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Also, that joke was a joke on the title, you Zeta put, "Route 216 (Two Pianos) (Two Pianos)".

i'm new to this nsm panel thing. now i know what to write down when they ask for a title. sigh.

Ooh! Sweet cover. I like it

Pretty solid accuracy (also i saw you cheating, but that's okay), spot-on rhythm for the most part, and a really good arrangement in the pianistic sense. I've got no comments for the arrangement or performance, haha.

Though, if you're using Logic, you miiiight want to consider this magical device called a high-pass filter! Slap one on the first piano track (the one that plays in the higher register), cut about 400Hz down, and suddenly your second piano bass part becomes much clearer. On the subject of reverb, I think you could do with a little less too haha.

Production aside, solid arrangement, great work!

I don't think you two two pianos, do you? Just to be a little constructive, wouldn't it be a little bit easier on the player to make the beginning grace notes all in one hand rather than splitting it. (The sparkly part)

ehhh i own a recording device and a pair of earphones i can use for a metronome!
(haha i probably will make a four-hand version at some point, no worries.)

Mm, to answer your query, absolutely yes! In fact, I think you should play it with one hand if the strength of your left/right-hand fingers aren't balanced (i.e. i'll be playing it with one hand when i do record it).

The reason for that notation is to sustain the F-sharp; basically, while it's not possible to play a note once it's already pressed down, I wrote that way to imply that it should be sustained in some way or another (i.e. use pedal). With that being said, just because notes are in the bottom stave doesn't mean you have to use your left hand, haha. It just has to create the continuous effect that naturally comes if you're using two hands

Basically, there's no theoretical reason for that notation - it's just a subtle performance direction.

Hope that answers your question!

[PKMN HGSS - "Ice Path/Dark Cave"]

For piano, two electric guitars, an electric drum, and drums

PKMN HGSS - "Ice Path/Dark Cave"
[MUS]

I searched "Ice Path" to see if anyone did something already, and then I saw this. Ooh. This is good stuff <3

Extra kudos for the bass part! It's like this growling Swinub that's trailing you throughout your walk (probably not the best expression for this). But your arrangement, I think, perfectly captures that "this place is frigid and creepy" feeling that the cave intends to create.

Mm, it's a pretty old arrangement, haha, but I think it could be made much more awesome with some variation in the drum rhythm. This is especially true at bar 15, because I'm pretty sure the game track adds in a bit of syncopation (i.e. offbeat accents) in the percussion part, giving it a driving rhythm that moves the music forward and creates contrast with the previous section. I think you could transfer the riff in the piano right hand to the left hand and let the right hand play something a little more awesome to elaborate on that change in rhythm (off-beat chords maybe!). After all, it kinda sucks if the piano player only uses one of his hands for the entire piece :p

Oh! And the piece is in C minor (three flats) too. Hope that helps tidy things up. :p

Links! I think that's what people do, right? :p

Actual:

Link to the Sibelius video export! because hey, why not~

Ooh, Guardian Signs. Underrated game. Not the best soundtrack, but definitely good enough to add some atmosphere to the figh- i mean circling thingies.

Took a listen to the Guardian Signs arrangement! I think you have the idea! The rhythmic pulse is pretty appropriate for sure. The melody is accurate, and that's one of the most important things in an arrangement! Great job on those

That being said, one look at your score tells me that it's in the wrong key. Hehe. If you keep landing on A-sharps, then chances are it's in the key signature. This track is actually in G minor (two flats), but without the sharpened leading note (i.e. f-natural instead of f-sharp). But at the same time it uses lots of chromatic notes to create tension, so I can see why you might have gotten a little confused.

Maybe give it a shot - change the key signature to two flats, and respell your sharps to the appropriate (flattened) pitches, and I promise you it'll feel much better

[Project: Pokemon DPPt - Route 216, 2 Pianos.]

