Messages

If I recall correctly, the site's infrastructure automatically lists arrangers in order by ID (i.e. forum account join date). Consider it an improvement we can make in the future, but for the purposes of the sheet please feel free to list the arrangers however you choose (I would recommend in order of importance/contributions, but not a big deal).

Oh, I thought it was ordered based off of whoever originally submits the sheet, but that makes sense. Thanks for the insight

(and thanks for the sentiment btw c:)

Looking good, just a few small things to comment on!
- The high A in the bass on beat 1 of m. 7 and 15 feels a bit out of place. Thoughts about lowering it an octave (and adjusting the offbeat chords accordingly, similar to m. 1)?

Thanks for the suggestion! I changed those portions to be just like the first chord group of measure 1

- Have you considered writing in the lower layer E (perhaps as an overlapping hollow notehead) in m. 10 beat 3? It's odd to visually see the lower layer drop out here but nowhere else.

Sure

- m. 15 last two beats should be flipped downwards since there's nothing under it

Good catch, I flipped the upper tie as well

- I'm hearing this at the end:
[snip~]
I'm not sure if anything is playing distinctly on beat 2.25 at all, but beat 2 definitely sounds like a C to me.

I changed beat 2 to an eighth note C since I don't really hear anything from the flute voice on beat 2.25 anymore. I also put a staccato on the notehead side rather than stem side

Also, I actually think it's nicer without the final D in the left hand at the end, but no issues if you'd prefer to keep it.

I think I'll just leave it in at this point

Thanks for the feedback! Hopefully that's everything

Thanks for all the feedback everyone :3



Just a last minute thought, but I was wondering if it would be worth changing the order of Arranger names so that it's in alphabetical order and matches our sheet credits. Looking at various on-site sheets as examples, many of them aren't consistent with the order on-site vs. in-sheet anyways, so it's not a big deal if that's too much of a hassle!

Nice work on this!

-m1: Was there a specific reason to write the rolled chord in beat 4.5 as two separate voices? The R.H. can easily play it by itself.
-m26: I hear a C#-D-E 16th triplet on beat 2.5, instead of just 16ths D-E
-m34: Same hear with B-C#-D instead of B-C#
-m37: You can write all Bb's and Db's here as A#'s and C#'s (A#dim chord, as an upper extension of the F#7b9 in the next bar)
-m40 and 42: All flats here should be enharmonically respelled to sharps (so Bb to A#, Ab to G#). Also part of an A#dim chord like before/part of a B melodic minor scale.
-m43 and 45: The Bb7 chord on beat 3 is actually functioning as an augmented 6th chord, so you could notate the Ab as a G#: functionally it's the same as the E# in m39 and 41.
-m44 and 46: Kinda same thing as 40 and 42: Db's should be C#'s, Cb's should be Bn's
-m53-54: Maybe you could write this Ebm9 chord as D#m9, as leadup to the G#m tonality in m55?
-m66: Another 16th triplet run on beat 2.5 (D# E F#)
-m82: Maybe you can switch the key to Em here? All harmony from here on is from Em, though I can understand keeping it at m92, since that's where the new section begins.
-m112: Maybe you can write the C# at the end of this bar as Db, as it's descending to the C back in m7?

Thanks! All of these were updated, nice catches

-m20: Maybe you could tie over the E on beat 4.75 to the next chord, so the E is still played legato and still rings on in the next bar too. Small difference, but maybe a bit easier to play than to restrike it at this tempo.
-m22: The chord here is in its basic form an F#7, so the Bb's should be written as A#'s. The An is a bit annoying in there though, maybe you could notate that as a Gx? Another reason the An/Gx is annoying, is that the run from m21 beat 4.5 is pretty hard to play to this chord, but you can't really leave out the An/Gx or the A#, as that drastically changes the chord. A compromise would be to write the An/Gx in beat 2.5 instead, but it's not optimal. tl;dr you can probably leave it in beat 1 but it's annoying to play haha
-m60 and 62: Same things here as in m20 and 22. In m22, because the Bn and Cn are both white keys, the thumb can play them both, so we luckily don't have to worry about playability haha. Enharmonic spelling equivalent of the A# and Gx in m22 would be B# and Ax here.

We added ties to both measures 20/60 after all, but I (Zeila) thought that they looked a bit off colliding against the naturals like that and didn't know of a good way to circumvent that. We decided to keep the An/Gx in measure 22, but all of the enharmonic spellings have been changed!

