Claudia Gorbman has written:
"The age of mechanical/electronic reproduction, and of the commodification of music, has fundamentally changed the meaning of music, the ways in which we listen to it and hear it". (Gorbman 1987: 56)
Here Gorbman is addressing film music, but her argument is to look at the music as something which is purely functional. This means that in this day and age there are many more than just one mode of listening. She equates film music with "easy-listening" music. In a similar way, I will equate certain computer game musics with "background music" and "ambient music" in my fourth chapter.
In computer games also, it is technology in the end which dictates where and when the specific music plays within a game. True, these must be programmed to an extent, but the game music is always in the hands of the machine. It is up to the machine to play the right music at the right times. Performance practice of computer game music is still in its embryonic stages. Thus even though computer game music performance does exist, its most active and most functional form is how it is manifested while playing in a machine accompanying a game, and not live. This is not to say I am ignoring performance: my case study addresses it directly.
So, in conclusion to this section, musics in computer games are inextricably bound up in social systems due to the games technological roots. Here, certain Western musical
conventions, such as 'music as art', are not shared by the people in these systems. One cannot then discuss a music or indeed any cultural concept in terms which simply do not apply, or are not used by the people within that system. This is a standard approach to studying music ethnomusicologically, and I will be applying this outlook to the subject matter of this dissertation.

CHAPTER 3

Terminology and Classification
In this section I will look at the different places in a game where music can be heard, and attempt to categorise them.
Generally speaking, there are three prevalent moments where one can hear music in a computer game, if it is a recent release. One occurs at the title screen, which is usually the opening sequence of a game, or an options menu. This is usually the first important music one hears. Its importance will be elaborated below. (I am ignoring the music which sometimes accompanies the logos of the developers which appear before this screen). In-game music is the second type. It is this that forms the basis of most of this dissertation. It accompanies, and is usually connected to, the action of the game. The third type is music which may accompany any cut-scenes in the game. Cut-scenes are usually pieces of "film", which further the plot of a games narrative. They usually involve a dramatic scene between two or more people, and are commonly accompanied by music. Using film music language, this music is usually non-diegetic, 5 that is to say, it is music that has an invisible source. Because cut-scenes generally occur during gameplay, they can then be seen as part of the ingame music as well. Whalen has argued that cut scene music does not warrant serious study,

although the music is not part of the action per se, the action can dictate how the music will sound. Many newer games feature music that matches a certain scenario. For example in Metal Gear Solid 3, if the enemies are chasing the player, a chase theme will kick in, which is a busy fast-tempo piece of music, whereas a less 'frantic' piece of music plays as the enemies level of alertness dies down. This game will be looked at in more detail later, but suffice to say that non-diegetic music used in games has mostly followed programmatic film music rules.
The next section will briefly look at the main functions of these different musics and two widely accepted reasons for why they exist in games.

Background music

Earlier games included the use of purely "background music". The music had no immediate ties to the action or (narrative, if any), in the game. It occurs during the main gameplay, and not during title screens or cut-scenes. This music works in just the same way as the music which accompanied the earliest silent films worked. It was usually an attempt to mirror the mood of the gameplay, and would typically be lighthearted, such as that in Carnival, which was the very first game to feature continuous background music. Games were for play, and so the original music mirrored this: play is a lighthearted activity. Another example worth noting is Super Mario Bros. (The huge success of this particular background music has become a sort of internet phenomenon, which I will be examining in my case study). As has been proven, certain musics elicit certain reactions from listeners6, and there is a general concensus as to what type of music may refer to what emotion.
see Prologue to Anahid KASSABIAN, Hearing Film: Tracking Identifications in
Contemporary Hollywood Film Music, (Routledge Ltd. 2000) and Claudia Gorbmans essay Why Music? The Sound Film and Its Spectator from Unheard Melodies, 1987. 25

