#5 | Stage 1 — Gradius (Arcade, 1985)

On and on!

Composer: Miki Higashino
Developer: Konami
Track Type: Loopable
Placement: Level music
Key: C (+Parallel borrowing/Voice leading), Eb (borrowed relative)
Chord progression: ǁ:C|Eb|F|Ab BbǁC|Eb|F|GǁAb|EbǁF G|Ab Bb|Gsus4 G:ǁ
Functional map: ǁ:I|bIII|IV|bVI bVIIǁI|bIII|IV|VǁIV>|IǁIV V|bVI bVII|Vsus4 V:ǁ
Time Signature: 4/4
Tempo: 134BPM (Allegro)
Scale: C (+Parallel borrowing)
Instrumentation: Chiptune (Electronic)
Lenght: 0:23 (13 bars)
Structure: A, A', B, Coda (Turnaround)

¹Just to clarify some chord notation references, the convention used here so far is "dim" for diminished 5th triads, while ° going for full diminished tetrads.

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Previously here in GMAC we talked about applying parallel borrowing (and eventually traced back its origins, picardy thirds) into lending a piece an euphoric/victorious feel. But coming across such an aggressive approach to this system as the one Miki Higashino managed to pull off in this Gradius' piece can be a rare encounter: what about picking 6-out-of-7 chords from a given key and turn all of them Major?

The trick to make the most of it here was charging at two different fronts simultaneously. Firstly--and surprisingly straight-forwardly enough--Higashino-san made the clever decision of only borrowing chords when strictly needed; by dropping unwanted (namely minor) ones she was able to get away with making use of Major chords that were already available from the start, as F and G (without the need for minor harmonic gymnastics--which would in a way "tie" it to a dominant function--for instance). Secondly--and maybe what really makes it all work so smoothly--is leading those chords' voices up when possible/desired. The range the first progression covers (C, Eb, F, Ab, Bb, C again) without even needing a "perfect" cadence to hook the loop is just pure unflinching resolve.

Two extra bonus points for a couple interesting developments: swapping the "right hand" (upper register) function on the fly (pun intended) from harmony arpeggios to main melody; and section B teasing a key change (through a deceptive cadence even) for the "relative wannabe" Eb (a delayed plagal one while at it) and aborting mission (pun intended) when the coda kicks in smashing the listener's perception of time--to the point of being able to shrug an entire bar off the charts--and heading back straight to the very beginning of the loop. Plain awesome.

Take a listen to the original theme. Pro users will be able to access sheet music for this theme plus a link for its interactive sheet at Soundslice. See ya next week!