Project: Pokemon DPPt - Route 216, 2 Pianos.
Score has been proof-read and theory-attacked, and it works!
Now trying to, somehow, get this thing over to Finale and get it properly submitted. Hmm. It's not so easy, haha. Lots of technical problems. Bleh.
But anyway, it's ready for a Youtube video (coming soon) and a performance (if i feel crazy)~

AUDIO | PDF | VIDEO

Also, Latios was right! The grace notes are so much more elegant, haha. I love it.

Whoooah this sounds amazing! Holy moly.

Hey man, thank you so much for taking a listen <3. Promise I'll go and properly review some of your stuff too (though being at a military camp 5/7 days a week makes it hard but still) once I grab hold of Finale Notepad! You're awesome

Haven't given it a super detailed look yet (are you finished yet?) but perhaps the piano 1's intro could be written as grace notes. Triplets inside triplets are cool but look kinda confusing, and I feel it'd be easier to read as grace notes since the timing doesn't feel suuuper strict.
Just a heads up, something being on site doesn't mean it's good Canalave has been recently updated but Eterna, Hearthome, and Veilstone are..... not good lol. You're free to arrange and submit replacements! That said, Eterna and Hearthome are being worked on (solo versions). Of course, I'm not stopping you from working on them :J There are also separate night versions/duet versions that could be done differently. And yes! There are so many good tracks that no one has arranged yet!

Hehe, this is pretty much the debate that took place in my mind when I wrote out that part.

I am 100% certain - and that's not to say that any point you put forth is obsolete, btw, just as a pre-disclaimer - that the way I scored it is the way they programmed it. There's a solid theoretical reason why they would do that aaand I'll spare the details, but basically, that's the way it appears on their software haha.

BUT with that being said, I totally believe that reading this stuff is a nightmare, and when you're performing you should go more "by feel" than "by count", especially in jazz. I did consider grace notes, because those had the closest effect to that, buuut Sibelius somehow doesn't make it convenient to score off-beat grace notes. That being said there's definitely a way to do it, but that involves getting over the laziness barrier :p

Though, now that you pointed it out, I'll definitely go try changing those to off-beat grace notes! Thanks for the call

~

Oh, and thanks for the info on the current DPPt database! I'm totally going to do a four-hand/two-piano for those "not good" tracks soon, hehe.

sorry if I'm rambling I just love DPPt so much

oh don't worry! i'm definitely going to ramble more about dppt as i go through the ost. it is frikkin magical. do poke me if you ever do a dppt arrangement, i'll go ramble about it for you~

[Project: Route 216, 2 Pianos]

Project: Route 216, 2 Pianos
Score finalised in Sibelius! I think I'm going to submit this to the site, aaaand after that's done I might consider performing and recording it!
But anyway, as of now, not much theory-whacking has been done and I've only done one proper read-through of the score, so I'll let this sit around before finally getting it submitted.

Links!
PDF!
Video with score! (yes, Sibelius can do this)

Comments are awesome things!

~

Also, the Abyssal Ruins is on its way and I've decided to give Oreburgh City (DPPt) a shot! The Abyssal Ruins will be for one piano and the Oreburgh will be for four hands. Though, the Abyssal Ruins would sound awesome with four hands. Hmm. Might end up doing almost every arrangement for four hands/two pianos from now :p

Hey the Jew XP
I actually was thinking about you a couple months ago

Ohohohoho. Maybe I was thinking about you too.
(not really. But still, heyyo and much cheers!~)

Curious, do you have any other D/P/Pt arrangements planned/in progress? It's one of my favorite (if not my favorite) soundtracks and I love it to death :3 I have a few that I'm working on too.

Mm, as of now, no. I do random covers by ear for fun aaand I keep ending up on Eterna and Canalave (Hearthome and Veilstone are awesome too!) though! So I might end up doing proper arrangements for those for fun. You know, they already exist on the site, so yeah. Hehe.

That being said, I understand there are some tracks that the site doesn't have. Maybe I'll give those a shot at some point!

maybe we could go finish the whole collection. hehe.

