Role of the Performer - Lindsey Stirling
The role of a performer is to bring new life to older songs or bring songs into a different genre of music. The most popular transitions in the last few years that I can recall is turning lyric heavy songs into acoustic or full instrumental covers, and before that I can recall one of the favorite covers into metal and alternative music. Those as well as the most recent bass boosting versions of songs. Today I'll be talking about how Lindsey Stirling put a classical music spin on these beloved video game franchises. Performers are an essential asset to music, where they can bring new life to older songs and revitalize certain genres of music. And with the song's being performed by different people, they can put their own personal spin on the song I decided to choose Lindsey Stirling for my research because a few years ago, I couldn't stop listening to her takes to popular video game music. There was also the Eminence Symphony Orchestra but I don't think anyone here would want to listen to the chilling sound of the classical take on the Gears of War soundtrack. Anyways...
Martin O'Donnell and Michael Salvatori created the original Halo theme song in 1999, with it being released with the original game Halo: Combat Evolved in 2001 for the original Xbox. Unfortunately I cannot find the name of the song (Lindsey Stirling just titles the song "Halo theme") It's not long of a song but the impact it has made in the modern media is immense with tournaments with thousands upon thousands of dollars of reward money. The game is also a main stay of video games as a whole. The Halo soundtrack is by no means in the category where the music is dying, who hasn't heard the meme song of all the dudes in the bathroom T-posing and singing the Halo theme? Back before this, Lindsey Stirling did the main soundtrack performance music video with William Joseph. Where Stirling played the violin and Joseph on the piano. The video starts with the traditional vocals of the original theme with the video game's Spartans walking through a forest before it transitions to an all instrumental mix of violin, guitar, and piano that sounds exactly like the original theme but without the iconic "oooOOoooOO" vocalization in the background. The reactions to the video will all be different, but re-watching the video years later brought some nostalgic goosebumps to my arms when I hear the piano and violin mix together. This isn't Stirling's only Halo soundtrack cover either, she also does the same song but remixed in a way to make it sound as if the situation is more dire, but this is about the main theme. The song starts off slow then kicks off into a speedy, louder dynamic and shifts lower often to give the piano the main stage, and the louder dynamic of the song having the violin as the main stage whenever the dynamic is higher. The song appears to be in 4/4 but with heavily accented violin notes in between the main beats.
Lindsey also covers the first song that you hear when you start up The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim. The song's titled Dragonborn and was composed by Jeremy Soule. Which was originally made with a choir of 30 people with booming voices to be heard in the forefront and classical instruments in the background. Stirling did this using one other person for the vocals and she focused on the violin. Most of the supporting beats were replaced with a violin melody with guest Peter Hollens being the main voice of the lyrics. Hollen's voice was also used for a lot of the background melody also, where there was a type of wind instrument in the background as well as drums, is now replaced with violin as well as Hollen's voice. According to Jeremy Soule, the main song was mostly composed using a midi keyboard, that's why the wind instrument in the background was so hard for me to determine. But Lindsey's cover, also adds a sort of rock tune to the song in a few parts. The song is done in 4/4, with an interesting silent note at the beginning before the lyrics start up. Unless it's in 6's with the pause at the beginning of the notes- Which I'm leaning away from because the rest of the song counts along easily in 4/4.
The role of a performer seems to be easier than the original creators, that's what I'm thinking at least, especially since you have material that you can listen to that helps with changing up the notes and pitches of each note while composing the song. And with Stirling, that seems to be the case here. The two songs covered is from popular franchises that was performed differently and contained her own spins. The Skyrim song of course was the most popular in this research. Listed with over 87 Million views on Youtube and who knows how much on Spotify. The role of a performer is to give the feeling of a different song, as well as to present it in a different way from the original. The songs can contain the exact lyrics as well as some of the same beats, but show it in a different style, octave, and put in their own spin of lyrics and notes to make the song feel fresh. I chose these two because I used to always listen to them when I was younger, and now that I'm older, listening to how nostalgic these songs are to me, are giving me goosebumps on how good I remember the songs to be. Unfortunately, the only reputable sources to the notes is the citations to the original videos, the previous researches only had sources to questions posted online as well as the Fandom Wiki's to the videos they're linked to.
Halopedia. “Halo Theme.” Halopedia, Halopedia, 23 Oct.
2021, https://www.halopedia.org/Halo_Theme#:~:text=Martin O'Donnell and Michael Salvatori composed the Halo,Halo MacWorld premiere demo on the following Tuesday.
Stirling, Lindsey. Skyrim - Lindsey Stirling & Peter Hollens - YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BSLPH9d-jsI.
Stirling, Lindsey. Halo Theme - Lindsey Stirling and William Joseph - YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jLnL63cXmD8.
“The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Official Soundtrack.” Elder Scrolls, https://elderscrolls.fandom.com/wiki/The_Elder_Scrolls_V:_Skyrim_Official_Soundtrack.
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