Final Fantasy VII Music Theory blog - sectorviimusic

Final Fantasy VII Key Art, Tetsuya Nomura via X (Dec. 7th, 2023)

Final Fantasy VII is without a doubt, my favorite piece of media of all time. Since its initial release on January 31st, 1997, this RPG masterpiece has given me such profound inspiration, not only in my life, but in my art and music as well. It has inspired me in such ways, that I can confidently say that it has influenced my creative and artistic views overall. One aspect of this magnificent tale, is the beautiful music of Final Fantasy VII. The sound track’s main composer, Nobuo Uematsu sets a masterclass of music composition in his writings. Listening to the soundtrack is an institution of video game music writing as a genre all together. Today, I want to discuss one of video games greatest musical pieces ever written, Final Fantasy VII’s Main Theme and the theory behind it’s awe-inspiring melody.

Written by beloved and legendary video game composer Nobuo Uematsu, Final Fantasy VII’s Main Theme takes you on a journey from wonderment and amazement, to an ominous feeling of doom and despair. This was intentional considering the game’s plot and premise of the lore. It's not until hours into the game when you hear the main theme for the first time, but there are leit motifs and evidence of it littered beforehand and throughout. This is such a powerful way to express the game’s emotion, atmosphere, and tone.

There are so many things to discover when analyzing his music, but more specifically the main theme. In my own pursuit of researching the main theme, I quickly found out how incredible the theory was behind it and wanted to share. I’m writing this blog in hopes that it will help you in your music composition and give you the same inspiration that it once gave me.

PART I: “That’s one small step for man…”

“The journey of a thousand miles, begins with one step.” This quote by philosopher, Lao Tsu has never rung more true than it does in the context of walking on the world map for the first time and listening to the main melody in Final Fantasy VII. With so much story to tell in the future ahead, just like the game, our melody starts with a stepwise motion. First, let’s talk about intervals. What are intervals? Intervals is referring to the distance between two notes.

There are two ways to think about this: 1. If the interval is no more than two consecutive steps, then this is stepwise motion, and 2. If any interval that is more than that, it is considered a skip or a leap. For example, if your note is A and your next note is B, then this is stepwise motion. If your note is A and your target note is D then this is a leap. I want to discuss how Nobuo Uematsu uses these practices and how meticulously he balances both leaps and stepwise motion. In the main theme of Final Fantasy VII, Uematsu-san does both of these techniques, and does them, very well.

Nobuo Uematsu is a self taught musician who very clearly knows his way around a theory book or two. When writing melodies, Uematsu-san does something called, voice leading (or part writing). This refers to the notes and chords in a progression, to be written as smoothly as possible using mostly stepwise motion.

Each chord has composite voicing and each voice (or note) has its own independent movement. This is so that when you go from one voice (or chord) to the next, they are simply singable and easy to remember. On this subject, I was always told to remember, “the less distance, the better.” When done this way, chord progressions have a much more pleasing and sensible harmony to the ear. Let's take a look at an example of the main melody of Final Fantasy VII:

Final Fantasy VII Main Theme

Main Melody of Final Fantasy VII written in Emaj

In this first example, let's look at the first three notes of the main melody. Starting on the root note (or tonic in conventional harmony) E is the keynote. Since we’re in the scale of E major, the melody plays the first three notes of the Emaj scale, E-F#-G#.

As you can see, Uematsu-san goes for an easy beginning and uses stepwise motion to start off our journey. Easy to sing, easy to hum. If skips and leaps were used right off the bat, the melody would come off disjointed and unappealing, making it difficulty to follow along. As listeners, it would be better to have a melody that is pleasing to the ear, especially within the context of how the main melody is used in Final Fantasy VII.

When we hear it for the first time, the player arrives on the world map. There are so many emotions the player is experiencing, the last thing we need is a disconnected feeling coming from the melody. There’s nothing like hearing a good piece of music, and then jolted out of the suspension of disbelief because something doesn’t hit your ear in the right way. Instead we hear something that is easy flowing and smooth in accompaniment with the story, plot, and atmosphere of the game.

Using stepwise motion, the melody is easy to follow. It tells a story in tandem with the visuals on screen without demanding the listeners full detailed attention. However, it is not to say that Nobuo Uematsu doesn’t use leaps, but when he does, it’s in a very precise and in a meaningful way.

PART II: “…one giant leap for mankind.”

