Dragonvale Music – Composition and Orchestration

The inspiration for Dragonvale’s score was to reinforce the peaceful and idyllic setting of the dragon parks. To do this I needed to create a style that would be pleasant to hear and emotionally lift the player into the right mood for the game. I wanted to avoid going for an “epic” score because I was trying to make sure the audience would feel more intimately connected to their parks. Once I determined what mood and scope the pieces should be I needed to come up with an instrument arrangement that would allow me to capture that expression and emotion. When the dust had settled I chose a handful of instrument to comprise the score…the Celtic harp, flute, recorder, oboe, clarinet, tambourine, triangle and nylon (classical) guitar. Additionally, I tried very hard to keep the pieces simple and depended on an emotional performance with each instrument to bring the tracks to life. The main challenge was in keeping the mood cheery but not patronizing the audience with all major key bliss. Simple, elegant and bright were the guiding principles during composition.

-Aubrey

40 comments to Dragonvale Music – Composition and Orchestration

  • pj  says:

    Peacful
    Love the flute

  • tom  says:

    my son loves this – is it available for purchase or download?

    • admin  says:

      Yes, the Dragonvale Soundtrack is available at the iTunes store. I am happy your son is enjoying the music!

  • Rogelio  says:

    Your post, Dragonvale Music – Composition and Orchestration | aubreyhodges.com, is really well written and insightful. Glad I found your website, warm regards from Rogelio!

  • Petra Sweden  says:

    Love the guitar <3 can anyone put up a tutorial?

  • Online Triathlon Store  says:

    I’m really enjoying the design and layout of your blog. It’s a very easy on the eyes which makes it much more pleasant for me to come here and visit more often. Did you hire out a developer to create your theme? Excellent work!

  • Luke Van Cleave  says:

    Love the music – thanks for the information. Where can I find more information about the music that is played during the races at the Dragon Track?

    Thanks!

  • Googi  says:

    Do you sell the scores as well, i like my son to perform this in school for a class event?

  • Jolo  says:

    sheet for this one

  • admin  says:

    I will be posting the sheet music for this next week. Stay tuned. -Aubrey

    • Jolo  says:

      it has been a week. why is there no sheet yet?

      P. S. Do you use MuseScore?

      • admin  says:

        The sheet music is located under the MUSIC menu item. Refresh your browser and happy downloading. I use Logic Studio Pro to notate. -Aubrey

  • Jolo  says:

    The music in the dragon track?

    • admin  says:

      I may include that track in a new 2.0 version of the Dragonvale Soundtrack, however, that will be a totally new iTunes album as we still want the original soundtrack to be available as well for the soundtrack “purists” out there. I do plan to eventually get the lead sheet posted but it will be quite a while before I can get to it as I am currently in the process of trying to finalize several new games for shipping this holiday season.

  • Jolo  says:

    My Little Hatchling Emerges? and also the new re-orchestrated music in update 2.0?

    • admin  says:

      If you are asking why that track sheet music has been posted; it is there because it was released in the Dragonvale 2.0 update. Along with 3 other new tracks.

      • Jolo  says:

        Speaking of the sheet music, can you make a Full Assemble? I tried to play it but doesn’t sound good ;(

        • admin  says:

          I am sorry but I do not understand your request. What do you mean by a Full Assemble? What instrument are you playing?

  • Leon  says:

    @Jolo
    i gotta say, i just love it when people speak only in one-liners, especially when every one is a question as well
    i kind of imagine they are also spoken in a commanding tone, perhaps with a semi-exotic/semi-oppressive accent. keep up the good work!

  • Jolo  says:

    Full Assemble- for all 8 instruments.