-m39 and 41: The player has to quickly release the D and F# in the R.H. on beat 1 to make place for the L.H., do you think that's something to specifically notate or something for the player to find out themselves?

We don't think a performer's note is necessary here, but thanks for the suggestion anyways

-m107-108: I hear the choir Bm chord from m108 on beat 3 of m107 already.

The entrance on beat 3 is a bit more subtle and makes beat 1 of measure 108 sound more hollow in comparison. The chord sounds re-articulated on beat 1 anyways, and we felt that it would be better to write it there instead. Incorporating both strikes sounds too heavy handed

Another thing to note is that the tie in measure 34 was a bit manually adjusted, so if it looks off then please let us know

That should be everything! Thanks for checking it over :3

[Useful Finale Shortcuts]

Useful Finale Shortcuts

This is a very Windows-focused guide, and I imagine that any Mac equivalent would use COMMAND instead of Control or OPTION instead of Alt. If someone wants to make a separate post with the relevant shortcuts for Mac or any potential differences between Finale versions 2014/v25/v26/v27, then please feel free to do so! This is a non-exhaustive list covering the majority of general use cases, but you can find a master list of shortcuts though MakeMusic's manual. I noticed that many people are unaware about these shortcuts, so hopefully this would be a nice reference post for whenever you happen to recall that shortcuts exist without knowing the exact key sequence.

Keyboard Shortcuts and Special Mouse Clicks (WIN / MAC) | Metatools (WIN / MAC)
User-sourced Google Doc with relevant shortcuts [source]

Non-English keyboards like Swiss-German keyboard layouts have different keymaps, so some of these shortcuts may use different characters or have no alternate mapping. Unfortunately I do not know how to get around this for everything, but I found that there are ways to manipulate some of the other pre-existing shortcuts either within the program through menu options or externally through the FINALE.INI file in your local files. If you just want to figure out which shortcuts are even available, then most of them should be present under their respective dropdown menu sections.

Customized Speedy Entry Keymap [Windows only?]
Editing Simple Entry shortcuts (WIN / MAC)


Getting your way around the program

Layers
This is useful when you have frequent usage of multiple layers. Separating layers in particular would help with modifying specific layers without affecting the other concurrent layers (e.g. you might want to raise Layer 1 by an octave, but not Layer 2; or Layer 2 has a lot of staccatos while Layer 1 does not).

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Isolating and modifying individual layers

Key(s)		Command
Shift+Alt+[1-4]		Select Layer
Shift+Alt+S		Show Active Layer Only

Measure Distributions

Key(s)		Command
U		Unlock systems
L		Lock systems
Ctrl+M		Fit measures
Up/Down Arrow		Move the selected piece of music up/down a system

Playback
If you just want to quickly know how a certain chord or passage sounds, you can use any of these shortcuts. Just note that the quick playback options outside of Playback Controls do not properly play certain modifiers such as tempo alterations, Smart Shape lines, tremolos, and etc. Playback controls must also be closed in order for the first four options to work.

While hovering your cursor over the desired staff:

Key(s)		Command
Ctrl+Space		Play the notes under the cursor for all staves (drag mouse across music)
Ctrl+Shift+Space		Play the notes under the cursor for the current staff (drag mouse across music)
Space+Left Click		Play the song starting from the clicked measure. Click anywhere to stop
Space+Shift+Left Click		Play the selected staff starting from the clicked measure. Click anywhere to stop
Alt+D+P		Play the song through Playback Controls

Text
If you don't use template files for whatever reason like me, then this is for you! Finale's default text alignment is out of sorts with what NinSheetMusic sheets typically follow (read: Text alignment and page margins guide by Latios212), so these shortcuts are a quick way to position each text box handle alongside the margins as per the Formatting Guidelines.

Alignment		Left		Ctrl+Shift+[
		Center Horizontally		Ctrl+Shift+' (apostrophe)
		Right		Ctrl+Shift+]
		Top		Ctrl+Shift+\
		Bottom		Ctrl+Shift+- (minus)
Justification		Left		Ctrl+[
		Center		Ctrl+'
		Right		Ctrl+]
Size		Increase		Ctrl+Shift+. (period)
		Decrease		Ctrl+Shift+, (comma)
Style		Bold		Ctrl+Shift+B
		Italic		Ctrl+Shift+I

Window Options

Key(s)		Command
Ctrl+=		Zoom in
Ctrl+- (minus)		Zoom out
Ctrl+U		Force rebuild window (good for resetting visual bugs)
Ctrl+W		Close current file window
Alt+F4		:thinking: this is safe to use because the application window doesn't close without the save file prompts for all unsaved files

Notes: accidentals, beaming, and more!

