As part of teaching myself how to write and play music, my earliest attempts at figuring out sheet music on my own just by listening to a piece were with these 8 motifs. These motifs are from the album ‘OCTOPATH TRAVELER Original Soundtrack’ composed by Yasunori Nishiki. It’s a beautiful album for a story that revolves around 8 characters and each character’s theme matches perfectly, in my opinion, with their journey. I highly recommend a listen to the original album. This article describes, in brief, how I figured out the sheet music for each motif and it also includes my humble rendition of them all.
The Enchantress (Primrose Motif)
The original piece evokes a melancholic loneliness so I thought it would be best to accentuate it by playing just the melody. It’s in the key of C# Major starting on G# and ending on C#.
I figured out the pattern of this piece fairly quickly but I struggled with picking the key. It sort of rhymes with Primrose as a character because although she seems … easy (pardon the choice of word) … there’s quite a bit of mystery (and misery) about her.
The Adventurer (Tressa Motif)
This piece is sweet and straightforward, just like the character it’s for. It’s in the key of C Major. It starts on E, ends on D. I figured out the melody first.
Chord Progression: FM > CM > FM > FM > GM (D-G-B)
The Healer (Alfyn Motif)
Just as Alfyn appears harmless in the game but is actually the most overpowered character, this track appears to be smooth but was difficult to decipher.
It’s in the key of G Minor (and I may have cheated by looking up the key) starting on D and ending on G. I figured out the melody first.
I try to stick to diatonic chords as much as possible. But that didn’t work here, maybe because it’s a jazz piece. The conventional practice appears to be to figure out chords first and then the melody and key but I don’t know how that would have worked here.
Chord progression: GM (D-G-B) > FM > CM > FM >EbM > Dm > CM
I’m not so convinced by the Dm but it fits somehow.
The Rogue (Therion Motif)
It’s in the key of A# Minor starting on A# and ending on A# an octave up. I figured out the melody first.
Chord progression: A#m > G#M > E#m > A#m
I expected this track to be one of the tougher ones to decipher but I figured it out quickly. Maybe it’s because I’m getting used to this. I still engage in quite a bit of trial and error to figure out the pitch. Sometimes I try to guess the absolute pitch, sometimes the relative. Even figuring out whether the pitch is going up or down in not always straightforward.
The Huntress (H’aanit Motif)
It’s in the key of F# Major starting and ending on F#. I figured out the melody first.
Chord progression: F#M > G#M (D#-G#-B#) > C#M > F#M. I think it’s time I started being a bit more elaborate with the bass clef.
The notes in this piece evoke a bow being drawn or a hunter creeping forward ever so carefully and springing forth suddenly. Maybe it’s because I know it’s H’aanit’s motif but I like to think the composer had this in mind when creating it.
I expected this piece to be the easiest of the 8 but it took me quite some time to figure out. The recurring pattern was a little difficult to decipher.
Observations from this piece:
- I like clean measures that don’t have notes tying across them but this isn’t always possible
- I need to keep practicing counting beats consciously because it helps write more accurate (and clean) sheet music
- The relationship between tempo and note length is pretty significant!
The Priestess (Ophilia Motif)
When looking at the sheet music, there’s a peak in the piece and I like to think it signifies the mountains as that’s where Ophilia’s hometown is. In the original piece, the accompanying piano plays a rolling tune that evokes a mountain stream. Also fitting.
This arrangement is in the key of D major. Choosing keys really is a challenge. It starts on B and ends on E. I figured out the melody first.
Chord progression: F#m > Em > DM > AM
I didn’t expect that DM to fit but it sounds good to me. I wanted to play the ‘mountain stream’ part on the bass clef but, when doing this piece, I wasn’t at the level where I could write and play that.
The Scholar (Cyrus Motif)
It’s in the key of E Major starting on G# and ending on G# an octave up. I figured out the melody first.
Chord progression: EM > G#m (D#-G#-B) > F#m > EM > C#m > G#m > EM
This was my favorite one to figure out and play and it might be the best of the 8. Visually, the piece looks like a sine wave and there’s a good mix of half, quarter, eighth, and dotted notes. It was challenging to identify the time intervals and playing it requires reliance on intuition. Very ‘scholarly’!
Equally, it evokes a ballroom dance with its back-and-forth flavor and I could have also titled it “The Casanova”. I like to think the abundance of black keys reflects his somewhat oblivious nature. Those who have played Octopath will understand.
The Warrior (Olberic Motif)
It’s in the key of A Minor starting and ending on E. I figured out the melody first.
Chord progression: Am > FM (CFA) > Em > Dm > CM > EM
It took me a while to figure out the starting and ending chords.
Cover
As promised, here’s my humble rendition of all 8 motifs.