{What I Love!}
Hello! I'm Scruffy, and today, we're talking about Sonic the Hedgehog!
But that's a huge umbrella of topics, so let's narrow it down to specifically the music of
Sonic.
But that's a huge umbrella of topics, so, I'd like to focus on a few iconic examples
that illustrate something neat in Sonic's wide gamut of music, especially in those heart-pumping
hard rock songs, with lyrics of grandeur and power, and most of all, a sense of speed.
These songs are perfect for running at high speed, which feels like a musical compliment
to the gameplay.
The vocals carry a lot of energy, the drums blaze through rhythms, and with each passing
Sonic title, the melodies seem to get faster and faster.
Do these songs ever seem too fast?
To address that question, let's focus in on one aspect of music that's harder to notice
than most: harmonic rhythm.
And I should put a disclaimer here: this description of harmonic rhythm mainly applies to popular
music genres or music that follows pop music conventions.
Now, rhythm, generally, is a pattern of occurrences in time, and it tells us how fast music feels
based on how often information changes.
Within any piece of pop music there are several rhythms going on at once.
There's often a tempo which is a regular pulse that all other rhythms reference.
On top of that, there's often a percussive rhythm that frames the infinite tempo into
small finite pieces that flavor the music.
On top of that is a melodic rhythm: the timing of the most prominent sound in the music.
And resting in between the melodic rhythm and the percussive rhythm, there's a harmonic
rhythm: a rhythm to harmony how quickly chords or countervoices or supporting sounds change.
This is the meat of the music: this is what contextualizes the melody and adds a sense
of direction to the motion of beat.
But it's harder to hear than the other rhythms because it's specifically not the most prominent
sound, and what constitutes a change in harmonic rhythm is harder to define.
For instance, harmonic rhythm isn't the strumming pattern of a rhythm guitar part, it's how
often that part changes chords.
Even when the chords are power chords, it can be difficult to isolate this rhythm.
Well, let's hear this theme Green Hill Zone without the prominent melodic parts and see
if you can notice a pattern to the harmonic changes.
Knuckles here will help.
He'll take a step every time the chord changes.
["Green Hill Zone" plays without the melody]
In this case, the harmonic rhythm is pretty consistent.
You can hear that with each chord, the bass plays the root note, this instrument outlines
the chord with four notes, and another instrument plays two of the chords constituents at once.
These are all rhythms in themselves, but they all contribute to one very slow rhythm of
chords changing.
How about the turnaround of the song?
All of the parts change, but they're still outlining chords and the chords change half
as fast.
["Green Hill Zone" plays again without the melody]
Again, it's not easy to hear explicitly.
The bass is more elaborate this time, it's playing scales rather than just root notes.
I instead look to this instrument, which is consistently playing an arpeggio of whatever
chord we're on.
When all these changes seem to suggest a new harmony, the harmonic rhythm has progressed.
It's something you feel in music often more than hearing it.
There is a part of the Green Hill Zone theme in which the harmonic rhythm and melodic rhythm
are the same, and that's in the opening of the song.
[The beginning of "Green Hill Zone" plays]
Here, this one instrument is playing only chords, there's no other harmonic information
except the bass, which maintains C as the foundation of these chords.
So, even though that prevents this part of the song from moving very far harmonically,
the other instrument tells us both the melody and the harmony.
That makes it homorhythmic: a sound in which the melody and accompanying parts move as one.
In Sonic's wide selection of music though, this is an exception, not the rule.
It's far more often will get melody-dominant homophonic music.
Homophony is the relationship between melody and chords, which covers a great deal of popular
music genres, and the majority of Sonic music.
Melody-dominant homophony, as you might guess, focuses on the melody while the chords take
a supportive role, and understandably don't move as often as the melody.
So, let's take our visual aid to a more recent example of Sonic music, such as the theme
from the City Escape stage in Sonic Adventure 2.
This time, Sonic will be taking a step to define the pulse of the drum set.
Tails we'll be taking a step for every note of the melody, which is the most ear-catching part.
Knuckles will again step for every harmonic change.
So, keep your eyes on these three, and let's listen to this homophonic texture.
On your mark, get set, go!
["City Escape" verse plays]
Okay, let's take a look at our pedometers here.
Sonic got the farthest and achieved a nice multiple of eight, because the rhythmic feel
of the drums stays consistent.
Tails not nearly as far, because the melody has a unique rhythm and spacing that makes
it stand out.
And Knuckles took even fewer steps, because the chords change so slowly.
Okay, but let's try a faster tune...