These are some handy shortcuts when using the Simple Entry and Selection tools. I personally use note interval shortcuts the most for repetitive bass rhythms and chord structures.

While the notes are selected:
Accidentals (Simple Entry)

Key(s)		Command
+		Turn the note into a sharp
-		Turn the note into a flat
N		Turn the note into a natural
Shift+=		Turn the note into a double sharp
Shift+- (minus)		Turn the note into a double flat
\ or Alt+E		Change pitch enharmonically (e.g. could respell C# as Db)
P		Toggle parentheses for courtesy accidentals
Ctrl+Shift+- (minus)		Show/Hide accidentals

Beaming/Misc. (Simple Entry)

Key(s)		Command
/		Break/Join beam
Shift+/		Use default beam position
Alt+Shift+Up/Down Arrow		Cross-staff beams (w/ selection tool instead of simple entry tool)
L		Flip stem
Shift+L		Use default stem position
Ctrl+F		Flip tie
T		Tie to next note
Shift+T		Tie to previous note
H		Hide note or rest
R		Toggle note to rest
Alt+G / Ctrl+G		Toggle grace note (if note is selected, use alt; if not, use ctrl)
9 or Numpad 9		Create tuplet
Alt+[1-8] (numpad)		Change duration by 64th to double whole note respectively
[1-8] (numpad)		Change duration for the next inserted note
Ctrl+Up/Down Arrow		Move note selection up or down within a chord

Note Intervals (Simple Entry)

Key(s)		Command
[1-8] (number row only)		Add note the interval above (unison through octave)
Ctrl+Shift+9 (number row only)		Add ninth above
Shift+[2-9] (number row only)		Add note the interval below (second through ninth)
Shift+Up Arrow		Change pitch by one octave up diatonically
Shift+Down Arrow		Change pitch by one octave down diatonically

While the passage is selected:
Note Intervals (Selection)

Key(s)		Command
6		Transpose one whole step down (second interval diatonically)
7		Transpose one whole step up (second interval diatonically)
8		Transpose one octave interval down
9		Transpose one octave interval up
Ctrl+Shift+[6-9]		Program transpositions

While the box handles are selected:
Handle shortcuts for expressions/articulations/smart shapes

Key(s)		Command
Ctrl+Alt+Shift+H		Hide expression/articulation/smart shape
F		Flip articulation direction
U		Revert to automatic/default articulation direction
Backspace		Reset handle position

Metatools

Metatools are programmable keyboard shortcuts used to input commonly used markings. They are a HUGE time saver whenever you're inputting a lot of uniquely placed/non-repetitive expressions, smart shapes, and etc.

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The Articulation Selection dialogue box

Notice how most boxes include a letter or number on the top right corner? Those are the corresponding characters you need to press and hold while entering metatools. I believe they are limited to one character each, so you cannot combine two characters like "FL" to represent falls. I think they are also limited to the English alphanumerical characters [A-Z 0-9], and cannot be programmed with characters from other alphabets like ñ.

Creating New Metatools
There are two methods:

• On an open dialogue box, simply click on the marking/cell of your choice and press Shift+[A-Z 0-9] (any alphanumerical character) to assign a new shortcut
• With the current tool of your choice selected, press Shift+[A-Z 0-9] to trigger the dialogue box, and then pick the marking/cell that you wish to associate with that shortcut

Unfortunately, there doesn't appear to be metatool support for Advanced/Special tools such as beam breaks, but it's understandable due to the nature of how those tools work.

Using Metatools
With the selected tool in place, simply hold the alphanumerical character and press on any note or staff, OR drag the cursor across multiple notes in order to apply the metatool across every note. The latter method is great for multiple staccatos/tenutos/etc. in a row because it skips the "Apply Articulations" dialogue box. Smart Shape metatools require dragging in order to place the desired length for the marking (e.g. if you want to place a crescendo, then hold '<', click on the first note, and drag your cursor all the way to the last note you wish to crescendo to). I personally have to double click before dragging smart shape metatools, but I think that might just be a quirk of using a touchpad.

