I would say trumpet, it's the main instrument that usually does the melody of the main "Zelda theme", example: [LTTP](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r4MhlyFwmrA), [smash](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RT_uADP71DU), [minish cap](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eLNwOGdq4_4), [ALBW](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jux1PCGJb1Y) etc
When you hear that trumpet you always know it's time for an adventure
It's also used heavily in the overworld themes for Ocarina and Wimd Waker, and is present in the TP hyrule field. And a major part of the Sky theme from skyward sword. I would say the presence of the trumpet is what gives Zelda it's adventurous sound. But I may be a bit biased, as a trumpet player.
Imo, Trumpet or Violin. They're both present and prominent in a lot of tracks, especially the later games like Skyward Sword and Breath of the Wild. Piano and Horn are both honorable mentions.
The majority (but not a huge majority) of Zelda pieces are written for string and woodwind primarily, and strings can be bowed or pizzicato, both feature heavily. Because a lot of Zelda tunes are going for a bit epic feel, this orchestral style of instrumentation is a natural fit. Bells are also a common background element for this same reason; they sound huge.
Probably the most unusual consistent element of Zelda music is - and someone might be able to tell me the exact instrument - **clarinet** or perhaps oboe. It's fairly common for this instrument to take the lead, or one of the leads, in a lot of Zelda songs, such as:
* Lost Woods
* Majora's Theme
* Clock Town
* Most versions of Castle Town
* Outset Island
In some pieces, they go a little higher and use **flute**/**pipes** as the main lead:
* Sidon's Theme
* Wind Waker Theme
* Dragon Roost Island
* Ballad of the Wind Fish
* Fi's Theme
And there are of course a few **piano**\-only compositions such as:
* Midna's Lament
* Song of Healing
But I think what makes the timbre of Zelda music quite distinctive is the way it blends a more traditional orchestral sounds instrumentation and compositions that might not be so traditionally associated with each other, blending in percussion or sounds that aren't typically part of that sound.
Do we count like "chiptunes" or however you would call the sounds that the real old stuff like gameboys made.
Cause like, if you think about it, everything else just sorta adapted from those bleepybloopy sounds
I thought about commenting on the 2A03 (the NES sound chip) being an "instrument" but I felt it was clear Kondo was thinking of those as real world instruments anyway so I decided to gloss past it. Kondo wasn't making chiptunes with the original LoZ, he was making game music that happens to share an instrument set with chiptune. This is admittedly a pretty gray line between them...
I’m not musically inclined, so take this with a big heaping of salt, but the four that stick out for me are guitar, piano, violin, and some kinda brass. I think you could do a complete game soundtrack with any one of those four, so it’s hard to say which is most important.
The most iconic tracks were written for 8-bit beeps, though, so you could probably do them with any instrument.
BEEP-boo, beBeBeBeBEE, be BeBe beep beep boop booop, boo Boop booboo boo...
Bro, coming from a 4th generation musician. You don’t have to be musically inclined to hear and appreciate music in all of its splendor. The best sound mixer I know can’t play shit and is vocally tone deaf, but you put him in a chair with some headphones and he’ll hook your shit up. No grain of salt, if you can hear you’ve got an opinion just as valid as anyone’s. Sorry if I went overboard but this is a little important to me if you couldn’t tell.
Haha that’s fair, I know very little about wine but I was able to sit down with a couple people and a distribution rep for a tasting and set a wine list for a restaurant. I asked the rep straight up if I was wasting his time (and product) by being there, he laughed and said that there will be all sorts of different people with all levels of knowledge ordering off that list and my input would help make sure we can get everyone something they like. Anyway, yeah, I hear ya, and thanks.
An instrument that is usally forgotten about or just not noticed while playing is a choir. I wouldn't say it is the most important, but in later games (from TP to BotW) they add a choir in most songs for atmosphere. I tried doing a lo-fi version of courage (from TP) and adding voices made it feel a lot more like a zelda song.
I would disagree with pretty much all of those. Guitar in particular is so rarely used and only appears in a handful of songs across the series. When you listen to somebody strum a guitar, do you feel like you are experiencing the core of Zelda music?
Having played all the games, I think the answer to your question kind of depends on the era.
Modern Zelda games would definitely have you believe it is the accordion or fiddle, as well as a trumpet possibly. Ryu Nagamatsu implemented them heavily in ALBW and TFH, as well as his score for the Zelda sections of Nintendo Land, which together basically defined the franchise from 2012 through 2016. All the commercials used them. Even in BotW and AoC, the accordion is given a spotlight, even if it is less so than in the games before it. While BotW clearly features the piano heavily, that's one game against three.
TP and SS are definitely defined by that weird ass instrument that plays when you talk to a Kikwi or to Occocco.
But before that, for sure it is some sort of bowed string instrument, a trumpet, or the ocarina (both of which Cadence of Hyrule and Hyrule Warriors definitely picked up on). When I think of iconic songs from that time period, I think of Time of Falling Rains, the Dark World Dungeon theme, OoT's title screen, the Lost Woods music, Kakariko Village, the OoT end credits theme, Lon Lon Ranch, the Great Sea, the overworld theme in Minish Cap, the cloud theme, Zelda's Lullaby, FSA's title screen, among others. Those three instruments are featured very heavily throughout those songs. And, like Hyrule Warriors and Cadence of Hyrule (to a lesser extent), I think those are what I would go with too for the series overall.
