[GBC] Hamtaro: Ham-Hams Unite! - "Ruins" by Altissimo

[Zeta]

Submission Information:
Series: Other
Game: Hamtaro: Ham-Hams Unite!
Console: Game Boy Color
Title: Ruins
Instrumentation Solo Piano
Arranger: Altissimo

[attachment deleted by admin]

[attachment deleted by admin]

[Altissimo]

[Brassman388]

So here's something we haven't had the chance to talk about yet.

Spoiler

[close]

So a couple things to notice. The top version is yours, the middle version is notated in the 12/8 meter with the appropriate subdivisions, beaming, and rest placement. Notice there are very little to no articulations since everything is already subdivided to their correct length. A viable and effective way to notate what you have currently without changing too much. It's also more classically inclined, meaning readers who are proficient at reading will be able to pick this version of the sheet up will instantly recognize what's happening. Highly recommended if you plan on keeping it in 12/8.

The bottom version is using swing 8ths and triplet-brackets as apposed to the former version. This keeps it easy with the 4/4 time signature, but although requires almost each of the front 8th notes in each duple figure to be articulated. This is certainly a more jazz approach that trades the difficulty not being able to interpret the triple subdivision that experienced players may have. While this isn't as straightforward as the previous version, it offers another perspective by alternating the triplet and duple feel and look. Not as effective in my opinion, but it depends on your target audience is.

[Olimar12345]

It definitely isn't swing 8s here.

[Brassman388]

I was hoping for a discussion, but that works, I guess...

[Altissimo]

There really isn't a discussion to be had when it's just not swing though... I mean by that argument you could take just about any sheet on the site and argue for a different meter signature and say that we're having a discussion and that's why this sheet is actually correct... swing is more than just a long-short dichotomy within a beat, it's stylistic, and this track doesn't have any of the other stylistic elements that make a piece "swing" so it just seems to obfuscate other actual issues with the arrangement to try to tack on something it's not. I respect that you have enough musical knowledge to be worthy of the "updater" status but I have to respectfully disagree strongly with you on this one.

That said - you do have a point about the beaming stuff. (Though I don't think I would have used the phrase "appropriate subdivisions, beaming, and rest placement" because that implies I'm just plain wrong in my version, which I don't think I am... I think the choice of quarter-eighth-with-staccato or eighth-rest-eighth is something you could conceivably ... have a discussion over! :B) This is an old arrangement and with the experience of years since I've made it, I think your middle version is actually the neater way to write it.

OP updated - though with a few differences between your proposed middle version and what I actually uploaded.

[Olimar12345]

Sorry, I didn't feel like typing out a long postwall yesterday. Alti is right through: swing is a style, not a meter choice.

[Brassman388]

Easy easy, I'm just trying to gauge where ya'll at.

What I meant by rest placement was if there's an eighth note on the downbeat then it would be followed by two eighth rests. If it's on the last eighth of the three, then there would be a quarter rest preceding it. I'm all down for dotted whatevers, but if it's on every measure, that's when I would reconsider using staccatos. That's just me and my musical knowledge and experience talking about how appropriate using those specific subdivision can be, so take it with a grain of salt.

Edit: I looked at the sheet and it looks better. Should I go on about how the sheet looks in terms of formatting, or can you spot the problematic stuff without me pointing out the obvious?

Lest to save words from both of us.

[Altissimo]

the thing is as far as i am aware it meets all of the NSM formatting standards/requirements so any formatting suggestions you have I think would be, like, a bit of a gray area in terms of whether i NEED to change them or not, and obviously i can't read your mind with regards to which ones you want me to change or not, so yeah if you could tell me what it is I'm not seeing that would be nice

[Brassman388]

Fair.

The two things I did that made the whole sheet look crispy was to reduce the page to 90%, and change the left margin to 0.5 in. It's a one pager, so a solid 0.5 is good.

Don't forget to change the copyright url to "https://"

Once those are done. I would say that this is good to go.

[Altissimo]

cool then, done

[Brassman388]

Just one more thing, just so I can clarify something about the meter thing one more time.







This is an excerpt from Holst's Suite De Ballet, 2nd Movement.

I had to arrange this for an audition for tuba with piano accompaniment. Notice the meter and how the rests are around the note durations? This other than the range, it was completely ripped note for note, rest for rest from the score from which I worked from.

If there's no other concerns from the other updaters about this specific thing, and I'm just crazy, I'll give the sheet my good graces.

[Altissimo]

Not going to speak for the other updaters but I personally don't find a problem with using dotted quarter rests and also things like eighth-quarter rest, pretty sure i've done that in past sheets and never gotten any grief for it, and imo it just looks cleaner and is easier to interpret at a glance than a bunch of rests. Yeah yeah it's not that way in the classical literature I get it but really I don't think it's a big concern for yon 12 year old trying to learn how to play video game music .

[Brassman388]

Got it.

It's a go for me.

[Libera]

This whole thread is a little more confrontational than it really needs to be.  Regardless, I'm here to sort things out so yay.

-Notes are fine.
-Let's talk about formatting.

Not going to speak for the other updaters but I personally don't find a problem with using dotted quarter rests and also things like eighth-quarter rest, pretty sure i've done that in past sheets and never gotten any grief for it, and imo it just looks cleaner and is easier to interpret at a glance than a bunch of rests. Yeah yeah it's not that way in the classical literature I get it but really I don't think it's a big concern for yon 12 year old trying to learn how to play video game music .

So here's the thing: there's a reason why the rules are like they are and it's not just arbitrary.  I didn't know about these rules this morning but when Brassman showed them to me just now, my first thought was 'Yeah that actually makes loads of sense!' because it helps to differentiate the strong and weak beats within the meter.  Anyway, I think we should all strive to make our sheets as clean and correct as possible since a) it's not actually that hard to do and b) Why shouldn't the 12 year old get the finest quality sheet music?

Anyway, I did all the fixes myself to convince you to use them.  Most of what I did was regarding the rests but also I put in a 8va on bars 7-9 because there were some serious ledger lines there.  Also the bars were pretty oddly stretched so I fixed that as well.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/e3cuvzvnjom8lal/Ruins%20Libera%20Edit.mus?dl=1

If you use this file I'll accept it.