“Wear People’s Faces”: Fan Discussion and Utilization of the Music in : Majora’s Mask

Jeremy Smith University of Toronto April 7, 2015

The Legend of Zelda is one of the most respected and cherished video game series of all time, and its music is beloved by fans worldwide. Aside from their emotional, non-diegetic soundtracks that help create an atmosphere of adventure, Zelda games are known for being some of the first to incorporate interactive, diegetic music-making into their gameplay. The interplay between, and importance of, both diegetic and non-diegetic music is especially evident in the

2000 release, The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask, for the 64. Recently, this game has seen a resurgence in popularity, leading to the 2015 release of a remake, The Legend of Zelda:

Majora’s Mask 3D, for the Nintendo 3DS.

In this paper I show how gamers, and particularly fans of Majora’s Mask, express their fondness for the games’ music in various ways, including: countdown videos of the games’

“best” songs on YouTube, remixes and covers of those same songs, discussion and commenting in online forums and social media, and even one fans’ tribute to the game through the composition of an original opera. The paper proceeds in three sections, the first of which provides a brief overview of the literature on video-game music and on the phenomenon of fandom, then introduces the game of Majora’s Mask and shows how it has had a recent resurgence in popularity. The second section demonstrates how music works in the game, and then presents and analyzes the fan discourse about, and utilization of, the games’ music in the various manners explained above. Finally, the third section analyzes the music of the games’ most popular songs, and their in-game functions, in an attempt to show why the music may have been so positively received.

Literature on Video Game Music

A multitude of literature in the field of ludology (the study of video games) has emerged in the twenty-first century, with a wide variety of interdisciplinary approaches to studying this socio-cultural phenomenon that is important to many peoples’ everyday lives. Studies of video- game music specifically have largely focused on its physiological and psychological impact on the player.1 For example, Karen Collin’s 2013 book Playing with Sound and Zach Whalen’s article “Play Along – An Approach to Videogame Music” show that the gamer is immersed in a virtual world where music and sounds produce feelings of engagement, accomplishment, and fulfillment as one “reads” through the video game as a “text”.2 The way players interact with the music in games has also been a well-researched topic, especially regarding games in the “music genre” such as Guitar Hero, Rock Band, Dance Dance Revolution, Rhythm Heaven, and Donkey

Konga, that were very popular in the first decade of the new millennium.3 Interaction with the music is not only reactive, where the players physical actions directly impact the content of the game, but also proactive, where the music “prompts the players to undertake a specific action when it is played”.4 Other scholars have noted the connection between video game music and film music, including semiotic and semantic functions of particular motives or songs.5 It is through this association that the terms diegetic and non-diegetic are transferred from film studies to video-game studies.

This paper contributes (albeit briefly) to scholarship on video-game music using two methods that have been somewhat neglected in the emerging field: musical analysis, and

1 Sylvie Hébert et al., “Physiological stress response to video-game playing: the contribution of built-in music”, Life Sciences 76, 20 (2005), accessed March 14, 2015, doi:10.1016/j.lfs.2004.11.011. 2 Karen Collins, Playing with Sound: a theory of interacting with sound and music in video games (Cambridge, Massachusetts: MIT Press, 2013), 39-58. Zach Whalen, “Play Along – An Approach to Videogame Music,” The International Journal of Computer Game Research 4, 1 (2004), accessed February 6, 2015, http://gamestudies.org/0401/whalen/?ref=SeksDE.Com. 3 Melanie Fritsch, “History of Video Game Music”, and Michael Liebe, “Interactivity and Music in Computer Games”, both in Music and Game: Perspectives on a Popular Alliance, ed. Peter Moormann (Wiesbaden: Springer VS, 2013), 31-34, and 41-62. 4 Liebe, “Interactivity and Music in Computer Games,” 47. 5 Willem Strank, “The Legacy of iMuse: Interactive Video Game Music in the 1990s,” in Music and Game: Perspectives on a Popular Alliance, ed. Peter Moormann (Wiesbaden: Springer VS, 2013), 87-88. Zach Whalen, “Play Along – An Approach to Videogame Music”. ethnographic studies of fandom. Some video game music has been analyzed by Whalen and

Laroche,6 but a large body of music-analytical literature is absent. In terms of ethnographic research on how video games and their music effect the everyday lives of players, two monographs stand out. First, Garry Crawford’s 2012 book Video Gamers addresses how games are used in the everyday lives of players, and the social and cultural connections that gamers create as a unified “audience”.7 Crawford also looks at fan communities, and the kinds of content that they produce such as game mods, walkthroughs, fan fiction, and art.8 However, his book does not extensively discuss how music plays a role in generating these communities, and how music is (re)-produced by fans (such as remixes and covers). Another book that addresses this aspect more specifically is Playing Along: Digital Games, YouTube, and Virtual Performance, by ethnomusicologist Kiri Miller. In this recent book, Miller uses three ethnographic case studies to show how playing a video game is an experience of community:

Playing Along reminds us of the collaborative nature of these practices: that they build on (and build up) relationships among game designers, players, choreographers, dancers, writers, composers, directors, performers, and audiences, as well as marketers, publishers, and other commercial mediators. For instance, Grand Theft Auto is primarily a single- player game, but no one ever plays it alone; each player collaborates with the game designers to turn code into virtual performance, while remaining aware that millions of other players have engaged in the same endeavor. Common experiences of this kind generate “sensational knowledge” that connects dispersed participants, be they video game players, rock drummers, or yoga practitioners.9

Finally, a related book discussing fandom of music in a more general sense is Daniel

Cavicchi’s Tramps Like Us: Music and Meaning among Springsteen Fans. Cavicchi’s work

6 Whalen, “Play Along – An Approach to Videogame Music.” Guillaume Laroche, “Analyzing Musical Mario-media: Variations in the Music of Super Mario Video Games” (MA thesis, McGill University, 2012), accessed March 30, 2015, http://digitool.library.mcgill.ca/webclient/StreamGate?folder_id=0&dvs=1428357843948~469. 7 Garry Crawford, Video Gamers (London: Routledge, 2012). 8 Ibid., 15. 9 Kiri Miller, Playing Along: Digital Games, YouTube, and Virtual Performance (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2012), 5. shows how music can be a powerful force for bringing people together, and that fans of a musical artist form tight-knit communities with strong social hierarchies.10 While video games are different in that gamers are fans not specifically of one person or celebrity, but an entire game, series, or company, Tramps Like Us shows how important the cultural phenomenon of fandom is generally.

This paper builds on the work of Crawford, Miller, and Cavicchi, exploring how fans of the Zelda game Majora’s Mask show their appreciation for the game’s music in various online media, and through creating new musical content such as an opera. However, in this paper I use the term “fan” loosely, referring not only to individuals who obsess over the game and its contents, but to a wider range of those who like the game for any number of reasons. I will now introduce the game in more detail and show how it has developed a strong fan community, culminating in the 2015 remake for the Nintendo 3DS.

