Fall in love with video game music - Julia Raga Q&A

DEBUT Q&A with Julia Raga

In traditional circles, there can be an unhelpful stigma around film and video game music.

This week, Alex catches up with DEBUT clarinettist Julia Raga about her work to champion and celebrate these fantastic compositions in concert.

“The experience doesn’t change the meaning, but it changes the power of it.”

— Julia Raga Pascual

Julia Raga Pascual, Clarinettist and DEBUT Horizon Artist

Julia plays her own arrangement of Kass’ Theme from The Legend Of Zelda game series

Julia Raga Pascual is an accomplished soloist, arranger and DEBUT Horizon Artist, active in Chamber Music groups, and a founding member of groups including The Lakeside Clarinet Quartet, Klei Quintet and Aeolian Duo.

Julia has played at such prestigious places as Wigmore Hall, Barbican Center, Carnegie Hall in New York and in the National Auditorium of Spain.

Over the next two weeks we’re bringing you a two-part Q&A with Julia, focusing on her work championing the Video Game music genre, and on her experience of performing live with DEBUT.

Check out Part 1 of our series below!

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Julia plays her own arrangement of ‘The Flatlands’ from Octopath Traveller.

Octopath Traveller is a role-playing game first released on Nintendo switch in 2018. The soundtrack is by Yasunori Nishiki.

“Live music brings the experience to another level. The experience doesn’t change the meaning, but it changes the power of it.”

— Julia Raga Pascual

Watch Julia perform at our Shoreditch Treehouse event on 15th October.

“...people are willing to go to live concerts of their favourite soundtracks, and these people might not be willing to go to live performances of other music.”

— Julia Raga

Q&A

To start off, can you tell us about your favourite piece video game music?

My favourite soundtrack, or one that I really enjoy listening to, is Octopath Traveler.

The game has eight main characters, and they each have a theme, and then they interact with each other musically in a really creative way - a bit like leitmotifs in movies and Opera.

The themes are so tied in with the gameplay that once you’ve experienced a game a few times, you sort of ‘know’ what’s going on without even looking!

Classical music has its ‘big names’. Who means the most to you in the history of the Video Game genre?

Kojo Kondo is a name that has to be said for this question. 

Why? 

It’s more about his work - when 8-bit music was first developed for the game industry, they had very few resources, and could only use three voices. 

His scores are iconic because of the counterpoint work that had to be done to create complex music that would be engaging while having access to very few sounds. Composers had to work with very little and they made amazing music and very catchy themes. 

Working with these limitations, Kondo was looking back on early composition techniques. For example, 3-voice inventions in baroque music, and creating something very new, complex and interesting - all while using techniques from centuries ago!

Do other game composers do this?

I love the work of Yokoshimo Mora (who scored the Final Fantasy games). She said in a BBC interview that she was inspired by the works of Vivaldi, J.S. Bach, and others.

We’re going to keep talking about your experience of live music, but for now I’d love to know - do you think that people engage differently with video game music when it’s played live?

People definitely engage differently- and with music of any genre (classical, pop, rock, even video games). The ambiance and surroundings of live music bring the experience to another level. The experience doesn’t change the meaning, but it changes the power of it.

With video game music, just like film music, it’s fascinating because people are willing to go to live concerts of their favourite soundtracks, and these people might not be willing to go to live performances of other music.

…They have in their brains the experience of playing the game. They can bring memories and emotions up (perhaps from their childhood, or from games that have meant a great deal to them). 

They’ve heard the music before, but when it’s played live, they’re discovering something new.

Look out for the next edition of our blog series next week - we’re talking to Julia again about breaking down the traditional ‘concert’ format to create something new and inclusive. 

Watch Julia perform at our Shoreditch Treehouse event on 15th October.

Follow Julia: Instagram | Youtube

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