Building a Battle Theme: Final Fantasy V's Battle at the Big Bridge
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- čas přidán 29. 03. 2019
- Nobuo Uematsu has written his fair share of epic battle music, and I thought it would be interesting to dissect how he structures one of these compositions. The Battle with Gilgamesh theme, or "Battle at the Big Bridge", from Final Fantasy V is one Uematsu's most iconic works while being compact enough that I could really dive in and pick apart the entire thing in one video.
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![[Video Soundtrack] Battle at the Big Bridge [FINAL FANTASY V]](/img/n.gif)
Uematsu has mentioned that he feels it doesn't work when you try to insert an orchestra into a rock band. He feels it's better to insert a rock band into an orchestra.
He's damn good at it.
Yeah, going from "Classic/Orchestra into Rock" makes it sound so much better than from "Rock into Classic/Orchestra".
It probably have do to with how Classic composers have knowledge on how bass/drum/guitar (as instruments) can be used in an orchestra. They only need to account for a different sound.
On the other hand, Rock composers are typically not trained to know how all the different brass/strings can be used to their full potential. In exchange, they can generally push their 3 or 4 instruments to the limit.
It's part of the reason a lot of progressive/power/symphonic metal works so well : many of those metal musicians/composers are classically trained.
nightwish would disagree, but he's clearly pretty damn good at it either way
@@typoded I think Nightwish originally wanted to do other styles, but metal was the only thing not drowned out by their vocalist's absurdly powerful voice... or so I've had it alleged.
Anyway I'd say they're another good example of taking an orchestral sound and adding a rock band the the mix, not the other way around.
Whenever I listen to his FF music, I always feel like he's a rock guy who just happens to write awesome 'orchestral' pieces :D
@@PeetaPlays He basically is.
Grant Kirkhope interestingly is also a metalhead but noticeably keeps the genres apart.
Man, just want to thank you for introducing me to my passion for music theory which has led me to study composition at university and given my life purpose.
Dude, that's awesome!!!
This comment needs to be pinned
Welcome to the fold!
I wanted to study composition at my university, but their composition program required that I also participate at a high level in their performance program, which meant that I needed to be part of the ensemble, which I really didn't want to do anymore. I ended up getting a completely unrelated degree. I'm so happy that you have a program at your university that you enjoy! :)
That is dope!
Crazy Train: the battle theme.
I swear to god I keep finding you everywhere Carlos! (Great Job on Kass’s them Btw)
no you have to wait til ffvi for that
I like calling the transition in this piece the "bridge".
That'll do, donkey, that'll do.
And can we add that it was a "big" transition, too? :D
[Squidward laugh.wav]
😎
👈 😎 👈
Ah yes, the Wiggles - the most revolutionary composers of the 21st century.
Goodbye, Oh Goodbye is truly revolutionary
Toot toot, chugga chugga
Fruit Salad... Yummy yummy!
Well, you have to know your audience...
And they absolutely do...
Quite a strange end for a band formerly known as the cockroaches. XD
Bounce, bounce, this-a way ...
FF V has the jammenist music in the whole series. Every single battle theme slaps, especially the regular battle theme.
cursed opinion
I agree. FFV doesn't have the best pieces, but it has the most consistent soundtrack imo (maybe FFIX is on par)
The battle theme is so epic, it was reused as Omega’s boss theme in FFXV.
I've always felt FFV's regular battle theme is its weakest point, much like FFVI's. Both make up for it with amazing boss music though, and the NED music is a massive escalation in final boss style that ushered in so many of his best tracks.
V also has the single best overworld theme (Galuf's World) and I'm willing to defend this position to the death.
Oh man. Battle at the Big Bridge is easily one of the best tracks in the entire series. It's punchy, it's weird, it's rocking, it dips up and down and leaves you barely able to catch a breath before it's off to the races again. Clearly one of his best works, and it's great to see it remade so often!
As someone with a background in literary analysis, I would like to point out how well your explanation of how Battle at the Big Bridge is supposed to make players feel. It matches up very well with the tone Gilgamesh presents as a character, as well as his personality and battle tactics. In other words, Uematsu's composition choices within Battle at the Big Bridge go miles for shaping Gilgamesh as a character, not only in Final Fantasy V, but in many of his subsequent appearances as well.
Saw you speak yesterday at PAX east 2019, and I was totally hankering for a big deep technical dive after that, and you didn’t disappoint! thanks for an awesome panel and an awesome channel; i’ve definitely learned more from your videos than any of my music theory classes in high school, maybe cuz it’s more relateable? humorous and engaging? not sure. but thank you nonetheless!
I was in a nintendo cover band. We played a melody involving the battle of the big bridge, the chocobo song from ffiv and the battle song from ffiv. Good stuff. We had to introduce it as 2 slash 4 every time. Slash 5. We're nerds.
