Fun fact: Traditional Chinese music uses pentatonic music as CENTER. So actually we still have, sometimes, sixth and seventh note in a scale (not just talking about fast runs, but like (sometimes) legit semiquaver of 6th/7th note, with semitone distance mostly). We also change modality, especially in folk songs of central regions of China, like from set of C-D-E-G-A to C-Eb-F-G-Bb (ofc, this is from Westerner's view, in fact it's more of a habit to give variety, thus not really an accurate pitch).
I want to mention a particular motif that I'd argue is the most underrated motif in the franchise. I call it "The Dragon Warrior Motif". It appears once in the first movie, specifically when Master Shifu retrieves the Dragon Scroll. It appears twice in the second movie, the first being when Shifu introduces Po to the concept of Inner Peace, and the second being when Po begins to find Inner Peace by confronting his past. It appears three times in the third movie. The first is when Shifu introduces Po to Chi, similar to what transpired in the second movie when the motif first appeared. The second and third times both appear in the final battle with Kai in the Spirit Realm. It is used when Po forms the Chi Dragon and when Po gives Kai his Chi, resulting in Kai being overloaded and exploding (the latter is my favourite use of this motif in the franchise). By examining when this motif is used, you'll notice that it appears during important steps in Po's journey of mastering himself and fully becoming the Dragon Warrior. Getting the Dragon Scroll is imperative to Po learning to accept himself as he is, thus mastering his physical aspect. Shifu introducing Po to Inner Peace and Po later using what Shifu showed him to find Inner Peace are how Po masters his mental aspect. Shifu introducing Po to Chi and Po achieving mastery of self, thus mastering Chi, are how Po masters his spiritual aspect. The final instance of this motif signifies the completion of the Dragon Warrior prophecy through the defeat of Kai (since Oogway banished Kai 500 years ago and Shifu states that the Dragon Warrior prophecy is 500 years old in the third movie, it can be inferred that the creation of the Dragon Warrior prophecy is connected to defeating Kai when he inevitably returned).
that motif is called "inner peace" it is used in "sacred pool of tears" soundtrack at around 4:56 and in "the dragon warrior" at 2:08. it even released separately as "Inner peace" in KFP 2 soundtrack
@@ChocoFeather I didn't know it had an official name. That's pretty cool, though personally I prefer my title since it better reflects its purpose in the trilogy.
Far too often, people just give sole credit to Hans Zimmer for all of these scores. John Powell, Lorne Balfe, Steve Mazzaro and all of the other writers are just as much architect
4:45, 8:27 14:48 I love hearing the sprinkles of joy in your voice. Hearing and seeing people even just tickled by something they like is such a heartwarming thing.
Amazing video! Just wanted to point out that Shen's second theme is actually an augmentation of the second part of the first theme, so it's debatable whether Shen has 1 or 2 themes. But great job regardless!
Fun fact: Lorne Balfe also did the extremely underrated soundtracks for the Skylanders games, and Hans Zimmer composed the main theme of the first game, spyro's adventure. Theres even a lietmotif for each element, so I'd highly reccommend that you check it out!
This was entertaining cuz yknow, kung fu panda and its music is really fun, but also, this basically taught me everything about pentatonic scales.... so uhh, thanks. 👍
a small request: I liked these parts of the videos: 10:58, 11:24, 17:59 the way the video is split into 2 halves, the top for the movie scene and the bottom for the music sheet, and the way you have highlighted which theme is playing at which step. it looks visually pleasing. could you do more of those for other scenes in the movie? maybe upload it as yt shorts?
AMAZING VIDEO!!! I absolutely ADORE the Kung Fu Panda scores, so its such a treat to find aomeone who feels the same way! Your analysis was awesome and you observed so mamy things i never noticed ❤
@@CadenceHira Oh okay thank you both for a concise explanation and prompt response. I was aware of the general eek around Kung fu fighting but was unaware of the oriental riff. Thank you for explaining. Also a marvelous video as ever.