The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask

The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask is the sixth main installment in The Legend of

Zelda series, but only the second to use three-dimensional graphics and gameplay, after The

Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time.11 Ocarina of Time (which fans refer to as OOT) and Majora’s

Mask (referred to as MM), were released for the in 1998 and 2000 respectively.

Both were extremely popular, and have developed a long-lasting legacy in the video game community. Ocarina of Time in particular has been hailed by many as the best video game of all time, and still to this day has the highest rating (99/100) of any game on the popular website

10 Daniel Cavicchi, Tramps Like Us: Music and Meaning Among Springsteen Fans (New York: Oxford University Press, 1998). 11 The distinction between 2-D and 3-D Zelda games is an important one among fans. Many refer to the former as inferior, or have not played them at all. Metacritic.12 It was on the heels of this unprecedented success that Majora’s Mask was released as a sequel in 2000. Majora’s Mask was also extremely popular, but not quite to the extent of

Ocarina of Time. The video game magazine Edge hosted a poll in 2013, to determine the “Top

20 games of our lifetime”, and Ocarina of Time placed first while Majora’s Mask placed nineteenth.13 The number of units sold also shows the immense popularity of these games, with

Ocarina of Time being the fourth-best-selling Nintendo 64 game of all time, and Majora’s Mask being the ninth-best-selling.14 Both games have now been re-released on Nintendo’s “virtual console”, and been re-made into new versions for the Nintendo 3DS.

To help the reader understand references made throughout this paper, and in order to explain aspects that fans are particularly passionate about, I will now provide a brief plot synopsis of Majora’s Mask. The game is a third-person action-adventure game, where the protagonist Link roams throughout the fantasy world of Termina trying to defeat the evil spirit within the legendary “Majora’s Mask”. At the beginning of the game, the opening cut-scene shows Link on his horse searching for his lost fairy companion after the events of Ocarina of

Time. He is suddenly attacked by the Skull Kid, wearing Majora’s Mask, who steals his horse, ocarina, and turns him into a Deku Scrub, a small member of the tree-like Deku species. Link then meets the happy mask salesman, who tells him that Link must acquire Majora’s Mask and

12 A sample of websites that show both critics and fans reception of Ocarina of Time as the greatest game of all time includes: http://www.jjmccullough.com/games.htm, http://www.dealspwn.com/ocarina-time-game-time- 45694, http://www.gamefaqs.com/poll/3509-contest-bonus-final-fantasy-vii-vs-zelda-ocarina-of-time, http://nintendoeverything.com/edge-readers-pick-the-top-20-games-of-our-lifetime/, http://whatculture.com/gaming/6-reasons-legend-zelda-ocarina-time-highest-rated-game-time.php, all accessed March 30, 2015. 13 “Edge Readers Pick the Top 20 Games of Our Lifetime”, October 23, 2013, accessed March 30, 2015, http://nintendoeverything.com/edge-readers-pick-the-top-20-games-of-our-lifetime/. 14 “List of best-selling Nintendo 64 video games”, accessed March 30, 2015, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_best-selling_Nintendo_64_video_games. return it to him before the end of three days; if Link fails to do so, the moon will crash into the earth.

After reclaiming his ocarina (the ocarina of time) in a battle with Skull Kid just before the end of the three days, Link uses its magical powers to go back in time to when he had just met the happy mask salesman. The mask salesman then teaches him a powerful song that can heal souls, the “Song of Healing”. This song is one of the most popular with fans and I will discuss it more thoroughly later in this paper. The “Song of Healing” returns link to his normal human form, and creates the Deku mask, which Link can subsequently wear to assume a Deku form and reach areas only accessible to that form. In order to stop the moon crashing into the earth and defeat the Skull Kid (wearing Majora’s Mask) once and for all, Link then travels to four regions in Termina in order to fight evil spirits within dungeons and break the curses set by Majora’s

Mask on each area. In order to reach the various areas, Link must use the “Song of Healing” to heal two more souls, those of a dead Goron (a race of rock people living in mountainous regions) and a dead Zora (an aquatic race), so that he can acquire the Goron Mask and the Zora Mask in order to assume their forms as well. Breaking all the curses then allows Link to wake four giants, who when summoned are able to hold up the moon before it crashes. Now strong enough to fight

Majora’s Mask, Link summons the giants, and travels to the moon to defeat the mask in a final showdown.

Overall the plot is quite different from other Zelda games; the character of the princess

Zelda only appears in a dream-like sequence at the beginning of the game, and references to other staples of the series such as the “” are also absent. Similarly, the gameplay features the recurring three-day time cycle, with a clock even showing the exact day and hour during the entire game (except for the beginning and ending sequences). This is something not seen in any other Zelda game. These features, along with the game’s dark plot and bleak worldview, created a dichotomous reception among many fans of the series of a whole, and it became a “you either love it or hate it” type of game. However, in recent years Majora’s Mask has had a resurgence in popularity, especially among now young adults who played it in their childhood, and now believe that it is the most intellectual and artistic Zelda game. It strays the furthest from the typical “save the princess” plot that other games in the series have used. A significant contributor to the spread of these beliefs has been the popular YouTube channel known as “Game Theory”.

This YouTube channel started its show “Game Theory” in 2011, where

“MatPat” (Matthew Patrick) presents research on a video game topic and creates a “game theory” for each episode. The topics use a wide variety of games and an interdisciplinary approach to scholarship, all packaged in an entertaining “TV show” format in fifteen minutes or less.15 The third most popular video on the channel, with over eight million views, is “Is Link

Dead in Majora’s Mask?” released on November 9, 2013. In this episode Patrick, along with his guest for the episode Austin Hargrave (known as “PeanutButterGamer”) who has also promoted

Majora’s Mask among fans, show how the areas in the game and the characters emotions expressed in them correspond with the Kübler-Ross model of grief. This and other factors are used to develop a theory that the character of Link actually dies at the start of the game and is undergoing the grief process throughout the game. The video sparked an explosion of controversy, with many supporters and many doubters posting multitudes of comments on the video, and also creating their own methods of response including videos trying to debunk the

15 A sampling of video titles for the “Game Theory” series include: “Why Mario is Mental”, “Mario is a Communist,” “How Fast in Sonic the Hedgehog?”, “Are Gamers Killing Video Games?”, “How Pidgey [a Pokémon] ‘Proves’ Darwinian Evolution”, and “Are Video Games Anti-LGBT?”. https://www.youtube.com/user/MatthewPatrick13/videos, accessed March 30, 2015. theory, and other new theories about the game. It is also noteworthy that out of hundreds of videos on the Game Theory channel, the twenty-first most viewed video is related to Majora’s