Ambience

Computer game music can, on top of being background music, also create an ambience, an underlying feel to the action. It can set a scene. By using the musical conventions mentioned above, newer games seek to accentuate the action in a game. Music in this way not only parallels the action, as programmatic music will, but also helps create the actual environment in which the games narrative is set. For example, the game Timesplitters 2 for the Playstation 2 uses different musics for each level, each of which are set in different points in history (and the future). The 1920's Chicago level employs music with a muted trumpet and sounds blues influenced, while the Space-Age futuristic level uses techno music, equating technology and the future with dance music, as many films also do. The Chicago level uses music influenced by actual music from the time in which the level is set. This a) creates an ambience, thus "setting the scene" b) brings a lot of connotative information to the level, exploiting people's preconceived associative notions about jazz, blues and gangsters and c) acts as background music.

sound as rhythm accompanying the questions on which a large amount of money is at stake. [see audio example 9] Since there is no perceived time limit in this game, there would probably be quite a heavy silence here.
Let us take an audio example here. It is from a fairly recent game, Metal Gear Solid 3, from 2005. [see audio example 5] This music plays once an enemy has been alerted to the player's presence. It plays for 99 seconds, after which the enemy cancels the alert. It is made up of flute, James Bond-esque electric guitar and drums. This is the first music we hear, then after the man shouts "I see him!" and starts shooting, the music's rhythm doubles and a synthesizer is added to the mix. How this happens will be looked at later on, but the fact that the rhythm increases here adds a heightened sense of urgency to the task which must be carried out, which is, to alleviate that status, and hide the character.
"the musical work. substitutes for experience and produces the pleasurable illusion that contradictions can be overcome, and difficulties resolved". (Levi Strauss in Gorbman 1987:60)
Levi-Strauss here was stating that it is musics mythic status that brings about an emotional response in the listener. The game already has the player involved, but, a state of emergency is evoked by the music. Just before the new music plays, there is a sudden upward chromatic-sounding musical figure, before the new music begins. This is also meant to add to the surprise and to shock the player. But at the time of writing, this is a very recent game. These musics are programmed to think. Older games did not quite work in the same way, and to establish how they function, it is necessary to construct a function timeline of sorts. To do this we must first examine certain trends in the history of computer game music. 29

CHAPTER 6

Different times and trends
In this chapter I will analyse various trends in the history of game music, starting with a phenomenon which has been there from the birth of games themselves: usage of music which already existed. I will here analyse its effects. The first example here is Digger, a 1983 PC game. It used as its music a looped tune which was actually not written for the game.[see audio example 10] It is an upbeat jaunty piece of music in a minor key, a cover of a synthpop instrumental piece called "Popcorn", released by Gershon Kingsley in 1969. [see audio example 11] It was probably picked due to the original songs repetitiveness. It is basically the same eight-bar phrase repeated in many gradually ascending registers and keys. It is a lot easier to program eight bars of music than sixteen. But, it might also have been picked due simply to its implicit jauntiness. It works as a piece of computer game music on many levels. The wheels of Digger itself even move to the beat of the music, which lends an inherent cartoonishness to the game. This could be termed "mickey-mousing".8 Thus, although it is background music, it evokes a certain mood. It also is synchronised with the action of the game. As this plays we can also hear what was exemplified in Whalen's essay when he talks about musicality in Super Mario Bros. (see Whalen 2004) In it he talked about how there are discreet musical sounds (based on Western music of course) within the game to signal that the player is doing well or not. In a similar way in Digger, diamonds play the notes of an upwards major scale as they are eaten. When objects fall one can hear a downwards

