Inside The Score - The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask - Clock Town, The Second Day

Playin’ in the Rain

It is just only the second day in town but sadly some of our musicians have already abandoned this Terminian troupe—are they taking refugee at Romani Ranch?— However, by now Link should be more acquainted with the village and its people, perhaps he can lend them a hand with his ocarina?

The percussionists left, the piccolo is no more and we are just left with the courageous fiddle player that stayed and perhaps some Bombers’ kids that joined with their harmonicas (the Bombers are probably inspired on the ‘Yankii’ gang subculture from Japan since they look and act in a very modern way).

The moon, as was being claimed, indeed has moved dangerously closer to the earth; now Link understands what the Happy Mask Salesman meant. Not only that, but strangely enough, Link notices that the moon of this world is also masked with a face, a slightly familiar face at that, but that couldn’t be…is that the face of his previous foe?—this was made even more blatant on the rerelease. For centuries all cultures throughout history have seen faces on the moon, but never as real and full of anger as the man in the moon (as this concept is known) from Termina. The hero of time needs to move faster and continue to investigate the people here to see where the Skull Kid might be.

As rain reliably falls on the second day this changes the dynamics and behavior of the townsfolk in interesting ways. Also, you begin noticing that whatever you do on the first day also has an impact on the lives of this people during the following days.

Musical Analysis

Structure: Section 0 / Section 1 / Section 2 / Section 3

Time Signature: 4/4

Tempo: 125

Melodic and Harmonic Profiles: D Ionian/Major; D Chromatic

The remaining musicians are now moving at a higher speed, slightly more manic and trying hard to maintain the joviality; but they are clearly more nervous, perhaps giving forced smiles to each other while they play. As stated, the ocarina appearance here might represent that Link is usually one of the few people that has to see things through to their conclusion and that he is now part of the world of Termina and responsible for its destiny.

The level of tension is also given a little bump courtesy of the faster tempo of the music (from 110 on day 1 to 125). Even so, for the most part the piece maintains the hospitality of Clock Town intact. The instrumentation even adds a more childlike flavor; presumably the only sect of the population that doesn’t mind playing outside on a rainy day.

Clock Town Day 2, besides changing the tempo, just overhauls the orchestration of the piece; the ocarina takes the main role, while the oboe replaces the countermelodies originally played by the piccolo flute. And lastly, the harmonica plays the same figure that the dulcimer used to—in truth, a realistic performance of the piece would require two harmonicas, one for bass, the other for the accompaniment— The fiddle is the only one that conserves its same role of providing the melody for Section 2. The last portion is almost done exclusively by the harmonica, this really is slowly becoming a ghost town now.

It has to be noted too that the decisions on this piece are not only artistic but also functional, seeing as how the aural landscape has to compete now with the sounds of the rain that, without fault, always falls on the second day; removing the percussion and the low end makes the mix less muddy since the thunders and the sound of rain live on the lower spectrum of the audio and the bright instruments chosen can pierce more easily and be heard with full clarity on the TV speakers alongside the rain and thunder.

The flow of time continues unrelenting and no solution seems available. As always, the best course of action continues to be spending time with others.