Guest lecture at the 2022 performance of the Washington Metropolitan Gamer Symphony Orchestra. Discusses smaller motivic units that are developed over the soundtrack to FFVII in a way that unifies the musical landscape while simultaneously contributing to the story.

This special issue, guest edited by James Denis McGlynn, Andrew S. Powell, and myself, includes 5 double-blind peer-reviewed articles on the music to FF7 including my own contribution that views the “Main Theme to Final Fantasy VII” through the lens of the Eastern storytelling structure known as Kishōtenketsu. It also includes 2 roundtable discussions with writers, composers, game designers, and VGM arrangers regarding the impact of the game, its story, and of course, its music. It also includes an album review of the FF7 Remake Orchestral Album.

Contributors include: Richard Anatone, James Denis McGlynn, Andrew S. Powell, Kevin Courcelle, Jessica Kizzire, Demetrius Shahmehri, Wilbert Roget II, M.J. Gallagher, Pat Holleman, Alex Moukala, Smooth McGroove, Purple Schala, and Stefan Greenfield-Casas.

I am currently compiling all of Uematsu’s music into a thematic catalogue, which I upload on Twitter/X. All leitmotifs including the Main Theme, Character Themes, and all of their transformations have been compiled and include lengthy descriptions. Below is a single example so you can see the format. Click the above link to view the master Twitter/X thread that includes the catalog.

Musical analysis of the Main Theme and its 3 transformations that depict Cloud’s trauma: “Anxious Heart,” “On That Day, Five Years Ago,” and “Who Am I?” This analysis suggests that there is more to Cloud’s musical identity than the lyrical melody heard in the Main Theme, and that this fractured identity is musically depicted through various transformations of the Tarnhelm progression.

Leitmotifs are musical identifiers: they represent some aspect of a story, and undergo musical development and interact intrinsically with the story. But in video games, players have the ability to contribute directly to the music making process, and are thus involved in the leitmotivic process. This talk addresses these “ludic leitmotifs” within RPGs, and considers the Main Theme to FFVII in a way that involves the player with both Cloud and Tifa’s relationship.

My performance of my own arrangement of “Chocobo Farm” from FFVII.