Découvrez la vidéo Pokémon Red and Blue - Lavender Town de Video Game Pianist sur Le Fil YouTube de Piano Partage.

As requested by kenetito5000 in the 1 June 2013 video, please enjoy my blindfolded performance of Pokémon Red and Blue - Lavender Town composed by Junichi Masuda!

Let's identify and examine the compositional techniques Junichi Masuda uses in the Pokémon Red and Blue - Lavender Town Theme to successfully enhance the gameplay and visuals. Please refer to the gameplay video http://www.youtube.com/embed/wKk1n_BX7Qc#t=8m28s and the sheet music http://www.videogamepianist.com/sheetmusic/pokemon_redblue_lavender_town.pdf. Lavender town is a grave site with ghosts, and the eerie music and level can disturb the player.

In the right hand there is an ostinato, or a repeating pattern. This hypnotic pattern of C-G-B-F# plays throughout the entire piece. The repetitious music draws the player into the atmosphere of the haunted town. It can also motivate the player to escape from Lavender Town as soon as possible. Between the pattern, there is a tritone of F# and C. Tritones have been considered the "devil's interval" in past centuries. The use of the tritone and ostinato creates waves of eerieness.

The left hand plays two haunting and intertwining melodies. Ocassionally there is a jarring dissonance between the C# and the C in the right hand such as in measure 4. The interval of a minor second between C and C# is the smallest interval possible in the 12-tone scale and is very dissonant. Another example of the use of the C and C# would be in the Jaws Theme. In the Jaws Theme, the use of the C and C# also unnerves the listener and creates suspense.

In the Lavender Town Theme, the first twelve measures are unique and are not repeated. This is very unusual since many composers opt to loop a majority of the piece to use as much of the composition as possible. The loop is from measures 13 to 22.

The piece is 22 measures long. 2 + 2 = 4, and 4 represents death in Japanese superstition. Also, a 22-measure long piece does not fit in the usual scheme of 8-measure phrases. The looped asymmetrical 10-bar phrase may also jar the player.

These are some compositional techniques Masuda-san successfully uses to enhance the gameplay and visuals in Lavender Town.

Please enjoy my Super Mario Medley performance! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dFZki6TcY4w

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Sheet music: http://www.videogamepianist.com/sheetmusic/pokemon_redblue_lavender_town.pdf