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Messages - holland_oates89

#31
I don't know if this counts, but I've been trying to transcribe the keyboard solo at the end of this video and it is impossible.


Honestly I don't think I'll ever finish it but if I do you can bet it'll go in the "Personal Arrangements" section of this forum...

@MaestroUGC: One of the benefits of being a music major is that you have better musical facilities to play what you want, when you want, for your own amusement, without spending as much time/effort practicing it. Nothing wrong with not being a music major but those who are music majors aren't really forced to do anything other than get good at their instrument and learn the fundamentals of music. Also, people become music majors because they want to play the instrument that they've majored in.
#32
Music / Re: What are you listening to right now?
August 28, 2015, 10:20:31 PM
Quote from: Pit0010 on August 21, 2015, 07:12:25 PMOMG YES I get serious music goosebumps and chills when I listen to this all the time.
I love the trumpet ending, such a killer

Would anyone want to see this arranged into a sheet? I'm trying to work on MK8 tracks right now and this one seems a lot easier than Cloudtop Cruise which will take me a long time to finish...
#33
Haha no problem, if any of it doesn't make sense or isn't obvious in Finale go ahead and reply here and I'll give you some exact steps to do what I mentioned.
#34
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA  ;D

Thanks? Also, CHICAGO SERVERS WHOOOOOOOOOOO MY PING IS GONNA BE LOWER THAN MY IQ FINALLY!!!

That either means I'm dumb or have bad internet. Regardless, I'm glad they moved their servers from LA so that when I lose I at least can't blame it on lag...
#35
ANNNNNNNNNNND I just looked at the score info and saw you might be using PrintMusic. If you are, ignore everything I wrote and don't change it at all.
#36
Hey this is great! Kudos on the cautionary accidentals and dynamics usage too!

This is a matter of personal preference, but I think 3.5 EVPUs is a little too thick for modern music. Granted, I also think that Finale's default thin line value of 1.035096730459270495874230592384 or whatever it is is too thin as well. Personally, I like to stick around 3 EVPUs. This translates to about 0.75pt, which is about how thick some etched engraver plates from publishers in the 1940's were, so it's pretty accurate as well. Keep in mind that if you change one line thickness, you need to change them all, so make sure that staff lines, barlines, stems, enclosure lines, crescendo lines and word extensions are all treated appropriately. Sometimes barlines can be a little thicker (I think I generally do use about 3.5 EVPUs there), but overall consistency is the name of the game.

To that end, you'll also want to make sure that your slur and tie tips are at this same minimum thickness of 3 EVPUs. This is another step to help ensure the 'illusion' that your score was actually engraved with metal plates - they weren't able to taper off to 0 in the way Finale's default slurs do.

The cross staff notation in measure 10 looks really clean but it is difficult for players to know which hands to use. I'd recommend splitting the portion of the arpeggio into layer two once it gets up to the right hand. The cross-staff beam can be left in layer 1 since it's tied to layer 1 of the left hand, but the beam needs to be in the center of both staves, not under the notes with a REALLY long stave going to the right hand. You can accomplish this using the Special Tools Palette, with the Reverse Stem tool and the Beam Angle tool - use them in that order to flip the stem so that the bottom note has the stem on the correct side, then use the Beam Angle tool to move the stem into place!

Still, unlike my ex-wife this score looks good and is nice to listen to! Great job dude!
#37
I've never played FNAF so I'm not the expert on how accurate it is to the original, but to my ears it sounds really good!

Since you have the pedal being held throughout the first passage, it isn't necessary to include the second layer in measures 1 through 8, although many french engravers around Ravel's time wrote this way so it isn't wrong by any means, just uncommon.

A snootier variety of piano players might dislike the idea of switching between clefs so often, but I think it makes the score clearer to read.

I like the use of articulations as well - however your marcato markings are placed above the notehead, when I prefer that they be placed above the stem. Many engravers disagree with me on this so don't feel like it's incorrect - However, it's important for the articulation to still be in vertical alignment with the stem, so I recommend moving all marcato markings ~5 EVPUs to the right, no matter what. You can do this quickly using these steps:
  • Open your Document.
  • Click Edit > Select All
  • Click Utilities > Change > Articulations
  • In the window that appears, click Position Selected Articulations and choose Articulation #5 (marcato accent) and NOT #6 (marcato accent with embedded staccato).
  • Change the "Add to" window to Add to Current Position, and enter an H value of 5.
  • Click OK to close this window.

