I have a newfound appreciation for music as a whole. I could listen to you talk for hours on end about why you enjoy a certain piece of music. The passion which you speak with helped me see a whole new aspect to a topic I've been missing out on this whole time.

12. Marco, I LOVE how Skyrim is the "game" YouTube chose as the definitive game of the video. Skyrim is a "classic" videogame!!!

13. I absolutely loved this and would enjoy seeing more content of this form. Great video!

14. if you're opening class about philosophy of music or history of music i'll be signing up my ass to listen to you. love you marco. amazing work as always

15. One song that did achieve some of this crossover success is Civilization IV's "Baba Yetu". It's now a popular piece of choral music and there's many random choirs and such performing the song in venues that have nothing to do with being a video game music concert. It was even performed once on America's Got Talent.

16. I used to have an "art teacher" (really a glorified snob of a critic/art collector and an all around scumbag of a person in general–ill spare the details, but cutting ties with him was one of the best things I've ever done) who once dissed the music of the Sonic the Hedgehog games in front of me, saying "Mozart and Beethoven made music. Sonic music is the musical equivalent of ADHD." Funny thing is, if it weren't for the music of video games, I would be in a MUCH worse off place in my life right now, and I wouldn't have been inspired to try learning how to compose music in general, and pushing myself to learn it has improved my quality of life so much. And it's extremely insulting, ignorant and elitist to diss the musicians who work on these games as talentless hacks compared to the "critic approved" musicians of the past, as many of them ARE inspired by musicians of the past and have incorporated many of their heroes skills and theories in their own work. Koji Kondo is heavily influenced by old ragtime tunes, the composer of Castlevania: SOTN and Pokemon were influenced by Bach, and so on.

17. I haven’t listened to classical music all that much, but I LOVE the mixing of genres in the music of today—some of my favorite composers outside of video game music are Lindsey Stirling, and Smith and Thell. I find it so endearing when content from generations of the past are used to inspire the new, finding new ways to sway the audience and tell a story. It makes me want to go back and look into some of those.
    I didn’t start considering how much music had an impact on a video game audience until I started playing The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, and I looked at some commenters regarding the details of some of the soundtrack. I recommend listening to some of them because there’s such a wonderful blend of classical instruments with other modern forms of music that give parts of the story a mechanical yet sinister feel (based on the context of the game). Some of my favorites/notable ones are Vah Medoh’s Dungeon theme, Attack on Vah Ruta, Guardian Battle Theme, and Monk Maz Koshia’s theme.
    Anyways, aside for my little rant 😅 Thank you for creating this video! I love looking into deep and insightful videos like this in regards to the arts and their impact on others. I’m glad you were able to share this little discussion with us :3

18. The potential is definitely there and the boundaries are completely arbitrary, some songs like Wood Carving Partita from Castlevania Symphony of the Night or Power Hungry Fool from Fire Emblem Path of Radiance could easily pass as classical or baroque pieces without most people noticing they come from videogames and are just as powerful. Videogame music needs to get the recognition it deserves.

19. riot games does change a lot on how i approach music and genshin expand the view. i don't know typically what a classical piece is like, but i feel like classical music was potrait as something for higher class to enjoy meaning it is very resisting to changes. does it need to though, since gaming music already help introducing it, they can certainly split the genre up but maybe it just wasnt worth it for them to do so. I don't feel like knowledgeable enough for this topic :V

20. I had a number of conversations like this with my horn teacher in college who, still to this day, is the principal horn of the Colorado Symphony. While studying under him he got to play Zelda music. #jealous

21. U have still missed all fischl domain music there is so much classical music

22. Just subbed because of the interview with Grinding Gear. Wonderful interview, thank you for sharing!

    I would be very curious what you think of some old RPG music, especially Planescape: Torment and the original Deus Ex. These are ollllllld games, but I believe had actual orchestra composition that did a lot to compensate for old graphics!

23. It is for Pokémon Masuda was inspired by it for Pokémon’s sound tracks

24. you're trying to tell me boss music from a singleplayer boss simulator is on par and should be played alongside a bach orchestral suite lol. what a joke

25. It's called 'Symphony of the Night' and not 'Spotify Playlist of the Night' for a reason.

26. I know your channel is an opera/classical focused channel for video game music. But what are your thoughts on the current jazz scene, especially new and upcoming jazz players who grew up on video games and (somewhat) co-opting game music as new "jazz standards"? I ask this bc I feel like jazz may be the direction that Fontaine may take and much of jazz standards have taken from classical music.

27. Yeah there is normal game ost and then there is guilty gear strive not giving a fuck lmaooo

28. It reminds me of an person who absolutely hated Video Game Music because he reacted to a video game music. He said that this music he heard was a wasted of time and money because it is in a video game despite liking it. Yet he didn’t realize that he was given this chance to hear the music because it is from a popular game.

29. I used to play piano. One day, I had a substitute–an older guy who liked "oldies" songs. At the time, I was practicing the Xenoblade Chronicles Main Theme by Yoko Shimomura, and he was stunned. Absolutely stunned. He was like "this is from a video game?"