I think Deku means put the bottom staff in bass clef and cross-staff as necessary now that you don't have the 8va bothering you.

Took a look the commotion, hehe. Checked out your file, aaand I think this (Latios' idea) is probably the best way to get things done. Man, that's an insane countermelody.

OR. If somehow this is possible in Finale (i mean i'm a sibelius guy so idk if you can), consider using three staves~

I'm not joking, actually! :p The first example that comes to my head is Ravel's Miroirs last movement. The notation is quite tough but I think, at least for the seven bars or so, it should be at least an option~

It is also perfectly legit - in case you were wondering, haha - to change the number of staves in the middle of the piece. Rach's overplayed Prelude does that - two staffs to four. Eeyup.

If your software allows it and you know how to use it, I think using three staves is the best way to organise your music for those bars! Makes the melody crossing much more obvious too

Just a suggestion!

[deliberate]

Ooh, I like this topic.

I read through your situation and the suggestions! Being rusty and crappy after coming back to an instrument is one of the worst feelings ever. You can't stand the way you sound and the notes don't read themselves. That's the way I experienced it, at least! Had decided to kick back the performance gear after three months of military life a few months back, and the piano sounded very sad on the first few sessions. Things got better though!

Um, before I suggest anything though, it should be put out there that the way people learn stuff can be very, very different - it doesn't just apply to picking up an instrument, but any discipline out there...so there's no one-size-fits-all method to get your technique back. What you definitely do want to do, however, is achieve your technique back without cutting corners, so you don't end up with lousy habits that make performing a pain in the future.

That being said, while learning virtuoso exercises is the "theoretically correct" way of boosting your technique back, I think it stinks. In the sense that you might - if you're a normal human being who gets bored by things - lose your focus and go into auto-pilot more quickly than ever. Once you lose your focus, all your practice is for nought...that's for sure. So I'd definitely suggest something based on the idea that Braixen put forth:

What I do is play sheets that use new techniques, and keep playing those until I can do them.

...yup, more or less. The key, however, is learning it slow. When you hit an obstacle, stop. Learn two lines at a time (or two bars at a time if the notes really elude you), and stop to think why you messed up when you mess up. Usually it's poor fingering or unfirmness in your fingers. Ensure you read all the notes - don't guess anything even if it sounds right. And once you feel tired, stop for some candy/coffee/alcohol. The objective is to achieve almost 100% accuracy in the notes and rhythm, and when you're done with that go for the expressions. It's a tough process, but once you hear what you've played at the end of it all and you see how much you've improved, the feeling is awesome.

In essence, as long as the practice is deliberate - i.e. you're constantly reflecting and trying to correct yourself - it'll be fine.

All the best, man!

HEEEY THERE NEW BEST FRIEND

Hey! A Latios with great taste in music! I dig.
(haha much cheers man, sup!)

b-but






also welcome back to the man whose name can never be abbreviated

daj, I think I love you

Stole a friend today! Another step closer to world domination, aww yeah.

'Bout the name though, I'm not too sure what was going through my mind when I thought of it three years back. Can't even pronounce it. "Daj" is cool though; I think I might just change my name to "daj" if the opportunity ever rises. Hmm. :p

Haha love you both, thanks for the hugs <3

~

Hey, you did the thing! Well, I would request you to make a one piano duet of route 216, but I don't really think you'd want to do that.

My request is (gotta make sure I don't do any mystery dungeon, that's for the bespinbens.): Abyssal Ruins from Black/White 2.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NUa9WTE6FBM

HOLY SHITE WHAT IS THAT BEAUTIFUL STUFF
I'm on! Downloaded and will be listening through the week. Thanks for the request, haha! Never knew the Abyssal Ruins soundtrack was so amazing - probably was too scared that the place would crumble.