It's a pretty small change but it's one of the key difference between a score that looks like it was "made in Finale" and a score from a professional/publisher (many of them use Finale even if it isn't obvious!) Note that you'll need to go back and re-adjust those articulations which are attached to downstem notes, but I only saw that occurring in measure 11.

There are a few slurs that collide with triplet numbers, and the slurs in mm. 20 - 21 should be on the beam side due to both the  cross-staff usage and the multiple layers in the right hand. Personally I'd also recommend increasing the slur's tip width but I assume that is an unnecessary level of detail...

When writing in two layers, stem-side staccatos should always align horizontally with the stem. I only saw a few staccato markings on the stem side in this piece so you could just drag them. You may also want to try moving your roll articulations further away from the notes, particularly in places like mm. 17 where the rhythm becomes more complicated.

Finally, it's also a good idea to reflow your systems so that the player can more easily see the rhythms written. It looked like your systems were locked at 4 bars per system, which is always a good start, but because of how complex these rhythms are, I think using 3 or 2 bars per system may suit the piece better. This also helps Finale to space the measures more accurately so it looks more 'polished' and is easier to read. When doing this, you'll find that you have to make choices about which measures should go where. Generally, when the part gets more rhythmically complex, you'll want to use less measures per system. Additionally, if you run into situations where the rhythm is similar, but you have "leftover" measures in a new system, you may need to reflow your measures again. In these cases, a best practice is to use less measures per system in the first few bars of the piece - in a way, this helps to "feature" the rhythm for the player when they are introduced to it, and then you can afford to put more measures in the later systems.

Anyway tl;dr - when I tried to reflow this piece I ended up with the following measures per each system, starting in measure 1: 2, 3, 3, 2, 2 (double-bar, page turn) 1, 2, 2, 2, 3. If that isn't clear I can attach a copy of your piece with these changes.

Overall, it sounds great and looks really good as is! I hope I didn't get too far into the details but I believe they make a big difference in polishing the score.
#38
Version 3 Notes:
Most of this is #justengraverthings, but I thought I'd spruce up the engraving a bit and correct a couple bugs that I implemented in playback on accident. I also sped up playback and adjusted the tempo expression. Thanks everyone for your feedback!
  • Changed tempo expression to half-note=130 - 140. I used a beat analyzer and the tempo is around 135 with some drifting. I decided to speed up playback tempo to about 135.
  • Added some light pedal markings in places where it seemed obvious.
  • Increased rehearsal mark enclosure line thickness to 3EVPUS
  • Fixed stem bug in mm. 12 which caused beams to flip on playback and printing.
  • Adjusted tie positioning to avoid collision with eighth-note flags
  • Flattened some slurs to avoid collision with accidentals
  • Adjusted spacing in mm. 87 to account for correct accidental spacing
  • Re-engraved repeat structure to prevent Finale's infamous "Please enter a number between 1 and 1" bug
  • Added File Info Data
  • Changed playback instrument to Bright Piano
#39
The original is definitely much faster (my ear clocked it at half-note ≈ 135) , but this arrangement requires a lot of fast, large interval leaps in both hands and I don't see that being possible to play, even for great stride piano players. If we think it would be best to speed it up, though, it's very easy to edit that tempo marking and make Finale's imaginary fingers burn.

As far as the jazziness goes, I did remove a few artistic liberties (I'm a jazz musician) in my second version of the piece, but like TheMarioPianist said, it is a funk tune with a lot of hybrid chords and other complex harmonies so it is bound to sound jazzy no matter which way you look at it. Most of this arrangement is just a transcription of the bass/horn parts with a guitar solo and a lot of edits to make it playable on piano.

@Altissimo: Wow, haha that is a new one - I honestly never thought that SmartMusic would be used for dates!  :-* I obviously love the program and am pretty biased, but yeah I think it can be a great practice tool. My team has been working really hard this summer and we actually just implemented a beta program for choral music! I can't imagine music education is discussed a lot around here but we're really excited about the role we play right now. It's so hard to find a good practice tool that can slow down an audio performance for you, give you immediate feedback on your playing, and display professionally engraved sheet music all at the same time. I could go on but I made a strict, personal commitment not to spam any MakeMusic products.
#40
Help! / Re: No Playback in Notepad?
August 27, 2015, 08:56:46 PM
I'm obviously way too late to the party here, but I'm glad to hear things are working for you again!

Based on what you described, it sounds like either your MIDI playback device got changed somehow, or if you use an ASIO driver on your version of Windows it is possible that Finale's playback engine can 'seize' the ASIO driver and occasionally prevent it from working.

