Uploaded April 2020 | Updated September 2026, 3 weeks ago
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It's Reyn time!
Or it will be on May 29th when the definitive edition of the narrative masterpiece, "Xenoblade Chronicles" releases. To celebrate, here is a full score transcription of the main theme (with the piano sheet music), and a full recreation to test its accuracy.
Many thanks to KibaLight for their 4K footage of the main menu screen:
youtu.be/SKON7Rc46Zw
--------------------
➤ Analysis:
I'm certain they'll update this track for the definitive edition, but nevertheless let's press on (and on, and on!)
We open with a wide major 7th chord spread out across a piano, delicately twinkling in its exposed upper register (0:02; Eb-G-Bb-D). This chord is expanded to a major 9th as the melody falls down to an F (the 2nd (or "9th") degree of Eb major). This is quickly accompanied by a major 7th/9th string chord (0:07), again spread over a vast expanse as if looking over a g(au)reat plain from a rocky precipice.
After this opening phrase fades into silence, we get a solo piano passage playing a partial snippet of the main theme (0:19), now shifted from the opening key of Eb major and into the relative minor - G minor (G-Bb-D) - and decorated with major 7th chords (Eb-G-Bb-D). This alternation of major/minor and consonance/dissonance parallels the main narrative of Xenoblade (which I shan't spoil here!)
By 0:37, the full main theme is revealed, now with additional string accompaniment decorating the gorgeous major 7th dissonances, and also with an extended harmonic progression to the relative-dominant (0:44; Bb major; Bb-D-F), subdominant (0:46; C minor; C-Eb-G) and the first diminished 7th chord (0:50; C#-E-G-Bb) acting as a pivot to the dominant key (0:53; D major; D-F#-A) as we complete the 4-bar phrase with a perfect cadence back to the tonic key (0:54; G minor).
Here, the harmonic progression repeats, this time with the addition of a panflute (which I believe never appears in the OST again). By the next time we complete this 4-bar phrase, it is now the solo violin's turn to take the lead (1:09), now with a countermelody appearing in the piano to embellish the harmonies with further added-note chords (7ths/9ths).
At 1:27, our first common wind instrument appears; a yearning oboe passage with new material calling out with a brief opening of 16th notes that are echoed back by the piano moments later - a form of call and response. Here, the harmonic progression takes a slight detour; rather than modulating to Bb major, the harmony floats down to the relative major (Eb major; 1:33), before rising back to the flattened leading chord (F major; 1:36) and into the tonic (G minor). This alternation of ascension/descent once more parallels the narrative (which - ack! - I don't want to spoil!)
As the oboe completes its phrase at 1:46, we get our first brass and percussion instruments (excluding piano), with horns, timpani and cymbals. All this time, the forces have been slowly growing from an isolated solo piano to a near full orchestral cohort (lacking some woodwinds, which the definitive version may rectify!) as we now reach the climactic section (1:46).
The strings jump to their emotional registers, the piano echoes the oboe's call and response, and the horns fall down to a yearning major 7th clash - incredibly moving material! By 2:03, we remain in the relative major (Eb) and spiral through a Phrygian progression of Eb - F (over an Eb pedal) as the strings soar upwards. By 2:21, we return to the tonic.
The climactic section concludes with a "Tierce de Picardie" (2:38); the tonic major (G) rather than tonic minor (Gm), before quickly remembering its place and falling back Gm for a final somber statement of the opening main theme in a string quintet (the only time the piano is absent).
The track concludes with a bare 5th chord (3:28), obfuscating the final tonality - is the ending happy or sad? Well, we'll have to play the game and find out ;)
--------------------
★Game: Xenoblade Chronicles
★Developer: Monolith Soft
★Publisher: Nintendo
★Composer(s): Manami Kiyota, ACE+, Yoko Shimomura, Yasunori Mitsuda
★Software: Sibelius 7.5, Cubase Elements 7, Cubase 10, Adobe Premiere Elements 15, EastWest Pianos, Vienna Symphonic Library, Sampleism Pan Flute
★Tags: Xenoblade, Chronicles, Xenoblade Chronicles, Main Menu, Main Theme, Transcription, Sheet Music, Title Screen, Score, Cover, Remix
#XenobladeChronicles
#SheetMusic
#MainTheme
🎵 Sheet Music & Parts ➤ mymusicsheet.com/TandA/314487
💗 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
It's Reyn time!
