I'm very pleased to announce that I'll be attending DICE next month via scholarship provided by Black Voices in Gaming - Let's get together!
I'm always happy to chat about the intersections between art, creativity, and business, creating more diversity in the games space (which we should always be talking about!!!!!!! especially considering exhausting current events), and/or my very strong feelings about the story of Clair Obscur. or Sonic games.
Looking forward to seeing you all there!
Originally posted as a collab post with me by Skatune Network on Instagram
This week at @magfest is a very special show! The lonely magic tour brought to you by @rebeccasugar and friends!
AND WE’RE THE FRIENDS helping bring Rebecca’s music to life in concert. This is a collection of Steven universe alumni musicians and special guests to help showcase Rebecca’s musical journey. This is going to be a celebration of Rebecca Sugar’s career; ranging from writing for Adventure time, the creation of Steven Universe, to Rebecca’s very own music.
I am so incredibly stoked to be able to be a part of this ensemble of musicians, and we all are very excited to share this with night with y’all! Magfest, see you Thursday at 8:10pm!
SEE YOU SOON, MAGFEST! 🥳🎉🎊✨
#rebeccasugar #magfest #adventuretime #stevenuniverse #live
On July 13th, 2024 I was contacted by Dr. Marco Schirippa, Assistant Professor of Percussion at Central Michigan University to participate in his PIXEL MASTERWORKS project. He was assembling a collection of video game music composer to create new works for marimba, to be performed in a premiere concert the following year.
As a violist, pianist, and lover of classical music I was extremely excited by the chance to create my very first piece of professionally commissioned performance music.
It's not every day that a cold email turns into one of the proudest moments of your career - but I'm super glad this one did.
the email (artist’s rendition)
Because this was my first time writing for marimba, I thought a fine place to start writing this piece was with research. I looked up a few works for marimba and discovered the pieces Stroboscope, by Eric Sammut and Chain, by Kazunori Miyake. I listened to both and purchased the sheet music for each to get a better idea of how they worked.
As a viola player, I know that the genre of classical music for a single instrument can feel less robust and "full" than music written for string quartet, a full orchestra, or even solo piano. While both of these works are stunning examples of how to do it well, I knew that my first outing with the instrument wouldn't necessarily arrive at such great heights so soon. I wanted to play to my strengths.
With that in mind I thought, "What if I added an echo effect to the instrument?" This, I thought, would be an excellent way of making the piece sound properly full. This is also a common approach that I take in my video game writing; instead of thinking of an instrument and its effect as two separate things, I think of the composite of the two as a brand new, unique instrument itself. I reflected this in the way I named the piece - it's noted as being for "marimba with electronic delay," not "marimba *and* electronic delay," since they're being treated, together, as one sound. I also insisted that Marco not present any clips of the piece without a delay applied for this reason (thank you Marco!!!)
Continuing from there, I asked myself, "If I were writing for an instrument with a delay pedal, what kind of music would I write?" I opened my music software, brought up a piano (being careful not to play with too many notes at once), added a delay effect to it, and thought, "Well, probably something like this" as I played the piece's opening figure.
an image of Logic, the software I used to write the piece
My next steps were to substitute the piano with a high-quality marimba sound (which I purchased from 8dio) to get a better idea of how everything would sound and explore the idea for what might be interesting for the audience to hear and see. I thought the idea of Marco jamming away at the rhythm while reaching across himself to play melody notes would be very interesting and that became the basis for the next section.
Marco crossin’ over
sheet music showing the crossover | 00:49 in the performance
After exploring that, I came up with a groovy “ostinato” - a part of the music that repeats over and over again - and wrote a melody on top of it. I didn't have anything meticulously planned out for this section and instead chose to let my intuition as a composer take over. I call this the part where I "let the music write itself."
