Code_Name_Geek's Aquatic Update Project Sheets

[Code_Name_Geek]

Ecco the Dolphin - Opening Theme
[MUSX]

One of the classic aquatic games! Opening Theme seems to be the most commonly used title.

Harvest Moon 3 GBC - Mainland Port/Aquarium/Theater
[MUSX]

Title comes from the (mostly aquatic) locations it plays in-game. The composer for this game is unknown so I just credited the developer/publisher.

(The first arrangement is a little complex but the second is short and simple so I hope they balance each other out!)

[cashwarrior1]

Nice arrangements

two small comments, Ecco the Dolphin is in 6/8 (the bassline accents beats 1 and 4) cue the 3/4 vs 6/8 debate!.

The harvest moon track could be layered to show each layer more clearly, as well as the harmony voice can be played entirely with the left hand pretty easily. Maybe it could look like this?

[Code_Name_Geek]

two small comments, Ecco the Dolphin is in 6/8 (the bassline accents beats 1 and 4) cue the 3/4 vs 6/8 debate!.

Oh man that's often a loaded debate, but after revisiting this I think you're totally right. That explains why some of those rhythms didn't feel quite natural in 3/4. Is it definitely 6/8 as opposed to 12/8? I encountered some debate between 6/8 vs 12/8 while seeking a second opinion from some musician friends. Regardless, I have it in 6/8 for now (which was surprisingly more work than I expected... Finale did not like that meter change for some reason).

The harvest moon track could be layered to show each layer more clearly, as well as the harmony voice can be played entirely with the left hand pretty easily. Maybe it could look like this?

Yeah I see what you mean about the layers here too. In this case, while playtesting this arrangement I found that the harmony voice was better split between the hands due to the voice crossing and the range of the left hand (it was much jumpier to go from low G to the G-E dyad rather than just between the two Gs). So I reworked the voices in a way that hopefully shows each layer better while still keeping the split between hands.

Nice arrangements

Thank you! And thanks for the feedback, those were both good points

[cashwarrior1]

Oh man that's often a loaded debate, but after revisiting this I think you're totally right. That explains why some of those rhythms didn't feel quite natural in 3/4. Is it definitely 6/8 as opposed to 12/8? I encountered some debate between 6/8 vs 12/8 while seeking a second opinion from some musician friends. Regardless, I have it in 6/8 for now (which was surprisingly more work than I expected... Finale did not like that meter change for some reason).

Honestly 12/8 might make more sense with the melodic phrasing, but that's up to you I feel. Also yeah, switch time signatures in finale is always a huge pain 😩

[Code_Name_Geek]

Honestly 12/8 might make more sense with the melodic phrasing, but that's up to you I feel. Also yeah, switch time signatures in finale is always a huge pain 😩

I think I meant to reply to this and forgot! I was just going to say that I don't have any strong feelings on 6/8 vs 12/8, so I'm interested to hear if anyone else wants to weigh in. Thanks again for the feedback!

[Latios212]

Mainland Port/Aquarium/Theater

Nice work! Apologies for the wait. Just a couple of small things:
- Make sure the F's in the melody in m. 1/2/5/6 are flipped upwards and horizontally aligned (probably just delete and re-enter them)
- There's an E in the harmony of m. 9 beat 1 (similar to m. 8 beat 1 that you already have written in)

Also quick question, is "GBC" part of the title of the game? We list the consoles of the games on site now, so is it necessary to include as part of the title?

[Code_Name_Geek]

Mainland Port/Aquarium/Theater
- Make sure the F's in the melody in m. 1/2/5/6 are flipped upwards and horizontally aligned (probably just delete and re-enter them)
- There's an E in the harmony of m. 9 beat 1 (similar to m. 8 beat 1 that you already have written in)

- Oh how odd, no idea how that happened. Re-entering them worked though, done!
- Definitely meant to add that, good catch!

Mainland Port/Aquarium/Theater
Also quick question, is "GBC" part of the title of the game? We list the consoles of the games on site now, so is it necessary to include as part of the title?

In this case, I would consider it part of the title. Wikipedia, Moby Games, and the game's cover art all include it, as well as the Japanese title (牧場物語GB3).

Thanks for taking a look! Weird to think these might be some of the last Finale submissions I do.

