Understanding the Music of Minecraft

Those eighth notes those eighth notes are enough to elicit so many different emotions attached to Minecraft when someone talks about Minecraft with me a lot of memories I have with the game are pushed to the front of my mind I could go on about so many different things and

Yet I believe what brings it all together most is the music it’s a universal language the game’s freeform design lends itself well to how the soundtrack is utilized and it isn’t just special because of its utilization its composition plays a vital role in its memorability and importance today we’ll be digesting

Everything c418 s magnum opus has to offer as we understand the music of Minecraft Oh In much earlier builds of the game the music was able to have a surprising impact since the title screen was silent and bare back then you’d create your world without even knowing the game had music so you’d gather supplies and start building a base of operations and while

You’re performing menial tasks one of many soft piano or synth tracks will fade in at sunrise noon sunset and midnight They also make subtle use of strings maybe a Harper xylophone sprinkled in there for good measure tracks like these make up the bulk of the soundtrack there are nice tracks and yet they aren’t used for a specific purpose some may call them generic in that sense they’re well

Made tracks and yet they don’t have an immediately apparent reason for playing in-game but there is a reason the music is implemented like it is because the music plays of its own accord it opens up endless possibilities for the emotional attachment one person can have to any of these tracks minecraft is a

Game that lets you do virtually anything you can think of build explore craft fight establish a civilization with friends create self-imposed rules anything the game isn’t aiming to evoke one feeling it lets the player forge their own path this is the soundtrack to your life and what you decide to do with it

Is up to you here are some examples from my personal experience with Minecraft the song Clarke accompanied me as I finished a watchtower for the village my brother and I had sworn to protect I placed the last block I needed and took a good look at the village and its surrounding

Biomes eager to take on a new venture Sweden reminded me of a previous world I played on with friends there was a particular night where I had almost lost everything I had narrowly avoided death and my beloved horse was shot to death by a skeleton we were being attacked by virtually every enemy in the game one of

My friends gave me a boat and I sailed away in a panicked frenzy with my house eventually coming into view as the song began I was relieved to finally be home but at the same time I mourn the loss of my travelling companion Sweden’s melancholic and reflective

Piano melody could not have been more perfect to hear in this moment You You Subwoofer lullaby played as a reward for successfully raiding a woodland mansion and burning it to the ground illa Jers are powerful enemies and survival was not guaranteed if we were to pillage every inch of the mansion somehow we made it out alive and with more loot than we could carry as a spiteful

Farewell my brother and I burned the mansion down the illah Jers were already dead but we didn’t feel like that was enough after the hell we experienced fending them off in our home village I even built a wall to keep them from invading but that didn’t stop them from

Harassing us in the long run so we committed arson but it’s okay because they were the real bad guys anyway this song played as we reflected on the battle in the long adventure through nether portals that had led us to finding the mansion in the first place Yeah it was probably in bad taste to chill out as I watched a mansion burned to the ground but in the moment it felt really good and you know what that’s a testament to the soundtracks abilities these are all memories that I’ve associated with specific songs they perfectly encompassed the game’s broad

Spectrum of possible adventures and the emotions attached to them and because of that these personal anecdotes are the best way I could have elaborated on the soundtracks importance in this area the music isn’t just an effective reminder of the details of my adventures it’s also a brilliant reminder of how I felt

When I was experiencing them and that’s what’s most important in the interactive medium there is one track however that I think stands tall above the rest it’s simply known as Minecraft It’s defined piano melody perfectly complements the inspiring yet comparatively downplayed strings it’s no wonder c418 considers this the main theme for Minecraft it balances one of the most memorable melodies in the game with the all encompassing feel of the songs I’ve just talked about When I mentioned those eight notes were enough to elicit so many emotions it’s because it’s the melody the soundtrack iterates on the most – the title screen themes mutation and beginning to both incorporate this melody mutation brings the strings to the front and the main melody is extended and played at a

Faster tempo it’s meant to usher you into the game itself and it does a good job of that But it honestly doesn’t even hold a candle to the evocative sound of beginning to it combines an underlying synth melody strings and even soft vocals with an extended melancholic take on the main melody It’s not just about easing new players into the game it’s about reflecting on the hundreds of hours you could have put into the game I remember when they first added this song to the title screen I was immediately taken aback by the amount of emotion conveyed in its instrumentation since it

