[NES] Castlevania II: Simon's Quest - "Monster Dance" (Replacement) by LeviR.star

[Zeta]

Submission Information:
Series: Castlevania
Game: Castlevania II: Simon's Quest
Console: Nintendo Entertainment System
Title: Monster Dance
Instrumentation Solo Piano
Arranger: LeviR.star


Replacement Information:
Links to Existing Sheet: MUS | MIDI | PDF
Replacement Type: Challenge (new arranger)

[attachment deleted by admin]

[attachment deleted by admin]

[LeviR.star]

It was either this, or my "Dwelling of Doom" sheet from the same game, but I decided that most of these older sheets with a PDF URL with a number below 100 ought to be taken care of sooner or later.

Proper title is "Monster Dance" (singular).

Things to note:

- to make things easier for the performer, I've moved the beat 4 16th run in m. 4 down an octave. With that decision in place, should I move the 2nd layer 16ths in the first two measures down, too? I don't like how it sounds in the playback
- I'm not entirely sure, but I think the A on beat 3 of m. 6 is a set of two 16ths. It might just be the percussion overlapping and obscuring my hearing, though
- is there a way to know how far out to stretch the singular measure in the last system?

... and if I think of anything else, I'll ask you guys along the way. Thank you.

[Libera]

Always up for replacements yay.

-RIP the top note ties in bars 1-2.
-Eb -> D#, Gb -> F#, Eb-> Ab -> G# in bars 5-6.

- I'm not entirely sure, but I think the A on beat 3 of m. 6 is a set of two 16ths. It might just be the percussion overlapping and obscuring my hearing, though

-I think I hear bar 6 beat 3 as you have written it (without the repeated semiquaver), but I also think I can hear an extra Bn in the LH of the final bar.  Like this:

Spoiler

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- to make things easier for the performer, I've moved the beat 4 16th run in m. 4 down an octave. With that decision in place, should I move the 2nd layer 16ths in the first two measures down, too? I don't like how it sounds in the playback

Personally I think it's best the way it is currently.  It gives a nice textural contrast in the opening.  (And also I wouldn't worry too much about how the playback sounds, it's often awful haha.)

- is there a way to know how far out to stretch the singular measure in the last system?

I don't think there's a rule per se, but just try to make sure it looks even compared with the previous measures.  With that in mind, I think what you have currently looks totally fine to me.

-I'd bring the semiquaver layer two rests down a smidge in the first two bars.
-Horribly as a direction kinda sounds like you want to the performer to play the piece poorly, but that might just be me.

Nice stuff, the notes look great to me!

[LeviR.star]

-Eb -> D#, Gb -> F#, Eb-> Ab -> G# in bars 5-6.

Did you mean to type this here?

-I think I hear bar 6 beat 3 as you have written it (without the repeated semiquaver), but I also think I can hear an extra Bn in the LH of the final bar.  Like this:

Spoiler

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I can't concentrate enough right now to figure that out for myself, but I trust your judgement.

-I'd bring the semiquaver layer two rests down a smidge in the first two bars.

Done and done.

-Horribly as a direction kinda sounds like you want to the performer to play the piece poorly, but that might just be me.

It's actually a long-standing meme about text in the game that says, "WHAT A HORRIBLE NIGHT TO HAVE A CURSE." whenever the time of day switches to night (signalling for this theme to start playing). It's just a joke on my part, but if it's decided to not be worth the joke as a direction, I can remove it if you guys want.

Everything else has been modified for now. I also did a bit more research and removed Kouji Murata (composer for the Game Boy Mega Man games!) from the composition credits, as he was on the Wikipedia page, but not the Video Game Music Preservation Foundation Wiki page.

[Libera]

Did you mean to type this here?

I did not, thanks for pointing that out!

-RIP the top note ties in bars 1-2.

The poor ties are still very squeezed.

It's actually a long-standing meme about text in the game that says, "WHAT A HORRIBLE NIGHT TO HAVE A CURSE." whenever the time of day switches to night (signalling for this theme to start playing). It's just a joke on my part, but if it's decided to not be worth the joke as a direction, I can remove it if you guys want.

It's not that big of a problem, and I know that the site kind of has a history of jokey directions so eh (shrug emoji).


Once those ties are fixed I think I'm done here.

