Videogames Music

Advice and Step by Step Guide for Composers, Songwriters, and Producers

Giovanni Albini (b. 1982), composer, ukulelist and music theorist, is a tenured professor of Music Theory, Solfège and Music Perception and head of research at the Conservatory “Antonio Vivaldi” of Alessandria (Italy), where he also teaches the first Italian ukulele university class. He also teaches Composition at the Conservatory of Lugano (Swiss Confederation), and is an academic member of the Istituto di Studi Superiori dell’Insubria “Gerolamo Cardano”.
He has composed several concert music scores that have been performed by international soloists, ensembles, and orchestras around the world (Europe, USA, Canada and Japan), as well as many tracks for video art, exhibitions, multimedia, commercials, trailers, videogames and television. His music has been recorded in monographic albums and collections and published by Brilliant Classics, Da Vinci Publishing, and Stradivarius.

Bowie Cello Symphonic: Blackstar is a soaring new version of David Bowie's entire last album Blackstar reimagined for solo cello and orchestra. Arranged for Maya Beiser by Evan Ziporyn, Bowie Cello Symphonic: Blackstar has been performed to great acclaim in Boston, Barcelona, New York City's Central Park SummerStage, Austin TX, Palo Alto California, Burlington Vermont and Adelaide, Australia.

This book presents an overview of the emerging field of emotion in videogame soundtracking. The emotional impact of music has been well-documented, particularly when used to enhance the impact of a multimodal experience, such as combining images with audio as found in the videogames industry. Soundtracking videogames presents a unique challenge compared to traditional composition (for example film music) in that the narrative of gameplay is non-linear – Player dependent actions can change the narrative and thus the emotional characteristics required in the soundtrack.