Doesn’t play in game I can’t say it can be attached to memories like the other tracks we’ve mentioned but because it uses that primary melody that does play in game it’s gripping composition hits much harder than it would have otherwise while we’re on the subject the other

Title screen tracks are mellow and lack a noticeable melody floating trees for example is a contender for a song that could play when you google the word relaxing You It’s composed in a way that reminds me of the music that plays in creative mode you can’t really associate them with the dungeon-crawling and world trekking that goes on in survival mode because there’s no danger to speak of they do however inspire creativity since nothing can

Hurt you and your only objective is to use your imagination c418 created music that represents this notion a lot of the tracks evoke this otherworldly feeling where as music and survival mode is grounded in the reality of the circumstances considering you’re able to exert an infinite amount of control over

The world creating an ethereal sound is important and c418 didn’t disappoint There’s another clever use of music that’s actually implemented into the game itself upon finding a mob spawner in a dungeon there’s a chance you may find a record sitting in one of the chests now these can be found in all kinds of dangerous areas of the treasures that could possibly be sitting

There the records have no practical use whatsoever but they are fun rewards for your efforts and listening to them while you build structures are just out of sheer curiosity makes it feel worthwhile each of them reflect a different theme or emotion minecraft conveys 13 is meant to symbolize the darkest caves [Applause] And Maul could have been lifted straight from creative money [Applause] However there is one record that I believe is as all-encompassing as the soundtrack to survival mode and that record is called cat I refer to the records as rewarding items right well I think cat as a song conveys that best there’s nothing quite like throwing it in your record player while you build the structure or farm for wheat potatoes its happy-go-lucky melody helps make the menial tasks and minecraft fun this is what the

Soundtrack is best at enhancing the atmosphere of tasks that would otherwise be considered repetitive and reminiscent of real life to be honest but when you’re working towards a goal these tasks are a small part of something big and perhaps one of those goals could be standing a chance against monsters in

The hellish parallel to the surface world the nether up until now not many of the tracks I’ve discussed have zeroed in on a focal point they’re all meant to elicit a wide range of emotions however when the concept for the nether was made apparent to c418

He knew he had to create something that represented the disturbing nature of the nether and its inhabitants there are two tracks in particular that stood out to me when discussing this locale the first being concrete halls it reflects the dangers of exploring the nether while a voguing a sense of bravery with its

Powerful drums and triumphant melody however several monster cries can be heard throughout the song a grim reminder that bravery does not cancel out foolishness the ghast cries at the very end of the most obvious and their haunting The second song is much more grim and it’s aptly named dead voxel this song without question is one of the most mature songs in the game it’s another attempt to unsettle the player but what makes it a powerful composition is it’s depressing main melody The feeling I experienced when I hear this song can be reflected in the zombie pigmen no one really knows how they came to be what they are and their behavior tells a sad story while technically conscious they wander aimlessly and are completely docile until the player

Attacks them in which they will all gang up on you and try their damnedest to kill you to me they have no goal or motivation their husks they have no one to follow and nothing to fight for they just roam the nether and as zombies in the surface world resemble the

Default skin for your character it makes me wonder if dead players in the nether could end up as such atrocities barely clinging to life the nethers unnerving soundscape and gritty presentation are already brilliant on their own and they fit the challenges the level has to offer but I don’t think the nether would

Have as much of a psychological effect without the music backing it up I mean I was able to go on a Sheol about zombie pigmen because of a song that plays in the nether so I’m confident that it does its job well but the nethers music doesn’t even compare to mine crafts best

Song a song which was composed for the end the end conceptually is about much much more than just slaying a dragon and viewing the credits and I’m not just talking about the treacherous journey that follows as you attempt to find a temple in the end City let me walk you

Through the music it starts with a familiar melody although something’s not right Eventually the track slows down to a crawl and clipping and distortion drowned the song out into pure emptiness This bleak soundscape drowns out the songs that attempt to play underneath eventually this soundscape becomes louder than it ever was before and a pulsating darkness begins to permeate throughout the track As that occurs a hopeless piano melody begins to play This hopeless melody is drowned out just like the other songs were beforehand in an exceptionally powerful swirl of distortion and chaos and then Silence we fade back into nothingness that is until we hear notes being played in Reverse as if the fragments of a shattered picture are being picked up and put back together You suddenly hear static as if an ox cord is being inserted into an audio jack some familiar notes become audible And then the song eventually culminates in a loop a loop that samples the main theme playing repeatedly until an omnipotent being ends the song now that song was 15 minutes in runtime and it’s 15 minutes for a reason I highly recommend listening to the entire thing when you get the chance

