But wait! Using compound meters can be fun and exciting, because they provide a steady beat for the ear to follow while allowing for a rhythmically agile melody or accompaniment without sounding too busy too easily. How to Use Compound MetersĪt this point, you might be thinking that all we’ve accomplished thus far is overcomplicate something that sounds (musically) rather simple. In this case, there are 4 beats per measure ( one-and-a- two-and-a- three-and-a- four-and-a) and each of them are the length of a dotted quarter note (which is equal to 3 eighth notes). It’s what the bottom number usually tells you, except there are not 12 beats per measure in 12/8. When dealing with compound meters, you deal time in beat units. Instead, the top number tells you how many beat divisions (that bottom number) there are in a measure, but that’s not necessarily where the BEAT is or how long it is. In a compound meter like 12/8, that’s not the case. ![]() So, what’s the big deal? Well, as I said earlier in this post, the time signature USUALLY tells you the number of beats (top number) and the kind of note that gets that beat (1/bottom number). In Frog’s Theme, this becomes super-obvious during this part of the piece: To count this out loud, you might say: “ One-and-a- Two-and-a- Three-and-a- Four-and-a,” clapping on the bolded words. In compound meters, the main beat is split into three equal parts so that a dotted note becomes the beat unit. ![]() Conversely, trying to count by 4 will make you want to slam your head against a wall:Ĭompound Meters: Here’s Where Things Get TrickierĪ compound meter is kind of where duple and triple meters converge. Try snapping/clapping along to this piece, and count out loud and you should quickly find that counting by 3 is very natural. Manoria Cathedral’s is an example of a triple meter song from Chrono Trigger. If you snap/clap along with the music and count out load by 3 or by 4, the choice is obviously 4:Ī triple meter piece of music, on the other hand, will feel and sound like it’s based on a count of 3 or a multiple of three. If you’re counting along with the beat, you’ll either be counting by even or odd numbers.įor example, the Battle Theme from Chrono Trigger is clearly based on a count of 4. Most music we hear in our day-to-day Western lives is based on an even count of beats – usually four beats. For example, a time signature of 3/4 would tell you (A) that there are 3 beats per measure, and (B) each beat is a quarter note’s length (the quarter comes from using the bottom number of 3/4, like a fraction). The top number tells you the number of beats, while the bottom number tells you the length of a beat. Those numbers (12/8 in the above example) USUALLY tell you (A) the number of beats per measure, and (B) the rhythmic value of a single beat. See below photo of a wild time signature in its natural habitat: So what’s a time signature, anyways? In a piece of sheet music, the time signature appears before any of the notes, but after the key signature and clef. Of the ones I found, none of them used the correct time signature (yikes!). In this case, I was surprised to find very few transcriptions and arrangements out there on the ol’ internet. When analyzing a piece of music, I like to try tracking down the sheet music first so I don’t have to transcribe the entire thing myself. ![]() Lesson 1: A Lesson in Time (Signatures)īack to back puns?! I’m a genius. See what I did there? ‘Cause he’s a frog? Priceless. Grab your Hero Medal and the nearest legendary sword forged from prehistoric enchanted rock, and hop in. In this analysis, I’ll do my best to pick apart what make’s Frog’s Theme so freakin’ amazing and give you some new tips and tricks to use in your own video game music compositions. I could ramble for pages about this soundtrack (and probably will at some point), but today we’ll be focusing in on perhaps the most beloved piece of music from the game: Frog’s Theme.Įach character in the cast of Chrono Trigger has their own individual theme music, but Frog’s Theme – in my opinion – beats the rest. With fantastic character design, a great story, and time-traveling shenanigans, the game could’ve had a ‘pretty good’ soundtrack and still been legendary…īut that would never have been good enough for the Dream Team’s Yasunori Mitsuda. The music of Chrono Trigger is still hailed as some of the best video game music of all time. If you have trouble seeing or playing the video clips, try Refreshing this page.Īfter the success of my last analysis of the theme from Final Fantasy VII, I asked VGM Academy Newsletter subscribers what they wanted to see next. NOTE: This post contains score excerpts and video clips for illustration purposes.
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