Wednesday, July 27, 2016

Word: Sonorous


sonorous

[suh-nawr-uh s, -nohr-, son-er-uh s]
adjective
1. giving out or capable of giving out a sound, especially a deep, resonant sound, as a thing or place:
a sonorous cavern.
2. loud, deep, or resonant, as a sound.
3. rich and full in sound, as language or verse.
4. high-flown; grandiloquent:
a sonorous speech.

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                “No.” Said Nick.  He didn’t even bother looking up from his book as he said it.
                “Why not?” Gary, Nick’s son, asked.
                “Because I’m not paying for you to go into such a useless field.”
                “Game music isn’t useless, dad.”
                “Yes, it is.  Trust me, son, nothing will come of it.  Besides, video games don’t have real music, they have beeps.  Now, if you wanted to go into musical field with actual merit, than that’s one thing.  But video game music has none.  It’s not even real music anyway.”
                “That’s just not true.  Video game music is real music, and it’s important for a multi-billion dollar industry.  Besides, game music hasn’t consisted of beeps since, like, the 70s.”
                “I think I know what I’m talking about, son.” Nick said as he finally looked up from the paper.  “I’ve done my research.”
                “Oh come on, you can’t call looking at one article online as research.  Besides, who do you trust more, some guy you’ve never met and has unknown qualifications, or your own son, who not only plays, but reviews video games frequently?”
                “Tough call.”
                Gary looked at his father with an annoyed look.  He wasn’t sure if his father was being serious or not.  He also didn’t care much.
                “Look, dad, take it from me, I know.  Video game music is a big deal.  If a game doesn’t have good music, the game won’t be nearly as well received.”
                “I’ve listened to some of this so called music, and it was nothing but arranged beeps.  Hardly real music.”
                “Yeah, maybe for a low budget indie game, but not the big names.  Here, I’ll prove it to you.”
                Gary took out his phone and started swiping and poking at the screen.  In a few minutes, a complex, sonorous melody issued forth from the small speaker.  It was moody, deep, and invoked a variety of emotions.
                “That’s not bad.  What is it?  Beethoven? No, not him.  Hmm, I’m afraid I don’t recognize the composer.”  Nick said, listening to the music.
                “It’s a song from a video game.”  Gary said.  “One that I have.  I can show you where in the game it comes up.”
                “You’re joking, right?”
                “Nope.  Trust me, dad.  Video game music is a big deal these days.  There’s even entire concerts dedicated to game music.  Sure there’s still some weird stuff out there, but a lot of it’s really good.  Game sound tracks do just as well as movie sound tracks these days.”
                As the music ran its course, Nick thought about what his son was telling him.  It was completely at odds with everything he had read online, and he didn’t quite believe everything he had just heard was from a video game, but Gary seemed to believe it.  Still, before he could sign off on his son going to college for game music, he needed to confirm it for himself.
                “All right, tell you what.  I’ll watch you play a video game, and if you can convince me that game music is a legitimate art form, then I’ll be okay with you majoring in it.”
                Gary’s face lit up.  “Great!  I know just the one.”
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One of my favorite pieces of game music.  One of the most famous pieces of game music.  Yeah, it's a big deal these days.

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