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Inside The Score – The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask – Cremia’s Carriage

A not so pastoral life

“By doing one good deed, a child becomes an adult….I now acknowledge you as being an adult!”

One of the most engrossing sequences in the game finds Cremia, the ranch owner, opening to Link about the pressures she is going through, warming to this little kid that just happened to be playing with her little sister the day before. Throughout the three day cycle she is constantly talking between the lines about the pressures her life is facing, from the dread of the impending doom, to having to protect her sister well being as the only adult figure in her life, not to mention the responsibilities of being a manager having to dealt with creepy neighbors and that her best friend is going to marry the man she loves. On the whole, one of the characters emblematic of a game like Majora’s Mask.

Kondo just had to write one of his quintessential earnest melodies, a nostalgic country tune sitting comfortably between the Lon Lon Ranch and Kakariko Village cues; just the right amount of peaceful and thinking back on days go by accompanying the dialogue. The tune could have perfectly fulfilled the role of the Romani Ranch cue by making it a little longer; however, the developers reserved it for this special sequence in order to make it more memorable.

We also explore a couple of short cues that are supposed to play in relation to this ranch saga.

Musical Analysis: Cremia’s Carriage

Structure: Section 0 / Section 1 / Section 2

Time Signature: 4/4

Tempo: 80

Melodic and Harmonic Profiles: D Ionian/Major

The usual nostalgic trick of going back and forth between chords is once again employed here; and for melancholy’s sake nothing beats the I – IV harmony, returning in the same exact way as the intro from Lon Lon Ranch (the same track used for Romani Ranch): D – G

Then we get the country music touch covered by ending the melodic phrases on the V7 chord: A. The music employs the same bittersweet techniques from Kakariko Village, like for example ending the melody in descending fashion back to the tonic—minus the third degree to emphasize the pentatonic feeling—or staying exclusively in the Ionian mode. From Lon Lon Ranch it takes the bass voice leading, the one that forms different kinds of harmony when contrasting with the upper notes of the chord, the cadences are a movement that descended from blues musicians and ends many songs in a definitive, unambiguous fashion. Another staple of sadness appears thanks to the voice leading of the bass line, the movement between a chord and its minor counterpart; truly the sound of a yearning heart. These would be all the chords formed:

D – G – D – G – D – A7

D – D7 – G – Gm – D – A7 – D

For some reason Kondo decided to use two different banjos to play what a single player could do; likely just to take advantage of panning the low and high notes differently, giving presence to the instrument across a wider range in the stereo spectrum.

The track is a spiritual successor to the relaxed country of the original ranch theme but employing the same set of instruments from the Horse Race and Ingo’s Theme.

Unfortunately, the song doesn’t last for too long because when Link and Cremia have to cross the Milk Road in order to deliver the goods to people in town, they trigger a scene in which, cowboy-style, they will have to fight bandits in horses. In a perfect world, it all ends well, Link gets a hug and it is acknowledged that he just became an adult in the eyes of Cremia, the reason he came to Termina; he just needs to convince everyone else and himself. Nonetheless, in Majora’s Mask, failure can be canonically real, unlike most video games; so hopefully, you never get to hear what this failure might sound like.

Musical Analysis: Missed Event 1

Structure: Section 1 / Section 2

Time Signature: 5/4

Tempo: 147

Melodic and Harmonic Profiles: Db Diminished

Ahh the event failure number 1, music that plays when you fail the…first event?…No, seriously, where does this thing play? Nobody seems to know. I will leave you with the clue that it has something to do either with the whole Romani Ranch saga or perhaps with some underground shady business going on in Clock Town (maybe the guy who steals the bomb bag?); in any case, somebody very corrupted is the responsible behind this track (on the official soundtrack release it also appears related to the ranch).

But can somebody say what has to happen in order to trigger this short tune? It feels as if Kondo just composed a tune nobody managed to encounter in the game. One of the remaining mysteries of Majora’s Mask.

Anyhow, the tiny cue only consist of a reprise of the ‘Chase’ tune gone wrong, heard for the first time when Epona was stolen from Link. This song creates a false start for the chase as if the mission was aborted abruptly; hence, the name event failure or missed event. Basically, it’s just an intro and a coda, not even a section in between. Kondo didn’t bother to make a connection between the beginning and the failure chord, which is just a humble, incomplete Db minor; we have a small run through the scale harmonized in thirds to the maximum point of tension and then an abrupt descent to the minor chord.

After this short ditty, time to go back to being a cowboy and save the girl from the bandits. The carnival of time would not be any fun without Chateau Romani.

Musical Analysis: Missed Event 2

Structure: Section 1

Time Signature: 4/4

Tempo: 120

Melodic and Harmonic Profiles: C Chromatic

This one, on the other hand, we know where it comes from. Hopefully you will never get to hear this song in the game. You wouldn’t want to break Cremia’s heart any further would you? She already has so much on her plate that even she had to open up to a child no older than her younger “twin”. And besides, letting the Gorman brothers get away with their scheme would only add insult to injury.

So yeah, of course Koji Kondo knew that disappointing such a pure soul deserved the most game-overish track possible. The sound of utter failure that should, for good reason, make the player feel bad (it also doesn’t help that the player has to restart the entire three day multipart quest, so it is quite dismaying).

If for some machiavellian reason you end up hearing this piece, then it means that the shipment of milk will never reach the carnival of time, Cremia will go depressed to her room and you will encounter the characteristic descending, chromatic chords, with a bright instrument giving the finishing touches, just like on the main Game Over cue and the Boss Defeated cue originally from Ocarina of Time—which continue to live here in Majora’s Mask.

The low and high string section combine to form the dreaded dim7 chords—the low strings are playing a major sixth interval and the high strings a minor third, which are equivalent intervals. This means that a dim7 chord is internally composed of just minor thirds; sadness everywhere folks— To make it more intense and depressing you know what to do, take the chord and move it chromatically (the similar depressing idea at the end of the Clock Town theme).

Eb dim7 – D dim7 – Db dim7

Then, it is just a matter of the piccolo mocking your failure with just a repeated note at the end.

Fortunately, Majora’s Mask gives you the opportunity only entrusted to the medium of video games; and here it is not just a mechanic but a fundamental part of the narrative: to try again. So play the Song of Time, go help the sisters at their ranch and only then will your consciousness be cleansed to continue the quest to the third of the lands corrupted by the cursed spirit inhabiting the mask; you also need Epona for that, so it’s better to stay in good terms with the sisters that took care of her. With your faithful horse back and the town provided with the special milk that makes celebration more fun, it’s time to go check what is going on with the main act scheduled to perform at the carnival of time. After all, drinking the Chateau Romani wouldn’t be the same without the musicians.

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