Elizabeth Gilbert discusses an idea similar to this in her amazing 2009 TED talk, "Your elusive creative genius"; she discusses how the prevailing idea of the past was that "genius" wasn't something that existed within you, but was instead something (or someone - a spirit, perhaps) that would descend from the heavens and gift you with creative ideas for your art. In a more practical sense, I think that the sum total of your exposure to, experience with, and study of an art subconsciously influences everything you make. When you're creating in a "flow" state, you're tapping into that collection of inspiration. It's something I try to do in most of my work and those intuitive sections of my music tend to be some of my (and my audience's) favorites.
the ostinato | 2:25 in the performance
One of the fun things about writing an ostinato is that your brain will “accept” that the ostinato part belongs with the rest of the music, even if it sounds dissonant or “out of tune” with the other parts. I noticed that there was a little “clash” that occurred naturally between the ostinato and the melody towards the end of the idea - two notes that are right next to each other play at the same time, creating a somewhat harsh sound - and I thought it was interesting that it had happened and just as interesting that I’d barely noticed it. I decided to draw attention to the “clash” by repeating it a few times.
the clash | 3:12 in the performance
The next section of the music is another part that “wrote itself.” There’s a fairly strong harmonic shift that happens (at 3:42 in the performance), but I didn’t have any particular thoughts in mind when I chose those chords, other than “hey, this sounds neat.” The return to the beginning of the piece wrote itself as well; it’s extremely common in both classical music and video game music to return to a piece’s opening section, so it only made sense for me to do so here.
Part of the origin of the Loop section comes from our writing process for the piece. Since I’d never written for marimba before, I decided that I’d make a habit of regularly passing the music to Marco to ensure that everything was possible for a live player to perform. I had concerns that I had made the piece too difficult, but he assured me that everything was playable.
Of course, upon hearing this, I felt freedom to make things a bit more intricate… which did lead into a bit of a difficulty spike (and the creation of a section that was initially far too difficult - thankfully, Marco helped me reign it in quite a bit).
a page from the “Loop” section
When I began writing Intro & Loop, I knew that I wanted to do something to artistically reflect the fact that PIXEL MASTERWORKS is a project that exists at the intersection between video games and classical music.
In the early history of video game music, the pattern set by some of the most popular examples of that work is what I refer to as the "classical" video game music form. This was a form popularized by composers like Koji Kondo (the writer of the Super Mario Bros. theme), Jun Ishikawa & Hirokazu Andu (who worked on the Kirby series), and other "retro" composers.
A key element of that form is that the music often begins with a short introduction that plays a single time, followed by the main body of the piece, which loops endlessly, unless its interrupted by a player's action - such as the player dying, pausing the game, or progressing to a new level with different background music. I think of these distinct segments as the "Intro" and "Loop" segments of the piece. If you're familiar with the 7 note introduction of the Mario theme, then you're familiar with the sound of one of these "Intro" sections - though, technically, the Mario theme does loop in its entirety (a fact which I misremembered in my program notes for the piece).
performance notes for the Loop section
In either case, the concept still stands, and I sought to imitate these elements with my writing.
In “Intro & Loop” the performer plays the role of a player playing a video game. They progress through the Intro section as expected before arriving at the Loop, at which point the sound of the music is determined by the input of the performer. The performer has the freedom to move through various sections of the music in whatever order they choose, at whatever volume they like, and for as long as they wish. This is analogous to my work as a video game music composer - while there are many decisions that I can make through my music, the ultimate way that it will sound in game is determined by how a video game player chooses to progress through it.
Lastly, the title of the piece is a reference to both traditional classical music writing and my process as a video game music composer. Traditionally, classical music pieces were often presented without emotionally descriptive titles; they were instead given names that were factually descriptive. The fifth symphony that Beethoven wrote is in the key of C minor, so its formal title is, “Symphony No. 5” and it is often referred to as “Symphony No. 5 in C”
I often don’t begin with emotionally descriptive titles for my video game music, but it’s necessary in many contexts for my files to be clearly named and delivered in a format that a programmer is able to implement into a video game. I’ve often delivered two distinct files to game developers for each piece of music, divided into the “Intro” and “Loop” files and named as such. Thus, the factually descriptive title of this piece is, “Intro & Loop.”
Overall I am extremely satisfied with how the piece came out and Marco’s wonderful world premiere performance. If you haven’t had a chance to listen yet, check it out here. You can also find out more about Marco’s work and the PIXEL MASTERWORKS project here, stream the entire concert at this link, or get in touch if you’d like to work together.