Everyone remember Uematsu was not trained at all - when the first FF game was made, he was working in a game store and his FRIEND Sakaguchi asked him to compose a game.
This guy is a GENIUS
Basically true, but not quite. Before joining Square, he'd been trying to compose for just about anything, including some porn music. He was working in a music store and a friend who worked in the art department at Sqaure, suggested he could compose for games. This led to him meeting Sakaguchi. He actually did music for about 15 or 16 games before Final Fantasy.
As for not being trained, that's also true but it's not as if he was just winging it. He was obsessed with music and he bought music books, listened to music as he read them with friends and they'd try to connect the ideas in the books to what they heard. He also taught himself to play some instruments.
Lacking formal training isn't something all that strange though. A lot of really successful artists have been self taught.
i'll never get over how good this song is, it goes so hard and it's only 90 seconds! every time it plays in the game, i always end up lingering on the magic or items screen just jamming out. possibly my favorite song from my favorite composer!
My first reaction when I discovered FFV on the PS1 was like "Man, Uematsu loves Deep Purple"
Then, several years later, I played Blue Dragon. It all made sense.
ff 5 still has some of the best music in the series. home sweet home, fate in haze, deep blue sea, the dragon spreads its wings, lenna's theme, ALL of the battle themes!
might be a missed opportunity but the first part of Battle at the Big Bridge kinda looks like a bridge based on the way it's transcribed.
r.f.m 64 owo it tru
To be honest, some of the chaotic changes and the grandiose intro absolutely fits Gilgamesh perfectly, which actually ties into a much more interesting encounter in Dissidia (and okay, the few other times he challenges Bartz and crew again) where he's been WAITING to have a true battle, showing himself as an imposing figure of sorts.
I just love Uematsu's prog rock style. I just never get sick of listening to FF OSTs and I love that these videos give me an even greater appreciation for his genius.
Need more uematsu works to analyze, he's such an inspiration
@HicksZ34 I've been obsessing lately over some weird musical similarities between FFVI and FFVIII that I don't know enough to put into words. The games are very different and the soundtracks aren't superficially similar, but in many ways FFVIII's soundtrack feels like the sequel to FFVI's soundtrack.
@@242sighting please elaborate!!
Excellent video and breakdown of a classic FF tune. Uematsu is a master of form and that's what makes him such an effective and iconic VGM composer - these songs are meant to be heard over and over again, so you need to do a lot more to keep the listener engaged! Throwing the listener off with interesting forms, then bringing them back down to earth as you said, is one of his best techniques.
I know nothing about musical composition, but I absolutely love how you break these tunes down so well. Thanks!
in Final Fantasy II, the Chocobo theme is only the A section. The B section didn't come till III
Thank god
@@wrelow huh?
True, which made riding Chocobos annoying
@@GiordanDiodato I think they mean "Thank god it brought the b section"
My mind is certified blown by this song... 💥💥💥
Oh Uematsu you’re such a genius
Uematsu-san is truly VGM Beethoven; a visionary composer that has shaped VGM as a media form.
Does that make Koji Kondo the Mozart of VGM?
What about takenouchi then?
... actually that's probably a question better left unanswered.
iota-09 uh...Wagner? Schoenberg? Rachmaninoff?
@@iota-09 forgive my ignorance, but is it motoaki takenouchi you're referring to? Havent heard of him prior to googling, but any of his works you'd recommend?
@@alephbunchofnumbers shining wisdom's soundtrack, one of my favorites honestly, especially the re-arranged version.
He also did an arrangement of dragon quest's soundtrack along another vgm ost maker of the time(forgot who) for the DQ anime; also pretty good, though hard to find.
Hell yeah, ffv has my favorite soundtrack/ score of the series
FFV is woefully underrated!
@@mackenziecleland9664 I agree! I still hold Prelude to the Void as one of my favorite pieces of videogame music.
I love how the song conveys Gilgamesh's personality. The intro alone gives you a sense of how trollish he is. Like "Yo, check out these hot organ lixx! And if I open with these you know the melody's gonna be 🔥!" Then the descending chromatics are like "Are you ready for this? Are you ready? FOOLED YOU! I'm not quite ready, have some more organ lixx! Okay, okay, for real this time. Ready? And 3, 2, 1...."
Just wanna drop a comment to say I'm loving what you're doing. You remind me of the musical analysis i used to listen to on ABC radio, but with the visuals it's much easier to follow along.
I've been watching your videos since you started, and i must say, I'm really like the increase in production value. From sound effects, syncing the background music to your analysis, to the little comments on the score to keep us visually engaged. Keep it up! :D
🎵Wow. 🎵Cool. 🎵
This is one of my all-time favorite Final Fantasy tunes
I love FFV, it's so rare to see anyone talk about it
High five for FFV!
