Hey there folks,
One of my students is interested in learning the Tetris theme music. After doing some research I found that the main theme (called Type A [give it a listen]) is really an arrangement of a traditional Russian folk song called Korobeiniki. It was arranged by the great composer in video game scores Hirokazu Tanaka.
One of the quirks of this piece is that it is composed for three parts. There is the melody and bass, but also a fancy harmony part. We'll be playing the melody today. The creative limitations of music for early video games is a whole other study. If you're interested I would search for Chiptunes and you'll find modern artists who are still using the style as their main canvas for creation.
Overall the melody is fairly simple. The rhythm is basic, but fast. This is a good point to mention the form of the song. The form is how the sections of the song are organized. We play 8 measures of a melody. This is our A section. There are repeat signs, so we play those 8 measures again. After this we play the following 8 measures called the B section. This B section is focused on half notes and harmonies. It's a sort of pallet cleanser, very different from our A Section. After these 8 measures we play the A section once more. This concludes our form, which we could call an A A B A form.
The final idea I'd like to mention is that there is one accidental that appears repeatedly. It's G#, which is somewhat odd, because the only major scale to have one sharp is G (which has F#). That's because this melody is built on another type of scale entirely.
It's called the harmonic minor scale.
A B C D E F G#
1 2 m3 4 5 m6 7
This minor scale uses a major 7! The reason it is called the harmonic minor scale is because of what happens to the 5 chord when you raise the 7.
The two most important chords in a key are the 1 chord and the 5 chord (closely followed by the 4 chord). When we raise the 7 from G to G# we get an E major chord. This shift in harmony is why we call this scale the harmonic minor scale.
Try resolving an E minor chord to A minor, and then listen to how much stronger the tension and resolution is when you make E major and resolve to A minor.
Make sure you give it a listen. Practice the phrases individually. Take it slowly and work your way up to tempo once your confident with each of the parts.
You can download the sheet music here.
As always,
Take your time, enjoy the process and keep playing.
Christopher
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