Alert: Highest state of emergency. The music is at its loudest here. The music is fast paced with predominantly synthesized drums playing a semiquaver rhythm in both 3/4 time and 4/4 with brass, an electric guitar, and some sort of synthesized flute.
As James Hannigan has noted about the Metal Gear Solid games:
" In Metal Gear Solid 2, for example, music actually provides players with information they need to play the game effectively (for instance, signifying impending danger when little else does) and also features convincing transitions as music follows events moment by moment, significantly intensifying the action or a sense of urgency". (Hannigan: 2004)
The Final Fantasy VII Boss Battle music has a lot in common with the Alert status music from MGS3. Both pieces have a fast tempo and are pieces in which the rhythm drives the piece - the drums play a large part in both pieces as well. Boss musics typically are fast-paced and rhythm-driven. [see FFVII boss audio example] The Final Fantasy excerpt is also comparable to some of the Doom level musics. The aim of this music is to get the player's adrenalin pumping and increase their level of immersion in the game. (In contrast to these, the opposite effect can be attained, when music is used to calm the player, such as that featured in Resident Evil in the 'Safe House'. The player knows they are safe from harm, and can save their progress in a special room where this music plays.[see audio example 20] ) This is essentially trying to mimic the way a film-score works, but due to the uncertainty of 38
the outcome of a game, the music must be able to "choose" which path to take after the player makes a certain decision. The differences between film music and computer game music however separate the two, rather than bring them together, as the next section shows. These musics are prgrammed to play at different stages of the game, and the way they are programmed was apparently pioneered by LucasArts. They produced a series of Dark Forces games in 1995 that had two different levels, "Dramatic" and "Standby", each level including different loops of music. The two levels os music had two different 'feels'. This is essentially trying to mimic the way a film-score works, but due to the uncertainty of the outcome of a game, the music must be able to "choose" which path to take after the player makes a certain decision. The differences between film music and computer game music however separate the two, rather than bring them together, as the next section shows.

CHAPTER 8

Film music versus Computer game music
Some film music theory can be successfully applied to computer game music. Anahid Kassabian's composed and compiled scores would seem to be one of them. As mentioned above, many games use pre-existing music, which will bring their affiliating identifications. Others use their own music, and offer assimilating identifications. See the example of 'Elite' above. [see audio example 13] People who are familiar with Kubrik's 2001: A Space Odyssey will immediately be reminded of the film when they see a 3d object (a spaceship) spinning and hear the beeper title music playing Johann Strauss' The Blue Danube Waltz. This is obviously intentional on the part of the programmers. Luckily, when discussing computer games from that era, the composer was usually the programmer, and so intention is not such a problematic issue. Others however, who never knew about the original, will only associate that music with that game, and identify it primarily this way. The music here has changed to suit the technology which plays it, here the PC speaker or "beeper", which is a far cry from the orchestral version. Here Kassabian's "immediate threat of history" which compiled scores may bring to players (she applied it to viewers) might not be so blatant, given the separation of the original music from it's PC speaker facsimile. No harmonies are possible here, and pauses in the orchestral version do not appear in the PC version. As Kassabian states in her prologue to Hearing Film: "Film music, while born out of the traditions of nineteenth century European symphonic music, was never meant to be an absolute; it has always been considered a meaning-making system by its producers" (Kassabian: 2000) 40
This is completely applicable to computer game music. Additionally, the actual film music she was talking about did succeed in making those meanings, and these meanings were later transferred over to computer games. The examples quoted above attest to this fact. When the player loses a life in Digger, we hear stereotypical funeral music, the slow movement of Chopin's Piano Sonata No. 2 in B minor. [see audio example 10] They thus exploit already formed conceptions about musical meaning. Gorbman outlines an experiment performed by Philip Tagg and Bob Clarida whereby listeners were asked to write down their responses to certain types of musics.11 The results showed that certain types of musics are associated with certain ideas, moods or situations. (see Gorbman:1987) Thus they were programmatic.
However, some game music composers have voiced serious concerns over the issue of using film music terms when describing game music. Others critics have voiced concerns over game music's stylistic similarity to that of film. The main problem here is that computer game music is commonly likened to film music, especially in the media industry. However, the two formats are quite different.