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Entering articulations and dynamics through metatools.
Sheet Featured: "Fanfare Collection" from Mario Kart 8

Note that the following are sourced from the default metatools. Many of these shortcut letters are pretty intuitive

Articulation Metatools

Key(s)		Command
A		Accent
R		Arpeggio/rolled marking
F		Fermata
V		Marcato
M		Mordent
K		Inverted Mordent
S		Staccato
E		Tenuto
W		Tenuto Staccato
Z		Accent Staccato
9 / (		Open Parenthesis "("
0 / )		Closed Parenthesis ")"

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Expression Metatools

Key(s)		Command
[1-9/0]		Fortissississimo to Pianissississimo respectively (e.g. 3 would be fortissimo and 0 would be pianissississimo)
E		Accelerando
R		Ritardando
T		A Tempo
Q		8va
W		8vb
L		loco

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Smart Shape Metatools (slurs/pedal markings/glissandos/etc.)

Key(s)		Command
S		Slur
< (i.e. comma)		Crescendo
> (i.e. period)		Decrescendo
T		Trill
8		8va or 8vb
F		Glissando (textless)
P		Pedal (Ped + '*' lines)

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See the Finale Metatools page (WIN / MAC) for more detailed descriptions regarding time/key signatures, clefs, and more!

Using Filters to copy repeated markings

With the power of filters, you can copy over articulations, expressions, pedal markings, and more without altering (most) of the pre-existing markings that you entered beforehand. This is very efficient whenever you write in articulations after entering all of the notes, or whenever you want to include proper pedal playback.

Selection Filter GUI

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Drop-down menu to get to Edit Filter

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The Edit Filter dialogue box. In this example, only Markings are selected

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You can customize the active boxes to your needs. For example, by only checking Chords & Fretboards, you could easily copy a repeated chord structure over to a new set of measures. Only checking Articulations would allow you to transfer staccatos/accents/etc. over to another measure that already has dynamics and crescendo hairpins. If you are copying over arpeggio markings, then it might also be useful to check "Extra space" under Measure Settings so that it copies any additional space added to the beginning of the measure.

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A gif showcasing selection filtering for Articulations, Extra Space, and Smart Shapes (assigned to beats).
The extra space only copies over when the entire system is selected, and does not return when Undo/Redo-ing mass paste assignments.
Sheet Featured: "Messenger -piano-" from Steins;Gate 0

Key(s)		Command
Alt+Ctrl+F		Toggle selection filter
Shift+Alt+Ctrl+F		Edit selection filter

Bringing it altogether!

> How are all of these shortcuts relevant to my daily usage of Finale?

It may seem like a lot of information, but the arranging process is much smoother once you get used to using common shortcuts. You spend more time writing the correct notes as opposed to fighting the program across multiple menu options and dialogue boxes . The following gif is an example of quick assignments using some of the techniques described above.

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A gif showcasing Articulation metatools, unique selection filtering for Articulations, and Transpose shortcuts.
Sheet Featured: "Combat -Destiny-" from Triangle Strategy

TL;DR

> This is overwhelming, there are too many shortcuts to keep track of

I hear you. If nothing else, then just use transpose shortcuts to quickly shift the highlighted passage by some interval (Ctrl+Shift+[6-9]) and metatool shortcuts for entering simple articulations/expressions like staccatos and dynamics ([A-Z 0-9] + Left Click on note/staff; e.g. S with the articulation tool or [0-9] with the expression tool for staccatos and dynamics respectively). Those are the two most frequent shortcuts that I use on a day-to-day basis.

That's all, and good luck! I hope this is of use to people who have the full version of Finale. Maybe someone can make a reply with all relevant shortcuts for Finale Notepad, but Notepad isn't worth using any longer than necessary in the first place.

Yeah I guess I was being a bit conservative with the exclusion of the C#. It also wasn't very consistent with the last measure, so I just added the C# in measures 1/9 without removing the A. Adding a D on beat 4.5 of the last measure was a good suggestion too, thanks! The files should be updated, and thanks for fixing the name as well :3

[[files]]

Someone pointed out to me that A Funeral of Flowers (Thunder) has a wrong note in measure 11. The 4th eighth note in the LH should be a D instead of an E. Also, Rei Kondoh is the sole composer of this track

[files]

[Formatting]

Question to anyone who is so motivated to help out an arranger, how would you go about arranging this?
I already have a preliminary version arranged but it's really rough around the edges. Three things in particular that I'm wondering,
1) Would you have a pedal marking for this piece? Some things sound as though they could go for pedal, but the bassline definitely sounds too crisp to have it.

