March 26, 2014

  • Required Reading: New Composer's Guide to Game Music

    A Composer’s Guide to Game Music

    By Winifred Phillips

    Rating: 5 /5

    [275 pages, $29.95-hard cover, The MIT Press, 2014]

    The art of video game scoring has certainly come into its own over the past two decades.  The days of electronic beeps and blips are a far cry from the often multi-layered orchestral textures that have lifted this commercial genre to cinematic proportions.  Having been privileged to review many video game scores over the past decade, it has become clear that this is a genre of music that has come into its own.  Yet, there are seemingly many more requirements for such music than simply attaching cinematic quality scores to visuals.  Winifred Phillips certainly gets this and her own journey into the industry allowed her to experience some of these important shifts first hand.

    Her new book is the sort of tool that should prove to be a useful reference for those looking to understand the world of video game music.  Certainly, there is much to recommend it even for its general discussion of music as well.  In this brief work, there is a great variety of information that would work well in a course setting.  The chapters do not have preset questions for the reader to ponder but the text throughout is set up that one can easily ponder whether they have what it takes to enter this field.  Most impressive is the way each chapter succinctly takes on a particular aspect.  Phillips does not just set out to address how to be a video game composer.  Her intent is that her readers understand what it means to actually create and compose while also using the delivery method as the reference point to attach these practices.  While there are several guidebooks on video game composition, this is one of the few where one sees other books and articles by composer from Berlioz to Stravinsky as important sources.  Would that others understood as well the importance of the aesthetics of music and how it applies to video game music as well as Phillips’ discussion does here.

    One is hooked from the opening chapter where Phillips uses an asset-based format to help the reader determine where their own gifts and potential deficiencies, or opportunities for growth may lie.  How easy it is to simply use each of those assets as a launching point for anyone trying to discern this particular field!  She gets at the importance of a composer’s skills set that smartly honors whatever direction one may be taking to get involved in the industry.  Once this is discussed though, readers will quickly move into some very excellent discussion.  Her explanation of the concept of “immersion” is one of the highlights of this text.  Any music appreciation course should make her chapter on “The Importance of Themes” a required supplemental reading as it is one of the best explanations of the concepts of leitmotif and idée fixe you will likely find.  The discussions of the many types of music used in games, why there is even music there in the first place, and what role music plays in a video game is the sort of explanation one would hope followed many other musical discussions.  The musical focus of the book concludes with an excellent chapter exploring the types of music and game genres that exist and their characteristics followed by an equally superb discussion on how this music functions in a video game setting.

    After exploring these aspects of the music itself, Phillips also turns her attention to the role of the development team and how to address the needs of music in a game.  The second portion of the book gives way to explanations on important aspects of the business and technical end of this field.  Exploring what a “development team” is and does helps guide the reader through the various roles of others involved in the process.  Phillips navigates this often changing and fluid interaction in a way that one can better understand how music’s singular role in a game has many potential criteria to take into account.  One of these is helping discover what the musical needs of a game might be and how this can often be both a challenging and fascinating part of composing video game music.  The following discussion helps understand the various types of musical approaches that are available to help create the sort of “interactive music” often demanded in this overall genre.  This discussion too is quite exemplary as it moves through a number of terminology explanations and musical examples.  The final chapters address the technical aspects of composers today by exploring the sorts of equipment, hardware and software needed to get started as well as some general thoughts on what it means to be an “independent contractor” are also extremely helpful.

    Any section of this book, actually, can be found to have a great deal to ponder and reflect on depending on where one is in their understanding of music, video game music, composition, technology, or music business.  This is the sort of text that will tend to be reread to glean information one missed earlier when they were at different stages in their own development.

    Having had many interchanges via email over the years, this reviewer has always been impressed with Phillips’ kindness, openness, and willingness to learn what people are hearing in her wonderful music.  Those qualities inform this entire text in way that helps make it accessible and enjoyable to read.  There is the sort of power of positive thinking and reinforcement that are constantly being lifted up in her text along with a heavy dose of realism.  When Phillips introduces a concept, even one that suggests negative connotations for the field, she helps the reader understand both why the other authors had such opinions and what she has discovered for herself, always backed up by a host of research.  Even if one might feel a bit discouraged from what they learn here about being a composer, writing for video games, or the sheer amount of knowledge needed to carve out a career in this industry, one is certainly better informed about the journey and what it will take for them to at least explore the possibilities.  Along the way, the reader learns a great deal about musical aesthetics, composition, tools of the trade, and business acumen all needed to consider such a career.  A Composer’s Guide to Game Music is set to become a touchstone academic achievement that should see many editions with new updates and expansions as both Phillips, technology, and the industry itself evolve.