It certainly succeeds in conveying the desolate atmosphere of the end and the events that can transpire the emptiness represents the end city and what feels like a fruitless search for a temple within it the piano melody represents how lost a player can feel when endlessly searching it’s floating islands the distortion reflects the

Enemy’s overpowering the player especially when a group of Enderman are angered or you find yourself being perpetually elevated by shulker x’ enemies are made even more threatening here because the terrain is difficult enough to traverse on foot but your reward for finally making it to that

Ship in the sky after scaling a massive temple is the Electra which allows you to take to the skies and completely decimate the threat of floating islands below so yes the music is good at representing your adventure through at the end but it also has a much deeper meaning a meaning

That can only be interpreted if you paid attention to the lengthy monologue after you jump into the portal and I don’t blame you if you didn’t it’s unnecessarily long and it takes a century to scroll most people ended up tuning it out or skipping it entirely

But it gives the music in the end as well as minecraft as a whole a purpose beyond enjoyable gameplay throughout the poem the two speakers refer to minecraft is a short dream within the long dream of life the feelings we interpret from these small dreams are things that we

Carry with us for the rest of our lives it refers to minecraft is one of many forms of escapism we need to leave our worries and personal issues behind if only for a few hours at a time the ends music represents our unwillingness to leave behind that escapism there are

Often days we’re all completely engrossed myself in a show I’m watching or an album I’m listening to or a game I’m playing in order to leave the world behind it helps me deal with life’s difficulties but it’s not a permanent solution the distortion overpowering the song we’ve come to love is a beautiful

Representation of the cold choking grip of reality reaching in and pulling us out of the bubble we’ve created around ourselves for the time being our temporary comfort and our complete immersion has been breached this happens throughout the song and eventually in that gripping distorted soundscape that leads up to the end of

The song our inability to ward off the harsh truths of the world around us becomes clearer and clearer and then it falls apart yet we still find ourselves plugging back in again as if that’ll make it any better hence the crackling and the looping melody at the end of the song looping

Over and over and over a vicious cycle that beats around the bush until we have no choice but to face reality head-on the final lines of the poem encouraged us to break the cycle and have the confidence in ourselves to tackle the long dream of life with the willpower

Buried within us and the universe said I love you and the universe said you have played the game well and the universe said everything you need is within you and the universe said you are stronger than you know and the universe said you are the daylight and the universe said

You are the night and the universe said the darkness you fight is within you and the universe said the light you seek is within you and the universe said you are not alone and the universe said you are not separate from every other thing and the universe said you are the universe

Tasting itself talking to itself reading its own code and the universe said I love you because you are loved and the game was over and the player woke up from the dream and the player began a new dream in the player dreamed again dreamed better and the player was the

Universe and the player was loved you are the player Wake up you it warms my heart to see minecraft regaining traction after the internet seemingly grew out of it I guess after exhausting all possible avenue survival mode has to offer and seeing an influx of younger players in a decidedly mature game the older crowd decided to call it

Quits but as far as I’m concerned I don’t think there’s a better game for a kid to be invested in minecraft is anything you want it to be and for a kid with an active imagination that’s an incredible thing a recent wave of nostalgia was enough to bring the og

Crowd back to the launcher eager to relive the memories they created with the game and hopefully make new ones no matter how old you are minecraft is certainly capable of doing that and the soundtrack definitely makes it easier to associate with those memories later on late nights building

Structures with friends as a necessary method of escapism surviving alone in the darkest depths of the nether bravely scouring the N city to recover an Electra from a fortress all memories that can be easily relived and created by listening to the soundtrack but remember minecraft isn’t just about

Having fun with the tools you craft or the things you create it’s about taking control of your life and finding enlightenment in the same manner that minecraft allows you to the power to do so is within you and all you have to do is find it and that’s a powerful lesson to learn

Thanks for watching this video I hope it helped you understand the music of Minecraft You