Welcome back to the arranging groove! I think a pedal works fine here because of all of the chords and slides playing, but the marking should be below the LH staff. I think sustained chords should be prioritized over a crisp bassline for this particular case, especially since the bassline doesn't sound bad with a pedal anyways. If there were a bunch of staccatos and syncopated stops, then that would be a different story

2) How would you go about the slide guitar? Currently I have a crap ton of glissando throughout the piece, but that's not at all realistic for someone trying to play the piece irl (unless they want to break their hands). Would it be better to just cut the glissandos altogether and let the pedal throughout fill that slided(?) notes effect?

I think something like this would be a better adaptation for the piano. Those glissandos look like they would be a bit too awkward to play, especially given that some of them end on black keys. I also think that you could just write the entirety of the slide guitar in the RH staff instead of mixing it with the LH. A low E is probably pushing it with the ledger lines, but I think it could be fine with the context of the 3rd interval above it. Also, I think the low Eb/Gb dyad would sound better as Gb/Bb
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3) There's the like, high register piano line in the background, would you include that? And how? I imagine another voice in the RH (and maybe octave shifting to make it playable with everything else), but getting that free-flowing rhythm to it is difficult. It sounds like it's slowing down slightly toward the end of each measure.

I think that's only worth including if at all towards the last 8-10 measures. There's less going on for the RH to do, so it would be more feasible to play, and it also just sounds more prominent towards the end anyways. Coincidentally, the xylophone/piano/whatever alternates between the bottom two notes of the chord (which would also be one of the most convenient options to play). As for your concern about the freeform slowdown, I think including that would be too heavy handed because of the significant diminuendo/fade out. Excluding the second half of the measure by just writing half notes would also give the player (and arrangement) a bit of a rest in between each phrase

There are two options that I can think of, and you can pick which one you like the most if any! Playing the full chord while keeping up with all of the sixteenth notes would feel a bit too tense to play, and there would also be spacing issues between the chords and 2nd sixteenth notes due to the tiny distance between the two. That's why I recommend taking out the 3rd interval in the 2nd picture
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*After some consideration, I don't think the courtesy accidentals are necessary here because they are implied through the rest of the chord accidentals. It's also a repetitive figure because the chords keep going up/down by half steps


Some other things I've noticed:

Formatting

• The copyright is a little too close to the edge of the page. You could just use 4 systems for both pages so that it would fit, but if you would rather not do that, then you could raise the 3rd and 4th systems up a bit. The copyright is also missing the s in https
• The title and page number on page 2 are misaligned, and both could just be oriented along the top margin rather than some offset above it
• I think this would look better if you used 4 measures per system (excluding the pickup measure) instead of 3 measures in the 1st and 5 measures in the 5th system
• As Xiao and I mentioned in THC's sheet, I think any tempo direction would typically go before or above the metronome assignment. The metric modulation text can stay after it though (with parentheses). I think something like this would work. If you insist on keeping it the same, then I think you should move the Swing text a space or two to the right since it was just barely a bit too close to the number
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  Just hide the regular Swing text or change the Human Playback to jazz so that the playback would still function correctly
• It looks like you created a pickup measure with the time signature tool instead of clicking Document -> Pickup Measure to choose the duration. This doesn't matter too much, that just automatically updates the measure numbers for you, and it also properly displays the amount of rests according to the actual duration as opposed to a generic whole rest. You can change this by manually adding a quarter rest on the empty staff, right clicking the staff in order to edit the Measure Attributes, and then unchecking "include in measure numbering"; or you could revert the pickup measure to a normal 4/4 measure before using Finale's built-in Pickup Measure method (this would delay the playback by the missing beats in the measure though if you care about that)
  