Mask too.16

On the same YouTube channel (which has over four million subscribers) Patrick also supports other, less popular video creators who have similar intentions of bringing intellectual theories to video game fans. One of these co-hosts of the channel calls himself “Gaijin

Goombah”, and produces a show called “Culture Shock” that takes an anthropological approach to the study of games and their content. From October through December of 2014, Culture Shock had a three-part series on “Majora’s African Roots”, showing the African influences on the games’ gameplay and design, including the boss enemies and the uses of various masks (in addition to the transformation ones mentioned earlier). Each of these videos also has over a million views, and helped further the popularity of Majora’s Mask. An interesting aspect of the

“game theory” phenomenon (including all of the new videos and channels spawned from the original), is that the authoritative source for information regarding proven “facts” is always the game-making company and the creators of the game specifically. Theories about games use evidence from quotes and interviews with creators as proof for their assertions, and companies like Nintendo have started releasing content specifically geared towards encouraging this fan dialogue.17

One other important factor in Majora’s Mask’s resurgence of popularity was the release of a fan-made video in June 2012 that was a cinematic-style “trailer” for a supposed re-make of

16 This can be seen from https://www.youtube.com/user/MatthewPatrick13/videos?flow=grid&sort=p&view=0, as of March 30, 2015. 17 For the Zelda series specifically, Nintendo released the collector’s book The Legend of Zelda: Hyrule Historia in 2011, revealing the “official timeline” of the series, and other detailed biographical and geographical information about the Zelda world. the game for the Wii U. At the time, the video was published anonymously and thought to be a leaked source that Nintendo had made themselves. However, it was later revealed to be a fan- made creation, created with the intent of generating discussion about the game in order to spur

Nintendo on to create a re-make. The end of the video even contains a caption stating “remember to like the video & share it with your friends, Nintendo will remake majora’s mask if there was a demand for it [sic], we don’t know if this video is a legit [sic] remake or fake yet (it was a leak)”.18 Almost three years later, Nintendo did in fact release a re-make in February 2015, but for the Nintendo 3DS, not the Wii U. The release of The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask 3D has generated even more positive reception for the game. In addition to the bleak and artistic plot of the game, Majora’s Mask is also quite popular because of its gameplay, and a crucial part of the gameplay is its music, both diegetic and non-diegetic, interactive and non-interactive. I will now turn to discussions of the fan discourse surrounding the music of the game specifically, and explain more about how music helps create the games’ emotional atmosphere.

Music in Majora’s Mask

There are many different types of music and sound that constitute the audio-makeup of

Majora’s Mask. Classifying sounds in video games is difficult to do precisely, but Karen Collins’ description in her 2008 book Game Sound provides a useful method: “Game sound can be characterized broadly as diegetic or non-diegetic, but within these broad categories it can be separated further into nondynamic and dynamic sound, and then divided further still into the

18 HassanAlHajry, “Zelda Majora’s Mask Trailer WII U Zelda Majoras mask remake HD E3 2012”, June 5, 2012, accessed March 30, 2015, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cyazYYev7Nw. types of dynamic activity as they relate to the diegesis and to the player.”19 It can also be useful to invoke Liebe’s distinction between reactive music and proactive music.20

While there is a wide variety of music with various functions in Majora’s Mask, the music that fans discuss and use the most (and therefore I discuss most in this paper) is primarily one of two types: diegetic ocarina songs, or non-diegetic soundtracks to specific locations.

Regarding the first category, in the game, Link needs to play songs in order to effect his environment in various ways, such as calling his horse, making it rain, and teleporting. These functions are common in many other Zelda games, but there are also songs with purposes solely useful in Majora’s Mask. Since the game is based on a three-day time cycle, some songs also influence the flow of time, which Link can either slow down or speed up, in addition to going backwards or forwards in time. There is also a unique song to summon the giants at the end of the game.

Some of the most interesting ocarina songs, however, are the four that are used to open up pathways to the main dungeons in the game. These are particularly specialized for Majora’s

Mask because they involve having to assume other, non-human forms in order to play them to their full effects. Firstly, the “Sonata of Awakening” must be played by Deku Link on his “Deku

Pipes” (resembling Bagpipes) in order to “awaken” (raise up from the water) the first temple in the game. Secondly, Goron Link must play the “Goron Lullaby” on his pitched set of drums in order to put a giant Goron blocking the second temple to sleep. Thirdly, the “New Wave Bossa

Nova” must be played by Zora Link on his fish guitar in order to raise a giant turtle out of the

19 Karen Collins, Game Sound: An Introduction to the History, Theory, and Practice of Video Game Music and Sound Design (Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, 2008), 125. 20 Liebe, “Interactivity and Music in Computer Games,” 47. Liebe also describes a third type of music as “Linear”, but this is irrelevant to Zelda games as it only occurs in games that do not have separate music for separate playable areas. water, who will transport him to the third temple deep in the middle of the ocean. Finally, any form of Link can play the “Elegy of Emptiness” in order to create a statue of that form, which can be used to hold down switches in order to gain access to the final temple. Each time Link (in any form) plays an ocarina song, the music is diegetic, but switches from dynamic to nondynamic after the player inputs the correct “notes” in the correct order. After the song is input correctly, the entire succession of notes plays again, often with additional accompaniment, and extended to form a complete, cadential phrase.

The second main category of music that fans are fond of is non-diegetic soundtracks that provide a background to geographic areas in the game. These songs are mostly nondynamic, in that they maintain their volume and rhythmic propulsion as the music continues in a repeating cycle (each cycle lasts approximately two-to-three minutes) unless Link encounters an enemy or other plot-altering situation. The player can also control when they hear certain songs, because they can control Link’s general location. However, some areas have different background music for the day and night time periods, and this cannot be controlled except through the ocarina songs mentioned above. While these background songs are nondynamic, they can also be classified as reactive in a broad sense, since the music reacts to the player’s direct actions of entering or leaving an area, and getting near, defeating, or running away from an enemy. As mentioned above, the two categories that fans find most useful to discuss and utilize are diegetic ocarina songs, and non-diegetic background music for certain areas. But there are two instances where these categories overlap: when “Epona’s Song” is used as the background music for

“Romani Ranch”, and the “Song of Healing” is used as the background music while Link is in the “Clock Tower”.