As for the one piano duet idea, I might give it a shot! Shouldn't be too hard to pull it off
Hmm, the one piano duet idea might require me to work the score up from scratch...oh well. I'll do it for you. Because you're awesome B)

~

Much love, all!~

~
https://www.instagram.com/p/BGBv5fPM_It/
edit: did some work today! if you'd like a sneak peek at the route 216 here it is:

[TL;DR:]

Alright, let's try this thing again.

Hey everyone! I kinda disappeared for two years because of this fantastic piece-of-crud thing we call "school", and that "school" thing pretty much took away all of my time. (IB is a pain oh my gosh, please don't sell yourself to it if you can.)

But that being said, the two years of "school" also threw upon me the most intense two-year music course ever, which somehow led me to connecting with real musicians in the outside world, working with demanding non-musicians in the upper ranks of my "school" to produce music for them, and teaching my friends how to compose and arrange because "school" required it and didn't teach it too well at the same time. All while getting a bunch of performance diplomas and live band performance experiences. Welp.

Um, yeah. Lots of things have changed over the two years, aaaand looking at my old posts (and the old OP, really) makes me want to shoot myself. The way I write stuff has changed, and I like this new style. hehe. But the mentality I brought into the art - urgh.

I came in with the wrong mindset two years ago. I went into "school" with that mindset, churned out work after work just to get the composition component of our Music grade over and done with, and my composition teacher must have rejected at least ten original works before I realised that he could probably tell that I was winging each work. While he wasn't too good at teaching our class how to write, he was pretty dang good at telling crap from substance. So I gave him substance - details, creativity and Nazi-formatting included. The time taken for the average project must have increased at least twenty times. And then, somehow, I started getting called on for a bunch of big projects afterwards. At the end of my "school" journey I heard an arrangement of mine played by a full (student) orchestra. Each experience has been really humbling, and each experience made me think back of the time when I winged my works just because - each thought of that warranted instant embarassment.

Yeah, I've abused whatever abilities I had to wing out fast works in the past. And now that I've gotten a taste of life in the professional artistic world, I've come to realise how much of an insult to the composition arts that was. Pulling off fast works only proves my ability to pull off fast works - it's like writing popular songs for money (also a debateable topic, though). It doesn't seek to immerse the listener in the awesome feeling that music has the power to create. And the power is created in the tiny details, so basically, my old transcriptions - the fastest works I ever pulled off, actually - had none of that awesomeness.

I'd be lying if I said that I came back because I wanted to change the past though. Nah, changing the past isn't cool. Plus, anyone who has read The Great Gatsby knows that doing so is stupid.

I kinda just want to do transcriptions and arrangements. It's for this same reason that I came two years back. Chances are I'll be doing mostly Pokemon stuff, with extra focus on the 4th Generation - hey, jazz is fun. The Pokemon experience never leaves you, I guess. The only change is that I intend to do a much better job this time.

I'm here to arrange Pokemon, buuut I'm really open to requests! Definitely will go try out the request board and shoot myself a bunch of challenges. And if performing is a thing here, I can contribute some videos too

But for the transcriptions/arrangements, I've kinda made an internal promise to ensure quality. Churning out lots of works isn't fun anymore - now I want to get down to the tiny things in each work. Melodies will be as perfect as possible. No harmonies will be compromised. If there is no need to innovate then I'll steal all the rhythmic ostinatos the composer used. And if possible, no counter-melody will be lost. It's time to do the original composers some justice.

So, yeah. Hey, everyone~

TL;DR:
I'm back! More Pokemon. More quality because I got sad after looking at my old transcriptions. Up for requests, can perform for hugs. You guys are all awesome!~

---

On a side note, I'm currently working on the Route 216/217 in Pokemon DPPt for two pianos - exacty what I was working on before I left. It will be awesome. Promised .

(updated op with this block of text too~)

OHHHHH. Now it clicks. I was wondering why swing didn't refer to the long-short thing that I was internalising. Yeah, grammar differences because we're from different ends of the earth :p. Eep :p.

That being said, I think I'll go fix the entire sheet. It's not hard, really xD, just change everything to quavers and mention that it's a swing~