Deconstructing: "Secret of the Forest" from Chrono Trigger

Aug. 2, 2016

Original post here: http://jasonyu.me/secret-of-the-forest

The 11th track in the Original Sound Version (OSV) of Chrono Trigger is "Secret of the Forest" and is the subject of this Deconstructing article, where we'll take a look in detail at a work of music and break it down into its disparate parts, with the ultimate goal of enhancing the reader's experience with the music. As a composer/producer myself, I also find deconstructing songs very helpful for inspiring ideas in my own work.

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Background

Chrono Trigger is one of those games you'll always find on a list of Best Games of All Time. One of the many cited reasons is the strength of the soundtrack---which, especially for the time, contains a wealth of memorable melodies and specific sounds and timbres that were new for an SNES game.

"Secret of the Forest" is the 11th track in the OSV and is first heard in Guardia Forest (and later on in many of the forest areas). It's one of the most popular tracks from the game, with countless covers on YouTube, and sample credit on tracks by musicians like rapper Wiz Khalifa and electronic music producer Giraffage.

But enough talk about it---let's actually listen:

Secret of the Forest

A full cycle of the track (that is, how long it is before the musical material repeats) is 2:13---the track above plays 2 cycles. We'll look at a single cycle and look at the structure of the track within that cycle---so any time references I make will be between 0:00 and 2:13.

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Macro-level Analysis: Musical Structure

0:00 - 0:25: Intro - 8 Bars
0:26 - 0:50: Theme 1 - 8 Bars
0:51 - 1:15: Theme 2 - 8 Bars
1:16 - 1:41: Theme 1 Recap - 8 Bars
1:42 - 2:13: Bridge - 8 Bars + 2 Bars

It's important when thinking about musical structure to remember that music, generally, has a narrative. There is a natural progression of musical content in well-written music that makes sense, that keeps the listener's interest, and so when we think about musical structure, we want to consider how the structure of a song helps tell a story.

So while I have, in pretty boring terms above, laid out what the structure of this track is, let's now look at it using more narrative-like terminology.

The main character in this musical narrative (and this is true of most music) is the main melody. This is the hum-able "takeaway" from a song---in a pop song, this would be the chorus. In this track, and most others, one can think about every other aspect of the song being constructed "around" the main melody. So going back to our original structure:

0:00 - 0:25: Intro - 8 Bars -- this sets up the harmonic backdrop for our melody to come in
0:26 - 0:50: Theme 1 - 8 Bars -- first iteration of our main melody
0:51 - 1:15: Theme 2 - 8 Bars -- a "foil" to our main melody---often contrasting in both shape and tone.
1:16 - 1:41: Theme 1 Recap - 8 Bars -- main melody comes back, "transformed" and "heightened"
1:42 - 2:13: Bridge - 8 Bars + 2 Bars -- outro

Now let's look more closely at each section.

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Intro

The introduction for this track lays out the harmonic backdrop for this track. There are just 2 instruments here---a harp-like instrument that creates most of the harmonies, and a bass that supports the harmony, as well as providing some melodic and rhythmic interest.

First, let's look at what the harp is doing. It's playing 2 specific note patterns, on repeat---each ascending arpeggios of 4 notes, for 4 measures:

Though harmony is often strictly used to refer to the way simultaneous pitches sound when played together, in practice, harmony is often achieved through arpeggio patterns like the one above---where the notes of the harmony are spaced out (though not very far apart temporally). It's a way to give the music a feeling of motion, even though harmonically, it's moving quite slowly---at a pace of 1 chord per 2 measures:

But that's not all there is! Let's see what the bass is doing...

When you combine the two lines, what you really get are these two chords:

It's these two chords, alternating every 2 measures, that make up the harmony of the entire track, excluding the recapitulation and bridge.

Which means the chords themselves have to be pretty cool sounding, to be the basis of essentially the entire track!

Before we talk about chords---note that it rarely makes sense just to talk about chords by name alone. For example, I could tell you that the 2 chords above are Ebmin9 and Fmin9, but that doesn't really give us any insight into why these chords work together so well. We have to define what these chords are in the context of the piece---which is in Bb Minor.

In the key of Bb minor, Ebmin9 and Fmin9 translate into the predominant (iv9) and dominant (v9). What does this mean?

Well, normally, a standard chord progression looks like this:

A TONIC chord goes to a PREDOMINANT chord, which goes to a DOMINANT chord, which goes back to the TONIC chord.

The TONIC chord is home. This is where you start, and this is where you end.
The DOMINANT chord is the "diving board" back to the TONIC. When you hear the DOMINANT chord, the ear expects resolution toward the TONIC.
The PREDOMINANT chord is just setup for the DOMINANT, or a way for the TONIC to get to the DOMINANT---it's not always necessary. Many songs spend sections just going back and forth between TONIC and DOMINANT and skip over the PREDOMINANT entirely.

Almost all music essentially follows this chord progression template. Let's take another track from Chrono Trigger as an example:

Peaceful Days

After a brief intro, we get our main melody at 0:08. The chord progression from 0:08 to 0:14 is actually a perfect example of what Tonic (0:08) -> Predominant (0:10) -> Dominant (0:11) -> Tonic (0:14) sounds like. Then, from 0:14 to 0:38, we actually get a lot of Predominant -> Dominant back and forth action until the final payoff at 0:39, when we return back to the Tonic. Note how this sounds, how the ear anchors the tonic as "home", and how that final chord resolution at 0:39 feels like a satisfying arrival at Home.

Now, knowing all that, what's weird about our chord progression here?

Secret of the Forest

That's right---there's no tonic chord at all! We're just constantly moving back and forth between predominant and dominant chords. The effect this achieves is that our ears are never really anchored. Think about the way the piece starts. Doesn't it feel mysterious, like you know it's going to go somewhere, though you don't quite know where? Compare that feeling to the way Peaceful Days sounds, especially the finality of the moment at 0:39. It's very different, isn't it?

On top of that, there's something else very interesting about these two chords. Check out the notes highlighted in blue:

In the first chord, the blue note is G-flat, in the bass. In the second chord, the blue note is G-natural, in the treble.

This is called a "cross-relation," and it's very weird.

In the key of Bb Minor, G-flat is in the key. Which is to say, it "belongs" to the key of Bb Minor. On the other hand, G-natural is an accidental in the key of Bb Minor, which is to say it is NOT native to the key and is a modification of an existing note in the key, G-flat.

A cross-relation is what happens when both the original "correct" note and its modified version are juxtaposed. Often, the result is a dissonant clash that the ear will naturally notice.

Now, without looking at the score, listen to the intro again:

Secret of the Forest

At 0:06, when we move into the 2nd chord, which note of the ascending 4-note pattern is the cross relation? Which one sounds off?

If you guessed the 3rd note, you're right! Take a look:

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Deconstructing: &quot;Secret of the Forest&quot; from Chrono Trigger

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Deconstructing: "Secret of the Forest" from Chrono Trigger