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Thanks to hundreds of Pokémon Reorchestrated’s fans, Kanto Symphony will now have enough funding for the live soloists and music software upgrades necessary to make it sound realistic and emotional! My immense gratitude goes out to our Kickstarter backers, and all of you, who helped spread the word about my ambition to tackle an orchestral tribute album to the first Pokémon games.
General rewards will be shipped out to backers sometime between January and February 2012, and physical CDs for our bigger pledges shortly after the album’s digital release. Below is the official album artwork for Kanto Symphony, designed by myself. Thank you all for your support, and definitely check back as I wrap up soloist interviews and begin documenting the making of Kanto Symphony!
Today’s Soloist Spotlight for Kanto Symphony is on Michaela Nachtigall (also known as mklachu), a true blue PokéFanatic, talented violinist, and regular YouTube vlogger who is joining me in remaking the music from the first Pokémon games, Red and Blue. If you haven’t yet experienced Michaela’s raw, expressive playing, then allow me to blow your mind:
S: Welcome, Michaela! This isn’t your first interview, is it?
M: Thank you for having me here, Braxton. This actually isn’t my first interview. My first interview was around November of 2010 when I was asked about how I got accepted to play in Carnegie Hall with American High School Honors Performance Series, which took place in February of 2011.
S: What was it like to play at Carnegie Hall?
M: The playing experience in Carnegie Hall was so surreal. The acoustics were so brilliant and natural. It still baffles me to this day that I actually played in there with an orchestra.
S: What is it about violin playing that you enjoy the most?
M: Playing the violin marked the beginning of a journey for me to discover and express my artistic voice. It allows me to escape from reality and create a perfect world of my own, a world where people would appreciate both video games and music. It makes me smile when I watch people react in amazement as a result of listening to me play a video game related theme on my violin.
S: Who inspires you, musically? It can be composers, other musicians, etc.
M: Ever since I discovered Koji Kondo, I’ve aspired to play video game themes on my violin… the first one being the Super Mario Bros. theme. I’ve also been inspired by a few classical music composers such as Vivaldi, Beethoven, and Schubert.
S: When did you first come into contact with Pokémon?
M: My older sister was the one who got me into Pokemon. She was playing through Victory Road in Pokemon Blue on our lime green Gameboy Color. But after a few hours of wandering around aimlessly, our Gameboy ran out of batteries as she nearly reached the end… so she gave up and handed the Gameboy to me. As a result, I replaced the batteries, started at the beginning of Victory Road with my sister’s team and continued playing Pokemon since that fateful day.
S: Do you have any favorite pieces of music from the Pokémon games?
M: Oh my, where do I begin? I’ve fallen in love with the Pokemon themes whether they’ve been reorchestrated by amazing people like Braxton or kept in their original 8-bit style. If I had to choose a couple, I would definitely pick Silph Co. and the Gym Leader theme (which is actually my ringtone, haha) because of the amount of suspense each theme expresses.
S: Aside from Pokémon, are there any other game soundtracks that you enjoy?
M: Video game music is ambrosia to my ears. I’ve fallen in love with countless video game soundtracks including The Legend of Zelda series, Super Smash Bros. Brawl, Rhythm Heaven, Phoenix Wright, Kingdom Hearts, Final Fantasy… the list goes on!
S: Is it true that you own a collection of Poké Ball earrings?
M: Why as a matter of fact, yes it’s true! I created Poke Ball earrings out of Perler Beads, which are plastic colorful beads you can iron to make trinkets of all shapes and sizes. So far, I’ve made Poke Balls, Great Balls, Ultra Balls, Master Balls, Premier Balls, Dusk Balls, and Quick Balls!
Good news, my friends. My free, fan-made Pokémon arrangement album Kanto Symphony is FINALLY underway.
Well, the answer is that I finally managed to scrounge and save for a new computer completely on my own earlier this month.
Wait… But what’s the point of the Kickstarter anymore? Are you canceling it?
No, and for a very good reason—if the Kickstarter manages to come through, I will instead use the funds that would have gone toward purchasing new hardware and instrument sample libraries to officially hire the solo musicians who were willing enough to volunteer as instrumentalists for the album in the first place. All of them have their own commitments outside of PREO and are talented enough to deserve compensation for their time. I want to support live players for everything I do in the future, and I figured this would be a great start.