Next, let’s take a look at the second part of this melody. From the G#, we get a leap! Wait, but I thought you said leaps can be disjointed and unappealing. This is true if done the wrong way. Uematsu-san does something that is very impressive here. He adds leaps in just the right way and does not over uses them. This in fact, lands on the D# and is a major 7th interval which is one of the highest leaps you could write. The prominent idea Nobuo Uematsu had surrounding Final Fantasy VII’s soundtrack was using 7th chords and 7th intervals within its music. This is the central motif to the world and is beautifully written.

Suffice it to say, it was because Final Fantasy VII was the 7th entry of the franchise, but also due to their rich and distinct tonality the 7th interval offers. This is what gives Final Fantasy VII its unique sound and is a genius way to approach musical concepts. it’s also how he uses this major 7th leap that is so brilliant. From that major 7th leap we immediately go back down a step to the C# as if to say, “you took a meaningful jump forward, now step back to familiarity.” When you take leap such as this, it would be a smart move to go back down in a stepwise motion. Ideally in the opposite direction. This is a clever method on how to balance out such a huge leap. You want to have stepwise motion downward and not stray too far off from the tonic or tonal center…

side-quest 1: “it’s not the destination, it’s the journey”

Experiencing the journey, is every bit as important as its destination. Comparatively, this relates to the scale degrees within a key and the position that they hold. A scale degree refers to the position and placement of a note within the scale relative to the tonic. So as it goes, the first scale degree is called the tonic. The second degree is referred to as the supertonic (and also sounds like something that increases your stat boost…). The third scale degree is called the mediant, while the fourth and fifth are labeled as the subdominant and dominant respectively. The last two scale degrees are the sixth and seventh and are referred to as the submediant and the leading tone. I like to think of these scale degrees as your position while traveling upon a journey.

In this example, let’s use locations within the world of Final Fantasy VII and travel from the Chocobo Farm (our “home”) to Midgar Zolom Cave (our destination) or in music terminology, the tonic to leading tone. First, you start your journey off at the Chocobo Farmhouse, i.e. the tonic. Next, you go to the stables and while you’re there, you pet some Chocobos…that would be your 2nd scale degree. From there, the 3rd would be stepping up to the gate right before the grasslands and the 4th would be within the grasslands where the Chocobo tracks are located. Next, would be the dominant 5th, right at the swamp where the Midgar Zolom resides! The 6th would be the grassy area between the swamp and the Midgar Zolom Cave entrance, and the leading tone, the 7th, would be at the Midgar Zolom Cave itself. Finding that we traveled so far, it is time to make that journey back home again, towards our tonal center.

For those of you who played the original Final Fantasy VII, you would know that so much has happened between these two locations. From the Chocobo Farm to the Midgar Zolom Cave, there’s a story to tell from the distance traveled. The same can be said when referring to scale degrees. This is a good way to think about scale degrees when composing. It can give you some context as to how far you stray away from your home key. And just like traveling back home, let’s continue with our center topic; the main melody of Final Fantasy VII.

I digress…

Stepping downward from such a high leap, in this case the 7th scale degree, is a very masterful way of melody writing. Placing appropriate leaps within your melody, can take the listener to unexpected places and when accompanied with stepwise motion, this can make your melody something to remember. It is that major 7th leap that hits the ear just right and makes the listener want to sing along. Next, let’s take a look at the 3rd part and see what Nobuo Uematsu does to answer the first half of the melody.

PART III: q(uestion) & a(nswer)

As we saw in the first half of the Final Fantasy VII’s main melody, Nobuo Uematsu composed using stepwise motion, then took a leap to new places. Well, where do we go from there? Back towards the begging of course! Take a look at the next example and see how Uematsu-san wrote this other half.

It leads us back to where we began. When composing music, there are ways to construct melodic lines and phrases by something we call, question and answering or a Period in music terminology. A period in music refers to the first part of musical idea or phrase feeling unfinished, to which the second phrase finishes it. The first section acts as a question and the second part answers. Another term for this is can be labeled is call and response.

Though there is more to it, we’ll just cover the basics for now. Since the first half of the melody ended on the 6th scale degree, there was no real definite feeling of completion. To remedy this, Nobuo Uematsu answers back by starting the melody over again and reminiscing where we first began. This makes the melody easy to digest and with less notes to remember, it is easily singable.

After a brief rest, we find ourselves back at the tonic center. Again, we start with the home key E, then to the supertonic F# and then finishing with the mediant G#. Going back to our tonal center, is another great way composers tells the listener what key we are in. This also sets up expectation to go to a familiar place we’ve been before…like taking a leap to the 7th scale degree once again. But it’s what Uematsu-san does next that really takes the listener and the melody to the next level!

