Video games go highbrow
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By LINDA EAST BRADY
Standard-Examiner staff
Extravaganza plays at WSU
If, when you think of video-game music, you hear in your mind's ear the ping of "Pong," or the bleep of "Pac-Man," it's high time to take another listen.
The Ogden Symphony Ballet Association is presenting an evening for both symphony lovers and die-hard gamers, to see how the music has grown. It brings "Video Games Live," an orchestra-driven, multimedia, live-action extravaganza, to Ogden on Thursday, care of the Utah Symphony.
"One thing it is not is just a symphony playing video-game music," said Tommy Tallarico, an 18-year video-score veteran and co-founder of "Video Games Live," calling from his home in Los Angeles. "Our show is a lot more than that."
The "more" part actually starts an hour before showtime, said Melissa Seamons, marketing manager of the OSBA.
"We're going to have all kinds of activities and things to see -- we'll have a 'Guitar Hero' contest, a costume contest, lots of vendors, too," she said. "People are encouraged to come in costume. This is all included in the ticket price. Especially if you are a serious gamer, you want to get there early."
Real-time interactive
The show starts with the music, with offerings from the prehistoric days of "Pong" and "Frogger," through the more-advanced themes of "Super Mario Brothers," "Tetris" and more.
Said Tallarico: "We have all the greatest video music of all time here, but what really makes it unique is that everything is completely synchronized with special effects, with the games, with (the) live stage-show production and with the interactivity of the crowd."
The goal is to make the audience a part of the show.
"There are a couple of segments where, as host, I will randomly pick people out of the audience to either play a video game, or to become the video-game character by moving around on stage," he said. "We track them, and they control the moves of the character on the big screen.
"The cool thing is, the orchestra is playing the music, and changing their music, in real time, on the fly, depending on what is going on in the game onstage and onscreen."
Some other shows have featured video music, but not in this sort of setting, says Tallarico. "We're not about, 'Shhh -- we're the symphony! Comport yourselves accordingly!' We present it fun and entertaining. We tell them, 'If you hear something you like, see something you like, I want to you to scream out, shout out, applaud -- do whatever you want.' We pretty much give them permission to go crazy."
Video music
The music of video games wasn't always music, exactly. What moved the genre from novelty to art form was the advent of the CD-ROM in the mid-'90s, said Tallarico.
"When I started out, early '90s, we had to put all the music on these tiny chips and cartridges," he said. "But then, with the CD-ROM, we had storage -- we could record live bands, sessions."
However, video music didn't turn into symphonic or rock-opera-like works overnight, said Tallarico. He said he was the first to put electric guitar on a score, and his game designers weren't thrilled at first.
"I got into major arguments and discussion and fights," he said. "It was culture shock for them. It was tough to convince them that it was the future. They expected, more or less, that simple video-game music played on the violin, instead of making it a score more like film, something that can drive emotions.
"They said, 'Tommy, this does not sound like video-game music.' And I said, 'Exactly! Why limit ourselves when we have the technology?' Merry-go-round music was OK then, but now we have the technology. Why not give the people who grew up gaming jazz and blues and electronica and rock and all that? The visuals have grown, so the music can, too."
Special songs
Tallarico said the emotions triggered by the performance can take the audience by surprise, especially the older symphonic crowd.
"There are parts in 'Video Games Live' where people are crying," he said. "We have one song we do, from 'Medal of Honor: Frontline,' a game about World War II, which Steven Spielberg helped design. We got together with the History Channel and we used period footage of that time, from all the different countries involved -- the Italians, the Japanese, all of them -- we show all these faces, these soldiers and civilians. It is a very emotional thing, and that, coupled with the images, it is gut-wrenching. It gets both the older audience members and the young gamers."
Another selection is from a homegrown Utah game. "Advent Rising" was designed in Salt Lake City, with input on the storyline by science-fiction writer Orson Scott Card.
"The music was recorded here. I even used members of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir for the score," said Tallarico. "It'll be fun to bring it home to the Utah Symphony. We will have the game creators onstage, and hopefully Orson Scott Card, too -- we've invited him. So it'll be wonderful to play music not only recorded there in your area, but also play one from a game designed in your area."
The future
Tallarico said he now sees many film- and television-score writers jumping into the world of video-game composing.
"Now we have the budgets and technology, things have stepped ahead enough so that the film composers and TV composers want in, too. And we aren't afraid of that. We want the talent level to be raised by these people. Look, Bill Conte did the 'Godfather' game. Danny Elfman has done work in the field. ... The quality is amazing."
Part of the appeal is the flexibility that film and TV can never provide, said Tallarico.
"An example -- even the great John Williams, a great personal hero -- even he has to sit down with George Lucas, who says, 'At two minutes, Darth Vadar walks in. At four minutes, we see the Death Star.' Those composers are forced to work with a linear media.
"But to me they say, 'Tommy, there are 1,200 men on horseback, coming to kick your butt.' I have to write a piece of music for when the hero is fighting 100 people -- but also when there are 10 left, or only one standing. This is version A, now I have to record version B, C, D, E. But it has to be the same tempo with variance. Maybe I bring in percussion for one, or a children's choir for another mood.
"The great thing is, this variation is what we bring to these symphony players for the shows. Look, when the crowd is going crazy, I don't care if you play guitar or oboe -- you feed off the energy, and musicians will tell you that.
"The symphonies don't know what to expect at first. They are paging through this music, going, ' "Sonic the Hedgehog?" What is that? It's sure not Stravinsky.'
"But once they rehearse, they see this is really well-written, big thematic stuff. Then they play for this crowd, some much younger than they are used to having, losing their minds. That is when they come up to us at the break and say, 'When are you coming back?'
" 'Video Games Live' started in 2005 with a total of three shows. In 2006, they were up to 11, (and) 29 last year."
Worldwide, 60 shows are planned for 2008.
"And keep in mind, the serious music part of this industry is not much over 15 years old," said Tallarico. "It took film 80 years to get where they are today. We are already past that level of composing in a short time. And it has definitely been an interesting trip."
PREVIEW
WHAT: 'Video Games Live,' with the Utah Symphony
WHEN: 7:30 p.m. Thursday, preshow activities an hour earlier
WHERE: Browning Center's Austad Auditorium, Weber State University, 3850 University Circle, Ogden
TICKETS: $18-$34, available from Ogden Symphony Ballet Association, 399-9214
ADDITIONAL PERFORMANCES: 8 p.m. March 28 and 29, Abravanel Hall, 123 W South Temple, Salt Lake City; $40-$82, available from ArtTix, (888) 451-ARTS.
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