When it comes to sad music, there's one track that has always stood out to me. City of Flickering Destruction, by Yoko Shimomura, from the 1999 PSX title Legend of Mana.
Here's a later-recorded full orchestral version (which is absolutely amazing).
What makes this so incredibly sad?
Let's start at the core, the chord progression. The intro pretty much lays out what I'm going to talk about, right from the get go. The chords are Db major, Eb major, and then F minor. In F minor, this is the VI - VII - i diatonic progression. In the relative major, Ab major, it's the IV - V - vi diatonic progression. If you don't understand that yet, don't worry, I'll make a blog post about diatonic theory and parallel keys some day soon. Just understand that this progression of chords, or the use of those three chords in general, is absolutely clutch for making sad music. The piece quickly switches to Bb minor (awesome), and once it's there it stays there, and continuously dances around the Gb major, Ab major, and Bb minor chords. Again, this is VI - VII - i progression, but now in Bb minor! Listen to the track, and notice how often it dances around those three chords.
Beyond that is the instrumentation. The flowing nature of the strings in the beginning is very evocative, very touching. Even more evocative is the sudden drop of all instrumentation after the intro, and at other moments later in the piece, where it leaves the piano to carry the piece on by itself. The emotional effect is one of loneliness. We keep expecting it to pick up, and a whole orchestra to come in, but we are dismayed as it returns to a very quiet piano instead. The idea of an instrument being all alone is very powerful in music, which is why a solo violin or a solo cello is absolutely perfect for your sad melodies. Pizzicato strings punctuate this effect, at times. A friend of mine once described the use of pizzicato strings as "falling teardrops," which I feel is very applicable.
An easy way to make your music more heart-wrenching and depressing is to add tempo changes. Slow it down at the end of a phrase every now and then, so it feels like it's struggling to continue (because it's sooo sad... haha). This piece actually doesn't use too many tempo changes or slow down, but whatever, just keep it in mind. Be careful, though, it's easy to go too far with this idea. It takes a light touch.
Which brings us to the biggest point, the melody. It's very touching, and explaining why is a very difficult thing to do, but there are two things that I can explain fairly easily.
1.) Suspensions. A suspension is when you have two chords, and a melody over top, and the chord changes but the melody changes a bit later. It creates a somewhat dissonant effect, and it's very poignant. Take a look at the example below.
You see, in the first half, the melody changes exactly when the chord does, and it changes to fit over the chord perfectly by landing on one of the three notes the chord is made up of. In the second half, the melody lingers on the B, even after the chord has changed to A minor. This note doesn't fit perfectly, so it's a bit jarring, but it eventually resolves down to the A to fit in. This happens twice in a row in the reference track at 0:28, and a bunch of other times throughout.
2.) Extended Chords. If you don't know about Extended Tertian Harmony, I highly suggest reading up on it. Or you could wait for me to make my own blog post about it. Anyway, this piece is riddled with major and minor 7th and 9th chords (usually the Gb major chord, or the Bb minor chord). Extended chords are, well, pretty. They just sound beautiful, and using them can really add depth and emotion to your music. But there is one more interesting thing that occasionally happens in this piece. Sometimes the melody extends the chord it's played over. Let's start after the intro, where the piano comes in and the piece really starts at 0:19. On the first 4 chords (F min, Gb maj, Ab maj, Bb min) the melody lands very safely over notes that are in the basic, triad form of these chords. BUT, once it gets to the 5th chord (Gb maj again) the melody lands on an Eb. Gb major is spelled Gb, Bb, Db. There's no Eb, so this is a bit dissonant. However, this isn't a suspension, because instead of resolving down to Db, which would fit, it goes UP to F. This is a Gb major 7 chord! Play it on your piano, or guitar, it's just lovely. Gb, Bb, Db, F. Instead of the left hand of the piano simply hammering out a major 7th chord, it lets the melody do it subtly. It's a very nice effect, and something I never really noticed until I start writing this entry.
Well, that's that. Sorry it's so long, and sorry it's also a bit late, but I've been a little under the weather lately. I have something awesome to share with you on Friday, though, so stay tuned for that. As for next monday's update, well, I'm still not sure what I'll do. Diatonic theory? How to write sneaky music? Extended chords? Who knows. Thanks for reading!
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