  measure attributes gui

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  **From this point onwards, the measure numbers will be off by 1 number from your current sheet until you change the behavior of your pickup measure
• pickup measure - the 'p' dynamic is a bit too far to the left. Also, I don't think piano really fits this at all. Mezzo forte is fine, or mezzo piano at the very least
• m. 1-3 - some notes are offset from their default positions without any obstruction to justify it. In particular measures 1/3 on beat 1 and measure 2 on beat 4 (2nd layer) are pushed to the right. You can fix this by going to Advanced/Special Tools -> Note Position, clicking on the measure with the selected layer, and pressing backspace/delete on the selected boxes relative to the notes you want to reset
• m. 7-8 - you don't need to put double barlines before clef changes, so you could get rid of those
• m. 7 LH - you should typically avoid writing 8va's above any bass clef staff. Usually, I think 8va's in between the RH/LH staves are either above treble clefs or below bass clefs. This is just info for future reference because I think there's a less conflicting way to write this section
• m. 7/11/15 LH - you could replace the tied eighth notes with a quarter note since they're not crossing the strong beat. I think tying notes together under the same beam looks a little off. If you really wanted to keep the ties, then you should break the beam and write it like the following image, but I would recommend sticking with quarter notes
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• m. 14 RH - the glissando should be moved a few spaces to the left because it's a bit too close to the accidental. To add more room, you can add extra space at the beginning through the Measure Attributes. 0.03 should be enough, and you could also change that for measures 6 and 15 if you'd like to
• m. 19 RH - you should flip the slur on the tie because it's currently colliding with the beam, and there's nothing in the way if it were to be oriented on the bottom/notehead side like how slurs for grace notes usually are. Also, this measure could use a bit extra space in the beginning too because of the accidentals in the 2nd layer
• m. 32 (last measure) - there's an extra squiggly arpeggio line that's currently just colliding with the E note, but I guess this would be obsolete anyways if you were to get rid of the glissandos altogether

Notes

• m. 3 LH - beat 4.5 there's a low C here just like in measure 11
• m. 6 RH - this is hypothetical, but you could just change the clef on beat 4 and write the Db in the RH staff (specifically change clefs on a downbeat instead of right before the pickup). Also, I know the L bracket matches with the pickup part, but you could also just use the double bracket tool for cases where the RH staff is already busy
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• m. 7 LH - beat 1.5 idk where the G came from. I personally don't hear any there, but I could be wrong
• m. 6-7 - I think it would look neater if you straight up just wrote it like either of these two options instead. It would also be more manageable to play without the giant leap in the LH (complete with crossing hands)
  

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  vs.

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  not sure which is better, but one uses brackets while the other cross staves the notes
  
  • This also isn't properly depicted in the pictures, but you could make the chord in measure 6 a whole note rather than a dotted half note since the RH marking is gone. The choir voice thingy does sound like it stops early, but that's not consistent with the rest of the sheet since you wrote more whole notes than dotted half notes. Measure 14 should also be changed if you choose to decide to go through with it
  • Also, you should include the C# in the chord if you switch it over to the RH staff
• m. 17 RH - I think the guitar hit starts on a B instead of a C, so you could put in the D# in the chord. A C sounds a bit too dissonant/distinct on a piano anyways. It also sounds like it reaches the A on beat 3 rather than beat 4. Something like this could work?
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• m. 18/20/22/24 LH - beat 4 Bb eighth note actually comes in at beat 3.5 as a quarter note instead
• m. 20 RH - I think the notes might be Eb-D-Bb-G from top to bottom? Or D at the top with Eb on the bottom, idk
• m. 21 RH - I think it would be better to prioritize the plucky notes over the theremin slide thingy. It also sounds like the Eb is right on beat 2. Maybe something like this could work?
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• m. 21/25/29 LH - you don't need to include courtesy accidentals when they start a new system because the key signature should be a reminder, but I think it's fine if you want to keep them
• m. 24 RH - you could write a sixteenth note triplet arpeggio in lieu of the glissando
• m. 32 LH (last measure) - beat 4.5 low A sounds like a low Bb instead

This is what it could theoretically look like once you update the sheet, mainly for showcasing most of the formatting updates like the measure distribution or text alignment

Spoiler

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Sorry, but we mistakenly added a G# to measure 108 instead of an F#. Everything should be fixed now, thanks!

[m. 9 RH]

I don't think I'm seeing any changes in the files, unfortunately

Idk about the midi/pdf files, but the mus file was definitely updated. It's just that a few things were missed and the intro octave ranges were changed (which also made the F# octave in measure 2 not as awkward to play/include). For the record, I think the changes made to the intro are fine with the exception of the 8va placement. I think that could be moved a little towards the left so that it covers the Eb more. The accidentals on beat 4 of measure 2 are also a bit too close to each other, and you can adjust the music spacing by clicking anywhere on the staff with the Simple Entry Tool so that it reverts back to the automatic spacing

m. 9 RH - beat 4 hide the natural in the 2nd layer because there's already a Bn earlier in the RH. The shortcut for toggling accidentals is Ctrl+Shift+(-) (dash/underscore)

It looks like updating beat 4 made beat 4.75 stand out instead. That one needs to go too

m. 11/15 RH - why did you separate the layers in measures 9/10/etc., but not here?

