Uploaded July 2022 | Updated September 2026, 3 weeks ago
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Coming at the end of the month is the greatly anticipated Xenoblade Chronicles 3. And even if we can't get our special editions, we can always find some solace in its soundtrack - here is "A Life Sent On", a variation of the main theme, fully transcribed and recreated.
With many thanks to SableProvidence for performing the Flute/Dizi parts.
--------------------
➤ Analysis:
(Contains mild spoilers from the pre-release info)
Two of our protagonists, Noah and Mio, are tasked with the duties of an "off-seer"; a role dedicated to sending on the voices of the departed. They achieve this through playing the flute, and this melody in particular is thus aptly known as the "melody of the off-seers". With a theme of the game being defeating others to claim their life as your own, I suspect the role of the off-seers seeing off the departed will be incredibly profound (and their music even more so). I can certainly hear this music being played after various character deaths! :D
We open in Aeolian mode (A-B-C-D-E-F-G) - A minor without the leading note of G♯. Here, a singular flute (played by Mio) swirls around an ornamented phrase decorated with various appoggiaturas, trillings and bends. These decorative inflections are very idiomatic.
By 0:20, a second flute enters (played by Noah) with an alternate melody. For this brief moment the two flutes join together, combining their phrases into a beautiful display of harmony, until Mio's flute fades off to allow Noah a moment on his own (0:27).
Thus, what we have are two entirely separate flute phrases that are staggered one after the other, with a brief overlap in between. I suspect these two individual phrases will hold more importance for the two characters - perhaps appearing as various little motifs in each of their own areas (as Noah & Mio are from opposing territories).
The next section commences at 0:39 with similar ornamented material to the opening, now accompanied by a harp. There are several added note chords (e.g. major 7ths, 9ths and suspended 4-3 chords). We travel briefly into the subdominant (0:55; D minor - D-F-A) before returning to A (1:00), and as we rest on an imperfect cadence preparing the next phrase (1:08), the strings begin to enter.
We then have our final phrase (1:12), with a piano replacing the harp's accompaniment function. The flutes return to their opening material which is now harmonized underneath by the other instruments, colouring their two melodies in a wonderfully emotive display. At 1:21, we get a surprising little adventure into D major (in 1st inversion) followed by B♭ - a tertiary modulation (D - B♭) - which for the bass is an uncommon interval of a diminished 4th (F♯ - B♭; essentially a major 3rd spelled differently). This drops to E♭ (1:25), a distant tritone away from our opening tonic of A.
So how can we get back to A from here? Mitsuda cleverly sneaks in another hidden tertiary modulation, pivoting from E♭ to C (in 1st inversion; 1:27), allowing us to modulate to D minor - a close relative of A. And as we close the phrase (1:36), the flutes venture further and extend their initial phrases to tail off the melody beautifully with an ambiguous suspended 4th chord (A-D-E), leaving the final tonality up for interpretation.
Although the track ends here, I suspect that this track is currently incomplete and we will get the full version when the game releases. My theory for this is that the piano gives us a rather abrupt modulation in its final notes - G minor in 1st inversion (B♭-G-D) - which is very unusual following our journey back to A. It's also the shortest main theme. So I suspect there will be more to follow after this, or I could just be a bunch of jokers ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
(Plot twist: I was indeed a joker)
--------------------
The score was created in Sibelius 7.5, and the audio was created in Cubase using sample libraries from EastWest and Vienna Symphonic.
★Game: Xenoblade Chronicles 3
★Developer: Monolith Soft
★Publisher: Nintendo
★Composer(s): Yasunori Mitsuda, ACE, Kenji Hiramatsu, Manami Kiyota, Mariam Abounnasr
★Software: Sibelius 7.5, Cubase Elements 7, Cubase 10, Adobe Premiere Elements, EastWest Sample Libraries, Vienna Symphonic Library
★Tags: Xenoblade, Xenoblade Chronicles 3, Monolith Soft, Main Theme, A Life Sent On, Orchestra, Orchestral, Orchestration, Arrangement, Remix, Cover, Sheet Music
#xenoblade
#xenobladechronicles
#xenobladechronicles3
🎵 Sheet Music & Parts ➤ mymusicsheet.com/TandA/312960
💗 MIDI / XML / Sibelius ➤ bit.ly/TandABundle
🎹 Commissions ➤ jshaw.co.uk/commissions
🎮 More Arrangements ➤ jshaw.co.uk/TandA
👍 Facebook ➤ bit.ly/TandAFacebook
🐦 Twitter ➤ bit.ly/TandATwitter
🎵 Bandcamp ➤ bit.ly/TandABandcamp
🎵 Spotify ➤ bit.ly/TandASpotify
🎵 Deezer ➤ bit.ly/TandADeezer
🎵 YouTube Music ➤ bit.ly/TandAYouTube
🎵 Apple Music / iTunes ➤ bit.ly/TandAApple
Coming at the end of the month is the greatly anticipated Xenoblade Chronicles 3. And even if we can't get our special editions, we can always find some solace in its soundtrack - here is "A Life Sent On", a variation of the main theme, fully transcribed and recreated.
