© NEWS = HOW DOES THE MUSIC IN A VIDEO GAME AFFECT THE PLAYER? 3 CHEYENNE BHOLLA hursday, January Corin Gaiotto always 2 knew the music in video = = games was connected to its 3 characters, so he was excit- 8 ed when he got the chance & to take a class on that very F subject at a local school. “Treally enjoyed the dis- cussions we had," said Gaiotto, who took the class with his sister Leonie. Both teens love video games and wanted to learn more about the music. “I just wanted to under- stand what made games that I enjoyed so much bet- ter than other ones," said Leonie. The Beckett School at Laurier offered the fully re- mote course called “Char- acters' Themes" for the first time this past fall. Waterloo resident Mari- dents, which included the Gaiotto siblings and one other teen. “It was amazing.” The ca- maraderie betw the three of them and t the level of insight on their analysis is just amazing,” said Gal- her. Siudents analyzed the music james such a: "Pokemon, i “Legend of! Zel. scene or character. Music in video games is a new area of academic study, said Gallagher, but ba is something she has a pas- sion for. Like Corin and Leonie, Gallagher, 28, has a love of both gaming and inusic. Her studies in mus: ry sparked her Se ote about the subject "You start to kind of think about how these themes represent charac- ters that you see on the screen, or what makes the music unsettling or peace- DIVERSIONS Waterloo Region Record photo Rebekah Jordan-Miller is the director of the Beckett School at ier, fom babies to 90 years old. ful while you're playing dif- ferent nt games, "she said. working on her on a musichistory at University of British Co- lumbia, where she looks at the music landscaj four "Final Fantasy" lagher, who has taunt piano for 13 years, to people in th approached the Beckett Schools director, Rebekah fordan-Miller, with the idea for her course. The Beckett School, which has locations in Wa- terloo and Kitchener, has been offering musicclasses to people ofall ages for: four decades, includi improvisation and flute the pandemic, the school struggled after its enrolment dropped 40 per cent, going from about 700 students to around 400. ‘hat incl in- structors who just decided to teach at home," she said. But student numbers are on the rise again, with year that “ete seen that grow beyond the 700." Some of the school's in- struments and equipment come from retired musi- cians looking for a safe place to keep them at the end of their career. Recent- other upright) and an or- gan. Some classes are small- e Gallagher's, while classes such as the adult choir see about seven to eight students. the winter semester, callaghor will again teach the characters class, along- side "Music and Land- scapes," in which students learn about hor storal" and “anti-pastoral" music landscapes evoke emotions in the game playel Pastoral jandscapes draw from classical music and are associated with flutes, woodwinds, strings and the long extension of notes, said Gal Anti-pastoral land- scapes embody darker scenes, with unusual sounds and instruments, a lack of structure and some- times high-pitched notes. Sometimes the music con- formy thesis, itsounds like someone's hitting a rolled- up newspaper against a surface, it's kind of like ‘thock, thock,' and you're like, 'Idon't know what that is," ” said Gallagher. Crossword puzzle answers use American spelling CROSSWORD ACROSS 38. Dismiss 11. Different 41.“___ the night 39. Ethical 17. Twosome before...” 41. Harms 19. Hair tamer 5. Provide weapons 45. Ran 22. Chomped 8.“Of___1Sing” 47. City vehicle 23. Honest__ 12. Kind of exercise 48, Not fatty 24. Income 13. Pigeon’s purr 49. Point-winning 25, Part of a Reuben: 14, Wolf call serve 2wdi 15. College teacher, 50. Release 26. Target for short 51. Concludes 28.___ whiz! 16. Frogs-to-be 52. Received 29, Misspeak 18. Occupied 53. Movie locations 31. Nourished 20. Roll out of bed 32. Gives to charity 21. Scarlet DOWN 34, Festive party 22. Fasten 1. Sort 36. Flight n faim month 2. Shabby 37. Deserves 3. Fascinated 38. Military-school a He or 4, Expeditions student 30. Coves 5. Performed 39. Lawn pest 8 31. Healthy 6. Highway 40. Sincere s 32.Tinter 7. Stylish 41. Art Fs 33. Needle feature 8 Rosebush prickle 42. Recreation § 34. Jewel 9. Thanksgiving and 43. Doorway out 3 35. Defeated one hristmas 44, Uses a couch g 36. Globule 10. Fleecy females 46. Ticket EOD OGG OSS a [eof] te || — | co wa tox] || [<o]O| opm cx [> |u| co)ex| us] </o} ROG OSB OOO GBEOO S00 FCC)