[SW] Xenoblade Chronicles 2 - "Sea of Clouds" by JZ

[Zeta]

Submission Information:
Series: Xeno
Game: Xenoblade Chronicles 2
Console: Nintendo Switch
Title: Sea of Clouds
Instrumentation Solo Piano
Arranger: JZ

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[MomoQca]

A few things:
-Yes, the formatting is wonky and needs some major work. :S
-A good chunk of the song is in rubato. Unfortunately, it appears I cannot have more than one tempo in Notepad. Is this something that I can do myself?
-m. 12-13 RH is supposed to have 8va
-All pedal markings should be hidden

[Latios212]

Yay! Great choice, and I'm happy to see this works on piano quite well.

This is actually a nice piece to go through as an example of how to go about formatting a sheet. I'll help fix this one up as part of the arranging workshop we're holding over Discord on Saturday. Check #event-announcements in the server, hope you can make it

[Latios212]

I've done a first pass at the formatting during the workshop, sorry for the wait details are in this post here! (File is there too.)

Lemme know what you think and I'll come back to check the notes sometime soon.

[MomoQca]

Whoops! I forgot to respond to this yesterday. Everything looks good. Though I did see an arpeggiated chord line (the squiggly one) clashing with the treble clef in the LH. That can be fixed the next time I update the files, though. 

[Latios212]

Sounds good! Here's some actual note-related feedback this time. Overall the notes and chords look great, good job with the arrangement
- Is the D# in the LH of m. 6 supposed to be C# like the following measure? (F# chord)
- Thoughts about moving the LH line down in m. 11? It also sounds like the chords in m. 12/14 are a bit more heavy with an F# on the bottom below what's written. Maybe play around with this and see what sounds good
- First melody note in m. 22 should be B instead of C#
- m. 24 would probably be better off written as a sextuplet rather than two triplets (I can change this if you can't with Notepad). The ones at the beginning and end sections as well
- Are you sure about the C in the 32nd note figure in m. 31? I'm having difficulty picking this line out but I think the C sticks out a big much jumping above the Bb that the melody ends up on... not sure though
- I think there shouldn't be ties between m. 35-36 37-38 and 39-40, the piano strikes on beat 1 there
- Not sure I hear beat 4 notes in the LH of m. 38 and 40?
- The second chord in m. 48/50 (will fix that clef later) - should the top note be D or is the top line just throwing me off?

[MomoQca]

Sounds good! Here's some actual note-related feedback this time. Overall the notes and chords look great, good job with the arrangement
- Is the D# in the LH of m. 6 supposed to be C# like the following measure? (F# chord)

Fixed.

- Thoughts about moving the LH line down in m. 11? It also sounds like the chords in m. 12/14 are a bit more heavy with an F# on the bottom below what's written. Maybe play around with this and see what sounds good

Done. Is the rolled LH chord in m. 12 acceptable (also in m. 18, 19, 42)?

- First melody note in m. 22 should be B instead of C#

Done. Also added in Eb below B.

- m. 24 would probably be better off written as a sextuplet rather than two triplets (I can change this if you can't with Notepad). The ones at the beginning and end sections as well

To my knowledge, it doesn't seem like I can do this in Notepad. Your (or anyone else's) assistance would be appreciated.

- Are you sure about the C in the 32nd note figure in m. 31? I'm having difficulty picking this line out but I think the C sticks out a big much jumping above the Bb that the melody ends up on... not sure though

I think I hear a C in there, but not 100% confident. Maybe someone else can share their thoughts on this one?

- I think there shouldn't be ties between m. 35-36 37-38 and 39-40, the piano strikes on beat 1 there

Done.

- Not sure I hear beat 4 notes in the LH of m. 38 and 40?

Removed beat 4 notes in m. 38 and 40.

- The second chord in m. 48/50 (will fix that clef later) - should the top note be D or is the top line just throwing me off?

I'm not sure what you mean by the bolded part.

[Latios212]

I tried opening the .mus file and it crashed my Finale... can you try re-saving/re-uploading it? If it still doesn't work for me I'll make the changes from above on my copy and reupload since I have to fix a few formatting things anyway.

- The second chord in m. 48/50 (will fix that clef later) - should the top note be D or is the top line just throwing me off?

I'm not sure what you mean by the bolded part.

The top notes on these chords  are currently C and I wasn't sure if they should be D's instead. But looking at it again it makes sense as C because the melody plays the D in the run immediately after so I think it's good.