If this is a decision you don’t agree with, by all means, withdraw your pledge from the Kickstarter—BUT if you’re interested in hearing these wonderful musicians featured on the album, stay tuned to the PREO website for an upcoming series of Soloist Spotlights that’ll introduce you to these dedicated Pokémon fans AND their massive talent:
Michaela Nachtigall (United States)
Violin 1
John Streese (United States)
Violin 2
Gabriel Vizcarra Carrasco (Perú)
Viola
Jess French (United Kingdom)
Female Alto
Hey, PREO fans! Last month I had the wonderful opportunity to sit down with John Streese, one of Kanto Symphony’s violin soloists, to discuss his musical ambitions and of course, some Pokémon. Below is our transcribed interview.
If you’ve never heard of John, he’s a popular video game musician also known as JTehAnonymous on YouTube and records covers of his favorite pieces of video game music, playing the melodies on his violin. He’s done quite a few covers of Pokémon music on his video channel and has gathered a devoted following for his frequent uploads of VG music covers, all of which are executed with passion and solid instrumental technique.
Interview key: S = Skotein, J = John
S: So John, how did you first hear about me and Pokémon Reorchestrated, ‘cause I remember that it was early on in the project…wasn’t it?
J: Yeah, it was really early on. Um…I think I found you through a related channel. I was watching pokemoneinstein’s LP’s… In that whole Pokémon web on the Internet, I managed to find your channel!
S: Yay!
[both laugh]
S: What made you want to pick up the violin as your main instrument?
J: Uh…to be honest, in the seventh grade, I just needed something to do! I tried—well, actually, my parents forced me to try it—in the fourth grade, but I pretended to be sick during the concerts and I quit. But then I tried again in seventh grade because I needed to for a class, and that time it just kind of stuck. I really, really liked it.
S: Awesome! And do you play any other instruments?
J: I play a little bit of piano, but I would say I’m more of a single instrument player. I pretend to play the piano, but I’m not very good. [laughs]
S: Who inspires you? It can be anyone. Musicians, writers, composers, Chuck Norris…whatever.
J: As far as music goes, I would say generally the YouTube community inspires me, most of the people I’m subscribed to—basically anyone who takes video game music and turns it into something awesome. They all inspire me. As far as people in my regular life go, my parents inspire me.
(For a while we discussed how down-to-earth I thought John’s response was to that question, considering how many people are quick to jump to name-dropping celebrity composers and musicians.)
J: I think anyone on YouTube…anyone who just really likes playing—I really respect that. You don’t have to be on some kind of level for me to respect you.
S: And I think that makes you much very relatable to all practicing musicians—it gives them something they can identify with. Which is cool!
J: That is cool.
[both laugh]
S: All right, so, big question: what was your very first experience with Pokémon?
J: …Oh man. [nervous laugh] My very, very first experience that I can remember?
S: Mmhm.
J: It can be anything related to Pokémon?
S: Yes. [chuckle]
J: Okay, well, I can remember being six years old and being over at a friend’s house, and he showed me his Pokémon cards. I instantly fell in love, and he gave me a Venonat card! I cried from happiness and ran home, begging my parents to buy me more cards. Then I guess it just “evolved” from there—
S: Evolved?! [laughs at pun]
J: [laughing] I’m sorry!
S: No, no! Continue!
J: So I got Blue for the Game Boy, and then after that, I was…never the same.
[both chuckling]
S: Do you have any favorite pieces of music from the Pokémon series?
J: A favorite piece…? Aw man, I like so many of them… From first generation, my favorite is “Silph Co.”—it’s like a Russian dance! I just love it.
S: Yeah, me too. It’s one of my favorites—the official track for Kanto Symphony is also going to be inspired by Russian dance.
J: I’m excited!
S: I know, s’gonna be epiiiiic. Now, aside from Pokémon, what other game soundtracks do you enjoy?
J: Oh man… Legend of Zelda is up there. I enjoy every LoZ track, basically. Final Fantasy, with a few exceptions—I pretty much enjoy all FF music. Kirby, because it’s just so playful and all of it—I love Kirby.
S: And the last question—surprise question—
J: Oh no…
S: Rumor has it (well, not really a rumor since I’ve seen it in your videos)…that you have a cardboard cutout of Miley Cyrus. Explain.
J: Oh no! I wasn’t supposed to do this!
S: Aha! You’re on the spot now!
J: This was like a planned moment, when I reached a certain benchmark, but…I guess I could spill the beans here!
S: Divulge!
