Bringing video game music to the masses

Music education major Patrick Dell is on a nerdy mission.

By Mary Mann, Staff Writer

Published March 10, 2006

In 1980, Namco game designer Moru Iwatani introduced the most popular arcade game of all time - "Pac-Man." The music was decidedly simple, as was the game's animation.

Now, the game and its simple style are archaic. The speed of video game technology has grown enormously, and games' soundtracks have improved as well. "Video game music has changed so much since 'Pac-Man,'" senior music education major Patrick Dell said. "This evolution is worth taking a look at."

Dell took "a look at" that evolution this summer by playing and analyzing video games. Dell received an MU Undergraduate Research Scholars Grant in 2005 to study video game music.

Video game music has become more sophisticated, detailed and varied, and moved outside the realm of electronic recreation and into the realm of popular entertainment. Dell said this phenomenon interests him, and it became the base of his research.

Promising Beginnings

Dell said he has been interested in video games and music since childhood and he tried to pass his interest on to others. By the time he graduated high school, his school orchestra played a "Super Mario Bros." song he arranged.

Arranging video game music for live settings is not a new concept. The Tokyo String Music Combination Playing Group performed the first live video game music concert in Japan in 1987.

The FILMharmonic Orchestra of Prague also performs and records many video game music pieces, including the scores for "Final Fantasy VII" and "Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell."

"It's fascinating for me to see all these musicians uncovering something that's always been out there, but that no one thought to acknowledge," Dell said.

Dell said his musical interest and skill led him to pursue a music education degree at MU, yet video games remained one of his primary sources of entertainment.

"I wanted to turn something I like doing into something I can do for a living," Dell said.

Educating with video games

Dell began his research this past summer. The grant supplied him with enough money to buy a video game system, video games, video game soundtracks and the video games' scores.

"Basically, I was given $3,000 to play video games all summer," Dell said.

He played each game, analyzed how the music was used in the game and looked at the music outside of the game. He then applied knowledge he had gathered during the summer. Dell realized video game music could connect with other students.

During Dell's project, he taught a piano student to play a difficult song from "Final Fantasy X," a popular Playstation 2 game.

"The familiarity and fun associations of the song opened a learning pathway for him," Dell said.

Dell focused a large part of his project on how video game music could be used in education, and others took interest in the concept. Fellow music major Michael Pohlman said he is "not a video game person," but said he is interested in the possible educational benefits of video game music.

The grand finale to Dell's research is a lecture recital, scheduled at 8:30 p.m. tonight in Roger Whitmore Recital Hall in the Fine Arts Building. Student music groups and Dell's friends and teachers will play or sing video game music that he arranged. The concert will include pieces from video games' early days and more recent soundtracks, such as arrangements from the game "Halo."

Music professor Leo Saguiguit has worked with Dell and encouraged Dell's studies. He will perform music from "Super Mario Bros." at the recital.

"Music plays a very important role in video games, just like soundtracks for movies," Saguiguit said. "It is becoming an art form in itself and these games can inspire a lot of originality and sophistication in the music."

Dell already has completed a research paper, which he hopes to have published in musicology journals.

'Nerd Bonding'

Dell said the familiarity of video game music makes it valuable in education. People remember playing "Super Mario Bros." as children, and hearing the theme music performed outside the game evokes positive feelings and associations and draws them into the musical aspect, Dell said.

Many college students witnessed the rapid evolution of video games, and each younger generation has more exposure to video game music, he said.

"Without realizing it, college students know a lot of video game tunes," Dell said.

Some have a casual association with the music but others, such as Dell, develop a passion for it.

"The other day I was walking downtown whistling 'Katamari Damacy', a herpes-like infectious tune," Dell said. "I stopped to take a breath, and a stranger walking the other way finished the tune."

To Dell, the stranger that finished his tune proved the contagious quality of the music and delighted him.

"I'd call that a nerd bonding moment," Dell said.