![]() Step 2: Introduce the ostinato, then more accompaniment, then the melody and jam The individual notes might change (as I have circled), but the pattern rhythmically and generally pitch-wise remains the same. If you notice, there is a general four note pattern in which the notes move up and down the same way. Below is part of the accompaniment for that song. The notes usually arpeggiate (move up and down) the same way, though, along the same rhythms. However, the chords of that bass line change around, so the notes aren’t exactly the same every time you hear an iteration of the rhythmic pattern. The notes might not be 100% the same every time they repeat, but it’s still a noticeable pattern.įor example, “Spear of Justice” and “NGAHHH!!” have a dramatic bass line that is built on a recurring rhythm. However, when Fox doesn’t use a perfect ostinato, there is almost always something ostinato-like, a repeated rhythmic pattern that has an embedded pitch pattern as well. That is, the same notes and pitches don’t repeat perfectly over and over and over again. Sometimes the background or mid-ground (that is, the part of the music that is not the melody but not the basic background) in an Undertale track is not a strict ostinato. ![]() If not an ostinato, something ostinato-like He has an unusually high percentage of ostinato pieces the Undertale soundtrack relies heavily on it. The point of the matter is, while ostinato is one compositional device that’s been used for centuries, it’s not present as frequently as Toby Fox himself uses it. The Ostinato in “Ruins” and “An Ending”, also introduced right at the start 0:00. Like “Megalovania,” the bass part is also an ostinato playing alongside the piano.īelow, the ostinato which starts (0:00) “Death by Glamour.” The second half of the track is a second, different ostinato. It comes it right at the start of the piece (0:00) with the solo piano. The first half of “Battle Against a True Hero” uses the ostinato I have transcribed below. Note that when the bass line comes in 0:07, it is also a four measure repeating unit that recurs throughout much of “Megalovania.” You can hear this ostinato played by itself at the very beginning from 0:00-0:07. To give an example, below is the notation to the four measure ostinato in “Megalovania”. That’s the ostinato.Ī dramatically high percentage of the pieces in Toby Fox’s Undertale soundtrack make use of an ostinato, including but not limited to: “Fallen Down,” “Ruins,” “Ghost Fight,” “Heartache,” “Snowy,” “Snowdin Town,” “Bonetrousle,” “Nyeh Heh Heh!”, “Dummy!”, “Death by Glamour,” “An Ending,” “Here We Are,” “Amalgam,” “Gaster’s Theme,” “Battle Against a True Hero,” “Power of NEO,” and “Megalovania.” The cellos play the same notes on repeat from start to end. A good example of an ostinato is Pachelbel’s canon. The notes and rhythms stay exactly the same and are repeated over and over without stop. Step 1: Create an ostinatoĪn ostinato is a short unit of music that plays on repeat throughout a piece. That is, the piece starts with one big melodic theme and then ends with a second big melody theme.īelow, I will describe in depth how to structure and develop a “prototypical” Undertale track piece.
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