Intro & Loop, my very first work of professional classical music, premiered last month!
I've been a classical composer and performer for nearly as long as i've been a love of video games, so having the opportunity to be a part of this project has been an honor. Marco did a wonderful time performing it.
To listen to the piece in full along with the entire suite of music in the PIXEL MASTERWORKS series visit CMU’s Youtube Channel!
We're releasing the Calico Soundtrack on Vinyl!!
Today marks the 5th anniversary of Calico's release - it is astounding to me how much you've all enjoyed the soundtrack. A Cat is a Cat, featuring lyrics and vocals by Emily Anderson has over half a million listens across Spotify, YouTube, and other streaming platforms - not to mention the number of you who've bought a copy of the album from Bandcamp or Steam. Thank you, so much.
We'll be releasing in 2026 - stay tuned for updates!! Meyoco joins us again with art for the back of the vinyl (including this lil cat !!), and a big thank you to @eirex.art for designing our announcement post !
Cannot wait to share this with you!!
- Star 💫
I released an album today! "flower fields" is a collection of piano centric works - from improvisations, to compositional etudes, to unused video game music !
I started playing piano in the 8th grade - I had been a violist for four years prior, was already attending a (public! free! thank god) school of fine arts, and my mother noticed that whenever a piano was around I wouldn't stop messing with it.
That "messing with it" gained more structure as I started to take piano classes. I learned about scales, chords, and arpeggios and eventually started stringing them together to make my own music. After listening to enough Sonic the Hedgehog midis online, I wondered, "could I learn to make midis?" - and before long, I'd settled on a career. as a middle schooler.
The piano still holds a special place in my heart and I'll be releasing more piano albums in the coming years. flower fields is available for purchase on Bandcamp, Spotify, and streaming wherever else you get your music. Enjoy.
- 💫
P.S.: Album art by the amazing @eirex.art!
The world premiere of my very first professional piece of music for the stage, Intro & Loop, is happening TODAY at 4:00PM PST / 7:00PM EST !
Tune in on Youtube to catch Dr. Marco Schirripa premiere it live!
Next week, the remarkable Dr. Marco Schirippa will be premiering my very first piece of professional music for the stage, "Intro & Loop," scored for Marimba with live electronic delay. You can watch a live stream of the performance as part of the PIXEL MASTERWORKS concert - a collection of new work for Marimba by video game music composers !!! - at https://www.youtube.com/@cmumusicschool/streams next Wednesday, November 19th at 4:00PM PST !
A lot of the work I do in my game music composition is more "subtle" when it comes to the capital a "Art" of it all, but pieces like this give me the opportunity to really flex those muscles and show the audience the amount of depth I can bring to my music when it's appropriate.
Intro & Loop is named after the naming convention I use in my video game music work. Typically, a game music file is divided into two portions: the "Intro," which plays only once, and the "Loop," which plays until an appropriate moment in the game, such as when a player completes a level. If you're familiar with the 7 note introduction to the theme of Super Mario Bros., you've encountered the form before winking emoji
The Intro section is played only once while the Loop section is divided into several segments which the performer is instructed to perform any number of times and at any volume according to the performer's discretion. This is in homage to the way a video game's score responds to the input of the person playing the game. Marco tells me that the piece sounds very "video gamey" too, but that was by accident ! I literally cannot help myself.
I hope you're able tune in and check out the performance !!
You can stream and download it (for free!!) on Bandcamp!
https://slide20xx.bandcamp.com/album/beginnings-rising-star-vol-1
Stream it on YouTube (and like, comment and subscribe!!!)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DwELCZIORpo
Stream it on Spotify (or wherever else you get your music!!)
https://open.spotify.com/album/3PLad4UGl8dkQpLma8NMTf?si=jJ1fYNnkR5iI9ARzNzTatA
A few more special thanks are in order!! Thank you to:
Akash Thakkar, for his incredible business acumen and tireless support of all things Star Victoria Power, Slide20XX, and by extension, Rising Star - I owe so much of my career success, and my personal success, to you. I owe you some fudge!