[MomoQca]

I reuploaded the .mus file. I hope it works now

[Latios212]

I reuploaded the .mus file. I hope it works now

Yes it does, thanks! I went ahead and updated the submission files with some changes including the clef positions at the end, a bit more space around some roll markings, and changing triplets to sextuplets as mentioned above.

I'll approve now since this looks good to me, though leaving this for whoever's looking next to verify:

- Are you sure about the C in the 32nd note figure in m. 31? I'm having difficulty picking this line out but I think the C sticks out a big much jumping above the Bb that the melody ends up on... not sure though

I think I hear a C in there, but not 100% confident. Maybe someone else can share their thoughts on this one?

[Static]

• Thoughts about moving the LH line down in m. 11? It also sounds like the chords in m. 12/14 are a bit more heavy with an F# on the bottom below what's written. Maybe play around with this and see what sounds good
  

  I agree that the melodic line (beats 2-4 of m11) should be where it is currently, but the chord on beat 1 should be up an octave. It's the same chord as the one in m8, and there's nothing in the RH that would get in the way of playing it.
• The A in m14 RH should be included with the rolled chord. You can do this by stretching the rolled chord marking up to the RH, though it unfortunately won't affect playback.
• m18 LH should have C# on the bass like in m19. The A should be up an octave.

• I think I hear a C in there, but not 100% confident. Maybe someone else can share their thoughts on this one?
  

  Hm, it's pretty hard to make out clearly, but I'm getting this:
  
  The B doesn't sound like it strikes right on beat 4.5, just slightly before, and the rhythm seems more triplet-y. At the very least, I'm only hearing these three notes in that figure.
• m51 RH beat 1: This very first 16th should be a D instead of F.

The rest looks really good! If the above changes sound good to you, I'll go ahead and edit the files for you. Though you might be able to edit everything yourself, but I'm not sure about the rolled chord marking. We'll see I guess lol

[MomoQca]

• I agree that the melodic line (beats 2-4 of m11) should be where it is currently, but the chord on beat 1 should be up an octave. It's the same chord as the one in m8, and there's nothing in the RH that would get in the way of playing it.
• The A in m14 RH should be included with the rolled chord. You can do this by stretching the rolled chord marking up to the RH, though it unfortunately won't affect playback.
• m18 LH should have C# on the bass like in m19. The A should be up an octave.
• Hm, it's pretty hard to make out clearly, but I'm getting this:
  
  The B doesn't sound like it strikes right on beat 4.5, just slightly before, and the rhythm seems more triplet-y. At the very least, I'm only hearing these three notes in that figure.
• m51 RH beat 1: This very first 16th should be a D instead of F.

The rest looks really good! If the above changes sound good to you, I'll go ahead and edit the files for you. Though you might be able to edit everything yourself, but I'm not sure about the rolled chord marking. We'll see I guess lol

All noted and changed. The files have been updated.

There's a couple things I wanted to talk about though.

-Is the rit. in the last measure supposed to be above the RH? Isn't it supposed to be slotted between both hands?
-Would it be possible to change the text for the tempo to "50-60 Slowly, with rubato". Also, could I also bother someone to manually add in the tempo (and hide them) at various points throughout the song? The playback is too slow in some parts.

[Static]

-Is the rit. in the last measure supposed to be above the RH? Isn't it supposed to be slotted between both hands?

Usually I see any direction related to tempo go above the staff, but it doesn't really matter too much either way. If you have other directions attached to it (i.e. rit. e dim.), then that would go between the staves for sure.

-Would it be possible to change the text for the tempo to "50-60 Slowly, with rubato". Also, could I also bother someone to manually add in the tempo (and hide them) at various points throughout the song? The playback is too slow in some parts.

I can get both of these things for you. Just make a list of the tempo changes you want added and where.

The other changes look good!

[MomoQca]

Usually I see any direction related to tempo go above the staff, but it doesn't really matter too much either way. If you have other directions attached to it (i.e. rit. e dim.), then that would go between the staves for sure.

Makes sense. Thanks for the clarification.

I can get both of these things for you. Just make a list of the tempo changes you want added and where.

Change tempo text from "50 Slowly, with rubato" to "50-60 Slowly, with rubato"

The following should be hidden.
m. 1 beat 1: 50
m. 3 beat 1: 60
m. 7 beat 3: 50
m. 8 beat 1: 56
m. 24 beat 1: 60

Thank you for handling this minor inconvenience. I appreciate your help.

[Static]

Thank you for handling this minor inconvenience. I appreciate your help.

No problem! The files have been edited with the above changes, and I'll now accept. Nice work.