Kirby Super Star — 02: Corkboard

So after that magnificent intro screen music, we arrive at the main game select menu and we're greeted with a delightful little ditty. Check it out:

Corkboard (Click to enlarge)

Flash Player

"Corkboard" is short, and it doesn't have much in the way of melody, but it is a menu tune; we'll give it a break. Besides, it's still got a few nifty details and tricks tucked away here and there. Let's take a look.

Harmony and Melody

Or should that heading read just "Harmony" in this case? The first four measures are two iterations of a simple I-♭VI vamp, and after bouncing back between the IV and ♭VI we return to the beginning via a iii-ii-V progression (there's that ii-V-I again). On the second run through it returns to the top via a ♭vi-♭II progression—it's another tritone substitution, like last time!

Like I said, there's not much of a melody. We've got something that's close though, and we'll take what we can get:

Corkboard chord-melody in bars 1 & 2 (highlighted in blue)

See how the middle pan-flute line bounces up and down every so often? In comparison, the other two voices defiantly keep hitting one note over and over again in each measure (save for the final bar of each repeat). The middle flute's casual jumping creates a subtle coloration of the chords at times too: the C6 in the first and third bars gets turned into a Cmaj7 for an instant, and this also does double duty by creating an elusive quasi-melody among the chord tones.

Corkboard's pan flutes, final measure

It's at its most salient on the very last bar, where the top flute voice breaks rhythm with its partners and performs a short sixteenth-note run. This is the only instance where the flute voices aren't in perfect rhythmic lockstep, and it's nice for a change.

Arrangement

Very small set of instruments this time around, but it creates a distinct, almost otherworldly jazz combo feel. Certainly the chords are jazzy enough; especially modern sounding are some of the extremely close voicings used—those A♭maj7s at the beginning are in 3rd inversion, for example. That puts the 7th on the bottom, letting it buzz vibrantly against the tonic only one semitone above.

Also adding to the jazz feel is the bass line. Though it typically is content hitting the 1st and 5th of the current chord, it occasionally "walks" into the next root from a semitone above or below. Namely on the I-♭VI change and on the IV-iii change going into the first ending.

But by virtue of its brisk tempo and odd instrumentation (for jazz anyway), it has its own unique vibe while also evoking an intimate, urbane jazz setting. Not bad for a menu tune.

Last Thoughts

So yes, this composition is short, repetitive and doesn't really go places. But is that always a bad thing? No piece of video game music functions in a vacuum; it has to operate within its game-specific setting. As a stand-alone piece it might not inspire, but in context of the game it does its job well—if it were a sprawling five-minute epic it would completely break the flow of the game.

As is, it's novel enough to be memorable, catchy, and avoid cliche, it's got enough twists and variety to entertain if you do happen to mill about on the menu screen, but importantly, it's also compact and understated enough for the player to move on to one of the sub-games without a second thought: Gameplay is placed front and center. As it should be.

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