Film music is usually seen as a starting point from which to write music for games:
The following is taken from Matthew Belinkies insightful look at game music composing, "Video Game Music: Not Just Kid Stuff":
"We want to take the experience that everybody has at the movies and make it into something that you control," says Liam Byrne. "You're playing through your own adventure. We're used to constant soundtracks in your entertainment. The more exactly the video game soundtrack matches your experience, the more involving that experience is going to be."
(Byrne in Belinkie: 1999)
Liam Byrne is, or was at Belinkie's time of writing, a sound technician at Creative Labs, a company who were pioneers in sound card production. He goes on to posit that someday, computer game music technology should be able to compose the actual music as the game is played. That has not happened yet, but as is visible above, the technology is at least breaking the music up now, and able to fuse different musics together. This is the major difference between game and film music. This will never happen in film music. And computer game music is becoming more and more intelligent as technology evolves. Thus the future of game music is a future which looks nothing like that of film music.
James Hannigan, composer for Eidos Interactive's 2003 Republic: The Revolution, has written at length about the problems inherent in approaching game music and indeed, games
in general from a filmic perspective. The following is from an interview with him undertaken by the online computer game magazine, 'Gamespy':
". I do concede the two mediums are visually led and, in some ways, share a similar purpose for sound and music. Having said that, I see no reason why some styles can't be shared by both industries. Part of me feels that by deriving ideas from film we are enforcing the perception that games are secondary in some way, and mere spin-off material generated by another, more senior entertainment industry. Overall, I would say the future quality of soundtracks in general depends partly on how much developers are willing or able to spend on them and how seriously they take the implementation of sound and music in games".
With new technology game music is managing to do this. Still, many are still under the mistaken impression that computer game music and film music are the same. This is also due, in part, to the media's portrayal of certain games which mimic film. The television advertisement for Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas featured stylish camera moves, rock music and explosions. Also shown were cut scenes from the game. Cut scenes are usually the only purely cinematic aspects of a game. Thus the media, or the people promoting the game, promote it in such a way as to make it emulate cinema. This is a common way of promoting games and is down to marketing departments of games companies, which today are closely tied to that of the film industry, as the next section will show.

Game music is now considered in awards ceremonies usually kept for film. The 'BAFTA Games Awards' were recently set up, at which Jesper Kyd's soundtrack to Hitman: Contracts, was awarded best "Original Music" in 2005. 26
For recent news, see http://www.play-symphony.com/ see http://www.bafta.org/site/page20.html 56

CHAPTER 10

What's Good About Computer Game Music?
In this section I will be examining the opinions of the cultural group who play computer games. I ask them what appeals to them musically in a game and why. Since this is the culture buying the games and hence hearing this music, their opinion is the one that counts, both to myself, and to games producers. This section shows how integral music is in the game for which it is composed, and that a good game soundtrack will stay with people for many different reasons It shows what appeals to each person, and what they look for in computer game music.27
I visited an Irish website (www.boards.ie) and asked a games forum what exactly was the members favourite or least favourite game music and why. Thus, the following are a crosssection of random comments from Irish computer game players on computer game soundtracks which were memorable for them for any reason whatsoever. It shows what appeals to each person, and what they look for in computer game music. The small excerpts shown below consist of the forum member's nickname, followed by their comment.
Ruu: Dont know if its much help, I like the GTA Vice City soundtrack. The game has the songs on the radio, most of them are 80s tunes and I like listening to them, very retro
Timothy Taylor has used similar methods in his analysis of the remix album entitled
"Mtamorphose", a collection of remixes of Pierre Henry's work. [see Chapter 3 of his 'Strange Sounds'] 57
John2: The first Metal Gear Solid game for Playstation (not the first ever one mind) had a really good cinematic soundtrack. Went with the whole movie quality of the game. It was released on its own, maybe have a look at that (also has a song in Irish (the main title theme) so that's pretty cool).
Cremo: seriously check out the soundtracks to the final fantasy series of games. nothing comes close to them in sheer brilliance and musical bliss. Nobuo Uematsu (spelling) is one of the composers and also has a band that does 'rock' versions of the songs called "the black mages"
- bo -: That Gran Turismo game with the couple of songs by Feeder in it, especially Just A Day. Think the other song was Buck Rogers. Pretty damn cool.
Sauce: The music in Super Mario Bros has to be one of the most recognisable computer game music ever. As sinecurea said, tetriis is easilly recognisable also
Flankerb: Gran Turismo series has always had great soundtracks. They used a mix of known and unknown artist to add intensity to all the games. The intro sequences are always amazing especially GT4 the operatic Moon Over The Castle(I think) cutting into Kasabians Reason is Treason is brilliant.:D

