About

Note Block is a specific type of block in video game Minecraft which emits a sound when hit or powered. Following the addition of the block to the game in 2011, note blocks have been used by Minecraft players to create musical compositions as well as recreated popular songs in the game.

Origin

On January 13th, 2011, Minecraft version Beta 1.2 was released. The version introduced note block, a block crafted with planks and redstone dust which emits a sound when hit or powered.

Features

Each note block can be tuned via pressing "Use", and can be assigned a note within a two-octave range. Using different types of planks while crafting a note block will change the type of the musical instrument it replicates, which include guitar, xylophone, piano and others for a total of 16 instrument types.

The note blocks can be activated either by hitting them or by being powered by redstone.

Spread

Following the introduction of the note block, Minecraft players have been using the item to recreated popular songs, as well as create new melodies in the game. On July 8th, 2013, YouTuber ItsLab posted a compilation of five popular songs recreated in the game, including compositions made by grande1899, JamJomJim, spenoll and Jack 42.

In the following years, the feature has been used to create multiple musical compositions in the game, with many videos uploaded to YouTube gaining over several million views. For example, Note Block remixes of Five Nights at Freddy's Theme Song and "The Fox" by Ylvis made by grande1899 gained over 9 million views and 6.9 million views in five and six years respectively (shown below).

On February 19th, 2019, Redditor GloriaBorger42069 made a post comparing the YouTube view counts of song "Dynamite" by Taio Cruz and its Minecraft parody by CaptainSparklez, revealing that the latter gained nearly 17 million views more.^[2]

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References

^[1] Minecraft Wiki – Note Block

^[2] Reddit – Me_irl