RebeccaETripp Interview: Creating the "Empress Waltz"
Drawing inspiration from Final Fantasy IV , RebeccaETripp created a multi-game medley that celebrated women in the VGM community. “The Empress Waltz” features music from the Final Fantasy, Zelda and Mario series, and with the help of 10 other VGM collaborators, Rebecca invites listeners to her own imagination.
How did you develop the idea for the “Empress Waltz”?
I have spent a lot of time over the years imagining the inside of Troia Castle from Final Fantasy IV. I’ve imagined the food, the songs, the armoury, the royal balls…even trivial details like the drapes! I once imagined a group of female musicians performing waltzes before the ministers, and I figured that these would all sound kind of similar to the Troia theme itself. To be honest, I just wanted to go to that imaginary concert—to make it happen in real life so that I could hear it and imagine myself into the scene even better.
Around the time I started dreaming up the medley, I felt like female VGM composers/arrangers were underrepresented. For that reason, I wanted to get together a group of female gamer musicians who were interested in music foremost and the showmanship second. I then imagined a medley comprised of “queenly” Venusian themes from various games that would fit nicely together. I guess I imagined it right into existence!
Were any tracks cut from the original arrangement?
Nope! I did the exact arrangement I set out to do when I first imagined this project a little over a year ago.
Did you use sheet music to develop the individual parts?
I have a MIDI program which uses a sheet music interface. I made sheets in there and turned them into PDFs for the musicians.
How did you enlist the help of your collaborators?
I just asked around on Facebook, Twitter, etc. I asked quite a lot of people, but I ended up with a group of eleven.
Had you ever worked on a project this large before?
Yes! I’ve done some projects that were larger than this, in fact!
Was there anything specific that you learned from creating this cover?
I think I just got a clearer picture of what it’s like to lead a big project. I’d done stuff like this before, but it’s a continual learning experience. If you’re the one heading a project, you need to keep reminding people that you exist, otherwise, they will understandably get distracted by their own lives.
What is your philosophy when it comes to creating medleys?
I like to take people on a journey when I make medleys. It's not just about playing or reproducing a bunch of good songs—it's about the progression and emotional arc. I want to cause people to feel certain things in a specific order, which I believe is more likely to result in an overall comforting and enchanting experience. I want to lead my listeners down an intriguing garden path via my music.
Your transitions in the cover are flawless. How did you create such an organic medley?
Part of it is recognizing which components of the previous song can be carried over to the next and vice versa. Some melodies can easily be tapered or gradually “disassembled” (as in removing layers) as they flow into the next songs/movements. It helps to be conscious of which songs are more or less "musically similar" to others within the lineup.
Of course, I also changed the keys and tempos of some of the songs so that they could flow more seamlessly. It can also help to gradually shift the “tone" of the given song towards the end. For instance, I started with the Observatory (Rosalina) theme, which I followed up with the Troia theme, since they are both very upbeat and fairly aesthetically similar. However, I think that Troia is slightly more “dreamy” than Observatory, musically speaking, since it has a slightly more “mysterious" chord progression during the chorus. Therefore, I started my Troia segment more upbeat and then gradually removed layers and shifted the instrumentation to make it sound more ethereal toward the end. That went nicely with the ponderous, dreamy “Flowers Blooming in the Church” movement which followed.
Do you have any other favorite medleys or large collaborations in the VGM community?
I have a 30-minute Secret of Mana medley featuring 21 guests. I’m really proud of that one!
Would you do another project like this one?
Yes, absolutely! I have three more medleys planned with this same all-woman group. We’ll most likely also be doing a “priestess” suite, a “Gaia” suite and a “warrior woman” suite.
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