This was still unaddressed, whether through an explanation on why it's different or a change in layer formatting to match with measures 10/14

Also, I noticed that some parts of the left hand were inconsistent:

- Measure 14 is using the old sixteenth note + rest combo on beat 4.5 instead of a staccato eighth note like in measures 5/7/etc.
- Measure 22 is missing a staccato on beat 1.5
- Measure 23 uses a staccato eighth note on beat 2.25 while measure 21 uses sixteenth notes/rests. I think either rhythm is fine--maybe leaning towards measure 21 given that the RH is doing constant sixteenth notes--and the issue with rests isn't really present in this figure compared to rhythms with sixteenth rests on beat x.75 right before another rest. Also, sixteenth notes should be beamed across rests if the rests are in between two notes and they're all under the same beat. I don't think it's necessary to extend the beam across hanging rests, and that would conflict with the first layer anyways
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One last thing, but you could center staccatos along the notehead rather than on stem side. Personally I think I prefer stem-side, especially for cases where staccatos only apply to one layer in between the staves, but there are good arguments for aligning staccatos notehead side instead. Either method is acceptable, I'm just presenting more options in case you weren't aware

random made-up example in between staves

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notehead -> stem

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fillmore

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notehead -> stem

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[RWBY]

RWBY

Guide My Way (Red Like Roses - Part III) (Show Version)		[Original]	[PDF]	[MUS]	[MIDI]		Solo Piano

The slower section is a mixture of the original insert song and the short Red Like Roses motif within the soundtrack for episode 9. I felt that the solo melody was too plain when translated to piano, so I wanted to add more to it, and then I just thought that it sounded better in the original key signature compared to G minor even though B minor doesn't transition quite as nicely as a result. I also added a bunch of arpeggios in the final section of the song because the melody just consists of whole notes, but that is likely overkill, so they could be left out and replaced with a bunch of rhythmic chords instead. Apparently, the last chorus in the full song includes triplet arpeggios so it's not too far off...

With the release of the Volume 9 Soundtrack in certain parts of the world (officially July 28th at midnight), this is a little outdated by now. I will likely do a full piano arrangement sometime in the future, but if anything I would do Checkmate first

as for the show, honestly, I was incredibly disappointed with the ending after all of the setup from the previous volumes and episodes 7 and 8, but at least this moment looked cool

BMBLB		[Original]	[PDF]	[MUS]	[MIDI]		Solo Piano

This was recently done out of request by someone, but I'm glad that I did it in the end!

Buzzing Bees		[Original]	[PDF]	[MUS]	[MIDI]	[MP3]		Orchestra

thumbnail is kinda spoilery but it's been months

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This one is an orchestral suite that's basically a summary of Blake and Yang's relationship in the show. I heard Worthy and thought it would be a great idea to incorporate any Bumbleby adjacent song into a medley. I was very liberal with the associations, so about half of the songs are really just there to tell a story rather than being representative of Blake and Yang exclusively

In order of appearance:
- The Stray
- Wings
- All That Matters
- Armed and Ready
- Nevermore
- BMBLB
- Treasure
- Worthy (a demo duet version with presumably Elizabeth Hull can be found here here; the full track is a duet with Ariyel)

There's also a hint of RLR (the BY lines), Burning the Candle (and a leitmotif that was previously associated as "Yang's Pain," but was actually referenced in Volume 9), Such Arrogance, and the music from the end of the Volume 9 trailer and episode 1 by Peter Reid Jones (i.e. the score titled "You Weren't Supposed to Be Here"). In addition, I added a last minute drum set part to Worthy given that the full track also includes one

Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch from Mercury

irreplaceable days		[Original]	[PDF]	[MUS]	[MIDI]		Solo Piano

The Romanized title is "Houseki no Hibi," but the official translation from Apple Music is "irreplaceable days" rather than the literal translation "Jewel Days."

While season 2's pacing pretty much went Mach 6, I still very much enjoyed what we got. Most of my gripes with the show are more about missed potential with certain storylines and characters rather than narrative choices. At the end of the day, there are still lots of things I love about the show

It was the first Gundam I actually watched, so maybe my next one will be Unicorn (although that would take a very long time if I watched the earlier parts of the UC timeline first...)

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Anyways, the next post will be a surprise two for one jazz/orchestra special! One theme is 💖🌠😶🚀🤍 , and the other is ⚙️🥚👑

Sorry about a bit of a wait on this one, this seems like it must've been quite an undertaking, as is my journey through it as I've been looking at it on and off least since a couple days before the update.