    • admin  says:

      Oh…I think the term you are looking for is “Ensemble”. That project would take a great deal of time and I am just too busy to commit to that right now. You did not let me know what instrument you are playing. A complete score still requires multiple instrumentalists performing to sound correct. Only a handful of solo instruments would sound nice playing the full arrangement of the songs. These would include guitar, piano, harp, vibraphone and possibly a few others. A score adaptation to any of these full scale instruments would be an entirely different request. I wish I could help but I am in the middle of composing for 2 new albums and several new games and I already feel stretched very thin at the moment. Once my schedule lightens up I will give this some consideration. Regards, -Aubrey

  • Jolo  says:

    Thank you! Please finish it soon!

  • Peter Behrend  says:

    -hi,

    Thanks for the sheet music. But please could we have sheet music for “In Summer Past ” and “Good Ol Mossy Went A Wandering” as well ?
    These are beautiful compositions and I actually used to start the game just to listen to these (!).
    Also I play classical guitar and would so much like to play these 2 pieces (especially “Good Ol…”)

    kind regards
    /peter

    • admin  says:

      Hi Peter, Thanks for taking the time to post. I will have to find some time to dig the handwritten stuff up and notate for pdf. Give me a couple of weeks and I should be able to get it done. Those are both pretty old so I will have to play through them a few times to jog my memory and make sure the notation is correct.

  • Peter Behrend  says:

    Thanks so much for your swift and positive reply. Looking forward to this πŸ™‚

    kind regards
    /peter

  • Tony  says:

    Is it possible for me to get the sheet music for this? I play the oboe

  • Jakob  says:

    I AM SOO SAD IT DOES NOT HAVE MY FAVORETπŸ˜”πŸ˜”πŸ˜”πŸ˜”πŸ˜”πŸ˜€πŸ˜€πŸ˜€πŸ˜€πŸ˜€πŸ˜€πŸ˜€πŸ˜©πŸ˜©πŸ˜©πŸ˜©πŸ˜©πŸ˜©πŸ˜­πŸ˜­πŸ˜­πŸ˜­πŸ˜­πŸ˜­πŸ˜­πŸ˜­πŸ˜΅πŸ˜΅πŸ˜΅πŸ˜΅πŸ˜΅πŸ˜΅πŸ˜΅πŸ˜΅πŸ˜΅

    • Matt  says:

      Hi sorry I know your probably busy, but I was just wondering what type of guitar you used for the dragon vale soundtrack, thank you.

      • Aubrey Hodges  says:

        Acoustic: Tacoma JK-50CE4
        Tacoma JK-50CE4 at Backflip Studios

        Electric: Brian Moore Custom DC-1
        Aubrey with Brian Moore Custom DC-1

  • Matt  says:

    Thank you I appreciate it very much Your work on this track has really pushed me towards classical guitar, but it sounds very unique on this record, so my question is how do I make a nylon guitar sound like that thanks again, happy New Year!

  • Ronny  says:

    Hello there, Is there a guitar sheet for β€œIn summer past from Dragon vale soundtrack”?

    • Aubrey Hodges  says:

      Sorry, none exists at present. I’ll find some time to create one this summer when I am working on the Dragonvale Soundtrack Collection.

      • Matt  says:

        Hi there, I wanted to ask from this reply since I hadn’t seen it elsewhere, if it’s okay asking, so will there be a re-release of the Dragonvale Soundtrack with I presume everything you’ve done for the game since the beginning? Because I’m definitely all for getting it having returned years later to the game and hearing it’s newer tunes!

  • Aubrey Hodges  says:

    Hi Matt, I will include the 2.0 versions of the songs on the original Dragonvale Soundtrack, however, I still want the original soundtrack to be available for the soundtrack β€œpurists” out there. It will be a complete collection in several volumes. All of the tracks for the holiday events throughout the years will be included as well. I plan to do new arrangements in longer lengths too.

    • adam  says:

      hi aubrey,I have been playing dragonvale since the dawn of time and my favorite part about the game was the absolutely perfect music, as years have passed the music became more complex and overall just better as events came along. could you please make a Playlist of all dragonvale music tracks including the event ones? thanks.

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