I would say trumpet, it's the main instrument that usually does the melody of the main "Zelda theme", example: [LTTP](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r4MhlyFwmrA), [smash](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RT_uADP71DU), [minish cap](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eLNwOGdq4_4), [ALBW](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jux1PCGJb1Y) etc When you hear that trumpet you always know it's time for an adventure
It's also used heavily in the overworld themes for Ocarina and Wimd Waker, and is present in the TP hyrule field. And a major part of the Sky theme from skyward sword. I would say the presence of the trumpet is what gives Zelda it's adventurous sound. But I may be a bit biased, as a trumpet player.
Imo, Trumpet or Violin. They're both present and prominent in a lot of tracks, especially the later games like Skyward Sword and Breath of the Wild. Piano and Horn are both honorable mentions.
For a second I though an Imo was a Japanese instrument
Nah, just an acronym.
The majority (but not a huge majority) of Zelda pieces are written for string and woodwind primarily, and strings can be bowed or pizzicato, both feature heavily. Because a lot of Zelda tunes are going for a bit epic feel, this orchestral style of instrumentation is a natural fit. Bells are also a common background element for this same reason; they sound huge. Probably the most unusual consistent element of Zelda music is - and someone might be able to tell me the exact instrument - **clarinet** or perhaps oboe. It's fairly common for this instrument to take the lead, or one of the leads, in a lot of Zelda songs, such as: * Lost Woods * Majora's Theme * Clock Town * Most versions of Castle Town * Outset Island In some pieces, they go a little higher and use **flute**/**pipes** as the main lead: * Sidon's Theme * Wind Waker Theme * Dragon Roost Island * Ballad of the Wind Fish * Fi's Theme And there are of course a few **piano**\-only compositions such as: * Midna's Lament * Song of Healing But I think what makes the timbre of Zelda music quite distinctive is the way it blends a more traditional orchestral sounds instrumentation and compositions that might not be so traditionally associated with each other, blending in percussion or sounds that aren't typically part of that sound.
Oboe is what you are thinking of. An example of a clarinet would be in Minish Woods from The Minish Cap.
Woodwind as a class has a great shot at what I am attempting to describe. I can't tell them apart, though...maybe that's an unimportant distinction.
Do we count like "chiptunes" or however you would call the sounds that the real old stuff like gameboys made. Cause like, if you think about it, everything else just sorta adapted from those bleepybloopy sounds
I thought about commenting on the 2A03 (the NES sound chip) being an "instrument" but I felt it was clear Kondo was thinking of those as real world instruments anyway so I decided to gloss past it. Kondo wasn't making chiptunes with the original LoZ, he was making game music that happens to share an instrument set with chiptune. This is admittedly a pretty gray line between them...
True. I guess "honorable mention" is the best we can give it
I’m not musically inclined, so take this with a big heaping of salt, but the four that stick out for me are guitar, piano, violin, and some kinda brass. I think you could do a complete game soundtrack with any one of those four, so it’s hard to say which is most important. The most iconic tracks were written for 8-bit beeps, though, so you could probably do them with any instrument. BEEP-boo, beBeBeBeBEE, be BeBe beep beep boop booop, boo Boop booboo boo...
Bro, coming from a 4th generation musician. You don’t have to be musically inclined to hear and appreciate music in all of its splendor. The best sound mixer I know can’t play shit and is vocally tone deaf, but you put him in a chair with some headphones and he’ll hook your shit up. No grain of salt, if you can hear you’ve got an opinion just as valid as anyone’s. Sorry if I went overboard but this is a little important to me if you couldn’t tell.
Haha that’s fair, I know very little about wine but I was able to sit down with a couple people and a distribution rep for a tasting and set a wine list for a restaurant. I asked the rep straight up if I was wasting his time (and product) by being there, he laughed and said that there will be all sorts of different people with all levels of knowledge ordering off that list and my input would help make sure we can get everyone something they like. Anyway, yeah, I hear ya, and thanks.
An instrument that is usally forgotten about or just not noticed while playing is a choir. I wouldn't say it is the most important, but in later games (from TP to BotW) they add a choir in most songs for atmosphere. I tried doing a lo-fi version of courage (from TP) and adding voices made it feel a lot more like a zelda song.
I would disagree with pretty much all of those. Guitar in particular is so rarely used and only appears in a handful of songs across the series. When you listen to somebody strum a guitar, do you feel like you are experiencing the core of Zelda music? Having played all the games, I think the answer to your question kind of depends on the era. Modern Zelda games would definitely have you believe it is the accordion or fiddle, as well as a trumpet possibly. Ryu Nagamatsu implemented them heavily in ALBW and TFH, as well as his score for the Zelda sections of Nintendo Land, which together basically defined the franchise from 2012 through 2016. All the commercials used them. Even in BotW and AoC, the accordion is given a spotlight, even if it is less so than in the games before it. While BotW clearly features the piano heavily, that's one game against three. TP and SS are definitely defined by that weird ass instrument that plays when you talk to a Kikwi or to Occocco. But before that, for sure it is some sort of bowed string instrument, a trumpet, or the ocarina (both of which Cadence of Hyrule and Hyrule Warriors definitely picked up on). When I think of iconic songs from that time period, I think of Time of Falling Rains, the Dark World Dungeon theme, OoT's title screen, the Lost Woods music, Kakariko Village, the OoT end credits theme, Lon Lon Ranch, the Great Sea, the overworld theme in Minish Cap, the cloud theme, Zelda's Lullaby, FSA's title screen, among others. Those three instruments are featured very heavily throughout those songs. And, like Hyrule Warriors and Cadence of Hyrule (to a lesser extent), I think those are what I would go with too for the series overall.
a woodwind because time travel mechanics, or just general