Fan Discussion and Utilization of Majora’s Mask Music

Almost all music for the Zelda series has been composed by , including the soundtrack for Majora’s Mask. This is astonishing given that the music of this series is some of the most popular of any video game franchise. Indeed, many fans are attracted to the games specifically because of their multi-faceted and emotionally powerful use of music. The legacy of

Zelda music in general can be seen in the release of a CD commemorating the twenty-fifth anniversary of the series with a special edition of the 2011 game The Legend of Zelda: Skyward

Sword. The CD contains new orchestral arrangements of many popular Zelda songs, including a medley composed just for the anniversary, and the music was also featured in a live concert series throughout 2011.21 Following this, a new concert series continued and has toured the world performing The Legend of Zelda: Symphony of the Goddesses”, including a performance in Toronto on March 20, 2015. However, due to its unique ability to create the bleak and emotional atmosphere of Termina, the music of Majora’s Mask has garnered particular attention from fans, prompting them to discuss the songs in various ways, and use them to create new content.

One of the most popular types of YouTube videos is countdowns, especially within the video game community.22 Simple searching will reveal that there are at least ten popular countdown videos only discussing the music of Majora’s Mask, and there are many others

21 “The Legend of Zelda: Symphony of the Goddesses”, accessed March 30, 2015, http://zeldawiki.org/The_Legend_of_Zelda:_Symphony_of_the_Goddesses, and http://zelda-symphony.com. 22 Countdowns related to video games include titles such as “Top fifteen shocking moments in video games”, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9jN3Cd_Gxds, “Top 10 most mysterious characters in video games,” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K8Qmd2vM9JM, “Top 10 scariest games of all time,” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5UEM98Rf7yk, and “Top 10 cheats in video games,” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jYXu33-zbjo, all accessed April 3, 2015. discussing it as part of a countdown on all Zelda music, or Nintendo music more generally.23 The songs that consistently place in the top, as the most beloved Majora’s Mask songs, are: “Song of

Healing”, “Clock Town”, “Stone Tower Temple”, “Pirates’ Fortress”, “Giants Theme”, “Astral

Observatory”, and “Final Hours”, with the first few in this list being cited most often as the very best. Fans create these videos to show their opinions in a public way and debate with others in the Zelda community; this is accomplished through the sometimes highly charged narration and commentary that accompanies the audio and video footage. However, the creations of these videos also spreads the popularity of the game and its music to a wider audience.

Another way that fans create new content with the music of Majora’s Mask is through remixes, covers, and mashups of their favourite songs and parts of the soundtrack. There are countless examples of this on YouTube and SoundCloud, and the most commonly remixed songs are the ones that were consistently listed in the countdown videos as well, especially the “Song of Healing”. The comments on these videos show mixed reactions, with some viewers enjoying the fresh take on songs from their childhood, and others brandishing the new music as inauthentic, mere copies of the original that tamper with greatness.

In addition to creating new musical content, Zelda fans frequently discuss the music of

Majora’s Mask informally on websites such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, SoundCloud,

BuzzFeed, Twitch, and other, more private forums. Some of the most pertinent comments appear on the forum NeoSeeker, where there are threads on people’s favourite music from Majora’s

Mask, favourite Zelda music in general, a separate thread on the “Song of Healing”, and even an interesting thread called “Create Your Own Ocarina Song for Majora’s Mask/Ocarina of

23 See the end of this paper for a full list of links to fan-created content. Time”.24 The pieces that are decidedly the favourites of the fans in these forums match up well with those mentioned in the YouTube countdowns, but the thread on “Song of Healing” reveals even more about why this particular song is so popular, as shown in this conversation from 2010:

User: Does anyone else than me [sic] find the Song of Healing fascinating? Respondent 1: The Song of Healing is the ultimate enemy of logic. It'll make you relax, make you remember lost things and forget others, put you in a trance, it'll make you sad, happy, happy and sad at the same time, it'll make you feel emotions out of nothing. Thats [sic] what drove the mask salesman out of his mind. Respondent 2: Majora’s Mask songs have done that to me time and time again. I can’t explain it, it’s just a strange occurance [sic] that never ceases to amaze me. The music in this game is just outstanding, far superior to OoT [Ocarina of Time] in my opinion. Respondent 3: I love the Song of Healing! I also really like the Oath to Order [the song used to summon the giants]. Anybody know any good remixes of these songs? … [discussion of unrelated topic]. Back on topic, how do you thing [sic] the Happy Masks Salesman learn’t [sic] the Song of Healing? Respondent 4: Yeah, when the mask salesman gets all angry at you, he just instantly changes his facial expression, & then instantly changes it back to a happy expression later … it’s pretty creepy. & also, I realized that when you’re talking to him, the music changes with his mood; when he’s happy, it plays normally, when he’s about to get upset & yell at you & stuff, the music stops, & when he’s upset, it plays much faster than usual. That’s pretty creepy, too, how he’s able to control the music. Respondent 5: I agree. And the angry face reminds me of the man sitting on the bench playing his instrument. When he gets mad, the facial expression creeps me out ALMOST as much as the Happy Mask Salesman…. [discussion of unrelated topic]. Respondent 6: I know! The song of healing does that… I just kind of zone out…wierd [sic]. I think the Deku Palace theme is the best, though. Respondent 1: Deku Palace song is fantastic. You should listen to the orchestra version of it, its [sic] even better.25

This discussion shows how fans feel the music of Majora’s Mask, and the “Song of

Healing” particular, has great power and significantly influences their enjoyment of the game. It

24 “Create your own ocarina song for Majora’s Mask/Ocarina of Time”, accessed April 3, 2015, http://www.neoseeker.com/forums/879/t1509229-create-your-own-ocarina-song-for-majoras-mask-ocarina-of- time/. 25 “Song of Healing”, accessed April 3, 2015, http://www.neoseeker.com/forums/879/t1516270-song-of-healing/. also shows how fans are aware of the details about how music is used within the game, particularly during the cut-scene where Link learns the “Song of Healing” from the Happy Mask

Salesman, and he frequently changes emotions, reflected in the music as well as his text boxes and on-screen movements. Furthermore, these forum users are highly aware of the remixes and covers of songs that are being produced around them, and willingly share links to such resources.

The kind of community building shown in this discussion is reminiscent to that of the online discussion groups among fans of Bruce Springsteen described by Cavicchi.26

Another online source of fan discussion is the video streaming website Twitch. This site is used by video gamers primarily as a place for showing videos of speed runs, where gamers complete the game as fast as possible using glitches, cheats, and highly developed strategies within pre-established rules for several categories. One day while watching a speed run of

Majora’s Mask that was currently featuring the “Song of Healing”, I posted in the live chat “isn’t song of healing awesome?” The first user to respond did so with a simple yet fascinating reply:

“song of healing = wear people’s faces”.27 This comment again shows that fans have a deep awareness of, and appreciation for, the game’s music and its functions. While it may have been made in jest, it also demonstrates that part of the reason fans enjoy the music of Majora’s Mask so much is because of its interactive, diegetic contributions to the dark, sophisticated plot.

