Sweet music: Zelda OST incorporates the Golden Ratio

 

If you’ve allowed yourself to get rolled over by the culture-train that was the Da Vinci Code, then you probably already know about the Golden Ratio – the ratio between one number to the next in a Fibonacci series of numbers – and how the said Golden Ratio is divine and appears everywhere in the natural world. You see it everywhere, from classics like Da Vinci’s Vitruvian Man, to the arrangement of sunflower seeds in a sunflower.

Here where it gets weird – and really really cool. The Tanooki’s Christian, writes that because he’s learned about the existence of “Golden Sections” in contemporary music while studying music theory, he’s taken the time to check if the Golden Ratio manifests in memorable videogame music. He decides to put Zelda (can’t argue with Zelda’s music) under the microscope, and it turns out that Zelda Music is indeed divine. The Golden Ratio manifests everywhere.

In his lengthy and detailed article he points out the particular portions of each theme in Zelda that is memorable because of the presence of the Golden Ratio. Take the audio clip below, Christian points out that at 0:18 you should hear that chord that really jumps out at you due to the Golden Ratio.

He goes on to examine other Zelda themes and then also later reveals that there are also Golden Sections in the Main Theme for Fire Emblem and in Nobuo Uematsu‘s Aerith Theme from Final Fantasy VII.

To read his whole examination, feel free to get to his article via our “read” link below. And perhaps listen to the soundtrack to Twilight Princess, and see if you can spot similar “divine” music in there.

 

If you’ve allowed yourself to get rolled over by the culture-train that was the Da Vinci Code, then you probably already know about the Golden Ratio – the ratio between one number to the next in a Fibonacci series of numbers – and how the said Golden Ratio is divine and appears everywhere in the natural world. You see it everywhere, from classics like Da Vinci’s Vitruvian Man, to the arrangement of sunflower seeds in a sunflower.

Here where it gets weird – and really really cool. The Tanooki’s Christian, writes that because he’s learned about the existence of “Golden Sections” in contemporary music while studying music theory, he’s taken the time to check if the Golden Ratio manifests in memorable videogame music. He decides to put Zelda (can’t argue with Zelda’s music) under the microscope, and it turns out that Zelda Music is indeed divine. The Golden Ratio manifests everywhere.

In his lengthy and detailed article he points out the particular portions of each theme in Zelda that is memorable because of the presence of the Golden Ratio. Take the audio clip below, Christian points out that at 0:18 you should hear that chord that really jumps out at you due to the Golden Ratio.

He goes on to examine other Zelda themes and then also later reveals that there are also Golden Sections in the Main Theme for Fire Emblem and in Nobuo Uematsu‘s Aerith Theme from Final Fantasy VII.

To read his whole examination, feel free to get to his article via our “read” link below. And perhaps listen to the soundtrack to Twilight Princess, and see if you can spot similar “divine” music in there.