[Bloop]

Opening Theme

I was just going to say that I don't have any strong feelings on 6/8 vs 12/8, so I'm interested to hear if anyone else wants to weigh in.

I think 12/8 would work fine here too yeah. 12/8 vs 6/8 is like 4/4 vs 2/4, in which it's sometimes hard to really distinguish between the two. Like cash mentioned though, the melodic phrasing seems to fit 12/8 a bit better.

Anyway, the feedback! (i'll keep to the 6/8 measure numbers for now)
-m1-8: I hear some extra notes in these measures: in m1-4 I hear an additional F below, and maybe even an F and G in-between the C's. In m5-8 I think I also hear an F between the Bb's. In m2 there is a C above the F in the L.H. too in the ooowwaaaa voice (professional musical terms here lol) that is held over into m5 too
-m16-17: I hear the melody a bit different here:

-For m26 until pretty much the end of the track, maybe you could add staccatos to the L.H. and R.H., or add a "staccato" marking? In the L.H., I hear all (low) Eb's legato.
-m37: I hear G's in beat 4 and 6 in the R.H.
-m40-41: In the R.H., I hear m40 beat 6 and m41 beat 1-5 one step lower (so Bb's should be Ab's and Ab's should be G's)
-m42: The Eb-F in beat 3-4 in the L.H. should be C-Eb
-m47-49: In the R.H., from m47 beat 6 to m49 beat 1, all notes should be one step lower.
-m57: The bass clef clashes with the 8th rest.
-m81 and 89: Maybe you could add a courtesy accidental to the Bb in the R.H., since it's right behind the Bn? Or alternatively, you could write all Bn's in m74-89 as Cb's instead, since they all move down to the Bb

I'm doubting about whether it's worth it to keep the higher octaves in m26-46 (the ones on beat 1 every 4 bars): it's a bit awkward to have the R.H. jump around and have the melody switch between L.H. and R.H., and the effect doesn't really last as much as in the original. Using a pedal wouldn't work with the staccato melody and bassline. You also already left it out in m50 anyway.
Also I wonder if it may sound better to leave out the R.H. part in m82-89 and put the bass back in (so similar to m50-57)? It's unfortunate to remove that R.H. part, but the section sounds a bit emptier without a bass to fill it up.

[Latios212]

Mainland Port/Aquarium/Theater

Sorry, forgot to take a look earlier! Changes look good, approved

[Kricketune54]

 Mainland Port/Aquarium/Theater

Before my posting I watched the credits for this game to see if a composer was credited... I guess if someone wants to go through them and cross refence series composers or music, be our guest lol but the current credit will do. Harvest Moon 3 GBC Credits

m6 RH 1.0 not hearing Gn, sounds like this is rested. I would think m1-2 and m5-6 would be written the same, with m2/6 beat 1.0 an 8th rest and no tie from m1/5. Thoughts?

For the Swing text you don't have to do this (and I can't remember if we have "official guidance" to the contrary), but I like to recommend keeping it clean like the following screenshot. Can add "Swing!" to your tempo marking, just make sure Times New Roman, 14 pt font.

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Might I suggest a little bit of an alternative left hand for m1-7? It's a little awkward currently even if it is a bit more accurate than what I'm proposing, which is to eliminate the notes currently in the 2nd voice on beats 2.0 and 4.0 and to make the LH one voice for the measures in question. Screenshot is an example of this for m1.

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[Kricketune54]

One thing I did want to add with the Swing text, you do need to have the Swing value that is currently on the sheet present for the music to still swing, but you can just hide it on the sheet

[Code_Name_Geek]

Hi everyone! I am so sorry about the late response here, I went back to school in the fall and got a job about a month later and things were just so busy that I didn't have any time to work on arranging. But now that the term is finally over I have returned to finish these.

Before my posting I watched the credits for this game to see if a composer was credited... I guess if someone wants to go through them and cross refence series composers or music, be our guest lol but the current credit will do. Harvest Moon 3 GBC Credits

Yeah, I've been through everyone in the credits on MobyGames and I didn't see any of them credited for composition/music/sound/anything like that in any of the other games they're credited on, so unfortunately this is one Harvest Moon mystery that remains unsolved!

m6 RH 1.0 not hearing Gn, sounds like this is rested. I would think m1-2 and m5-6 would be written the same, with m2/6 beat 1.0 an 8th rest and no tie from m1/5. Thoughts?