With many thanks to SableProvidence for performing the Flute/Dizi parts.
--------------------
➤ Analysis:
(Contains mild spoilers from the pre-release info)
Two of our protagonists, Noah and Mio, are tasked with the duties of an "off-seer"; a role dedicated to sending on the voices of the departed. They achieve this through playing the flute, and this melody in particular is thus aptly known as the "melody of the off-seers". With a theme of the game being defeating others to claim their life as your own, I suspect the role of the off-seers seeing off the departed will be incredibly profound (and their music even more so). I can certainly hear this music being played after various character deaths! :D
We open in Aeolian mode (A-B-C-D-E-F-G) - A minor without the leading note of G♯. Here, a singular flute (played by Mio) swirls around an ornamented phrase decorated with various appoggiaturas, trillings and bends. These decorative inflections are very idiomatic.
By 0:20, a second flute enters (played by Noah) with an alternate melody. For this brief moment the two flutes join together, combining their phrases into a beautiful display of harmony, until Mio's flute fades off to allow Noah a moment on his own (0:27).
Thus, what we have are two entirely separate flute phrases that are staggered one after the other, with a brief overlap in between. I suspect these two individual phrases will hold more importance for the two characters - perhaps appearing as various little motifs in each of their own areas (as Noah & Mio are from opposing territories).
The next section commences at 0:39 with similar ornamented material to the opening, now accompanied by a harp. There are several added note chords (e.g. major 7ths, 9ths and suspended 4-3 chords). We travel briefly into the subdominant (0:55; D minor - D-F-A) before returning to A (1:00), and as we rest on an imperfect cadence preparing the next phrase (1:08), the strings begin to enter.
We then have our final phrase (1:12), with a piano replacing the harp's accompaniment function. The flutes return to their opening material which is now harmonized underneath by the other instruments, colouring their two melodies in a wonderfully emotive display. At 1:21, we get a surprising little adventure into D major (in 1st inversion) followed by B♭ - a tertiary modulation (D - B♭) - which for the bass is an uncommon interval of a diminished 4th (F♯ - B♭; essentially a major 3rd spelled differently). This drops to E♭ (1:25), a distant tritone away from our opening tonic of A.
So how can we get back to A from here? Mitsuda cleverly sneaks in another hidden tertiary modulation, pivoting from E♭ to C (in 1st inversion; 1:27), allowing us to modulate to D minor - a close relative of A. And as we close the phrase (1:36), the flutes venture further and extend their initial phrases to tail off the melody beautifully with an ambiguous suspended 4th chord (A-D-E), leaving the final tonality up for interpretation.
Although the track ends here, I suspect that this track is currently incomplete and we will get the full version when the game releases. My theory for this is that the piano gives us a rather abrupt modulation in its final notes - G minor in 1st inversion (B♭-G-D) - which is very unusual following our journey back to A. It's also the shortest main theme. So I suspect there will be more to follow after this, or I could just be a bunch of jokers ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
(Plot twist: I was indeed a joker)
--------------------
The score was created in Sibelius 7.5, and the audio was created in Cubase using sample libraries from EastWest and Vienna Symphonic.
★Game: Xenoblade Chronicles 3
★Developer: Monolith Soft
★Publisher: Nintendo
★Composer(s): Yasunori Mitsuda, ACE, Kenji Hiramatsu, Manami Kiyota, Mariam Abounnasr
★Software: Sibelius 7.5, Cubase Elements 7, Cubase 10, Adobe Premiere Elements, EastWest Sample Libraries, Vienna Symphonic Library
★Tags: Xenoblade, Xenoblade Chronicles 3, Monolith Soft, Main Theme, A Life Sent On, Orchestra, Orchestral, Orchestration, Arrangement, Remix, Cover, Sheet Music
#xenoblade
#xenobladechronicles
#xenobladechronicles3
