LESSON 2 - OBJECTIVES

• To be able to define homophonic,

monophonic and polyphonic texture.

• To create a short piece of video game music

 THIS WEEKS KEYWORDS

• Chiptunes
• Kenji Kondo
• Polyphonic
• Monophonic
• Homophonic
 STARTER
• Take this quiz to see how much you can remember from
last week’s lesson:

Starter Video Game Music Quiz

 CHIPTUNES &
TEXTURE
Older games have fewer instruments because the
instruments had to be synthesised using the computer
chips themselves. That’s why video game music is
sometimes called ‘chiptunes’.

The number of sounds that could be played back at the

same time was limited by the chip. For instance – the
Commodore 64 could manage just three notes at once.

This limited the ‘texture’ of the music.

 THICK OR
THIN?

• In the past we’ve talked about texture as thick or thin i.e. how many
instruments are playing?

• Texture can also describe how those instruments interact with each other.

• The three words we can use to describe this are:

• Monophonic

• Homophonic

• Polyphonic.
 MONOPHONIC
• One instrument by itself playing a melody

• Examples are:

• Frogger (1981) -
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nL6suG-xDlw

• Manic Miner (1983) -

https://youtu.be/Xmr8MKXDWxg?t=58
 HOMOPHONIC
• Two or more instruments playing different
notes but the same rhythm

• Examples are:
• Persona 4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A4DKTAKE03
g&index=10&list=RDTkYwu0QDEg0
• Super Mario Bros
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NTa6Xbzfq1U

• The opening music of these features

instruments playing different notes but
the same rhythm
 POLYPHONIC
• Two or more instruments weaving around
each other using different notes and rhythms
• Examples include:
Sky Rim
https://youtu.be/kX-oTQR1ihk?list=OLAK5uy_kOC_oY
OG8Rb_bLVukPtxzs2i-fZ65DYg4&t=52

Ori and the Blind Forest

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t6vWDz5NzO
Y
 ACTIVITY
• I would like you experience the limits of creating a ‘chiptune’ using SongMaker:
https://musiclab.chromeexperiments.com/Song-Maker/

• I want you to use the following textures:

• Purple = Monophonic
• Pink/Blue = Homophonic
• Grey = Polyphonic

The diagram on the next slide explains the SongMaker screen.

Here’s an example I’ve created:
https://musiclab.chromeexperiments.com/Song-Maker/song/6494601880797184

When you’ve finished, click Save and copy the link for your composition into an
email and send it to me so that I may enjoy it!
 B
A Click the squares here to create melody, chords and bass line for your
G piece - depending on your texture.
F
E
D
C
B
A
G
F
E
D
C

Click Click the squares here to create a drum beat

here to
play
your
piece Click here to change Click here to change the tempo Click here if you want
the instruments to sing your melodies
 ANSWER TO LAST WEEK’S
THOUGHT
Q: How do composers write music that can react to what the player does?

A: They write music with layers that can be added and removed depending on
what’s happening in the game.
For instance you might have:
• A slow violin layer for calm areas of the game
• A deep brass layer if the danger begins to increase
• An urgent drum beat if the player is having to fight a Boss

• The composer would make sure that these layers will work on their own and
together.