Hmm, to me it sounds like it bleeds over a little bit into the next bar (though that could just be the reverb), but you have a point that there is definitely some separation between it and the next note. I'm fine with changing it to an eighth rest since any other way of notating that would be unnecessarily complicated, so done.

For the Swing text you don't have to do this (and I can't remember if we have "official guidance" to the contrary), but I like to recommend keeping it clean like the following screenshot. Can add "Swing!" to your tempo marking, just make sure Times New Roman, 14 pt font.

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That's also fine with me, done.

Might I suggest a little bit of an alternative left hand for m1-7? It's a little awkward currently even if it is a bit more accurate than what I'm proposing, which is to eliminate the notes currently in the 2nd voice on beats 2.0 and 4.0 and to make the LH one voice for the measures in question. Screenshot is an example of this for m1.

You know what, I actually think that sounds fine and the better playability is worth the sacrifice, thanks for the suggestion! The only measure where this got a bit confusing was m. 7 where the LH quarter note D on beat 2 went above the RH... I added a D in the RH and put the LH one in parentheses because that seemed like a more readable way to do it, if not perfect. Thoughts?

I'm going to take a look at the Ecco arrangement as well but it might take a bit more time to work on so I just wanted to get this reply posted first.

[Code_Name_Geek]

Opening ThemeI think 12/8 would work fine here too yeah. 12/8 vs 6/8 is like 4/4 vs 2/4, in which it's sometimes hard to really distinguish between the two. Like cash mentioned though, the melodic phrasing seems to fit 12/8 a bit better.

Luckily I had files in both time signatures so 12/8 it is! I agree about the melodic phrasing fitting better in this time signature. Because of the measure numbers in the feedback, I'm attaching a PDF of the old 6/8 file here for cross-referencing.

-m1-8: I hear some extra notes in these measures: in m1-4 I hear an additional F below, and maybe even an F and G in-between the C's. In m5-8 I think I also hear an F between the Bb's. In m2 there is a C above the F in the L.H. too in the ooowwaaaa voice (professional musical terms here lol) that is held over into m5 too

Octaves and 5ths, my nemeses... I think I added all the extra notes here, is this what you meant? As well, do these extra notes happen every time these chords are restruck in the following bars? If so I can add those in as well where possible.

-m16-17: I hear the melody a bit different here:

-For m26 until pretty much the end of the track, maybe you could add staccatos to the L.H. and R.H., or add a "staccato" marking? In the L.H., I hear all (low) Eb's legato.
-m37: I hear G's in beat 4 and 6 in the R.H.
-m40-41: In the R.H., I hear m40 beat 6 and m41 beat 1-5 one step lower (so Bb's should be Ab's and Ab's should be G's)
-m42: The Eb-F in beat 3-4 in the L.H. should be C-Eb
-m47-49: In the R.H., from m47 beat 6 to m49 beat 1, all notes should be one step lower.
-m57: The bass clef clashes with the 8th rest.
-m81 and 89: Maybe you could add a courtesy accidental to the Bb in the R.H., since it's right behind the Bn? Or alternatively, you could write all Bn's in m74-89 as Cb's instead, since they all move down to the Bb

Whew, I think I've made all of these changes, but please let me know if I missed anything!

I'm doubting about whether it's worth it to keep the higher octaves in m26-46 (the ones on beat 1 every 4 bars): it's a bit awkward to have the R.H. jump around and have the melody switch between L.H. and R.H., and the effect doesn't really last as much as in the original. Using a pedal wouldn't work with the staccato melody and bassline. You also already left it out in m50 anyway.

Yeah, coming back to this I agree with leaving them out. The upper chords weren't quite both in the upper sustain register so it didn't work perfectly even sound-wise, and avoiding the awkward jumps and melody juggling is worth it.

Also I wonder if it may sound better to leave out the R.H. part in m82-89 and put the bass back in (so similar to m50-57)? It's unfortunate to remove that R.H. part, but the section sounds a bit emptier without a bass to fill it up.

Man, it really is unfortunate to lose that upper part but I think you're also right about this. Suddenly losing the bass that's been there the rest of the arrangement does leave it feeling quite empty.

I tried to get everything mentioned, but I'm feeling a bit rusty so I apologize in advance if I missed a few obvious things. Thank you for the excellent feedback (and to Kricketune54 as well on the other piece)!