Or it will be on May 29th when the definitive edition of the narrative masterpiece, "Xenoblade Chronicles" releases. To celebrate, here is a full score transcription of the main theme (with the piano sheet music), and a full recreation to test its accuracy.
Many thanks to KibaLight for their 4K footage of the main menu screen:
youtu.be/SKON7Rc46Zw
--------------------
➤ Analysis:
I'm certain they'll update this track for the definitive edition, but nevertheless let's press on (and on, and on!)
We open with a wide major 7th chord spread out across a piano, delicately twinkling in its exposed upper register (0:02; Eb-G-Bb-D). This chord is expanded to a major 9th as the melody falls down to an F (the 2nd (or "9th") degree of Eb major). This is quickly accompanied by a major 7th/9th string chord (0:07), again spread over a vast expanse as if looking over a g(au)reat plain from a rocky precipice.
After this opening phrase fades into silence, we get a solo piano passage playing a partial snippet of the main theme (0:19), now shifted from the opening key of Eb major and into the relative minor - G minor (G-Bb-D) - and decorated with major 7th chords (Eb-G-Bb-D). This alternation of major/minor and consonance/dissonance parallels the main narrative of Xenoblade (which I shan't spoil here!)
By 0:37, the full main theme is revealed, now with additional string accompaniment decorating the gorgeous major 7th dissonances, and also with an extended harmonic progression to the relative-dominant (0:44; Bb major; Bb-D-F), subdominant (0:46; C minor; C-Eb-G) and the first diminished 7th chord (0:50; C#-E-G-Bb) acting as a pivot to the dominant key (0:53; D major; D-F#-A) as we complete the 4-bar phrase with a perfect cadence back to the tonic key (0:54; G minor).
Here, the harmonic progression repeats, this time with the addition of a panflute (which I believe never appears in the OST again). By the next time we complete this 4-bar phrase, it is now the solo violin's turn to take the lead (1:09), now with a countermelody appearing in the piano to embellish the harmonies with further added-note chords (7ths/9ths).
At 1:27, our first common wind instrument appears; a yearning oboe passage with new material calling out with a brief opening of 16th notes that are echoed back by the piano moments later - a form of call and response. Here, the harmonic progression takes a slight detour; rather than modulating to Bb major, the harmony floats down to the relative major (Eb major; 1:33), before rising back to the flattened leading chord (F major; 1:36) and into the tonic (G minor). This alternation of ascension/descent once more parallels the narrative (which - ack! - I don't want to spoil!)
As the oboe completes its phrase at 1:46, we get our first brass and percussion instruments (excluding piano), with horns, timpani and cymbals. All this time, the forces have been slowly growing from an isolated solo piano to a near full orchestral cohort (lacking some woodwinds, which the definitive version may rectify!) as we now reach the climactic section (1:46).
The strings jump to their emotional registers, the piano echoes the oboe's call and response, and the horns fall down to a yearning major 7th clash - incredibly moving material! By 2:03, we remain in the relative major (Eb) and spiral through a Phrygian progression of Eb - F (over an Eb pedal) as the strings soar upwards. By 2:21, we return to the tonic.
The climactic section concludes with a "Tierce de Picardie" (2:38); the tonic major (G) rather than tonic minor (Gm), before quickly remembering its place and falling back Gm for a final somber statement of the opening main theme in a string quintet (the only time the piano is absent).
The track concludes with a bare 5th chord (3:28), obfuscating the final tonality - is the ending happy or sad? Well, we'll have to play the game and find out ;)
--------------------
★Game: Xenoblade Chronicles
★Developer: Monolith Soft
★Publisher: Nintendo
★Composer(s): Manami Kiyota, ACE+, Yoko Shimomura, Yasunori Mitsuda
★Software: Sibelius 7.5, Cubase Elements 7, Cubase 10, Adobe Premiere Elements 15, EastWest Pianos, Vienna Symphonic Library, Sampleism Pan Flute
★Tags: Xenoblade, Chronicles, Xenoblade Chronicles, Main Menu, Main Theme, Transcription, Sheet Music, Title Screen, Score, Cover, Remix
#XenobladeChronicles
#SheetMusic
#MainTheme