Michael 'Skitch' Schiciano, for helping us kick things off, helping us coordinate our composers, and donating his time, energy, and helpful spirit to the fund.
Lucian Hardner, for bringing a level of coordination, production, and organizational expertise that I have only dreamed of in legend. I will update the Trello, I promise.
TV-MA, for their exceptional mastering job and helping make sure our ears are up to industry standards. | https://www.tvmanoise.com/
Jacqueline MC, for once again supporting my work and offering a fabulous balance of realness and professionalism.
and last, but not least, Matilda, for crossing T's, dotting I's, and enthusiastically keeping us on tract. icon of email. queen of the spreadsheet. I will never not use your notion.
This is a truly phenomenal collection of work and if you're into top-of-the-line video-game-type jams, I think you're really gonna love it.
This a fabulous place to start - a wonderful beginning, if you will - thank you so much for coming along. Can't wait to see what's next.
Stay frosty (and keep shinin')
-Star
I'll be speaking in the Game Audio Boston Discord server this week!
This will be an informal interview where we'll talk about things like how to advance your career once you've gotten your footing, the ever-present struggle for work-life balance, and how to stay motivated in your career over the long-haul. (and I'm sure we'll find some time to talk about music, too 😉)
If you're interested in attending, or if you're in the Boston area especially, see their website at GameAudioBoston.com for a link to the server.
Hope to see you there!
Distinguished guests, brothers and sisters, ladies and gentlemen, friends and enemies*, on behalf of Rising Star it is my honor to present to you:
Releasing on October 24th!!
We've assembled 6 composers from marginalized backgrounds to bring you music inspired by the early parts of video games - I'm talking tentative first steps and first levels, the energy of hyperspeed trailer themes – all with inspirations from Mega Man, Kirby, Kirby Air Ride, puzzle games, platformers, jazz, chiptune, classical - and packed into our little collection of tracks. It sounds great and I think you’ll love it.
Most importantly: we've come together to create the start (maybe even... the beginning??????) of something; these composers were gathered because of the exceptional work they've been able to do in spite of working in an industry that doesn't cater particularly well to ANYONE, much less to anyone with any kind of diversity - gender diversity, neurodiversity, racial diversity - and this is a small proof of concept of the kind of work we're able to do with a little bit of space, time, and financial support. This showing will be a launchpad to help us connect with more individuals and organizations who believe in this cause and can help us power-up to do even more. The world is getting less inclusive these days... so it'll take the power of community coming together to make things better for all of us.
I hope you enjoy the tunes and you'll continue to follow along with us as we continue on this journey.
In case you missed it, we've launched on social media platforms! Find us here:
Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/risingstarpatronage.com
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/risingstarpatronage
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/risingstarpatronage
Linkedin: http://linkedin.com/company/risingstarpatronage
You might have also seen a few of the things that we've been able to do on behalf of marginalized composers in our last update. I'd like to once again share, (and expand on!) that list. In addition to paying our composers for this collection of tracks we have:
Met with a major game audio company to start discussions about diversity
Started conversations about collaborations with like-minded, diversity-promoting organizations - more to come here!
Compensated our composers for all associated payment processing fees (these will sneak up on you, we've been doing this from day one)
Sponsored a composer to attend a game dev event, for camaraderie and professional networking
Purchased music software for a marginalized composer in our extended network
Provided direct rental support to a composer in a time of severe need
Submitted an application for a collaboration with a major game industry organization
Brought on some additional support to help on the administrative side of things
Provided some informal, professional mentorship to several composers
Thanks to the generous support of all of you, we were able to shoot beyond our first milestone - which means that we were able to support this first release in an extremely meaningful way. This really wouldn’t exist without all of you and I am extremely grateful. Thank you.
As mentioned in June, our target for the time being is shorter, episodic releases. We also want to ensure we continue to support the composers we've already built connections with. Building stability in a difficult industry during an unstable period isn't something that happens overnight and it's definitely not something that happens after one (or two, or even ten) opportunities. My hope is to build Rising Star into a robust platform that can help support careers as much as is reasonably possible, and in as many ways as possible, for as long as we can.