How about one of my favorites from Sonic Unleashed, Windmill Isle?
That one's significantly faster, pushing 200 beats per minute, and has a different style
inspired by remixed bossa nova.
This one ought to get these three to take more steps, right?
Since it has so many working parts to it?
Let's listen to one of the most complex parts of this song:
["Windmill Isle" chorus plays]
Okay, that's a lot of information at once, but Knuckles still hasn't traveled far relative
to the others, even with all that accordion playing, syncopated rhythms in the guitars,
and fancy bass licks.
That accordion is a taste of polyphony, which is the relationship between a melody and other
melodies.
The strings are the dominant melody here—just as Tails—while the accordion is playing
a smooth contour of notes as though it's an improvised solo, which counts as a second melody.
But even with these interlocking parts, and even if they venture outside the strict notes
of a chord, they're all still referencing a harmony that, compared to everything else,
moves pretty slow.
Then there's the interesting case of Fist Bump, the theme most commonly associated with
Sonic Forces.
This one flies through 217 beats per minute, and feels even faster, because not only other
drums booking it through eighth notes and sixteenth notes, the harmonic rhythm changes
often.
Knuckles has his work cut out for him on this one.
Let's listen through a long excerpt:
["Fist Bump" verse and pre-chorus play]
Okay okay, whew, just a sec.
Now Knuckles still came in last, but he's gone through more harmonic content than usual,
and as for the actual harmonies he stepped through, they're all over the place.
The thing about the previous examples is that their harmonies all have one home key: the
tonal center around which the whole piece of music revolves.
For Green Hill Zone, it's C major: all of the chords are orbiting around C major and
C major is established in the beginning of the song and the end of major phrases.
In Windmill Isle, it's F major: most of the harmonies float above F major before resolving
on it with this convenient gesture.
But in Fist Bump, you have all these harmonies that don't resolve.
The beginning of the song makes it seem like C minor will be the tonal center, and the
beginning of the lyrics suggest that as well, until this part.
That has nothing to do with C minor, it's suggesting F sharp major.
Then it climbs up to A major, then B major, then G sharp major... and none of this tells
us where it's going to go next.
This fragmented series of harmonic progressions plus the fast harmonic rhythm make the resulting
song feel like it's constantly switching directions, it doesn't have a clear path, it's a dense
forest and you have very little time to think it through.
In a way it reflects the stage set by Sonic Forces.
Sonic has been outmatched by a dangerous new villain and imprisoned by Dr. Eggman, who
proceeds to take over most of the world.
Sonic's friends and a new character the player creates are the last remaining resistance
against Eggman's forces.
The odds are stacked against them, the world is armed against them, and with Sonic's whereabouts
in condition uncertain, their own direction is unclear.
But does that stop them?
Well, I'll let the song answer.
["Fist Bump" chorus plays]
Of course they persevere, this is about teamwork, determination, and the will to resist the
forces of evil.
So the song evens out to a chorus in E minor with a slow harmonic rhythm hearkening back
to all the adventures Sonic and company have made it through before.
At last a direction is clear, and what's more, the harmonic rhythm interestingly gets half
as fast in the next phrase.
["Fist Bump" continues]
Singer and lyricist Doug Robb belts out how two heads are better than one, how the two
of us hold the key, and that key is now E major, a positive twist on the rest of the
song.
Even with sonic still taking as many steps as he takes here, Knuckles is taking the harmonic
rhythm very slowly, and that gives us a moment of pause.
Amid all this crisis, even travelling as fast as this song travels, there's still time to
reflect on how this grand test makes the bond between two friends stronger.
And honestly, surrounded by much more complex parts, that makes the rest of the song feel
contrastingly faster.
I suppose that's what I'm getting at here: Sonic songs may feel fast at times and they
have gotten faster in tempo over the years, but the melody of this hero, and even more
so the harmonic rhythm supporting it, have a clear direction that travels slowly and
steadfast.
Harmonic rhythm is a pretty latent thing to hear in music, and not exactly easy to define,
but I'd say it scores Sonic gameplay well.
You're traveling fast in sonic games, but the level layout is rarely so dense that you
lose your sense of direction.
On the contrary heading forward is intuitive, and exhilarating, and sometimes mandatory.
It's almost like the percussive rhythm is the pure velocity, and the harmonic rhythm
is the inertia: the resolute desire to stay the course and not start, stop, or turn too
quickly.
That's what makes Sonic music feel naturally fast.
With that, I'm Scruffy, and thank you very much for watching.