My feedback is going to only cover through page 4 for now, but it seems you both have done a solid job on translating this piece to piano. And what a way to introduce the Haltmann motif on site!

Thank you

• m14 LH beat 4 sounds like a G# is on top here, but all things considered the notes you have are probably fine so good to leave out.

We decided that keeping it as-is would be preferable

• m24 beat LH I don't really hear this G in this octave on this beat. And if it's an acknowledgement of  Maybe just do the same pattern as 3 and 4?
   • beat 3. 5 sounds like an En but if you'd rather simplify this rhythm by keeping the An I'm good with it.

We hear F-sharp and G together
   - we think this also would be better off simplified

• m25 beat 4.5 I don't hear an A but do hear a C#. But does the A at the bottom just act as a nice chord note? I think it does so even if not their I think good to keep

The A is there but an octave up, and the C-sharp is something we're fine with adding

• m27 beat 2.5 RH red/2nd RH layer sounds like Dn

Done. We also changed the next note from an F-sharp to a B

• m28 RH I hear C# on top not D. Also, beat 2.5 not hearing the E at the bottom is it supposed to represent the E in the same octave a beat or so later?

This is what we came up with after listening to it again. The E was technically an octave higher to begin with
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• m32 LH beat 4.5 there's a low E I feel is more prominent, this would also make the transition to beat 1 of m33 a little easier.

Changed 4.5 LH to an E below the staff

• m43 and m45 RH beat 4 I feel the F is more prominent as the top note. The Bn doesn't really seem to fit compared to the original imo. Spelling could be Fn-Dn-Ab from top to bottom.
   • From what I can tell m45 introduces an En to the chord, creating a sort of clash between the F. I think it goes on the bottom of beat 1, next to the F on beat 2?

Re-wrote the chord as Bb7 with the Ab at top still after listening to it again (the Bn changed to Bb and we added an F). Tell us your thoughts
   - also, about this, we're not sure we hear the E in that chord. Given the quietness in comparison, we decided to leave it out

• m54 LH beat 3 sounds like Bb on top

We were thinking that part should be consistent with m. 14's similar instance, and kept as-is

• Your system distribution from pg 2-7 causes the bottom system to be a little too low and some of the notes and symbols are outside the margins. Won't hurt to move all systems a little higher on the page while still keeping the nice alignment you've got going between pages.
• You could add small cresc. and decresc. for m5 and 6 (or just m5) to replicate the swells on the tremolos. It's pretty small but just a small extra step
       • maybe you could also use the note mover tool for these measures/m6? The rolls are quite close to the bar lines (almost obscuring it in m6) and you could move the whole notes a bit to give those a bit more space.
• m43 RH beat 1 could move the roll a little higher for a little better visual alignment.
• m42 LH beat 4.0 you could write this Bb up an octave. Also, wouldn't the slur go the same as it is in m40?
• I think these are both good inclusions. While the majority of this works with a pedal (as your Finale file shows), it would be good to give more explicit instructions for the couple sections where the player should lift up. I think a cautionary key would be good to have as a curtesy at the end given how far back the player is going

Updated, thanks for the feedback!

- The title should be changed to just "Lloyd" as per multiple soundtrack releases (2003 | 2023). Based off of the notes in the 2003 version, Motoi Sakuraba did the character themes
- m. 15 I opted to just use octaves because I thought it would be a bit awkward to hear the A a bit earlier on beat 4. I feel like the original doesn't translate as well to piano

Idk what I did last night, but things are good now. Sorry, and thanks for changing Full Force!

[VGMDB link]

I did "Lloyd's Theme" and will be submitting it shortly given that I still have 1 open spot (I guess replacement submissions aren't working atm? Or I otherwise can't figure it out). There were two recent soundtrack releases with an incomplete vinyl release in 2021 (VGMDB link) and a full soundtrack release in Feb 2023 for the remaster (Spotify | iTunes). The iTunes version has quite a few typos though, such as "Collet" instead of "Colette"

I will write a comment about the proper name for this theme in the submissions thread too, but "Lloyd's Theme" should be changed to "Lloyd". Also, my "Full force" arrangement on-site should have two capital F's. It kind of bothered me that the capitalization was different from the rest of the Tales of Symphonia sheets on site, so now there's not even any reason to leave it that way

Lloyd
MIDI | MUS | MUSX | PDF

Full Force
MUS | PDF

There's also a chance that I might do "Kratos" eventually as well. It's been in the Replacement Initiative for over a year and should be retired at this point