PART IV: doing more of the same…but different

One thing composers can do very well is set up expectation. There are so many ways to do this for example, like using a deceptive cadence in which I’ll be talking about that later on. The way Nobuo Uematsu does this is by composing another well placed leap in the second part of the melody, but not as far of a leap like in the first half. Instead of skipping to a major 7th, Uematsu-san skips up to the 5th scale degree (the dominant) or B. This is incredible story telling from a composer’s point of view and a masterful way of melody writing.

He knew with great precision where and how to place this leap. By composing a leap in the first half of the melody and quoting it again in the second half in a creatively different way, this is answering at its finest.

The dominant is not a stable as a tonic, but it can still act as an anchor of sorts. For instance, it can be used as a question mark without completing the musical idea as a whole. That’s why going up to a dominant can give a sense that the ending or a conclusion is near by.

From there, Uematsu-san yet again goes downward, but this time to the subdominant or fourth scale degree. He uses stepwise motion downward just like he did in the first leap. This is giving us a sense that we’ll be back at our home key, continuing the journey and making the steps to do so. But first, there’s yet another technique Uematsu-san does that shows off his composing style that is simple, yet very effective.

PART V: there and back again…

In the example above, we can see that Nobuo Uematsu finishes off the melody with what we call, appoggiatura (or from the Italian word, appoggiare or “to lean.”) This is when you have an ornamental note or grace note resolving into a principle note usually by stepwise motion. In the last portion of the Final Fantasy VII main melody, Uematsu-san does this to complete the musical idea and give it a sense of finality and fulfillment.

One of the best ways to resolve a cadence is either the VII to I or the II to I. Reason being is because the VII chord or the II has incredible tension and wants to be resolved. What better way to resolve these two scale degrees than to go straight to your home key!

If we just ended on the tonic after the fourth scale degree, then the piece would sound abrupt and rushed. What Uematsu-san does instead is goes down to the tonic, then goes up to the second scale degree, and then back down to the tonic again. This is his use of an appoggiatura and finalizes the melody with second scale degree tension. We can see that the melody is taking us back to the tonal center, the note E. In the melody, E is played a total of four times! That is the most out of any other note within the melody.

Ideally, in melody writing, you want to start and end with the key that you are in. This makes it easy for the listener to capture that feeling of the Emaj scale. Nobuo Uematsu knew this by placing so many E notes within the melody. Since the scale being E, F#, G#, A, B, C#, & D#, the listener becomes familiar with the music in the key of EMaj. Composers have a way to control what the listener to hears (and even feels). Which brings me to the next topic, CHORDS!

PART VI: expect the unexpected

A good chunk of Final Fantasy VII’s main theme is written in E and there’s about 1 bar in the entire piece that is outside those notes. Constraint can make beautiful music because it can spark creativity and imagination. Nobuo Uematsu demonstrates how he uses constraint within the main theme. Since the pitches in the Emaj scale are written as E, F#, G#, A, B, C#, and D# then with those pitches, they have a specific relationship tied to them.

Written with traditional Roman numerals, the relationship would look like this: EMaj (I), F#min (ii), G#min (iii), AMaj (IV), BMaj (V), C#min (vi) and D#dim (vii). If the Roman numeral is in capital lettering, then you’re in Major Key. If it is in lowercase lettering, then you’re in a minor or a diminished key. Each Roman numeral has an assigned scale degree and this relationship is used for all major scales! You heard right! It doesn’t matter what major key you’re in, the Roman numeral and the relationship stays the same. It’s different with the minor scale but that explanation is for another time…

This is really great information for those who would like to build chords. When building a chord, now you can identify what that chords relationship is with the scale degree it self. So if you wanted to write a chord progression using only the major chords of the EMaj scale, you would use scale degrees I (EMaj), IV (AMaj), V (BMaj) and I (EMaj) to achieve this. Or you can write a chord progression only using minor chords, that would look like this: ii (F#min), G#min (iii) and vi (C#min).

Either way, the recipe stays the same and now you know what chords to use! Composers such as Nobuo Uematsu use methods like this to structure their pieces and to tell the tale of the music they’re writing. The main melody does this and even goes a little further.

Borrowed chords are chords that are not in the same key or scale but still have some relation to it. Using a borrowed chord in a chord progression can give the melody dynamic, uniqueness, and can take the listener to unexpected places.

The main melody in Final Fantasy VII borrows from the parallel minor key (Emin), and plays a flat sixth, and a flat seventh chord. Not only is this a very popular cadence, (listen to the fanfare at the end of the level in the original Super Mario Bros. for the N.E.S.) but it fits so well within this melody.