[LeviR.star]

The poor ties are still very squeezed.

Once those ties are fixed I think I'm done here.

I thought you were just noting how squished they looked. How can I fix them?

Also, I still need the song title for the replacement fixed, please.

[mikey]

It's okay to just put "what a horrible night to have a curse" imo if you think horribly can be misconstrued

[Libera]

I thought you were just noting how squished they looked. How can I fix them?

Special tools -> Tie tool.  Just even them out so they look more like how ties usually look.

Also, I still need the song title for the replacement fixed, please.

Done.

It's okay to just put "what a horrible night to have a curse" imo if you think horribly can be misconstrued

Not going to lie, that sounds much worse to me.

[LeviR.star]

Special tools -> Tie tool.  Just even them out so they look more like how ties usually look.

That darn tie tool is so difficult to work with; hope that looks alright. You guys can try it if you're not satisfied with my edit.

Files updated.

[Libera]

That darn tie tool is so difficult to work with; hope that looks alright. You guys can try it if you're not satisfied with my edit.

Yeah it is a little awkward.  I just adjusted the third top tie so that it lay in between the staff lines (looks a little neater that way imo).  I also adjusted the slur in that bar so that it reached the last note more clearly.

Hope those tiny edits are cool with you: if so that's all from me.  Approved.

[LeviR.star]

Hope those tiny edits are cool with you: if so that's all from me.  Approved.

It's more than fine by me, as long as it looks nice; which it does, so thank you.

[Latios212]

-Horribly as a direction kinda sounds like you want to the performer to play the piece poorly, but that might just be me.

hahaha

My stance on the performance direction is that references are fine, but only if it makes sense as a performance direction. It should provide some value in the way of clarity of how to play the sheet, which can be in the form of some kind of a mood for example. But I don't think "Horribly" really makes sense here. Perhaps you can tweak the reference a bit?

Small other comment: I think it'd be best for the top ties in m. 1-2 (between beats 1-2 RH) to point upwards since there's nothing above them.

That's about it though, nice work!

[mastersuperfan]

you should see the stuff I put on my sheets

I think that just putting "What a horrible night to have a curse" is not a bad idea. True, it is a bit long, but... we have things on site like "With the Power of Fluffy Boys and Mean Girls" and "Come se passeggiando un Skele-TON di neve," so this is hardly the strangest case out there. I'm all for finding a different reference that might be shorter and/or clearer as a performance direction, but there's a fair amount of liberty in your choice here.

EDIT: But I (half-)agree with Latios too. Well, I tend to put lots of things on my sheets that aren't really performance directions in the slightest... but I think maybe the one thing you want to avoid is trying to include a reference that makes itself seem like a performance direction when it really isn't. "Horribly" is a pretty clear example of that... you don't want them playing it horribly. Usually, I either stick with a traditional performance direction or go totally out there with a quote or some other reference that is clearly not trying to tell the performer how to play it.

[LeviR.star]

Small other comment: I think it'd be best for the top ties in m. 1-2 (between beats 1-2 RH) to point upwards since there's nothing above them.

I can do that!

My stance on the performance direction is that references are fine, but only if it makes sense as a performance direction. It should provide some value in the way of clarity of how to play the sheet, which can be in the form of some kind of a mood for example. But I don't think "Horribly" really makes sense here. Perhaps you can tweak the reference a bit?

you should see the stuff I put on my sheets

I think that just putting "What a horrible night to have a curse" is not a bad idea. True, it is a bit long, but... we have things on site like "With the Power of Fluffy Boys and Mean Girls" and "Come se passeggiando un Skele-TON di neve," so this is hardly the strangest case out there. I'm all for finding a different reference that might be shorter and/or clearer as a performance direction, but there's a fair amount of liberty in your choice here.

EDIT: But I (half-)agree with Latios too. Well, I tend to put lots of things on my sheets that aren't really performance directions in the slightest... but I think maybe the one thing you want to avoid is trying to include a reference that makes itself seem like a performance direction when it really isn't. "Horribly" is a pretty clear example of that... you don't want them playing it horribly. Usually, I either stick with a traditional performance direction or go totally out there with a quote or some other reference that is clearly not trying to tell the performer how to play it.

Check the files now...

Le reference

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[Latios212]

Haha alrighty then, I have no more complaints