Ladies and gentlemen, it’s time for us to shed some tears, as this marks one of the final editions of the “Block of the Week” series. In just a year or two, we’ve learned everything about each block in the world of Minecraft Pocket Edition, including their properties, habitats, useful features, and differences from real-life blocks.
The most observant readers may have noticed that we haven’t covered every single block in Minecraft PE, excluding types of wool, smooth variants, or other forms of the same block. Such articles aren’t particularly engaging. We also chose not to discuss unrealistic blocks: enchanting books, cakes, or minecarts.
However, there is one block that the entire Minecraft PE community has been eager to see. Users sent hundreds of tweets and messages, creating numerous images to grab our attention. Now, we are excited to present an article about this block. It is the musical block.
The musical block was introduced into the game long ago alongside charcoal, lapis lazuli, cake, and squids in the distant version 1.2. Thus, this block made its debut back in 2011, meaning it could be older than many of our younger players.
Upon the release of the block, instructions were provided: click to configure, activate to listen. This instruction remains unchanged today: you need to click on the block to start it, and everyone within a distance of 48 blocks will hear a specific sound.
The sound produced depends on the block located beneath the musical block. If it’s dirt, stone, or sand, you’ll hear drum sounds. Most other blocks will produce piano or harp sounds. However, if you’re playing on the Java version, you have an expanded list of options: gold for bells, ice for chimes, wool for guitar sounds, bone blocks for xylophone tones, and clay for flutes. It’s like having a full orchestra!
But what kind of music can be created if only one type of sound is produced? Here’s how it works! With each click, the pitch increases. There are a total of 24 different pitches available. After the 24th tone plays, the block resets to the first. You can also notice how the color of the note changes from green to red, then to blue, and back to green.
The standard note for all musical blocks is F. However, man-made musical instruments are rarely tuned to this note. Therefore, we decided to ask Samuel Oberg, the lead sound designer at Mojang.
“All planets emit audible modulation, a musical melody where we find traces of antiquity,” he said. “Astronomers know that the intervals of the planets in the solar system correspond to the intervals between notes in music. Each planet has a dominant note. Interestingly, unlike almost any instrument crafted by human hands, the note emitted by Earth is tuned to F. Hence, musical blocks serve as our method to enhance planetary vibration.” 
Samuel is the biggest fan of the musical block, even though it was added to the game long before he started working on it. He loves the atmosphere created by the block. It produces acoustic rather than digital sounds, allowing skilled creators to recreate a very pleasant ambiance. Naturally, achieving this requires a lot of practice and understanding of the block.
Musical blocks are often used in maps to recreate specific sounds. Therefore, Samuel hopes to expand the capabilities of the block for more frequent use.
The music block has a vast following around the globe. Numerous creators produce covers of various popular songs, including Noteblock Lizard, Grande1899, and Ultrasmurf. You can simply type in any song along with “music block” to locate it.
All these tunes are crafted by placing numerous blocks throughout the Minecraft PE world. “My first melody was a tune from the Pokémon game on the GameBoy platform. I found a video on YouTube that had all the notes. I had to count how many clicks were needed for each block, and that’s how I created the song,” shares Kristina Alfredsson.
Eventually, all the blocks made their way into the Minecraft PE universe. The song featured long notes, which required multiple blocks of the same type to be placed. In total, I ended up using 2183 blocks for the entire song. Considering that each block took an average of 10-15 clicks, my hands were nearly exhausted.
To keep her hands in good shape, she decided to use auxiliary programs like Note Block Studio. This software allows users to create music outside of the game and then import it into their worlds. Some also enjoy working with Ableton, which plays the necessary songs immediately, eliminating the need for adjustments after the final stage.
Currently, the music creation process in Minecraft Pocket Edition is quite similar to any other platform. It begins with setting a tempo of 150 BPM, allowing the creator to grasp the rhythm. Following that, a bass line is introduced, and then everything else comes into play.
The journey starts with a simple melody that captures the creator’s essence. Subsequently, additional instruments are layered on top, harmonizing with the initial sounds. With experience, many ideas come naturally. Thus, while incorporating various sounds, I search for that perfect melody I wish to craft.
Once the desired melody is discovered, recording commences. “First, it’s essential to record at the speed of redstone ticks, which is 150 BPM, and export the MIDI file for each instrument – a MIDI file is merely code that indicates when a note starts and stops. The Note Block Composer can import MIDI tracks, so you can easily export from Ableton and bring them in, then utilize Note Block Studio for exporting as a schematic. It’s also useful to employ MCEdit to remove all blocks that aren’t musical or instrumental, relocating them to your own structures. Using different blocks is crucial, and MCEdit will be an excellent tool for this,” shares the creator.
The composition of the song may take around an hour, but the rest of the process requires significantly more time. The developer aims for more than just a recorded track; they want to craft a narrative.
“The last project took approximately 100 hours to complete. Numerous decorations were added, including fireworks, lighthouses, and a fascinating dialogue window that resembled a chat interface. By incorporating various elements, a comprehensive project was developed. However, it is frustrating how much longer it takes to finalize everything compared to creating melodies. While I’m still working on one assembly, I could easily write ten songs.”
And by the way, a huge thank you to her for such a project that embraced the theme of “Block of the Week”!
This cultural phenomenon originates from Japan, where entire festivals are dedicated to songs created from musical blocks!
A popular platform among fans of this genre is Nicovideo. Although the site is entirely in Japanese, with a bit of patience, one can become part of this community.
“A unique feature of the musical blocks is that the sound is produced in a 3D environment rather than just a 2D one. While exploring the world of Minecraft PE, you can experience music from various angles.
Moreover, with the song you’ve created, the possibilities are endless due to the limitless nature of the game! The sky is certainly not the limit!”