We'll continue to support the wider community as well: through direct financial support when possible and where necessary, educational outreach, community building and support, and anything else that's an organizational and ideological fit. I can't predict everything that we'll be able to do and, truthfully, I can't predict how long we'll be able to do it for - but I am always on the lookout for opportunities and doing what I can.
Once again, from the bottom of my heart, thank you all for your support.
Stay frosty,
Star
*introduction quoted from Malcolm X because 1) it is absolute heat and 2) i for one think it is gender inclusive
Hello friends!
I am very pleased to announce that I'll be playing viola at MagFest as a part of... Rebecca Sugar & Friends Present: The Lonely Magic Tour !!!
Writing the background music for Steven Universe's anti-racist PSAs in 2020 was one of the proudest moments of my career - having the opportunity to contribute meaningfully to something that I'd been a fan of for years alongside doing work that connects deeply to myself as both an advocate for change and as a proud, Black artist is.. beyond words.
I had an absolutely phenomenal time performing with some of these lovely folks at MagWest and believe me when I say that you're in for a treat. Rebecca's work on Lonely Magic is as beautiful as always, our collection of artists is ready to bring you an excellent show, and we'll be performing on a marvelous stage. Be there if you can!!! This is gonna be fantastic.
The one thing they don't teach you in music school is: have fun.
I am an absurdly educated musician - I've been playing viola for over two decades, piano for nearly as long; I've been writing classical music since I started playing piano and I started working with music technology shortly after that. I comfortably read treble, alto, and bass clef, feel confident writing and arranging in a variety of genres, I play viola and piano, I can write, freestyle, and perform rap, I've written a little for animation and a lot for games, and I have written not one but TWO metal tracks - with guitars!!! I don't even play guitar!!!!
and yet I messed up the end of this piece at the piano
and I was mortified
Studying classical music, and playing strings especially, teaches you to be perfect. Every note that's even a little out of tune is an opportunity for growth. Improvement. Perfection. Any slip of the finger, anything that's slightly out of time, every single part of the tune can be optimized and re-optimized. It's a wonder it hasn't driven me mad.
I'm grateful for it, don't get me wrong - the discipline that I've brought to my classical studies is the same that I apply to everything I do, even my explicit and inappropriate parody rap (which you may never hear) but I think, sometimes, between all of the deadlines and responsibility, it can be hard to remember to enjoy it.
so I've been enjoying it more lately. playing more games. writing more little funny raps. recapturing more of the play in my work. can't recommend it more.
p.s.: I was only slightly mortified. (nobody noticed 😉)
I performed at MagWest!!!
When I was a kid, I decided I wanted to write music for video games. I did what I was supposed to do - I studied hard in school and got all A's, started teaching myself how to write music, took extra-curriculars and AP classes to look good for colleges, took AP Music Theory, studied Latin for the SATs -- all to make sure I got into a good school to follow my dreams. Surely my good grades would be relevant for my music career????? Right????????
Well... sort of.
As I entered adulthood I learned that people are _highly_ context driven. My good grades didn't matter in rehearsal. My intellect didn't matter at a party. It was less about who I was as a person and more about who I seemed to be in that moment and how much that person suited the task.
Thankfully, I was only half right.
Turns out, the dedication I gave to that academic work - which is the same energy that drives me to be kind to others - does matter. That kindness is showing up to practice on time, being flexible and easy-going if everything doesn't turn out perfectly, and giving whatever you've got when you got it - even if you could use a few extra hours of sleep.
That's what matters - more than how fast your fingers are, how optimized your code is, or how dope your beats are. I'm honored to have gotten the chance to bring that energy to my performance with Aivi & Surasshu, Miles Morkri, and Stemage - and so grateful to have received it in return.
Til next time!!!
P.S.: I'm holding a mic because I played viola and rapped, stay tuned 👀
My most streamed track on Spotify... is a level completion jingle.
When the developers for The Stars Between Us asked for a level complete "fanfare" I wrote them a fanfare.. which didn't sound quite like this.
As a classical musician, the word fanfare called forth big brass, rolling snare drums, big orchestral bells - something symphonic! (ironically I didn't think of 'a brief improvised introduction to an instrumental performance' which is what Wikipedia says I should have but tomato tomato*)
So I sketched something to that effect because, surely I'd gotten a hang of the developer's taste by now, as I'd been working on the game for a while and all of my other sketches were approved without fuss.
