As I mentioned
earlier this month, video game music scholarship has taken off within the last
decade. Now an accepted area of research amongst musicologists, it also exists
as a very accessible topic for many people. One video game music scholar, Will
Cheng, has an excellent book with more information on the topics I highlighted
this month. If you find this topic interesting and would like more information,
you can go to the following website and check out his book.
One other area of
music and gaming research worthy of note comes from scholar Karen Collins who
studies music and gambling. Did you know that often times, the music used at
casinos is intentionally written in such a way as to cause the player to
believe they are doing better than the reality of their situation? Next time
you consider gambling, you should be mindful of the music!
With the idea of
video game soundtracks becoming so popular, the London Philharmonic Orchestra
released a Greatest Video Game Music album in 2011 followed by a second volume
in 2012.
Zelda even
has a traveling symphony that many of you may have seen when they performed at
Cincinnati’s Music Hall last year.
Join me next time
as we wrap up our month of video game music!