J: All right, well…as you might now, I’m really weird. And my friends are weird too. On my eighteenth birthday, I went on a city-wide scavenger hunt for my birthday because I’m into scavenger hunts, so they set that up for me. They’re really nice! And at the end of my scavenger hunt, I made it back to my house, and lying on my bed was a cardboard Hannah Montana. So that was my birthday present! [laughs]
S: [snort / choked laugh]
J: They bought it for me!
To listen to some of John’s work and subscribe for more awesome violin covers, visit his YouTube channel! Glad to have you aboard, John. >:D
As a plug, here’s one of his newest pieces from Diddy Kong Racing!
An important announcement from Skotein, the creator of Pokémon Reorchestrated.
A while ago, I asked PREO’s Facebook fans what should come next after I completed “Ending (Ruby and Sapphire End Credits).” The verdict was to complete my arrangement of “Battle! Dialga & Palkia” from Pokémon Diamond and Pearl and from there, journey back to complete the soundtrack to the region that started it all.
Yes, it’s time to finish Kanto Symphony.
Unfortunately, my computer can’t keep up with the demands of this project, as explained in this post about me needing a new computer. I’d be forever grateful to anyone who is kind enough to donate toward my cause since it may be a while before I earn enough money to get the audio workstation of dreams. T-T But! In the meantime…there are a few things I’m doing to prepare for Kanto Symphony.
Unlike my past PREO endeavors where I’ve taken things one song at a time, I want Kanto Symphony to be the first to incorporate overarching motifs and themes, much like a cinematic film score…or hypothetically, like what a score to a live action Pokémon film would be! :D To ensure there aren’t too many loose ends left over after finishing the album, I won’t be uploading any tracks to the site or YouTube until it’s all ready. I will still continue to post updates on Kanto Symphony progress and offer the occasional soundbyte, of course. That, and there is still Project Pallet to look forward to.
I’ve worked all afternoon preparing a solid track listing for Kanto Symphony to give PREO fans an idea of how I’m going to be arranging the memorable themes from Pokémon Red and Blue, and how older pieces will be remade/remastered for pristine clarity:
These are the tracks that will be made immediately available on the site upon completion of the album. Later, I’ll be releasing a series of bonus tracks of lesser priority, one by one:
Just to prove to PREO fans that I’m no deserter like Giovanni, I’ll also be recording and uploading videos for a unique kind of playthrough of Pokémon Red Version where I examine the music of the game while making awful Pokémon jokes. It’ll be awkward and great! You better look forward to it.
As always, I can’t thank all of you enough for all of your support this past year-and-a-half. Send me some good vibes, I’m about to board the SS Anne~!
~Skotein
Pokémon Instrumental Sheet Music
Have you ever wanted to play Pokémon music with your orchestra before? Or maybe you just wanted to get together with a few buddies to play in an ensemble? Well my my, you’re in luck! :) Pokémon Reorchestrated is taking on a new role in addition to remaking classic tunes from the Pokémon RPG series: arranging and releasing sheet music inspired by the same tunes! This new undertaking to bring PREO’s music to middle school and high school orchestras in your hometown will be called “Project Pallet,” named after the very first town in the Pokémon games.
The first piece from Project Pallet, set to debut around Halloween 2011, is a full orchestral medley of music from Pokémon Gold and Silver which I am currently arranging for a local youth symphony to perform in October. The sheet music and audio for the medley and will be made available to the public for free on a new “Sheet Music” page in the PREO navigation. Though still a long way off, I’m excited to help give kids the opportunity to play an arrangement of some of their favorite video game music.
Now, some of us don’t have the luxury of a full orchestra to play such music. Many schools have under-funded music programs and can only afford to buy wind instruments for students to play. Never fear, because Project Pallet will take these smaller ensembles into consideration too. This holiday season, the first volume in Project Pallet’s “Ensemble Series” will make its debut with sheet music for some of the following ensembles: string quartet, four-part brass choir, woodwind quartet, piano, and any others that fans might suggest.
With Project Pallet, I hope to encourage music teachers everywhere with strictly classical backgrounds to try something new by letting their students play the music of their generation and taking initiative to teach them the classical elements that have influenced modern video game music like Pokémon. Nothing is more fun than learning about the music that you love the most while learning to appreciate the music that preceded it at the same time.
If you have any suggestions for ensembles that YOU’D like to see sheet music for, please leave a comment by clicking the “<3 Notes” button below and let me know!