Hello everybody. I've been playing the piano since I was 6 or 7, when we got our first piano. I began picking out various videogame/cartoon themes shortly afterwords, progressed rapidly in lessons (tackling Joplin and Mozart by 4th and 5th grade), took a break for a few years, and now I'm back at it and better than before :)
Here's a little arrangement/interpretation I've had floating around in my head since forever. It's the semi-well-known map/menu theme from the original Starfox game. Instead of a steady militaristic march, it's meant to be a bit more subdued and relaxing, with almost a glockenspiel/music-box type tone color (done so by playing staccato an octave higher with a bit of pedal). It's pretty simple, and it's probably been done already. It's a bit more pianistic than the version already on the site, in my opinion.
PDF:
http://www.mediafire.com/?9x7cdnrvql663pm
MIDI:
http://www.mediafire.com/?qg93dvic9xa5zm4
MP3:
Coming soon
First of all, welcome to our Forum and our community JohnK, it's always nice to have new people (specially musicians) here! :)
You're arrangement sounds pretty cool, but I think we already have that one in the site... Nevertheless, it'll be good to have nice arrangers here, and I'm looking forward to see new arrangements from you!
See you around, and once again, welcome! :)
PS: Dont use mediafire, we use Dropbox here! Also, you'll need to upload the Mus. file, the Midi and the pdf, even better if you put those 3 in a Zip. or Rar. file ;)
Hi and Welcome! :)
It is always nice to have new arrangeres here!
I just wanted to tell you that if you dont have finale, you can download it here: http://www.finalemusic.com/Downloads/Default.aspx
Oh, and dropbox is much safer, faster and nicer: www.dropbox.com
I'll download Finale if it's free, but I'll stick with Musescore if I can. I'll definitely be making the switch to DropBox, though.
yeah, its free
Free as in "free trial" or free as in "free version"?
Finale Notepad 2012 is free. For piano arrangements, notepad should work fine.
Honestly Finale 2012 is the best notation software out there. It's miles ahead of MuseScore imo.
Thanks, I'll give it a whirl :)
Sorry for the double-post, but is anyone else experiencing something weird listening to the MIDI? During any note that's sustained or longer than a quarter note, the piano sound gets replaced with this weird violin/organ sound. It's really weird. Have a listen:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/pq1pg06bq2zeor5/corrupted%20midi%3F.mp3
I think it's because your first staff is set, not to piano, but to FX8. I think that's what's coming through. I have no idea why it only comes out on those notes though.
From here you have two options:
1) (To make it all piano only) Change the midi instrument of the first staff to Acoustic Grand Piano just like the other one.
2) (To let that FX track play as an FX track independent of the piano on the bottom staff) Change the channel of one of the staves so that they aren't both sharing channel 1 the way they are now.
I'm assuming you want to go with option 1. Let me know if that doesn't work.
Alrighty, I'll get to fixing that. Anyways, here's the MP3:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/p0udsdhyavemn1i/SF-arranged.mp3
Sound's a little harsh because our house is hardwood floors throughout the first floor.
Here's a little rough draft of a "Zoness" (SF64) reduction/arrangement I'm working on. It's probably the first time this piece has been transcribed for piano (or for any instrument), which is a real shame since it's really one of the finest pieces of VGM there is. The biggest challenges are the repetitive RH part and tweaking the left hand parts. Other than that, it was a breeze to transcribe and should be really neat once I get it sorted out. Anyone have any suggestions?
https://www.dropbox.com/s/y462ixbgzqsoy74/Zoness.pdf
https://www.dropbox.com/s/5p82o584tuavyy9/Zoness.mid
I would like to phrase my suggestion in the form of a hyperlink:
http://www.finalemusic.com/products/finale-notepad/resources/ (http://www.finalemusic.com/products/finale-notepad/resources/)
Just downloaded it, and I'm currently re-transcribing it as I type this ;D
Hooray!
Having a .mus file makes it much easier to give you feedback :)
Commente at ye owne riske :P
https://www.dropbox.com/s/i5v0jaypuhxadb0/Zoness.mus
Well, first, there are a few formatting issues. I know you just started using notepad and you haven't gotten used to it yet, so I'll cut you some slack :P
That and I remember Olimar working on some stuff with you in live feedback, but idk if you updated your current PDF with that, so I'll just comment on what needs fixing in the one you currently have linked, and if olimar already had you fix it, just disregard what I say :P
Formatting Stuff
(These are all pertaining to the formatting on your PDF)
-First, the title of the song should have quotes, and the title of the game shouldn't, so just reverse those.
-Second, "Composition by" should instead be "Composed by", as far as I know. Yeah, it's really minor, but I remember people making a big deal about it in the Fixing the Sheets project, so might as well change it. And as long as we're on that, I'd add in Hajime Wakai as one of the composers, as he also composed for star fox 64 (unless you have some way of knowing that only Koji Kondo worked on this song). Also, the whole line indicating who composed it should be bold.
-Third, the copyright looks good, except it has the wrong year. Star Fox 64 was released in 1997 (on all continents, haha)
That, and you're gonna want to add all of the formatting stuff that you have on your PDF to your .mus file, as well; but I'm sure you already knew that ;)
Musical Stuff
That's it for formatting; now, the fun stuff.
-You're going to hate me for saying this, after you just rewrote it into finale, but I think this would make a lot more sense if you wrote it at double tempo, and double note length (so, instead of the right hand playing sixteenth notes at the beginning, it would be playing eighth notes). This would make it a lot easier to read. If you were to do this, the tempo would be right around 140 beats per minute.
-If you pay attention to the rhythmic groupings, the melody isn't really in 4/4. I would rewrite it as 6/4 (if you were to keep the opening melody as sixteenth notes, definitely 3/4).
-It seems like you made a decent amount of changes between the PDF and the MUS file, but on the MUS file, the left hand starts a sixteenth note early; it should start on the beat.
-There's some weird beaming stuff going on in the left hand at times, but I'd change the note lengths/tempo/time signature before worrying about that, because a lot of that's going to change anyways.
I think I've given you enough to work on for now, so that's all I'll say at the moment :P Let me know if you have any questions about what I meant, and I'll be happy to answer you.
But please, DON'T GET DISCOURAGED! :D Nobody's first arrangements are perfect.
You show promise in your pitch accuracy. Not to mention, arranging Star Fox 64 songs is no small feat. Definitely a challenge for one of your first projects.
EDIT: Oh, and I just remembered. WELCOME TO NSM!!!
Can't really figure out how to change it to 6/4 in Notepad. I'm guessing it's just not possible.
It is rather challenging to arrange this piece. Getting that left-hand part down is a freaking nightmare, in addition to the tedious repetition in the right-hand. But yet it's still a great piece.
Quote from: JohnK on September 22, 2013, 03:14:43 PMCan't really figure out how to change it to 6/4 in Notepad. I'm guessing it's just not possible.
It is rather challenging to arrange this piece. Getting that left-hand part down is a freaking nightmare, in addition to the tedious repetition in the right-hand. But yet it's still a great piece.
I think, if you really need to, you can ask somebody with a more advanced version of Finale to help you.
This (http://www.ninsheetm.us/smf/index.php?topic=685.0) is the topic.
You might just want to make a new piece in 6/4 and then rewrite it from what you have. I know that's obnoxious, but you have to (or at least I suggested that you) change the note lengths anyways, so :/
...Also, there's always copy and paste :D