Belinkie has examined game music composers, above quoting "Mr. Pummell" as saying that computer game music is not serious business. However, one plays a computer game in much the same way one plays a musical instrument. They both require considerable mental concentration, and are a challenge. The results of each are usually pleasurable to the player. My argument here is that the "instrument" on which computer game music is played, (and the only reason it is truly distinguished from any other musics) is that it is played on a console, or computer.
So why exactly should computer game music be examined by academia?
Well, for one, many of todays computer game musics are based on classical music. This is another element which is prevalent in film music. Take the soundtrack to Hitman 2: Silent Assassin by Jesper Kyd, or Call of Duty by Michael Giacchino. [see audio examples 2 & 3] These musics are rooted in Western thought and Western music appreciation. Koji Kondo's 71
music for the Mario Bros. games (along with countless other Japanese composers) began as attempts to emulate Western genres of music. Thus computer game music can be seen as another arena into which Western musical influence has bled, since many soundtracks are nowadays created in Japan. This influence should be seen as something worth investigating.
A large quantity of todays games have music based on techno and dance forms. This is presumably to do with their high tempos and thus, their ability to create adrenaline-filled atmospheres, such as that in the futuristic level of Timesplitters 2. The specific effects of different types of musics within games warrant attention and are also worth analysing
In this dissertation I have merely scratched the surface of how music works in-game, and the different levels of involvement one can have with the other. Game studies and music studies converge at this level and need to be examined by people more qualified perhaps than myself. Indeed, Whalen has described "Game Studies" itself as having existed in an "academic ghetto" until recently.(see Whalen 2004)
More research into the different levels of involvement of game and music that can exist must be carried out in order for the discipline to grow. This may in turn help to steer it in a new direction. Maybe this will lead to an advancement of the technology used to integrate music into a game. Composers such as James Hannigan would be happy to add to this new way of using music in games, as well as a new generation of composers who have grown up with games in their life, as much, or in some cases more so than film and television.
Thus academic discourse can help come up with a language which all game music theorists / composers / enthusiasts can use and help to further the field as a whole. Successful theory leads to better education and awareness of how music and games work together.

I have endeavoured in each case to contact the authors of each piece for some sort of comment, but, as is the case commonly for internet material, some people were not available to comment on their creations, or could not be located.
The Momus Quartet: (arr. Clint Woltering): [audio example 2] Four undergraduates from the University of Kentucky and Kingsport, Tennessee, also known as The University of Kentucky Trombone Quartet perform this version. This one is again in C major. There are 78
some interesting harmonies here and a slight change of rhythm from the original version. The Underwater theme is quoted along with the main Overworld one, and the Underworld one. The Western classical feel of the underwater theme suits the trombone quartet quite well, as it did with Kondo's full orchestra. A new theme which is played here is the Star Theme. (This played in the game when Mario picked up a powerup which made him invincible for a few seconds).
"Boston Pops" Version: [audio example 3] In fact, this is not the Boston Pops orchestra. It was released in 1991 as part of a Japanese CD called 'Orchestral Game Concert' by Warner Music Japan. It was arranged by Koji Kondo himself. It is played in C major and displays a Disney-esque score character, typefied by the harp at the end of each phrase, and pizzicatto strings. The instrumentation at 1: 15 is typical of what Kondo would later compose for games such as Super MarioKart. This version quotes the main Overworld theme, along with the Underwater theme at 1:40, and the Underworld theme at 2:35.
Mario_Bros_Suite.mp3: [audio example 4] This is a performance of the Mario theme tune along with the other themes. The band playing are called the Big Band Connection and are based in Cleveland, Ohio. Not all the musical material here is from Mario Bros. Being an 11minute performance, this is quite impressive, being a mix of both Mario music and other material. The following is what Brian Batchelor-Glader, the man who created this version had to say to me about it.
"I composed the piece for a big band arranging class at the University of Cincinnati (Conservatory of Music). I graduated last December with a bachelors degree in jazz performance. The class was a required one. We had to do three full arrangements throughout the year. The Mario Bros. Suite was the second I wrote for the class. I had written several big band pieces before. This was a huge undertaking because I had to transcribe the songs before I could arrange them. I transcribed both directly from the game and found several midi files online that I also worked from. Transitioning from the different movements was also a challenge. I used several modern big band techniques such as sheets of sound and free group improvisation. What makes this piece really fun is that every time it is performed it is completely different due to the jazz elements. I have a couple different performances of the piece."

