![]() While your Wizard marches to the center of Dragonspyre, it makes sense to have music with a steady pulse that you can easily tap out. This is where the piece ends/loops, and while it isn’t a strong ending, it may be a way of the soundtrack asking, “Will you be able to stop Malistaire?” A simple two chord progression between A minor and F major lays underneath the quieter melody, which sounds very natural and relaxed, unlike the rest of the piece. The melody disappears for a measure, and the music modulates back to the original key of A minor. The harmony gets extremely dissonant and ugly at measures 37-39, marking the climax of the piece. There’s a small percussion break, and when the melody comes back in it’s backed up by another pedal bass. As the melody builds up, so does the harmony, and the music modulates once again. These are the same type of chords at the beginning of the piece, and sound really dissonant and dark here as well. The music modulates multiple times before it lands on a C minor/major 7 and A minor/major 7 chord progression. Modulating to different keys can sound natural or they can sound dramatic, and this one is definitely dramatic. ![]() The horns play an Eb chord again over the static A in the bass at the end of the phrase (a tritone away), and the music modulates into G minor. This keeps the music in the key of A minor, but the chords get progressively brighter and darker. Measures 5-12 feature a chord progression over a pedal bass (meaning the bass note doesn’t change). The chord resolves in the next measure to a slightly less jarring chord. The piece opens with an A minor/major 7 chord, which is rarely used because of how dissonant, or ugly sounding the chord is. The harmony is very dark throughout the piece, and it constantly shifts around to keep listeners from feeling comfortable. By using tritones in the melody, Everhart adds a nice “edge” to the music, making it more memorable. While it can sound very dark and dissonant, it can also sound super bright or magical depending how it’s used. However, Nelson Everhart also uses tritones frequently, which is often called the “devil’s interval” and can sound very harsh. The melody itself features many jumps of a fourth or fifth, which are called perfect intervals, and sound very strong. There are also darker parts of the melody played by violin and low brass to contrast the heroic parts. Everhart gives most of the melody to trumpet and French horn, both brass instruments which are often used in heroic segments of film scores or other pieces of music. This might represent our wizard trying to stop Malistaire, or maybe to reflect how mighty the people of Dragonspyre once were. In Dragonspyre Opus 1, the melody is very heroic throughout most of the piece. Those with some musical experience will be able to understand it more easily, but don’t let that scare you away if you don’t! If you have any questions, feel free to comment below or tweet either or Melody Warning: the following portion of the article will contain some musical terms. There are three main aspects of music: melody (what you can usually hum or sing out loud), harmony (the chords underneath the melody that help determine where the music wants to go and how bright or dark it sounds), and rhythm (how long or short notes and what kind of pattern they’re in). After looking over the sheet music, and listening to the piece multiple times, I believe I can explain how Everhart was able to evoke the high stakes and the story into this piece. In case you missed it, Everhart recently uploaded the sheet music to Dragonspyre: Opus 1 on his website here, which basically acts as an introduction, or overture, to the final world of the first arc (If you haven’t listened to the piece before or don’t know which song it is from the soundtrack, here’s a link). But how exactly does Nelson Everhart capture that feeling in his music? The music you hear while trudging through the streets of Dragonspyre perfectly captures the rising circumstances and the feeling that time is running out to stop Malistaire. The final world of Arc 1, Dragonspyre, called for a more serious and dark tone, and Everhart didn’t step away from the challenge. The stakes don’t begin very high, but the story gradually gets darker. The main quest takes you through Wizard City, then Krokotopia, Marleybone, and Mooshu. From Wizard City’s magical setting to Mooshu’s exotic scenery, Nelson Everhart, the major composer for Wizard101 and Pirate101, evokes the heart of every world in his music. The soundtrack of Wizard101 does a great job of matching each world and making the game really come to life. It can add to the environment, make you feel a certain emotion, or add to the overall experience. Music is a very important part of any video game.
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