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Adaptive music, in practice
Technique, Wwise/FMOD alternative comparisons, AI composition notes, and what we learn building game audio without middleware.
ii-V-I: The Three Chords That Define Jazz
Every jazz musician learns the ii-V-I progression on day one. Here's why it's so harmonically powerful — and why every style of jazz uses some version of it.
The Walking Bass Line: Jazz's Most Important Invention
The walking bass moves on every quarter beat, outlines chord tones, and creates forward momentum without a drummer. Here's how it works and why it matters.
New Age Piano: The Japanese Tradition from Hiroshi Yoshimura to Kiraro
Japan developed one of the world's most distinctive New Age piano traditions — introspective, nature-obsessed, and technically humble in the best possible way. Here's where it came from.
Why I–V–vi–IV Never Gets Old: The Harmony Behind New Age Piano
The I–V–vi–IV chord progression appears in thousands of pop songs and nearly every New Age piano piece — there's a neurological reason it works so well.
The Arpeggio as Meditation: Why the Left Hand Makes New Age Piano Work
In Kiraro's music, the right hand sings and the left hand breathes. The arpeggio pattern — root, third, fifth, octave — is not decoration. It's the reason the music feels the way it does.
Crystal Morning: Composing a Kiraro-Style Piano Piece from Scratch
A walk through every compositional decision in Crystal Morning — from key selection to the peak moment at G5, and why the piece ends on a held C instead of a cadential figure.
First Snow: Writing New Age Music in Minor Key Without Sadness
Most New Age piano is stubbornly major. Minor keys carry emotional weight that's hard to manage. Here's how First Snow stays in E minor without becoming a grief piece.
Starfield: Writing New Age Music for Synthesizers
Most New Age piano uses acoustic instruments. Starfield uses a synth-lead and sustained strings. Here's why, and what changes when you remove the piano from the centre of the texture.
Cloud Dreamer: Why Bb Major Sounds Different from C Major
Key color — the idea that different keys have different emotional characters — is both real and contested. Here's what Bb major does that C major can't, and why Cloud Dreamer needed it.
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