One fan that has utilized the music of Majora’s Mask in a particularly devoted and specific way is the Portuguese composer M. Bulteau.28 Bulteau has composed a three-act opera, simply entitled Majora, that is currently in its final editing process. As a twenty-five year old

26 Cavicchi, Tramps Like Us, 15, 17, 96. 27 This discussion took place while watching “Thiefbug” speed run the “All Masks” category on March 24, 2015, http://www.twitch.tv/thiefbug. 28 At the composer’s request, Bulteau’s first name is not mentioned in this paper. who has grown up with a simultaneous love for Western classical music and video games, this is his way of paying tribute to the game. Bulteau started composing the opera after playing through the game a second time in 2011, and seeing the success of the aforementioned twenty-fifth anniversary concert series of the Zelda Symphony.29 While the music is based on fairly strict arrangements of Koji Kondo’s soundtrack, there are liberties taken to fit in with the plot and time-limit of the opera (it will be approximately three-and-a-half hours long). In addition, recitatives, arias, choruses, dances, and instrumental breaks bring the game to life musically, in a much more forthright manner than the diegetic and non-diegetic soundtrack to the original game.

The specific adaptations of the plot and music are also designed to be accessible to fans of the game and non-fans alike.

Interestingly, the plot of Majora does not include the game’s main protagonist Link.

Instead, the opera contains two parallel stories, with the main characters of Kafei (a tenor), and the Happy Mask Salesman (a countertenor) working to recover their respective masks. Majora (a colouratura soprano) is the main antagonist. The story of Kafei and Anju (a lyric soprano in the opera) is revealed as part of a side-quest in Majora’s Mask, and has been elevated to a prominent plot line in the opera. In the story, a thief called Sakon steals Kafei’s wedding mask, the Sun’s mask, which must be re-united with Anju’s Moon Mask in order to confirm the marriage bond and create the Couple’s Mask. Meanwhile, the Happy Mask Salesman is seeking to re-acquire

Majora’s Mask, stolen from him by the Skull Kid when possessed by Majora. The three acts of

29 All details about Bulteau’s intentions and background were gathered in an extensive e-mail interview on March 18, 2015. Further details and updates about the opera can be seen on its blog, https://majoraopera.wordpress.com/, as well as the composer’s website http://www.mbulteau.com/, and his YouTube channel https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC1Oo0XRWJU1ACLj2qnDTctw. the opera coincide with the three days of the games’ time-cycle, and the events of each day are based on the very precise times that they take place in the game’s elaborate side-quest.

The detail that the game inserts regarding the personal lives of Clock Town’s residents, is indeed one of the reasons Bulteau feels Majora’s Mask is well-suited to be the basis for an opera.

When asked why he chose to focus on the Anju and Kafei plot rather than Link’s adventures,

Bulteau replied “Simply put, I find Anju and Kafei's story to be good quasi-standard operatic material.”30 Further elaborating, he says:

I find that a lot of Majora's Mask's story works very well in an operatic setting due to its highly emotional and personal content. The fact that you get to know about the more private side of characters and their routines provides a lot of material, as opposed to most other adventure-focused Zelda titles that wouldn't suit the genre as well as this one does. The fact that I was able to completely remove Link from the setting only made it simpler, focusing instead on Kafei without replacing one with the other.31

Part of my interview with M. Bulteau asked about his opinions as to why the music of

Majora’s Mask is so popular with fans, and how it has helped create the game’s lasting legacy.

In response, he stated “Everyone has their personal reasons for liking what they hear. The notion of legacy implies the passing of time, Majora's Mask is 15 years old, so whoever grew up with it is now in a position to look back and make of it what they wish.”32 And this is exactly what fans, including Bulteau himself and those commenting on and closely following his work, have done in recent years. By discussing, interacting with, and utilizing the original music from the game in the ways described in this section, Majora’s Mask fans have promoted its legacy, and created their own community within the larger video-game world. Why has this music, and some songs

30 E-mail interview with M. Bulteau, March 18, 2015. 31 Ibid. 32 Ibid. in particular, affected so many people so strongly? In an attempt to discover this, I will turn to analyzing some of the properties of the music itself, and how it is employed in the gameplay.

Musical Analysis: Case Studies

This section looks at the musical content of four popular songs from Majora’s Mask:

“Song of Healing”, “Clock Town (First Day)”, “Pirates Fortress”, and “Stone Tower Temple”.

They are presented here in the same order that they are first heard when playing through the game. Musically analyzing these songs will reveal that certain aspects are common to these well- liked pieces, such as metric ambiguity and modal inflections. However, this section also focuses on how each song is employed within the game, and how each player encounters them on a typical play-through. Some songs may be more popular or memorable because of increased exposure to the player. For example, the “Stone Tower Temple” theme provides the background audio in the last and most difficult dungeon of the game; therefore players hear it for an extended period of time. The musical traits of each song, combined with how they are used in the game, will provide some possibilities as to why these particular pieces have been received so positively by the Majora’s Mask fan community.

As already shown above, the “Song of Healing” is one of the most beloved pieces of music from Majora’s Mask. It consistently places in the top three of almost all countdowns of best Majora’s Mask songs, or even all Zelda songs, and fans see it as containing a certain power over them, putting them into an almost trance-like state. There are many musical characteristics shown in Example 1a33 that contribute to these perceptions and receptions, of which I will

33 I have transcribed all examples from the original soundtrack into western notation. While this is not ideal for representing all the nuance of the sophisticated sound-mixing the audio provides, it gives a clear representation of the music and additional notation has been added where necessary. Each song/transcription repeats infinitely until the player stops in the in-game actions required for its play. discuss a few and allow the reader to study the example in more depth.34 Firstly, the tritone is a defining melodic interval for the song, and it is laid bare in the only melodically active line in mm. 1-2 and 9-10. Harmonically, the static open fifths in the synthesizer part create a dark, eerie feel to the accompaniment. But additionally, the harmonic interval of a major seventh, and its inversion (a minor second) are also important, adding a dissonant, jazz-like sound at times. This is especially evident in the diatonic planing of seventh chords (two of which are major seventh chords) in mm. 17-24.

The beginning of the melody, when heard alone – and the orchestration/sound mixing makes it quite prominent in the texture – also creates metric ambiguity, as shown in Example 1b.

If the listener assumes there will be a standard quadruple metre that is used in almost all popular music today, they will hear the melodically significant pitch of E (breaking up the tritone of B-F) as occurring on a strong downbeat.35 This downbeat is emphasized further because of the 3+3+2 quarter-note pattern in mm. 1-2 of Example 1b. The 3+3+2 pattern originates from the clavé rhythm in Afro-Cuban music, and is still employed frequently in much popular music today.

