Song library
Browse piano sheets by Koji Kondo (近藤 浩治) on Zen Virtual Piano. Koji Kondo was born in Nagoya and began studying music at the age of five, on the electronic keyboard. He went to the Osaka University of Arts, where he worked towards becoming some kind of director or producer of artistic work, and followed the Fine Arts program, a broad-level survey of the different arts that took in music, painting and writing. A student who aimed to direct or produce artistic work in general, and who studied across the arts, hints at a wide frame for where music could belong. During high school his parents bought him a Yamaha CS-30 synthesizer, an analogue instrument that had an 8-step sequencer and on which filter sweeps on the oscillators were possible, and he was interested in sound design, such as making a sound like a lion’s roar. An interest in sound design, even in making a lion’s roar, suggests someone already treating sound as a material, a habit that fits the work he later did at Nintendo. As he describes his workflow, there was no MIDI or other protocol to convert keyboard playing directly to data, so everything was composed on the computer by entering notes manually; he practised on his Electone at home, sketched out ideas and took them to the office. A process in which every note had to be entered by hand leaves room to think of composing as close, deliberate work. At his school companies put up recruitment ads, and that was the first year Nintendo started hiring for dedicated sound staff; a friend saw the ad first and told him about it, and Nintendo was the only company he applied to. His first work there was the audio design for the 1984 arcade game Punch-Out!!, and as the Famicom had become popular in Japan he was assigned to compose music for the console’s subsequent games. Being assigned the music for a popular console’s subsequent games is a reminder that a composer’s workload can follow a platform’s fortunes. The soundtrack of Super Mario 3D World was composed by Mahito Yokota, Toru Minegishi, Koji Kondo and Yasuaki Iwata and performed by the Mario 3D World Big Band.
Browse piano sheets by Koji Kondo (近藤 浩治) on Zen Virtual Piano.
Koji Kondo was born in Nagoya and began studying music at the age of five, on the electronic keyboard. He went to the Osaka University of Arts, where he worked towards becoming some kind of director or producer of artistic work, and followed the Fine Arts program, a broad-level survey of the different arts that took in music, painting and writing. A student who aimed to direct or produce artistic work in general, and who studied across the arts, hints at a wide frame for where music could belong.
During high school his parents bought him a Yamaha CS-30 synthesizer, an analogue instrument that had an 8-step sequencer and on which filter sweeps on the oscillators were possible, and he was interested in sound design, such as making a sound like a lion’s roar. An interest in sound design, even in making a lion’s roar, suggests someone already treating sound as a material, a habit that fits the work he later did at Nintendo. As he describes his workflow, there was no MIDI or other protocol to convert keyboard playing directly to data, so everything was composed on the computer by entering notes manually; he practised on his Electone at home, sketched out ideas and took them to the office. A process in which every note had to be entered by hand leaves room to think of composing as close, deliberate work.
At his school companies put up recruitment ads, and that was the first year Nintendo started hiring for dedicated sound staff; a friend saw the ad first and told him about it, and Nintendo was the only company he applied to. His first work there was the audio design for the 1984 arcade game Punch-Out!!, and as the Famicom had become popular in Japan he was assigned to compose music for the console’s subsequent games. Being assigned the music for a popular console’s subsequent games is a reminder that a composer’s workload can follow a platform’s fortunes. The soundtrack of Super Mario 3D World was composed by Mahito Yokota, Toru Minegishi, Koji Kondo and Yasuaki Iwata and performed by the Mario 3D World Big Band.
Search the library
Koji Kondo (近藤 浩治)
Koji Kondo (近藤 浩治)
Koji Kondo (近藤 浩治)
Koji Kondo (近藤 浩治)
Koji Kondo (近藤 浩治)
Koji Kondo (近藤 浩治)
Koji Kondo (近藤 浩治)
Koji Kondo (近藤 浩治)
Common questions
Companies put up recruitment ads at his school, and that was the first year Nintendo hired for dedicated sound staff; a friend told him about the ad and Nintendo was the only company he applied to.
The audio design for the 1984 arcade game Punch-Out!!; as the Famicom became popular in Japan he was then assigned to compose music for the console’s subsequent games.
Everything was composed on the computer by entering notes manually; he practised on his Electone at home, sketched ideas and took them to the office.