Not only do the chords have their own individual purposes, but together they can produce cadences as well. Cadences built off of the chords you use, can bring a sense of finality and conclusion to the melody. A composer’s job is to create emotion within the music and using chords to describe those emotions, can play with the listeners expectations.

a cadence that creates a feeling of completion by going from a dominant back to your tonic, that is called an authentic cadence. An authentic cadence is when the musical piece ends from a V to I chord progression. This cadence is a very popular chord progression amongst writers because of it being a strong foundation and sense of fulfillment to the listener.

In the Final Fantasy VII theme, it is very noticeable and has a strong musical presence at end the portion of the melody. But the reason why Uematsu-san does this, is partly to set up expectation for the listener. What he does next is called a deceptive cadence. This is when you do not resolve to the tonic from the V chord. Doing this, tricks the listener into expecting an authentic cadence but instead, he used another chord that is unexpected. This is where being a composer is really fun…and allows you to go in a multitude of musical directions.

Writing this way can take the listener on a profound spiritual journey and can lead to new directions to tell your tale. Final Fantasy VII’s melody does both and achieves exactly this! To reiterate, Nobuo Uematsu builds upon the excitement and movement of the piece and then writes a V-I cadence to give a feeling of resolution. He then plays the melody again but instead of going back to the I chord, Nobuo Uematsu ends on a minor iv chord. Talk about leaving us hanging! But by doing this, the next part makes so much more sense. Ominously so…

PART VII: ostinati

Every time I hear my favorite ‘Star Wars’ theme, ‘Duel of the Fates’ by legendary composer, John Williams I think of the word ostinato. An ostinato is a musical phrase or rhythm is repeated. It is what ‘Duel of the Fates’ is notably known for. I encourage you to listen to it before reading on for a better understanding. When you listen to the piece, you can hear it in the cellos, violins, and later on, the woodwinds and brass sections. This rhythmic pattern you are hearing is played throughout the piece and its very foundation for movement, excitement, and emotion.

This next portion of the Final Fantasy VII main melody, is a very important section of the piece. The melody goes from uplifting and emotionally beautiful to a foreboding feeling of distress and hopelessness. The underlining Ostinati is played by piano, in a lower register all the while an arpeggiated lead plays on top. This is an incredibly dynamic and emotional section of the piece that again, plays with the listeners expectations.

To add to this rollercoaster of theory and emotion, we are now in a minor key and it is giving us more of an unnatural and foreign feeling than before. Nobuo Uematsu takes us to the parallel minor key to an Emin. A parallel minor key is built by 1. being in a Major key and 2. changing your home key or tonic from the major to minor. So since the melody is in E major, the relative minor would be E minor. That simple!

This is an incredible way to build great dynamics, contrast, and tension. Going from Emaj to an Eminor builds fantastic tension between the two parts. Playing this ostinato out in chord form, sounds very dissonant and unpleasing to the ear. But when put into an ostinato form, it creates the anxious feeling of uneasiness and tension. Nobuo Uematsu wanted it this way so that it would reflect the tone of the game.

Originally, this whole blog started as my notes for the re-score I’m currently writing in time for Final Fantasy VII: Rebirth, due out February, 2024. I quickly realized though, how remarkable the theory is when my curiosity lead me to do my research.

Through analyzing and breaking down the theory behind VII’s Main Theme, I gather that it is the epitome of how amazing melody writing can be. Final Fantasy VII’s main Melody has a well balanced relationship between stepwise motion and leaps. When it comes to voice leading, Nobuo Uematsu writes effective melodies that are easy to sing and memorable.

Knowing what chords and scale degrees to use, Nobuo Uematsu arranged them in such a way that he could give the listener the emotion he wanted to convey and even set up expectations by using both an authentic cadence or a deceptive cadence. In the Final Fantasy VII Main Theme, Nobuo Uematsu uses cadences, ostinati , and even a parallel minor to create dynamics within the piece. But I think the most impressive and useful bit to take away, is how unbelievably creative Nobuo Uematsu is!

He constraints himself to the E major scale and uses this to his advantage. Making it the tonal center, he can now take the listener on a journey without making it overly complicated. He evokes emotion from the listener by setting up expectation and seamlessly weaves together parts with the use of a borrowed chord.

This melody is so incredibly nostalgic to countless others and myself. From the moment I first heard the melody, it quickly became a part of my core artistic catalog. It became part of me. I hope this brings you the same magic as it brought me, after all these years.

Thank You for Reading.

~ Rhyan Reyes, Sector VII

*If you want to know more about this subject, check out this article, “7 Music Theory Lessons from Final Fantasy VII” by VGM Academy, Videogamemusicacademy.com and this video by 8 Bit Music Theory’s Video on Voice leading Youtube.com , ( Youtube.com ). I cannot recommend them enough!