Finally, the tonal centres and modes employed in the song are pleasurably ambiguous.

The first four measures imply a Phrygian cadence in A minor, even though no tonic is present, and the dominant chord lacks a leading-tone. Then, surprisingly, at m. 9 the bass line continues descending down to C, making this the new temporary tonic and resting place twice in this section (mm. 11-12 and 15-16). The first sixteen measures can be interpreted as being in the diatonic mode with no sharps or flats, i.e. all white-keys on the piano, and specifically the first

34 Examples 1a and 1b are transcribed from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7G_aaak-tDE, accessed March 30, 2015. 35 Metric Preference Rule 3 in Fred Lerdahl and Ray Jackendoff, A Generative Theory of Tonal Music (Cambridge: MIT Press, 1983), 76-78. eight measures imply A Aeolian mode, and the next eight imply C Ionian mode (C major). At measure 17 the bass then continues its descent even further, now traversing into a new diatonic space with one flat, and leading to a quasi-cadence in F major at m. 24. After starting this four- measure motion again, the composer Kondo evades the cadence in F major and instead brings back B-natural to instigate a half-cadence in the original implied key of A minor, with a complete dominant chord this time.

In terms of its use in the game, the “Song of Healing” does not gain its expressive power from one extended hearing, as in other non-diegetic background pieces. Rather, it is heard for only a short time, but at multiple times throughout the game (at least three times, but several more if the player completes all the side-quests). Furthermore, these moments are significant to the game’s plot, and are quite emotionally charged. When Link plays the “Song of Healing” for the dying Zora Mikau in order to obtain the Zora Mask, Mikau is shown moving through a deep, dark void, before he re-unites with his band members and holds his girlfriend’s hand as they walk together, accepting the inevitability of death.36 This cut-scene is one of the most widely praised by fans, as evidenced by the discussion in Twitch chat rooms when speed-runners come upon it.

36 CountBleck2009, “Legend of Zelda Majoras Mask: Zora Mask”, February 7, 2009, accessed April 5, 2015, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t-jTtwPaFlY.

Example 1a: “Song of Healing”

Example 1b: “Song of Healing” in 4/4

A much happier, yet also greatly admired song, is the non-diegetic background track

“Clock Town (First Day)”, shown in Example 2a.37 The track is strictly diatonic in the key of D major, and repeats a simple, closed harmonic progression every eight measures. Melodically, there are three distinct themes, each lasting sixteen measures. In many ways, the pitch structure of this song is unremarkable, but the rhythm and metre make this an enjoyable, dance-like tune.

This is partly due to the added drum line, with its syncopation creating rhythmic interest. But part of the rhythmic interest is also due to the metric ambiguity in the melodic line, seen in

Example 2b. As in “Song of Healing”, the metric ambiguity only occurs in the first melodic section. When heard in 3/4 time, the second beat of Melody 1 is emphasized through an octave leap in measures one and five, and repetition in measures seventeen and twenty-one.38 The fast tempo of the song also helps the metre become more ambiguous.

The function of this song in the game is one that creates a sense of home. “Clock Town” is an area that Link returns to frequently, and it contains many merchants, stores, a hotel, a bar, and even a bank. In addition, Link returns here automatically each time he resets the time-cycle

(which also saves the games progress), and the music for “Clock Town (First Day)” starts up again. As with “Song of Healing”, the exposure to this track is often not for extended periods of time, but the sheer amount of times that the player must hear this track in order to complete the game must make it memorable, if nothing else.

37 Examples 2a and 2b are transcribed from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dtz-qGWKNOw, accessed March 30, 2015. 38 Metric Preference Rule 5, Example 4.31 in Lerdahl and Jackendoff, A Generative Theory of Tonal Music, 83-84.

Example 2a: “Clock Town (First Day)”

Example 2b: “Clock Town (First Day)” in 3/4

A third song that fans consistently list as one of their favourites is the theme from the

“Pirates’ Fortress” area (Example 3).39 This is encountered as a mini-dungeon that the player must complete on the way to the third main dungeon in Majora’s Mask. While only a prelude to the larger “Great Bay Temple”, the “Pirates’ Fortress” is still a puzzling and technically challenging location to make it through, and if players are not careful to avoid the guards (who reset Link’s position to the beginning of the area each time they see him), they could be listening to this music for a prolonged period of time. This slow background tune provides a foreboding atmosphere to the fortress, partially due to the distinctive timbres of the trumpet and snare drum that are reminiscent of marching bands. The strong timpani heard every second measure also contributes to the malevolent feeling of the music.

A first distinctive feature of this song is that the bass line and most of the accompanying harmonies are in the mode of A Phrygian, while the melody and the occasional woodwind figures are in A Aeolian. This means that B-flat conflicts with B-natural at several points such as measures six, eight, twelve, and fourteen. Another unique aspect of this song is its prominent use perfect fourths in quartal harmonies. The conflict of B-flat versus B-natural, combined with the quartal harmonies, create enough dissonance to generate an interesting, memorable sound, yet not enough dissonance to cross the line between tonality and atonality: a line most casual players would not be thrilled to cross. This is most evident in mm. 16-18. Similarly, there is also metric ambiguity throughout this piece, specifically that of recurring hemiola (groups of three versus groups of two). In fact, the trumpet line could easily be written in a different time signature than all the other instruments, in the compound metre of 12/8.

39 Example 3 is transcribed from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DSebXkNl5H0, accessed April 5, 2015.

Example 3: “Pirates’ Fortress”

The final piece I will examine in this paper is the theme accompanying the game’s final dungeon, “Stone Tower Temple” (Example 4).40 This dungeon has been highly acclaimed by many as one of the best in the whole Zelda series, and imitates the Tower of Babel in its design and story of creation. As mentioned previously, this music provides the background for the longest and most difficult dungeon in the game, so players will inevitably hear it for a long time.

In terms of pitch structure, the composer Kondo carries out very similar moves to those used in

“Pirates’ Fortress”, with an accompanying harmonic line of parallel fifths in A Phrygian mode, and melodies in A Aeolian. Interestingly, this time an accompanying figure in the bassoon provides a neutral, mediating space between the Phrygian and Aeolian modes, as it contains neither B-flat nor B-natural. However, there is still prominent dissonance between the B-flat in

40 Example 4 is transcribed from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fNDLoncWz30, accessed April 5, 2015. every other measure of the bass line, and the recurring A in the bassoon line. In a similar technique to the “Clock Town (First Day)” theme, three successive melodies are used, though they are shorter here. Only the second of these contains direct homophonic accompaniment, in the form of modal parallel fifths in mm. 19-20, then tonal parallel sixths in mm. 21-26. While the

“Stone Tower Temple” theme does contain some syncopation in melody three, it is the only piece of the four shown in this paper that does not contain any metric ambiguity. I will leave the final word on the music of “Stone Tower Temple” to a fan who listed the dungeon as the best in all of the Zelda franchise in a top-ten countdown video.