Allan Felipe: [audio example 5] Very little information exists about this version. It is in C major, and seems to be a classical guitar and an acoustic bass arrangement. It consists of just the Overworld theme.
Frivolous Funk: [audio example 6] This seems to be a funk rock band covering the song. The musicianship is a little loose. It's still fun and the drumming is quite manic. Both Underworld and Overworld themes are played here in C major. This band do not seem to exist on the internet anywhere else except on the OCremix site.
The Videogame Pianist: [audio example 7] This was performed by Martin Leung, otherwise known as The Videogame Pianist. This features all of the themes from the game as 80
transcribed above, including Underworld, Castle and Star themes. There is some strange treatment of rhythm in the second half of Theme A. This is followed by the Underworld theme, then Castle at 1:50. Then comes the Underwater waltz. At 3:04 the Star theme plays. Incidentally, at 1:05, a sound effect from the game is put into the piece.
CarboHydroM - Shell Rider: [audio example 8] This is a very impressively produced rock band cover of the song. It consists of the Overworld theme only, with a Mario jumping sound effect put in at the end for good measure. It is played in G major. The French arranger of this version, Cristophe Blondel, aka Carbo HydroM, who has arranged many game musics was available for comment and had this to say about it:
"I'm very pleased that you chose my cover of the Mario theme to be included in your writing. Of course you can, and I'll give you now some clues about this song, as you were asking. When I started remixing, I knew somehow that I had to cover Super Mario Bros.'s main theme at least, because it's the most famous one all over the world. I made two attempts, The Mushroom Kingdom Skatepark being the first one and Shell Rider the second and best one. My style can be said to be close to punk rock or ska sometimes. I thought I would try several ways to arrange the theme, but in the end, the ska way was the one that sounded the best. It could made the theme sound way more energetic, and emphasize its happiness. So I decided to play the theme three times with different rhythm lines for each, and with the theme bridge between the second and third row. The tempo had to be pretty fast but still allow ska-ish rhythm lines to be played so I started with a 160BPM. Then I wrote the drums, and tried to put emphasis as well on some parts either by using "rhythm jumps" or by dividing the tempo by two. As for the leads [lead guitar parts] I tried to write them in a varied way too, but 81