    I'm not sure exactly, but I feel like the reason why video game music hasn't reached more ears outside of video game circles has something to do with the way games are marketed these days, and the way that not everyone plays games. I think video games are looked down upon as a whole. It's something that kids these days are wasting their time on instead of getting a real job and earning real money. I think the way video games are perceived by "outsiders" might tie in with why video game music doesn't get the exposure it deserves

    Triple A companies' biggest goal is to milk every cent out of their most popular titles, which usually have great soundtracks, but that aspect is rarely showcased in advertisements and promotions. Titles like Hollow Knight completely fly under the radar if you're not looking in the right places despite how good they are.

    And even if more people acknowledged how good video games and their music can be, they might not be bothered to sit down and play them because video games take longer to complete than watching a 1 and a half to 2 hour movie. It takes patience to play a game from start to finish.

    I could be completely wrong, but I think that the video game community has to be more "aggressive" in selling the value of video game music for it to really take root outside of video game circles. Because, otherwise, people might never have the impetus to do so themselves.

30. I think video game music can best be defined as a "symphonic poem," usually, they start with a relatively simple motif with little to no story or feeling element attached other than character or location association, and they generally evolve with the player's progress or growth in-game. This blurs the line between passively listening to music for the sake of listening to participating with the music and even sometimes attaching the music to our own persona. I think this is why game music is so fondly listened to and why this musical genre has so many covers and arrangements, for example the music from The Legend of Zelda. This also allows us to participate musically by generating our versions of the music intrinsically attached to our experiences with the game. No two people have the same interpretation or experiences with the game and music. For example, many "Song of Storms" versions have substantial tonal, dynamic, and emotional ranges.

31. Wow i found you thru the Genshin scawramouche cover opera!!1

32. Music Nerds and Gaming Nerds are not that much different.

    Each group has their own niche audience where the surface level stuff are shallow for the mainstream but you need to dive deeper into the depths to find the real treasures of the deep.

33. While it is a nice idea to put Video Game music in modern music halls.
    However I believe this will cause a split in the audience, traditional music fans won't accept Video Game music due to their own negative perceptions of Video Games being all about x or y or z issues mostly pushed by mainstream audience narritives.

    The best thing you can have is Video Game Music being played in modern music halls, but aim it towards the fans of Video Games or at least separate the genres a bit so you have a night where you have Western RPG music and then you have a night where you have Japanese RPG music, to having a night where you have Nintendo music, to having a night where you have SEGA music.

    You can't please everyone because there will always be music that will never be played within the timeframe of a concert night.

    So my advice is to choose your audiences for each night when playing Video Game music, just so you don't become forced to play general Video Game music and have your audience miss out on stuff that was their fav from a genre of gaming that never got mainstream appeal.

34. When I was a kid, my parents force me to learn violin and piano.
    And then force me to learn bunch of classic music.
    I gave up, I didn't find those music appealing at that time.
    All of those course my parents force me into burned all my drive and interest to learn music.
    I honestly hated playing piano and violin during those times.

    If they and the teacher try to use video game's music to motivate me to appreciate the art.
    I might not gave up that early. I was more interested in FF7, doom and many other video game's music back then.

    Currently I am trying to relearn music theory and piano just so I can play some of my favorite video game music.
    And maybe one day I will appreciate classic music after I learn enough.

    I hope parents nowadays can use the music their kids love at moment to learn music instead of forcing them to love classical at the very beginning.

35. i like modern japanese electronic opera…. DDR DANCE ROCKS

36. There's actually a lot of video game programming in concert halls, at least I've seen a lot of it being performed in Seattle WA here where I am. Possibly because we're so close to Microsoft and Nintenda of America (both in Redmond WA, just 30 minute drive from Seattle). 😀

37. Wait until you learn about Parodius, which remixes classical music INTO its soundtrack!

38. I don't get the point or message of this video.

39. Imagine going to an opera and just see someone shred the organ playing Tenebre Rosso Sangue

40. I love you for making this point. I’ve been feeling this for the longest time. I’ve been WISHING for this for the longest time. You put my dreams into the most perfect words. I am with you on this.

41. Not that I don't like Tchaikovsky, Liszt or Chopin, but I would like to have a concert for Kevin Pekins composed music, he made some amazing tracks that can stand on their own and I feel really take me to another place.
    I don't really get why there is such a divide between classical and Instrumental/game/anime music. Listening exclusively to music from 1700's seems like an elitist thing to me.

42. I enjoy video game music, but I don't care about validation from other genre fans.

43. I think even tho gaming is more mainstream nowday you average joe doesn't stop to think about this, VGM is still behind a wall of prejudice in the world relegated to something you hear when you play, the moment people start to really listening to it, the world will understand that VGM is not a genre, it can me more than that, not just a medium but part of all the genres that we've seen and haven't

44. Well the danish don’t see video game music as less than

Comments are closed.