Cave Story "Moonsong" Brass Quintet

“Moonsong" from Cave Story, composed by Pixel (天谷 大輔) and arranged for brass quintet by Thomas Kresge.

🖼️ This is track 13 from "The Brass Indie Expo!"

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Featuring...
🎵 Rahul Vanamali: Shaker, Finger Cymbals
[   / rahulvanamali  ]
🎵 Doug Perry: Snare Drum
[   / drumultima  ]

The Game Brass:
🎵 John Robert Matz: Trumpet
[http://www.johnrobertmatz.com]
🎵 Robby Duguay: Trumpet, Editing, Video
[http://www.robbyduguay.com]
🎵 JohnStacy: French Horn
[   / @thejohnstacy  ]
🎵 Daniel Romberger (DannyMusic): Trombone
[   / @dannymusic  ]
🎵 Alex Hill (WarTubaFox): Tuba
[   / @wartubafox  ]
🎵 Thomas Kresge: Arrangement, Mix
[https://www.kresgemusic.com/]

🎵 Henry Faber: Logo Design
[  / henryfaber  ]

Watch more game soundtrack covers performed on brass here:    • Game Music on Brass Instruments  

Notes from Thomas about the arrangement:

In an album made to celebrate indie games, it felt necessary to include something from what might be the most quintessential originator of independent games: Cave Story. There’s a lot of wonderful pieces of music, but Moonsong stands out as not only a popular piece but a good contrast to much of the other tracks we produced on The Brass Indie Expo.

Moonsong is comprised of a handful of relatively simple, repeating motifs, over one of the most common chord progressions in video game music (some combination of I - bVII - bVI). Simple isn’t bad, though, as it provides a lot of opportunity to develop and reharmonizes the existing music, melding things into a piece that is properly idiomatic for a concert brass quintet. The simplicity of the melodies works to the arrangement’s advantage as I try to mix and layer the piece’s three separate motifs on top of each other at various times. The track’s B section, for example, is often used as a textural figure behind either the A or C melodies.

There’s also great opportunity to play with the music’s form. Rather than linearly repeating through the original’s A-B-C structure two or three times, we jump around as appropriate to help the pacing of the overall arrangement. The introduction begins with the C melody (what I would consider to be the most interesting and developed of the original track’s three motifs), with occasional interjections of the A motif. We then get a proper pair of statements of the A melody, before using the B section less as another motivic moment, but more as a brief interlude to transition into a couple full statements of the C melody.

When we finally return to the A section, it’s presented in a briefer, but bolder form that carries us towards a full, proper statement of the B melody - though this time the B melody has been changed up with repeating rhythmic hits that always sound real good on brass. The C melody, which opened the whole track, then acts as the big, dramatic climax, before we wind down with a final, fanfare-like statement of the A melody. As I often like to do, we get a brief moment referencing a completely different track (the main theme of Cave Story), before closing the whole arrangement out.

A tip for arrangers: find the basic motifs from which a piece of music’s melodies and themes are built from, and don’t be afraid to relentless restate them in as many ways as possible. I feel this helps unify the whole track, reminds us of the “core” elements that define the music, and provides cohesion and pacing to the form. “Retro-style” game music is often very good for this, as in its simplicity there is a lot of opportunity for transformation and development without sacrificing any of the recognizability and charm of the original.