ReMix:Chrono Trigger "Spekkio the Brave" 4:25

By Steffan Andrews

Arranging the music of one song...

"Jolly Ol' Spekkio"

Primary Game: Chrono Trigger (Square , 1995, SNES), music by Nobuo Uematsu, Noriko Matsueda, Yasunori Mitsuda

Posted 2002-12-24, evaluated by djpretzel


This is the last Christmas ReMix - I'm taking tomorrow off to unwrap my goodies up at my sister's place in Delaware. I personally wish every one of you a merry Christmas and a non-denominational "happy holidays" as well. It's not technically a Christmas mix per se, but Youngjin mailed me suggesting this would make a nice holiday post as it has a festive spirit to it, and I concur. This is a Chrono Trigger ReMix from Spekkosaurus, and if you dig bagpipes and all things Celtic, boy are you in luck. I'm actually Welsh-Austrian, and my Dad loves to "explore his Celtic past" by listening to Enya and watching Braveheart 5000+ times. I'm not as gung-ho, but there's a long heritage of Celtic music and many folk instruments - not just bagpipes - that are quite unique. It's a musical culture, to be sure. Spekko focuses on the Scottish element with this mix of Spekkio's theme:

"I tried my best to keep this track within the bounds of the style I rearranged it for. This includes taking into account that, traditionally, this type of Scottish music focuses on simple instrumentation and a repetitive form to the arrangement.

It includes two variations of my favorite Scottish pipe band styles (both very similar) and it seems to meld together well in the one track. With this piece, I was aiming to rearrange the original by faithfully conforming to the traditional aspects of this style.

It’s unique I believe, in that I have not seen any tracks rearranged in this genre yet, and I thought it fun and engaging to venture into new territory.

- Indeed, this is certainly some unique stuff. If you don't have a taste for the sometimes "piercing" nature of bagpipes, I don't think you'll be converted necessarily, but if you dig 'em then you should appreciate the success I think Spekkosaurus had in achieving his goal. Recommended, with that caveat - get to sleep as soon as you're done checking it out, though, or Santa won't stop at your house ;)

djpretzel

Discussion

Latest 15 comments/reviews; view the complete thread or post your own.
avatar
Pineconeboy
on 2010-06-15 19:52:32

This remix came on my Winamp at the exact moment I was opening an e-mail saying that my paper had been accepted for a conference. Basically, that's a big deal. It was the perfect soundtrack to make me feel heroic. :D

avatar
OA
on 2010-04-30 12:27:55

A great theme and variation, all i'd really do is tone down some of the frequencies and it'd be good. It is very repetitive, but damn it, it's Spekkio. I don't know the nuances of a bagpipe enough to tell if it's live of sequenced pipes, but if they are sequenced, then super well done. If it's live, even better. :-)

Very good stuff.

avatar
tweex
on 2009-11-05 11:40:52

Bagpipes. Sweetness. Very unique. And yes, as you said in your writeup, the track is very repetitive :). The piercing sound of the pipes could have been toned down a little bit, but it's not terrible. The sounds/samples used, while dated by todays standards, aren't bad at all for the time (7 years ago!). The tuba was a nice addition. Gave it almost a polka feel that I liked. Wasn't a huge fan of the exposed snare and concert bass drum, but it wasn't a deal breaker. The Bagpipe drone was very well done. Not bad at all!

avatar
Catharsis
on 2009-05-13 14:14:21

I think I just listened to this for the first time, and I love it! So creative!

avatar
Lucentas
on 2008-12-06 22:11:51

I love bagpipes, so this was a Thanksgiving feast for my partly-Scottish ears. It does get a bit repetitive, but who cares, it's bagpipes! Evokes strong highlands imagery and just makes me want to take a trip there even more than I already do. As if the accents and the plaid weren't awesome enough.

avatar
Barium
on 2007-12-11 23:38:26

This remix made my day, and of course prompted my registering to this site (I was going to delay registering until I had made enough of my first remix to post in the WIP forums, but my hard drive doesn't want that.) I can't believe someone made a remix with the pipes. This is wonderful.

Obligatory description of experience with bagpipes: I'm not actually Scottish. But I did play the pipes for seven years, and this brings all those memories flooding right back. The soloist playing first, the band starting their drones a bar before they come in, the (military, usually) brass accompaniment, everything was done incredibly. The soloist's drones were even out of tune (which any self respecting soloist would never allow, mind you!) The bridge did go out of the range of the Great Highland Bagpipe, which is the type you'd almost always see played in bands in the UK and the US, but that's not a big deal. The GHB only has a range of nine notes, you don't get much wiggle room. Oh, that reminds me, the grace notes, oh, the grace notes were wonderful. There are a few complicated movements the soloist could've done when soloing, and some the band might have done as well, but if you haven't learned the pipes (which, of course, is only an assumption, feel free to correct me) it'd be tough to know about them, so no worries there; the finger movements that were done were amazing enough!

