Super Mario Bros - Brossura

Schartmann, Andrew

Brossura

ISBN 10: 1628928530 ISBN 13: 9781628928532

Casa editrice: Bloomsbury USA Academic, 2015

Riassunto

Koji Kondo's Super Mario Bros. (1985) score redefined video game music. With under three minutes of music, Kondo put to rest an era of bleeps and bloops-the sterile products of a lab environment-replacing it with one in which game sounds constituted a legitimate form of artistic expression. Andrew Schartmann takes us through the various external factors (e.g., the video game crash of 1983, Nintendo's marketing tactics) that coalesced into a ripe environment in which Kondo's musical experiments could thrive. He then delves into the music itself, searching for reasons why our hearts still dance to the “primitive” 8-bit tunes of a bygone era.

What musical features are responsible for Kondo's distinct “Mario sound”? How do the different themes underscore the vastness of Princess Peach's Mushroom Kingdom? And in what ways do the game's sound effects resonate with our physical experience of the world? These and other questions are explored within, through the lens of Kondo's compositional philosophy-one that would influence an entire generation of video game composers. As Kondo himself stated, “we [at Nintendo] were trying to do something that had never been done before.” In this book, Schartmann shows his readers how Kondo and his team not just succeeded, but heralded in a new era of video games.

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Recensione

Schartmann is convincing on Kondo's genius ... It's hard not to appreciate his high aim. If anyone still doubts a video game can be art, perhaps their definition of art is at fault. -The Wire

Koji Kondo's Super Mario Bros. Soundtrack gave me a greater appreciation of something that appears to be so simple on the surface.
- Pure Geekery

Andrew Schartmann s extensive, thoughtful treatise on Japanese composer Koji Kondo and his work on the soundtrack to the original Super Mario Bros game is probably the most unusual entry in the 33 1/3 music chapbook series ... As Schartmann demonstrates, Kondo s work on this seminal game and the legacy of industry influence that followed is much more than the primitive bleeps and bloops we all remember ...
- Justin Cummings, Critics at Large

Andrew Schartmann does both the spirit of the series and video game history proud with his investigation into the iconic music from Koji Kondo. Matching a fanboy s sensibilities with serious scholarship, Schartmann provides the reader with an engaging discussion of Kondo s themes and ideas, both in terms of stylistic flair and compositional acumen ... Of equal importance are his excellent research skills, as he collects worthwhile source material and pairs them [with] compelling quotes from Kondo and other luminaries at Nintendo to make his case for this soundtrack s inclusion in the 33-1/3 series. The result is a superb blend of professional musicology and video game nerdery. -- - Dryvetyme.tumblr.com

Koji Kondo's Super Mario Bros. Soundtrack comes in at 120 pages, not counting the notes and preface, which appears well on par with other books in the 33 ? series. It's a book that takes itself seriously, as it should, and soundly proves the case that video game composition is worthy of discussion among keepers of music as a craft. If you have an appreciation for game music, this is worth buying. Even if you don't get a few parts, they're only likely to make you admire the work and design that go into composing all the more. ---Tim Latshaw, NintendoLife

The most compelling aspects of Schartmann s book involve the widening circumference of Kondo s imagination, the possibilities he saw in this new world of electronic composition. The move to home consoles had freed video gaming from the initial, hailing approach to sound...It s Schartmann s sense of conviction, the hyperbole that occasionally frames his dive into composition and structure, that gives the book its charm. --- Hua Shu, The New Yorker

L'autore

Andrew Schartmann holds degrees in music from McGill and Yale University. He is the author of Maestro Mario and the assistant editor of DSCH Journal.

Su questa edizione

• Editore: Bloomsbury USA Academic
• Data di pubblicazione: 2015
• ISBN 10: 1628928530
• ISBN 13: 9781628928532
• Rilegatura: Copertina flessibile
• Numero edizione: 1
• Numero di pagine: 146