The soundtrack for the Stone Tower Temple is similar to that of the entire area, and contains one theme that is prominent: death. Now, in the world of Majora’s Mask everybody is living in fear, and by the time you reach this dungeon, Link’s thoughts would be along the lines of “What’s the point? I just can’t do this anymore.” And then you hear the flute [ocarina] appear in the track, and the flute symbolizes hope, and the chance to succeed. And as you hear the flute, you are ready to finish what you started, and you go through the temple and you do succeed.41

41 Billybo10000, “Countdown: Top 10 Zelda Dungeons”, August 23, 2013, accessed April 6, 2015, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kx3_2abMy34.

Example 4: “Stone Tower Temple” Conclusion

The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask continues to develop an ever increasing fan community due to its resurgence in popularity, and one aspect of the game that is important to so many fans is the music. This is partly due to the unusual (for adventure games) importance placed on music by the creators of the Zelda series, especially Majora’s Mask. Music plays an important role in the game, both diegetically and non-diegetically, in setting the tone for the bleak world of Termina. The “Song of Healing” in particular helps in-game characters deal with grief, and the loss accompanying death, and fans have discussed it having the same effect on them in real life. This song, along with “Clock Town (First Day)”, “Pirates’ Fortress”, “Stone

Tower Temple”, and others have been embraced by fans and, as shown in this paper, been widely discussed and praised by fans through online discussion on various social media websites.

In addition, fans have utilized the original music to create new content such as YouTube countdowns, remixes, covers, mashups, and even a full-fledged opera. Musical analysis has shown that some reasons for this high praise could be metric and modal ambiguity, dissonant melodies and harmonies - often moving in parallel motion, yet within a tonal-hierarchical framework - and forward driving drum rhythms.

Future research on the fandom of video-game music could focus on the personal connection gamers in a more in-depth, ethnographic way. This paper looked at how fans discuss and use the music after playing through the game, but how do fans feel about music during a play-through of the game? Studies in cognition could also help answer this question. In addition, fans should be asked what specific points in the music are their favourites and why? Following this, a music theorist could delve into the properties of the music and discover what fans consistently label as the most musically powerful or evocative techniques. Studying video-game fan-culture is important since it is unique from other kinds of fandom. Users interact with the product and its contents in a distinctive way, and do not usually come into direct contact with any creators of the content. Someone can be a Nintendo fan, or a

Zelda fan, without ever seeing series creator , for example. Yet many levels of interaction exist in a more invisible way between those playing, designing, and marketing the game.42 Still, video games are not “performed” by anyone except their players, and so fan culture surrounding them and their music is less hierarchical than that of a rock star, as shown in the fan discussion and utilization of the music from Majora’s Mask.

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Abel, Kris. “Legend of Zelda music becomes a live experience in Toronto.” Metro News Toronto, March 22, 2015. Accessed March 30, 2015. http://metronews.ca/voices/gameslingers-at-dawn/1319773/legend-of-zelda-music- becomes-a-live-experience-thanks-to-windsor-symphony/.

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HassanAlHajry, “Zelda Majora’s Mask Trailer WII U Zelda Majoras mask remake HD E3 2012”, June 5, 2012. Accessed March 30, 2015. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cyazYYev7Nw.

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Appendix: Transcript of E-mail Interview with M. Bulteau (March 18, 2015).

1) JS: How old are you? MB: I’m 25. 2) JS: Where are you from? Have you lived there your whole life?

MB: I'm from Portugal, and I've lived here my whole life. I've traveled and I do not intend to stay.

3) JS: What is your musical background? What instruments do you play? Where did you study music and when, with whom? How long have you been composing?

MB: My earliest memory of music is For Unto Us A Child Is Born from Handel's Messiah oratorio blasting through garden speakers in a summer day. Music at home was mostly classical, folk of various kinds, and a bit of rock, blues, and pop; video game music became part of that background very early on, at 4 years old, when I got my first console: a Sega Genesis. I learned to read basic music notation in middle school, and had piano lessons between the ages of 11 and 15. One of my teachers understood what I wanted was composition rather than being an interpreter, so he gave me Walter Piston's book on harmony, and advised me other works that would help, like Berlioz's treatise on orchestration. I stopped having lessons and taught myself how to compose for the four years after that. Some of what you hear on my website was composed during that time. When I was 19, I was advised by a friend to go to a music academy in Lisbon, where I filled some gaps in my knowledge, but I wouldn't say it changed my music in any way. The most important effect it had for me was getting to be surrounded daily by fellow musicians for the first time.

4) JS: What is your background with video games? Have you been a lifelong player? Would you consider yourself a Zelda fan and is Majora’s mask your favourite game?

MB: I got a Sega Genesis with Sonic the Hedgehog when I was four years old. From then on, video games became a constant in my life. Along with the Genesis I got an NES, Gameboys (the "brick," pocket, and color), and the N64, and played mostly platformers (Sonic, Mario, Mega Man, Wario, Kirby, Banjo-Kazooie) and Nintendo variations on their Mario franchise (Mario Kart, Super Smash Bros, etc). Top down games were rare, but despite my lack of patience for JRPGs, Pokémon definitely gripped me. My first Zelda game was Link's Awakening, and my understanding of English was poor the first time I played it, so a lot of its depth escaped me. That didn't prevent me from growing to love it. Ocarina of Time came next, then Majora's Mask. I started playing games on PC when I was 12, and with that discovered emulation. Since I had never had an SNES, I decided to take a peek at Link to the Past, but it didn't manage to engross me. I do like Zelda games, but I was never sure of what requirements one would have to meet to be considered a fan of anything.Majora's Mask is definitely at the top of the list for favorite Zelda games, along with Link's Awakening and Wind Waker. PC games became my only source of gaming for a while, of which Neverwinter Nights stood out immensely. Strategy games also caught my attention, from Star Wars Galactic Battlegrounds (nothing more than a slightly improved clone of Age of Empires II), to Imperium Galactica II, Rise of Nations, SimCity. Later on I became enamored with grand strategy games like Europa Universalis and Crusader Kings, but I eventually covered a wide range of genres for PC, including action, adventure, and puzzle games. My transition to PC can be considered permanent so far, as I undertook a long hiatus from console games until a friend lent me his Gamecube in 2010 so I could play Wind Waker and Twilight Princess. Later on in 2013, as thanks for the opera, that same friend offered me a Wii, which I mostly use to play oldies on the Virtual Console.

