The Art Of Minecraft's Music

By: Xavier Hawkins               28/02/23

Minecraft is one of the most POPULAR indie video games of all time. With it being a sandbox. Having simplistic graphics and sounds; it still captivates its audience (which is still TREMENDOUSLY large). Everyone talks about the gameplay, the customizability, the community-made mods, the memories, and more. But the one thing in Minecraft that I think gets not even near the recognition it deserves is the game's MUSIC. Notch is the person who made this game but C418 made the music. And let me tell you he did a fantastic job. So let's get into, The Art Of Minecraft’s Music. (HEY I SAID THE TITLE YAY!!!!)

The music C418 has made Minecraft sounds very nostalgic and peaceful. The creator of the soundtrack, C418 said that he made the songs be a “pentatonic chill pill”. The songs sound like it would sound nostalgic even if you hadn’t heard it before. He made it to be peaceful, not complicated. Because the game is a simple sandbox game. The sounds in the songs are limited but they are very good and have feelings of peace, feels of looking around a place you haven’t been, and has feels of a cozy place. It's very hard to explain how much the songs mean to me but I think I have an example. Musicologist says “It’s like seeing an old face, or remembering a familiar smell that you haven’t smelt in years”. But when I hear the songs in the background I think of raiding villages, building homes, collecting ore in caves, playing with friends and my sisters, taming wolfs and ocelots, and fending off the undead outside of our house. The music that goes on while you play, it becomes a trigger for memories you make with the game.

The songs make the gameplay more alive. C418 said, “Minimalism was and is definitely key when it comes to the soundtrack.” The minimalism enhances the experience, it lets you think and believe what you could build, do, or make. If the music wasn’t made it would be silence besides the footsteps. But they added the music, 14 music tracks to even more. The music sets the mood for adventures, exploring, creating, and more. There is a reason there is so many videos of just the entire Minecraft soundtrack. The music becomes a trigger for memories from playing the game and it's nice to reminisce about simpler times in life. Where all you had to do was attend school and do little to no work. The memories of placing your first block, your first house built, your first world, your first diamond ever mined, your first biome you ever found. The gameplay is wonderful by itself, but all it takes is some peaceful tunes to make it better.

Minecraft has a fantastic soundtrack from C418. The creator made all the songs with stuff in mind for it. C418 said that Key is the song that introduces you to the album while the Door song welcomes you to Minecraft. The memories flush back once you hear one song from the game. And its songs are nicely made, they aren’t complicated, no vocals, just nice beats in the background to listen to. The experience I had with Minecraft and its songs is something I will never forget or even think about forgetting. There is so much I can talk about Minecraft, including its amazing songs but I don’t think I could describe it or fit it all in Google Docs word limit. All I can say is that I will thank Minecraft for the experiences, the memories, the beats, and the gameplay. I will thank it for being the first game I ever played. This simple block game will always be my favorite game of all time and if you haven’t played it before. All it takes is the download button…

Minecraft Music Poll: https://forms.gle/iQP9qdkSoaxBvkJB9

Minecraft Music Playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL3817D41C7D841E23

Minecraft Citations: https://minecraft.fandom.com/wiki/Minecraft_-_Volume_Alpha#:~:text=Minecraft%20%2D%20Volume%20Alpha%20is%20the,length%20of%20nearly%20an%20hour.

https://c418.org/albums/minecraft-volume-alpha/

https://musicboard.app/review/09e2402b-08cb-4a10-b1a8-705aab6ac8fd