Uploaded September 2019 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
🎵 Sheet Music & Parts ➤ [Removed by Nintendo JP]
💗 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
With the recent release of "Zelda: Link's Awakening HD", I wanted to tackle a few of the brilliantly orchestrated tracks, starting with the "Overworld Theme" (with its initial woodwind introduction).
--------------------
➤ Analysis:
The "Overworld Theme" to Link's Awakening has a few versions; this particular one that opens with woodwind fanfare is only played once after you first retrieve the sword from the beach. After that, this woodwind introduction is replaced by a string introduction (which I have included in the .PDF scores below).
To begin the analysis, this woodwind introduction begins glamorously with tertiary modulations from G major to Bb major to Db major (0:03), creating a remarkably triumphant sound. To get back to the tonic of G major from Db, a simple semitonal shift upward is used, getting us from Db major to D major. From there, a simple perfect cadence brings us back into G major.
The main string section opens with the familiar "Zelda" motif, which continues more or less identically to many of its previous renditions from other games. The first big change occurs at 0:33 where the original Zelda material suddenly melts into a chromatically descending legato passage which concludes in the tonic minor (G minor).
Following on is a brief section in Eb major (0:38) where the cello takes a solo role. But the 1st violin quickly returns to reclaim its solo role (0:44), repeating back to the previous harmonic founding of Eb major.
However, here the harmony modulates to Ab major rather than D minor (0:47). This rather sudden and extreme shift seems quite distant from the tonic of G major. So how do they resolve it? By using a cheeky Neapolitan 6th progression (Ab major to D major to G minor/major) which solves this harmonic problem seamlessly and with a lot more interest than a simple perfect cadence.
Sticking true to Nagamatsu's philosophy of not having reverb in order to get the best sound quality out of the 3DS/Switch speakers, I have applied very little reverb here.
--------------------
The score was created in Sibelius 7.5, and the audio was created in Cubase using sample libraries from Vienna Symphonic.
★Game: Zelda: Link's Awakening HD
★Developer: Nintendo
★Publisher: Nintendo
★Composer(s): Minako Hamano, Kozue Ishikawa, arr. Ryo Nagamatsu
★Software: Sibelius 7.5, Cubase Elements 7, Cubase 10, Adobe Premiere Elements 15, Vienna Symphonic Library
★Tags: Zelda, Link's Awakening HD, Zelda Links Awakening, Zelda Sheet Music, Overworld, Overworld Theme, Overworld Music, Links Awakening Overworld, Overworld Theme Sheet Music
#LinksAwakening
#OverworldTheme
#SheetMusic
🎵 Sheet Music & Parts ➤ [Removed by Nintendo JP]
💗 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
With the recent release of "Zelda: Link's Awakening HD", I wanted to tackle a few of the brilliantly orchestrated tracks, starting with the "Overworld Theme" (with its initial woodwind introduction).
--------------------
➤ Analysis:
The "Overworld Theme" to Link's Awakening has a few versions; this particular one that opens with woodwind fanfare is only played once after you first retrieve the sword from the beach. After that, this woodwind introduction is replaced by a string introduction (which I have included in the .PDF scores below).
To begin the analysis, this woodwind introduction begins glamorously with tertiary modulations from G major to Bb major to Db major (0:03), creating a remarkably triumphant sound. To get back to the tonic of G major from Db, a simple semitonal shift upward is used, getting us from Db major to D major. From there, a simple perfect cadence brings us back into G major.
The main string section opens with the familiar "Zelda" motif, which continues more or less identically to many of its previous renditions from other games. The first big change occurs at 0:33 where the original Zelda material suddenly melts into a chromatically descending legato passage which concludes in the tonic minor (G minor).
Following on is a brief section in Eb major (0:38) where the cello takes a solo role. But the 1st violin quickly returns to reclaim its solo role (0:44), repeating back to the previous harmonic founding of Eb major.
However, here the harmony modulates to Ab major rather than D minor (0:47). This rather sudden and extreme shift seems quite distant from the tonic of G major. So how do they resolve it? By using a cheeky Neapolitan 6th progression (Ab major to D major to G minor/major) which solves this harmonic problem seamlessly and with a lot more interest than a simple perfect cadence.
Sticking true to Nagamatsu's philosophy of not having reverb in order to get the best sound quality out of the 3DS/Switch speakers, I have applied very little reverb here.
--------------------
The score was created in Sibelius 7.5, and the audio was created in Cubase using sample libraries from Vienna Symphonic.
★Game: Zelda: Link's Awakening HD
★Developer: Nintendo
★Publisher: Nintendo
★Composer(s): Minako Hamano, Kozue Ishikawa, arr. Ryo Nagamatsu
★Software: Sibelius 7.5, Cubase Elements 7, Cubase 10, Adobe Premiere Elements 15, Vienna Symphonic Library
★Tags: Zelda, Link's Awakening HD, Zelda Links Awakening, Zelda Sheet Music, Overworld, Overworld Theme, Overworld Music, Links Awakening Overworld, Overworld Theme Sheet Music
#LinksAwakening
#OverworldTheme
#SheetMusic