5) JS: Explain a bit about the project of “Majora” the opera, why you started it, how it came about, how it is progressing, your hopes for the project etc. Who is working on it with you and in what capacities?

MB: Ideas for having Majora's Mask turned into an opera had briefly crossed my mind after a playthrough of the game a long time ago, but I don't remember why I didn't act on them. Later in 2011, after another playthrough, those ideas returned to me, and this time the Zelda Symphony was a thing. So I thought why couldn't an opera be a thing too? I am writing the whole opera myself, but the very final version of the score requires assistance. My right arm in the project, Miguel Jesus, a guitarist and fellow composer I met at the academy, is helping as an engraver, advisor, and demo recording producer. Then there's Liam Greenough who joined us in 2013 (my left arm in the project, if you will), an Australian percussionist and composer who is helping as a percussion and libretto advisor. The people who sing, appear as shadows in the demos, or help with anything else from assistance to art and/or animation are very kind volunteers who are aware of the current stage of the project. They range from ex-colleagues at the academy to people from overseas who reach out to us of their own volition, or are contacted either by us or by other people interested in finding volunteers to help finish the recording of the demo showreel, which totals 9 demos (some of which require makeovers, as indicated on the videos themselves) made to partially show how different sections of the work would sound, still in draft stage.

The score of the opera's 3 acts is currently under revision. Two weeks ago, Liam Greenough arrived from Australia and is staying for a month, joining me and Miguel Jesus in the final process of revision. The work is very definitely intended to be staged.

6) JS: It is interesting that you decided to make the plot emphasizing the famous Anju and Kafei side quest, why did you make this decision? For dramatic reasons? Musical reasons? Why do you like the story of this side quest and why do you think fans like it?

MB: I find that a lot of Majora's Mask's story works very well in an operatic setting due to its highly emotional and personal content. The fact that you get to know about the more private side of characters and their routines provides a lot of material, as opposed to most other adventure- focused Zelda titles that wouldn't suit the genre as well as this one does. The fact that I was able to completely remove Link from the setting only made it simpler, focusing instead on Kafei without replacing one with the other. Simply put, I find Anju and Kafei's story to be good quasi-standard operatic material, and different peoplemight like it for all sorts of different reasons. I must confess that although they are the effective focus of the opera, they are not my personal focus, hence the parallel incursions into Majora and the Happy Mask Salesman. After all, the opera is called Majora, not Kafei & Anju.

7) JS: What is in the instrumentation of the work? What are the main dramatic/vocal roles (and for what voice types?)

MB: The work is scored for full orchestra: 1 piccolo, 2 flutes, 1 set of bagpipes, 2 oboes (1 doubling english horn), 2 clarinets (1 doubling bass clarinet), 2 bassoons (1 doubling contrabassoon), 4 french horns, 2 trumpets, 2 tenor trombones, 1 bass trombone, 1 tuba, percussion (1 tambourine, 1 snare drum, 1 bass drum, 1 triangle, 2 woodblocks, 2 pairs of french cymbals, 1 suspended cymbal, 4 chinese opera gongs, 1 tam-tam, 1 wind machine, 1 benchophone), timpani, 1 xylophone, 1 marimba, 1 cimbalom, 1 celesta, 1 harp, 1 hurdy-gurdy, 16 violins I, 14 violins II, 12 violas, 10 celli, and 8 double basses; 13 solo singers,minimum 27- person choir, and minimum 10 dancers/actors. Because the score is under revision, this instrumentation may not be the definitive one. The main vocal roles are Kafei (tenor leggero), Anju (lyric soprano), the Happy Mask Salesman (countertenor), and Majora (coloratura soprano). Skull Kid is the main dancing role.

8) JS: How are the acts and scenes constructed? Can you give a plot synopsis?

MB: There are three acts, and each encompasses one day and night. There are two parallel plots, with Kafei and the Happy Mask Salesman working to recover their respective masks.

9) JS: How is the score constructed musically? Are there arias, recitative, any speaking parts? Orchestral interludes? Overture etc.?

MB: There is an overture, a prologue in recitativo, then the three acts are a mix of arias, recitatives, choruses, dances, instrumentals, and the occasional dialogue.

10) JS: How did you decide which music from the game’s soundtrack to include/arrange and which parts would be original? Were there particular songs you wanted to include from the game’s soundtrack? Why?

MB: As a tribute to the music of Mr Kondo and Mr Minegishi, I mostly adopted a structure of faithful arrangement -> my organic development therefrom. This isn't always the case, simply because some themes from the soundtrack, although relevant to characters or settings, did not match the mood. For example, you'll certainly not hear the Ballad of the Wind Fish as swing jazz, and you'll hear a development of Stone Tower before you actually hear the game's original. These decisions are made on a case-by-case basis. I have pretty much included all the themes I personally prefer, except for Kotake and Koume's, which I think would have made for a great duet. There is also the case of Romani Ranch, which had to be completely omitted from the opera due its tangential nature. This could be better accommodated with a closer observance of canon, especially if Kafei did not roam so widely. The very reason I have made him so is to display the richness of Termina, the loss of which would be more greatly felt than the mild liberties taken with canon. Because of this, there is little room for tangents like Romani Ranch. Although it pains me not to show the aliens, it would not have lent to the cohesiveness of the narrative, which is already quite dense and fragile. Simply put, you would either see most of Termina and not the Ranch, or just Clock Town, the Ranch, and Ikana.

11) JS: Why do you think Majora’s Mask (and its music in particular) is so popular, and why do you think the music of the game (both diegetic and non-diegetic) has a lasting legacy with fans?

MB: Honestly, I wouldn't know. Everyone has their personal reasons for liking what they hear. The notion of legacy implies the passing of time, Majora's Mask is 15 years old, so whoever grew up with it is now in a position to look back and make of it what they wish.

12) JS: How have fans of the game/series received your project? How do you communicate with them? Why do you think people will like and support this project?

MB: Most feedback I've gotten has been positive. The very first demo got featured in Kotaku and spiked at 4000 views in under 20 minutes, which I assume was simply because the concept was unheard of. People leave comments at the blog, on YouTube, on Facebook, to which I reply if need be. There were text-based Q&As at the blog, and there are now several video Q&As on YouTube that answer many questions posted in comments as well. There are people who like Majora's Mask, there are people who like opera, there's probably a crossover somewhere in between.

13) JS: How have you pre-empted any legal issues that may arise? Have you been in contact with representatives from Nintendo?

MB: The only thing that is 100% in my power at this point is the completion of the score, which will likely total over 600 A3 pages for 3 and a half hours of music. Only when the score is complete will I be focusing entirely on contacting Nintendo for permission to stage the work, as something of this magnitude cannot be set up without funds, and I don't intend to have it officially performed at only a fraction of its potential.