An analysis of the Wii Sports theme song by Kazumi Totaka
I will be taking a closer look into the first section (~30 seconds) of the Wii Sports theme song by Kazumi Totaka: As a quick intro, this piece is the title theme song for Wii Sports, the Wii's initial flagship game. This is probably one of the first songs people hear upon turning on the Wii. Yet, even today, this piece brings nostalgia to many who owned a Wii in their childhood. How does Totaka ingrain this piece in our heads? I want to answer that question in this post; specifically, I want to analyze how Totaka makes the opening motif so catchy and iconic of Wii Sports. We immediately start off with the infamous motif: This is harmonized with IV moving to I, which creates a plagal cadence on the very first measure. This abrupt opening pre-loads this theme into our heads, which will be repeated countless times later in the piece. From measures 5-12 (0:06 - 0:21), Totaka uses a variety of methods to slowly build energy, which makes the resolution in measures 1...