NOBUO UEMASTU By Ryan Clarke

NOBUO UEMASTU

BIOGRAPHY Born in Kouchi City, Japan on March 21, 1959 Began playing piano at the age of 12 After college and at age 22 Nobuo joined a couple of different amateur bands. He played electronic keyboard.

He later realized that his true passion was in writing the music not performing it. He decided to take his chances and make his way through life as a composer.

TREASURE AT SQUARESOFT While working at another game company called Squaresoft, his friend as asked him if he would like to write a couple of the songs for his video games. This was Nobuo's dream to make music, so he said he would.

After so much success with Squaresoft (now Square Enix) Nobuo Uematsu decided to leave the company and become a freelance composer. The game that his friend wanted his help on was called Final Fantasy. This was to be the last hoorah, but it became a huge hit in the Video game industry. The rest is history for Nobuo Uematsu who has composed many songs for the Final Fantasy series.

PRESENT Nobuo currently lives in Tokyo with his wife and dog. In 2012 "Aerith's theme” written for Final Fantasy VII was inducted into the 16 th place of the annual Classic FM (UK). This was the first time that a score written for a video game had been voted in. Nobuo Uematsu has set a new standard not only for video games, but for music in general. Nabuo Uematsu really brought the appreciation and the respect back to the music in the video game industry because of his masterpieces.

Composition

3 rd Song Composer: Nubuo Uematsu Title: Jenova This title is the theme of a monster called Jenova. She is the one that gives the Evil Villain Sepiroth his powers. As our heroes fight the battle against Jenova, the music helps us a listeners feel of the urgency to defeat Jenova or all else will fail. Even though the song is for Jenova there is a feeling of encouragement to continue on and battle throughout the score.

History of “Jenova” Composer: Nobuo Uematsu This title is the theme of a monster called Jenova. She is the one that gives the Evil Villain Sepiroth his powers. As our heroes fight the battle against Jenova, the music helps us a listeners feel of the urgency to defeat Jenova or all else will fail. Even though the song is for Jenova there is a feeling of encouragement to continue on and battle throughout the score.

Listening Guide

Aeriths theme, 0:01 Lonely Flute intro gives the feeling of solitude and distance. 0:20 Violins come in and imitate the melody of the flute. This gives the feeling that they are not alone, but will find others as time goes on. 0:27 Horns Join in and create a melody with the Violins. 0:43 All instruments fade out besides the piano and violins.

0:58 xylophone is introduced and in sync with the violins and piano 1:03 Flute fades in and out. 1:13 Crescendo and all the instruments play together 1:37 slowly dies down and the flute continues to play the melody with slight intermissions of the violins weaving in and out of the notes. 2:11 Slight building of a crescendo. 2:18 All instruments play including the horns and trumpets. 2:53 Huge build up ends and the flute and piano continue their duet.

3:27 the Trumpets hold nothing back 3:40 Here comes the drum and symbols 3:53 each instrument is weaving in and out the melody 3:50 Trumpets play the melody. 4:10 Crescendo is building ever so softly 4:27 the flutes, horns, and violins give the impression that you are rising up into the air! 4:30 The Climax with all of the instruments playing together. 5:18 Final flute and violin solo 5:36 Harp ends with a dreamy major.