Fed2 Star - the newsletter for the space trading game Federation 2

The weekly newsletter for Fed2
by ibgames

EARTHDATE: April 17, 2016

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MUSIC OF THE WEEK: DARTH VADER’S HERO MARCH

by Hazed

What happens if you take Darth Vader’s Imperial March, which is dark and threatening, and change it to a major key? It becomes much jollier and heroic, that’s what.

The mood evoked by a piece of music can change drastically if you switch it from a major to a minor key, and vice versa. Major keys are positive – happy or triumphant – while minor keys are negative – sad or sinister.

Musician Ian Gordon took The Imperial March and rescored it into a major key, which turned it into a theme fit for one of the film’s heroes.

He then took the main Star Wars theme and turned it into a minor key, changing its exciting sound into something much more despondent.

You can hear both of these rearrangements here.

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