For the person who wanted the notes, I don't have software to put this on sheet music, but I took a quick 20-30 minutes to write 'em out on a wordpad document (that means you're stuck with figuring out the timing, shouldn't be too tough though, eh?) The low G and low A are simply 'g' and 'a' and the high G and high A are '(hg)' and '(ha)'. The notes that are out of the GHB's range are written as '(oor)'. I also left out almost all the grace notes and embellishments, it's up to the player to toss 'em in (most players like doing that anyway.) I only left in a few in the "March Bridge" section because they're necessary for the runs. They're in brackets. I apologize if something's not right here, I didn't spend too much time on it, so I might have overlooked something. Just repeat these sections as necessary. For the March - it's still the same note arrangement even when it gets faster.

Intro = {c b a c e d c f (hg) (ha) e d c f (hg) (ha) e d c d c a b}

Slow Air = {a (ha) e c f e d c d e a b / a (ha) e c f e d c b a // a (ha) e c f e d c d e a b / a (ha) e c f e d c d b c a }

Bridge = {c b c d c b (fast - c d) c d e f (ha) f (ha) (oor) (oor) (oor) (oor) (hg?) (ha) f a b c d e d c b a}

March = {a (ha) e c f e d c d e a b / a (ha) e c f e d b c b a b c a}

March Bridge = {a c a c e (ha) c b a b c d [e] f (ha) f (ha) (oor) (oor) (oor) (oor) (hg?) (ha) f a b c d e d c b a}

Finally - thank you Spekkosaurus, this remix is absolutely wonderful.

avatar
Shenlon
on 2007-07-07 23:05:26

Speaking of being brave... I figured it was a very brave and bold move to put a bagpipe remix on the site. There wouldn't happen to be any other brave souls who do those kinds of things, are there...? :)

Since I downloaded all the mixes from BitTorrent, I was just listening to all of them back to back, so at first listen all I glanced at was the "Chrono Trigger" part of the title. Then I heard the pipes come in, and I thought, "Which song could this be remixing...?" Then I recognized the Spekkio theme... I'll be honest, I just started laughing out loud, because that was the LAST song I figured would be redone with bagpipes.

Very cool stuff. :)

avatar
DragonFireKai
on 2007-03-19 16:14:38

Excellent song, I think this qualifies as a Salute Pibroch, but I'm not that up on my bagpipes. I'm 1/4 Scottish, and that's the largest percentage of me that any on ethnicity takes up, so I kind of gravitate to it. Very well done.

avatar
Aninymouse
on 2007-01-27 22:42:41

I'm adding this to the list of OC ReMixes that've made me lol. Now, granted, this song has seen some years by now, but I think it truely was Skekkosaurus who was brave, posting a bagpipe salute to ORC. For that, I applaud him.

I mean, after all, it's a solid song. The drums and tuba are mixed way too low, though.

I'm considering putting this song on my alarm clock.

avatar
Chickenwarlord
on 2006-08-30 23:15:54

I gotta get my school's bagpipe group to play this. It's pretty sweet.

avatar
maestermatt
on 2006-08-30 23:09:30

i actually hated bagpipes. but now i LOVE them since listening to this song.

avatar
Geoffrey Taucer
on 2006-04-08 19:29:12

Celtic music sucks

Holy damnit christmas, this mix is awesome.

EDIT:

does anyone know were I can get the sheet music so I can play it

Your best bet would be to contact Spekkosaurus directly via e-mail, AIM, PM, etc.

avatar
football_punk64
on 2006-04-07 19:59:26

ok I am A bagpiper and i thought this song was awsome does anyone know were I can get the sheet music so I can play it.

avatar
mrnerdhair
on 2006-02-20 21:27:03

I'm actually from Scotland. I'm an American now, but I was born in the land of milk and honey (or tea and oatcakes) and grew up there. I tell you, it's dang hard to tell if this was done on real bagpipes or not! Spekkio, you warm my heart, and take me back to a land that was simpler and sweeter :wink:

Thanks, man, this is now my personal theme song...

avatar
Jabberbox
on 2005-09-26 23:33:12
...I think this song could give a Mongolian Scottish pride...

heh, I dont want to offend, but at first, they were real similar (DONT CHOP MY HEAD OFF! or yell at me, or anything)

Sources Arranged (1 Song)


Primary Game:
Chrono Trigger (Square , 1995, SNES)
Music by Nobuo Uematsu,Noriko Matsueda,Yasunori Mitsuda
Songs:
"Jolly Ol' Spekkio"

Tags (0)


Genre:
Mood:
Instrumentation:
Additional:

File Information


Name:
Chrono_Trigger_Spekkio_the_Brave_OC_ReMix.mp3
Size:
5,398,776 bytes
MD5:
b54f9f480b8fb273f371f9a7a73fd8c9
Bitrate:
160Kbps
Duration:
4:25

Promotion

8-bit Jazz Heroes - Press Start
View All

Latest Albums

View All

Latest ReMixes