Four Ways of Hearing Video Game Music

Michiel Kamp is Assistant Professor of Musicology at Utrecht University, where he teaches on music and audio-visual media. He is co-founder of the UK-based Ludomusicology Research Group, which has organised yearly conferences on video game music in the UK and abroad since 2011. His research centres on video game music and other screen media, with a particular interest in phenomenologies and hermeneutics of listening.

• Acknowledgements About the companion websiteIntroduction: towards a phenomenology of video game music Poietic and aesthesic approaches Game design strategies and gameplay tactics Ways of hearing Phenomenology as an approach to video game music Whose phenomenology? 1. Background music Case study: StarCraft Background music as ground Background music as mood or atmosphere Background music as affordance Background music as equipment Conclusions 2. Aesthetic music Case study: Minecraft Having an aesthetic experience Nostalgic hearing Hearing beauty in virtual nature Authored musical moments Aesthetic listening as interpretation Conclusions 3. Ludic Music Affect, or "doing this really fast is fun" Case study: Proteus Inward dancing and embodied listening Music games, synaesthesia, and glee Musical movement and emotional context Conclusions 4. Semiotic music Case study: Left 4 Dead Musical signs Musical symbols Musical signals and anticipation Broken and unestablished signs Conclusions Conclusion Hearing video game music in context Other ways of hearing A final word on hermeneutics Bibliography Index

With this study Kamp adds another volume to the long-running "Oxford Music/Media Series." Four Ways of Hearing Video Game Music is relatively brief but densely packed with vivid descriptions of video games and their accompanying music. Recommended.