I love the comparisons to music across other FF games, Uematsu has borrowed from himself along the way, and it's nice to see it analyzed side-by-side.
I love that you're finally giving a look at uematsu's work. I'm a big fan of his 16bit era works. Keep them coming!
Easily one of my top 5 FF songs! I vividly remember playing a fan translation when it just came out YEARS ago and getting to that point in the game and saying to myself “holy cow this song is amazing and this entire scene is amazing!”!! Gilgamesh became one of my favorite FF character ever also after that part :)
Battle at the Big Bridge is HUUUUGELY inspired by bands like Yes/Rush/etc because Uematsu LOVES rock... this is a banger of a track in the "Black Mages" version. so very very metal.
Once again thanks so much for your excellent work. You have a way of choosing all of the most significant video games tunes from my youth, breaking them apart, and helping me enjoy them again in a whole new light. Seriously...Adventure of Link, Bob-omb Battlefield, Edgar's theme, Dancing Mad, and of course BotBB which has probably replayed in my head more than any other song in existence. If your content existed when I was a kid, I might have followed a different life path.
Fantastic video! It's a very good study of form and the effort you put in is bursting at the seams.
I have no idea what you are talking about when you go into detail so why do I enjoy this so much!?!?!?!?
Video is amazing
Amazing video as always! I absolutely love Battle at the Big Bridge in all of its iterations.
Very good explanation in comparing his style for epic battle music over the entire series and using one of my favorite pieces to illustrate key points!!! Thanks so much!
I know I'm not supposed to make suggestions, but I'd like to see something about Yoko Shimomura in this channel
What a great lesson! And thanks for covering this piece! It's one of my favorites on SNES, so much energy, so intense!
This is quickly taking over as my favorite music Channel. Your stuff is amazing!
This is probably my favorite channel on CZcams ❤ every one of your videos is amazing! I've been watching them for more than a year now and finally stepped up to become a patron! I'm definitely proud to support the best video game music theory channel on here 😁
Loved the drumming at Jamspace earlier. Great video as always. So much fun to see so many people at Pax.
Loved the video. Makes me think about composing.
To take two very seemingly vastly different pieces (e.g. chocobo vs. BatBB) and compare them in such an elegant and concise way was a GENIUS way of making a complex topic easier to digest. I'm always floored by how well you're able to distill key concepts into easily digestible chunks. I've learned so much from your videos and each one inspires me to learn more about music through my favourite VGM. Keep up the amazing work! As long as you keep producing videos, I'll keep paying ya for 'em! :D
4:07 It even looks like the bridge the *CLASH* was taking place *on* . Genius.
I've never even played a Final Fantasy game, but I loved this, as always.
yesss, you’re back to doing this format again :)))
You are my favorite channel on CZcams. Keep up the perfect work!
I barely understood a single thing you said, but your excitement and passion made it an intriguing listen. Cheers!
Thanks for doing this song! One of his best battle themes for sure!
Amazing analysis. Thank you.
So Ben... I gotta ask... how do you manage to release a video every time I'm having trouble with a particular part of a piece I'm working on...? Because somehow your video always manages to address that thing I'm having issues with.
Two weeks ago I was working on a piece that involved a lot of weird shifts between 3/4, 4/4, and 5/4 and your video helped me get a better idea of what to do. Now, I'm writing a choral piece and having some weird issues with the form, and now this... sincerely, thank you so much for what you do. I absolutely adore your work and have grown considerably as a composer through learning from you.
That happened to me this time too.
He's secretly following you around and snooping into your email :D
I guess support his patreon and get able to make requests
Awesome! This is my favorite Final Fantasy theme! Can't wait to dive in to it.
Given some things that happened back on Tuesday, this is a very appropriate video to show up on my feed. Battle on the Big Bride is one of the pieces I consider most iconic in the Final Fantasy series, and I love so many of your other pieces you compare it to (The traditional battle riff, and the FFI battle theme's transition which is perfectly engraved in my brain)
this isn’t as important to the theory analysis as it would be to the thematic analysis but smth that i find super cool is at 11:08 when the chromatic downward 7#9s interrupt the blues riff, the pattern actually matches that of the intro to the theme of exdeath the game’s main antagonist and the boss of gilgamesh whose theme this is, though transposed down a whole step. i didn’t ever really notice until seeing it transcribed like this but it’s yet another example of uematsu’s brilliant use of leitmotif imo
Battle/Clash at/on the Big Bridge is still my favorite FF song, thank you for covering it!