(from introduction to Audio Culture: Readings in modern music, p. xiv)
This is exactly what the following remixes do. The Mario Bros. music is here mixed with unlikely songs such as Ring of Fire by Johnny Cash and Closer by Nine Inch Nails.
Mario Brothers 1-1 Remix by Chris J. Hampton: [audio example 13] This is basically an electronic-sounding synthesized version with a beat put onto it. It is in C major and modulates to C sharp major at 1:21.
B Dash Version: [audio example 14] This version is a remix by a Japanese band called The Tongari Kids. It is in C major, and starts off with the Underworld theme. The song became a national hit after it was played on Japanese FM radio, and its popularity was furthered after it appeared on Japanese television. The singles has sold a total of 196,000 CD singles in Japan to date.
Jazz Plumber Trio OC Remix: [audio example 15] This is a synthesized version of the song played in C minor by someone calling themselves DJPretzel. It is played on piano, hihat and snare drum. It quotes the Overworld, as well as the Underworld theme.
Closer to Mario: DJSkew Remix/NIN: [audio example 16] Shane Kane aka DJSkew here mixes the Mario theme with a Nine Inch Nails song called 'Closer'. This song uses the sound effects and main themes from Mario Bros. This is also in C major. Incidentally the singer of Nine Inch Nails, Trent Reznor, wrote the music for id softwares computer game, Quake.
Dancehall Ragga OC remix: [audio example 17] Raggamuffin (or ragga) is a kind of reggae that includes digitized backing instrumentation. This is in C major and quotes the Overworld theme. It sounds as a computer game these days might sound.
Dirty Remix OC Remix: [audio example 18] This remix was created by "A Scholar & A Physician". This is quite amusing due to the amount of recognizable samples used. Some samples are taken from a Mario Bros. cartoon which existed in the early nineties. Other samples include the horn introduction to Ring of Fire by Johnny Cash. It is comprised mainly of the Overworld theme, which is treated in a number of different ways with audio filters.
Musicians playing games, and gamers playing music
The music above is more than two decades old, but it is still being reinvented by new musicians. Remixing, remodelling and re-inventing are at the core of what this culture does. Making your mark on a cultural icon as big as the Mario Bros. is part of this, and is linked to the novelty factor mentioned earlier
Here we have seen game music as something which has evolved way beyond its roots and become external to the game itself. Granted, there is a certain kitsch element to playing game music in a band, but the dissemination of this song has helped spawn a new culture who are willing to investigate game music further. Two of the people I communicated with regularly for this case study were Cristophe Blondel (aka CarboHydroM) and Greg Lieberman (aka KWarp). They each belong to different generations and continents, but they share the same interest in game music. What creates this interest is an initial interest in games, of course.

Nowadays game music functions differ significantly from those of film music. Both media have different tasks to accomplish. Game music acts as a signal, since the experience of 88
playing a game is sufficient an experience, while film music exists as a substitute for experience itself. By this I mean that the immersive experience games offer to the player far exceeds that of the film-world, where music only attempts to add to this immersion. The music of present-day games has many more tasks than this to fulfill. Whereas film music is linear, and plays at certain fixed points in a films narrative, game music is now cued, and has options to play certain figures based on the actions and decisions of the player. However, some functions are shared by both media such as the building of tension and accentuating of emotion, and creating an ambience, or an atmosphere.
Sociologically, the music functions as shared experience. Although not taken seriously by some, others feel very strongly about game music. An emerging culture is that of computer game soundtrack fans. There is a general concensus among this group as to what constitutes a "good game soundtrack", but each seems to be memorable for entirely different reasons. Another community, possibly comprised of much of the latter have taken to performing and reinventing game music, many of them being DJ's. The music here acts as a shared symbol, a maybe kitsch metaphor for a generation that have grown up with game music. The amount of variations of the Mario Bros music is a testament to them. This dissertation would not have been possible without the help of this community.
From an ethnomusicological perspective, the music is a very recent phenomenon. I have examined it using ethnomusicological research methodology, by including discourse with composers of the genre, as well as analysing some specific music and opinions of people to whom the music might be important to the game. These people, and subset of Western culture exist almost entirely on the internet as composers, re-inventors, musicians who play games, and gamers who play music. Since this music has always been purely functional, there 89
are not many 'beliefs' wrapped up in its conception to examine. The music existed first, and the subculture of people interested in it grew up around it afterwards. However, the social aspects which now surround it were examined as much as possible. It is a music which is rooted in Japan, but conversely, a large number of the original Japanese composers were attempting to emulate Western musics. Most of the original Japanese composers are still working today, which shows how new game music is. More recently Europe, America and other developed countries have produced very succesful game music composers.