Not so! I thought they wanted a fanfare, but what they were looking for.. was more of a march. which, significantly! is in 3. I'd never have written a fanfare in 3, because my mind told me a fanfare was in 4
and that, ladies in gentlemen (leaving that typo) is why you always use a musical reference.
seacrest, out**
*if you read tomato the same way both times, you are reading it as intended
**this is on spotify etc, stream it there
I'm performing at MAGWest!!
I'll be joining aivi & surasshu on stage as a violist and maaaaaybe helping out with another little surprise 😉👀
This'll be my first time performing in the games industry (I'm much more of a composer you see) but it's sure to be a fun time! and hey I hear some of the best composers played viola so check that out
If you're around, come out and see us!!
Our contracts are signed and production has begun! Right now that means we've set the creative direction of the project and gotten everything set aside for us to start working. Unfortunately, due to shifting schedules, a bit of travel, and a few complications, we'll have to delay past our initial target of August.
To set accurate expectations, I'll refrain from announcing a release date here BUT for full transparency, all of our composers are contracted to finish their tracks by September 15th - so with a little time added to finalize everything and prepare for release, I wouldn't be too surprised if we saw something before the end of the year. (but no promises! not until those files are uploaded and ready for release)
Speaking of finalizing, I have additional news - even with the limited scope, our initial project was grossly underfunded... which is why I'm thrilled to announce that, thanks to a very generous donation from a local organization in Seattle, we were able to blow past our first milestone with a total amount raised of $14,748.
Thanks to kindness of this organization, we now have the funds required to properly complete the album - which includes a budget for mixing, mastering, promotional support, and album art!!!! (friends... we did not have enough budget for album art 💀)
I can also proudly announce that the future of the fund is significantly less uncertain. We're now able to increase payments for composers who discounted their rates, plan for and fund additional tracks beyond our first release, and, importantly, set aside a small operating budget which will allow us to do all of the aforementioned sustainably, at least for a little bit.
As always, thank you all for your support! We'll be announcing our composers over the coming months and keep you posted as we keep plugging away.
Stay tuned!
-star
I don't always get to write "sleepy" music, but when I do, I like to lean into it.
"Star Charts" was put together as a level select/map theme for "The Stars Between Us" - I really leaned into that idea of that screen serving as a place of rest, hence the aformentioned sleepy vibes (heck I'm sleepy right now 😴)
It was also a fun opportunity to simplify the game's theme down to its most essential parts, a very simple chord progression combined with pleasant, chiming notes from the melody. Not exactly a bell, but bell-like - not in timbre, but in personality.
did I mention that I was sleepy
as always, enjoy on spotify and everywhere else. Imma take a nap
-🌠
"creativity" is another exploration of a favorite compositional form of mine, which can roughly be described as "do the same thing over and over again except, like, different sometimes*"
I don't make a lot of music without writing a really thorough creative document too often, either, but when I let myself be free so to speak, this is a form that comes out. I think that's because I like to approach a lot of my music as problem solving or solving a puzzle - I don't get as excited by melodies themselves, chord progressions, or rhythms, but if the "problem" is "take this simple idea and make it interesting" I can focus exclusively on that. When I do work for clients the puzzle is "how do I create a genre and style that suit this project" and the research I put into the creative direction doc becomes the place where I channel that energy
I think that's why this one sounds like "creativity" to me.
anywho, stream it in all the places (and enjoy)
-⭐
*p.s. in classical music we might call that a 'theme and variations' buuuuuut idk this one's a lil more simple fam
Originally posted as a collaborative post with me by neka_kohai on Instagram
The next episode of cutiespectives is out now! I interviewed music composer Star VictoriaPower! You can check out the full interview on my YouTube channel ~
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#cutiespectives #slide20xx #lgbtinterview #interview #mtf #lgbtcommunity #musiccomposer #videogamemusic #lgbtqiaplus #lgbtq #lgbtqia #nonbinary #calicogame #bloodstained #stevenuniverse