I love this song! It's probably my favorite song in Final Fantasy V. It's been stuck in my head for the better part of a week, and now probably for another week and I'm totally fine with that lol. Gilgamesh was my favorite part of the game, and this song just makes him even more awesome! :D
Having this song done in full symphony for FF12 Zodiac Age was a real treat.
edmundjc the ffxii version is so fucking good. I used to drive around in XV listening to XIIs version of BOTBB
I get the feeling that this entire video was really just an excuse to talk about the Chocobo Theme, but that wouldn't have made a long enough video.
I think he could get away with a whole series of videos on the different styles that theme has explored.
Thank you for this video it really helped
This video is awesome! Battle at the Big Bridge is one of my favorite video game music pieces of all time.
Bless your soul for transcribing this beast
My favorite final fantasy! Great video
one of my top favorite battle music's of all time, always gets my blood pumping. final fantasy 6 atma (ultima) battle theme is my top favorite
Agreed, the Atma/Ultima Weapon battle music theme from Final Fantasy 6 is amazing. Really captured my imagination as a kid. I would love to see a video on that song!
Gorgeous! Very good video, I loved it!
" A different perspective to the same story" brilliant way to put it!
I just realized you haven't covered one wing angel yet. Can't wait for when you do!
Great work as always.
I would hope it shows how derivative of the Carmina Burana OWA is and then moves on to the Liberi Fatali, which is Uematsu really mastering the Orff style. But the progression of final boss music in FF is also a much longer story with a lot of fascinating pieces.
Thanks for this video. Form is the hardest thing for me to get right in music. It's easy to emulate the sudden shifts Uematsu uses without considering the structure as a whole.
Ok, so I'm a total music noob and understand squat about music notes and sheets... However, I'm an animator, so images speak to me.
Am I the only one seeing the first part of the sheets as a huge range of mountains ? Like, just to show how big is this fight gonna be ???
Uematsu not only composes great music, but he even DRAWS on his sheets (and literally translates these mountains in music) !!???
God damn, this man is an utter legend !!!
Oh man, so cool to see the clip at 00:25.
Great band! It's awesome to see a fellow We Are The City fan.
These Uematsu videos make me really want to hear your thoughts on Soken's renditions of his works in FFXIV.
"Organ shredding"
LoL Gets me every time. Great video!
I mean... That is what john lord did(rip) and you can bet that uematsu does as well all the time.
Nobuo Uematsu is my favorite composer of all time.
Also, to any FF fan who never played FFV, do yourself a favor and play it; it's FANTASTIC!
I will I will, Eventually
All it took was this 1 video for me to subscribe. This is so cool!
much appreciateed!! so nice
A+ mazing, love this music piece
gotta love that the intro notation looks like a damn bridge haha
Ooh neat, this theme was on my mind because Final Fantasy XIV just released a new fight using its arrangement of this theme.
Just so amazing
Ahh FFV. That one FF game I have yet to play but have listened to the soundtrack since I was 12.
wow, you are freaking amazing! tyty
Battle at the Big Bridge theme and the notes form into a big brigde shape
Greg is too pure for this world
How about a touhou music analysis?
Oh yes that would be awesome
@@AnimeUniverseDE indeed it would be
but what to talk about tho? Key modulation throwing off here and there?
Isn't Touhou music made when Zun wakes up off his piano in a drunken haze only to trip over his trumpets? :D
Gotta get on the patreon if you wanna give suggestions
I'd love to see you do something on Yellow Magic Orchestra! Every single 8 or 16-bit song to me, particularly from Japan, feels deeply indebted to them.
After watching this video, I went to search to listen to this song. What I haven't expected was there were quite some rearrangements of this song in different Final Fantasies (which made me quite surprised)
Damn, I just found your channel and I love the way you talk about all the Final Fantasy pieces! Music Theory can be fun and cool and you're amazing at make it just that! I love FF musicand also make piano covers of them.
thank you for existing
Nice editing on the chocobo part
Final fantasy V as a whole is criminally underrated.
F yeah bud. I was hoping for this banger.
The csus arpeggio at the beginning of the song really just make me thing Cha la head cha la
This is great. i Now do Dancing Mad from FFVI ;)
Now we're talking! One of my absolute favorites from the FF series.
Man I don't understand a lick of music theory but this is still fascinating to watch!
The thing that always amuses me about this song is that that intro is pretty blatantly lifted from an ELP song (a group cited by Uematsu as one of his biggest influences). Theres a part in Tarkus that sounds identical to the intro of this song, even played on a keyboard.
Something I would like to know is how to capture a "heroic" sound. In particular, Final Fantasy IV's battle theme sounds so triumphant and heroic, without sounding corny, and I can't figure out how to do that.
I like how the intro is a bridge
And he just said this was a throw-away piece
I came for the big bridge, I stayed for the chocobos.