Just in case this happens to you again, try these steps:

1. Close NotePad.
2. Close any audio applications.
3. Press the Windows Key and R at the same time to open a run command.
4. Type the following directory EXACTLY (but without quotes): "%appdata%" - This will take you to your user-level AppData folder.
5. Look for a MakeMusic folder, then a Finale NotePad 2012 folder inside. It might just be named NotePad 2012... I don't remember because I don't have a Windows computer with me but I can check tomorrow at work.
6. Inside this Finale NotePad 2012 folder, look for two files named "NOTEPAD2012.INI" (or something similar) and "FINMIDI.INI" - Delete both of them. And don't worry, it won't break your computer.
7. Restart your computer.
8. Launch Finale again. You'll be asked to reconfigure your MIDI driver - make sure it is set to SmartMusic SoftSynth.

That should do the trick, but if you're still having trouble feel free to contact tech support at http://makemusic.custhelp.com/app/ask

Even though NotePad is a free product if you're having a technical issue and you submit a case our Customer Success team should be able to help get you set up. If you do contact them, heh please don't bring me up because they'll find it funny and throw things at me. Thankfully they don't know my username... yet.
#41
On the contrary! I'm just swamped right now. I work on Finale's sister(?) product SmartMusic - which is an educational/practice tool - and with the school season starting we get really tied up each year.

I do plan to help out and give advice with future sheets as well, but I think it'll still take me some time to a) prove myself with my own arrangements lol and b) learn the whole NinSheetMusic process. Fortunately, I basically do nothing outside of work so I'm sure as the school season cools down I'll become much more active!
#42
Hey thanks guys!

@ThatGamer: Heh, I'm flattered, but I don't think I have the time to be a very good mod here - I actually mod the Finale forums and it's a lot of work already. Thanks for grabbing an updater for me!

@Nocturne: lol, exactly.
#43
Version 2 Notes:
Thank you to Tobbeh, Latios and ThatGamer for your feedback! I probably should have mentioned that while this is my first submission here, it is definitely not my first piano arrangement, haha! It's actually a huge part of my day-job...
  • Reduced Page Size, Staff Height and Margins to reduce page count to 4.
  • Changed title/arrangement text.
  • Removed cross-staff notation.
  • Added lines in 19-20 to indicate hand position.
  • Removed beaming in 19-20.
  • Changed quartal harmony in 89 - 90 to triads. Except for one part because that's what the Bari is playing.
  • Changed playback device to MIDI, since I'm working on a Mac and most users aren't.
#44
For reference:


My first submission! This took a lot longer to transcribe than I expected, but I'm glad with how it turned out. It is, in my opinion, very difficult to play, but then again piano isn't my main instrument. In fact, heh I've just moved across the country but my piano didn't, so I had to write this using a guitar and whatever is left of my imagination.

I'd be curious to hear from any advanced piano players out there how difficult this piece really is. I was going for a cross between Jerry Lee Lewis and Jason Robert Brown (ha). I know that it's very playable at about half the speed of the real recording, but I imagine there are a lot of tough leaps. I also didn't include any fingering... I hope that's ok!

Now, on to Cloudtop Cruise...
#45
Music / Re: Need Finale help? PM Me!
August 23, 2015, 12:39:45 PM
@Olimar12345: Probably the very best thing to do would be to take one of your existing scores that is set up the way you like it, save a copy of it, then highlight all the music and click Edit > Clear All Items. This will completely remove any music from the score so that it is blank. You can then save that as a template for future documents, and the positioning information will be retained. If you still have the old title/composer information filled in, click Window > ScoreManager, then click the File Info tab, and you can delete any reference to the previous title.

As far as entering these values on a per-document basis, unfortunately no it isn't possible to position all page-attached text at once. But, if you find yourself needing to use these features pretty frequently, you may look into automating the process using Finale Script. I won't lie, it takes a lot of trial and error to figure out, but I use FinaleScript to automate a lot of similar text-related tasks.

For example, one of the publishers I work with uses some very old Sibelius documents that don't include any page-attached text at all, so I had to create a FinaleScript that could add the text back in and position it. It took a lot of jury-rigging because (sadly) FinaleScript can be instructed to click somewhere other than a button, menu, etc. But through learning a few esoteric shortcuts and programming FinaleScript to use those rather than clicking, I was able to get a working result. If you wanted to send me an example document, I could try to see if I can set up an example script for you, but be warned: this would take me a long time to do.