Latios212's Replacements

[Latios212]

EarthBound
Because I Love You

Final Fantasy IV
Theme of Love

Kirby Super Star
Taking Over the Halberd

Mario Kart: Super Circuit
Sky Garden (with Static)

Pokémon Black Version & Pokémon White Version
Battle! (Team Plasma)

Pokémon Diamond Version & Pokémon Pearl Version
Mystery Gift

Pokémon HeartGold Version & Pokémon SoulSilver Version
New Bark Town

Pokémon Ruby Version & Pokémon Sapphire Version
Oldale Town

Radical Dreamers
The Girl Who Stole the Stars (pitch shifted version)

Super Mario Galaxy
Overture
File Select (edit)

Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins
Map
Overworld

Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars
Let's Try

The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening
Mabe Village

The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap
Picori Festival

The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess
Postman's Theme
Sanctuary

[Latios212]

Added "Theme of Love" from FFIV

and "Postman's Theme" and "Sanctuary" from Twilight Princess

[Latios212]

Added "Because I Love You" from EarthBound


6/2/20

and "Taking Over the Halberd" from Kirby Super Star

and "Mystery Gift" from Pokémon Diamond Version & Pokémon Pearl Version

and "Sky Garden" (collab with Static) from Mario Kart: Super Circuit

and "Overture" and "File Select" (edit) from Super Mario Galaxy

[Latios212]

Added "The Girl who Stole the Stars" from Radical Dreamers

[Latios212]

Added "Picori Festival" from The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap

[Dekkadeci]

Dunno whether this applies to your .MUSX, but your .MUS file for "Taking Over the Halberd" as I can read it on Finale Notepad has strangely duplicated flat and double flat signs in the very starts of the right hands of Bars 24 and 26, unlike your PDF in your regular arrangements thread. This makes Bar 24 look like it has a wrong double flat sign.

Also, do we have a source for whether any of the Kirby Super Star songs were composed exclusively by Jun Ishikawa (including "Taking over the Halberd")? This is a common assumption I've read but am unable to find conclusive evidence for.

[Latios212]

Yeah, that's just an export issue. The PDF in my thread shows it as intended as it shows up in my .musx file. (The layer work there is the result of trying to get the accidentals to space properly on beat 3).

Not really sure about an official Kirby Super Star source, but this page lists the ones credited to him in later games. The Halberd themes are among that list

[Latios212]

Added "Oldale Town" from Pokémon Ruby/Sapphire.

Also adding "Battle! (Team Plasma)" from Pokémon Black/White. Making a couple of finishing edits to it

[Maelstrom]

Sky Garden

First of all, I want to say that the key changes in this song are amazing from a compositional standpoint, especially reusing the opening measure.

Honestly,  I can't find anything wrong with this. It's a great arrangement that actually ends up sounding more full and impressive than the original. Fantastic work. approving

edit:
Also checked Taking over the halberd.  That as going to be a different post, but it's so good I'm just approving it here

[Latios212]

Sky Garden

First of all, I want to say that the key changes in this song are amazing from a compositional standpoint, especially reusing the opening measure.

Honestly,  I can't find anything wrong with this. It's a great arrangement that actually ends up sounding more full and impressive than the original. Fantastic work. approving

Thanks! Honestly it was Static who really spiced up the arrangement - he's the best with Mario Kart stuff And yeah, the song slides between Db and E super effortlessly, and using the repeat on the pickup is pretty unusual.

[mastersuperfan]

Sky Garden - Mario Kart: Super Circuit
- BPM is 149 instead of 150.
- m5 RH has staccatos on the tied eighth notes.
- The unbeaming of the RH Layer 2 eighth notes in m3/5/7 looks confusing to me because it's not clearly evident that the accented chords are following the rhythm of Layer 2 (especially in m3/7, where it might look like the RH has 4.5 beats without the LH part). I would personally prefer to see them beamed, at least in m3/7.
- The layering in m10 looks weird because the Layer 2 rests aren't shown, so it's not super clear that the notes belong to two different layers. At first glance, it looks like a single melodic line starting on Bn with a random quarter rest on top. IMO the measure would look better as a single layer without the rest, even if the Bn doesn't belong to the main melody.
- Would the m9/11/17 RH staccatos look better above the noteheads, and/or would the m14-15 RH staccatos look better below the noteheads?
- I would prefer to write the staccato'd quarter note in m16 as an eighth note and an eighth rest instead.
- Some measures require the use of pedal to be played as written (m11, m14, maybe m13 to an extent), but there are also staccatos everywhere. I'm not really sure how I would reconcile this if I were playing the sheet. Is there a way to edit these parts so that they don't require pedaling over several beats?

Battle! (Team Plasma) - Pokémon Black & White - I really like the lull you added in the sheet in m35-38! On another note, the melody in m51-54 is really reminding me of something else from Pokémon, but I can't remember exactly what...
- Very minor nitpick, but I think the dynamic in m11 could be moved down a little.
- IMO m11-26 should still be forte since I think a ff-mf drop is too big and sudden, although dynamics are subjective anyway. You also do have a nice dynamic contour on page 3, and it makes sense for m11 and m39 to have the same dynamic, so I don't really mind the mezzo forte in the end.
- In m13/14/17, the natural on the Bn in the LH at the end of the measure is really close to the previous stem (directly touching it, in the case of m17). The natural sign could be moved a bit more to the right, maybe along with the note itself if you added a little bit of extra space to the end of the measure.
- I think the sixteenth notes in m23-30 would look much cleaner as staccato'd eighth notes, especially since you have everything beamed in 6/8 already.
- In m59-62, I'm hearing the last note of the arpeggio going back up instead of continuing downward—so the last note in59-61 should be Ab instead of Db, and the last note in m62 should be F instead of Bb. (It also works nicely that the Ab at the end of the arpeggio ties immediately over to the first beat of the next measure—maybe it would be nice to write that tie out directly, instead of only tying dotted half notes in Layer 2?)
- I would suggest transposing m68-71 RH up an octave to preserve the upward contour of the line.
- There are some background notes you could include in the RH in m71-72.

Mystery Gift - Pokémon Diamond & Pearl
- Beat 2.5 of m1 RH sounds like it should be tied over to beat 3.
- On beat 1.5 of m4 RH, I hear the Layer 2 note as a G instead of an E.
- On beat 3 of m7 RH, I hear the Layer 2 note as a D instead of an E.

New Bark Town - Pokémon HeartGold & SoulSilver - There is a lot more going on this track than I realized, especially between the left and right ears...
- "Laid-back" should be hyphenated.
- I'm not sure I hear the additional C# on beat 3 of m4 RH. However, I do hear a G below the E on beat 3 (which would probably be easier to play with the LH instead of the RH).
- The lower notes in m9 RH sound like they play in quarter notes: D-B-A-G. I think omitting the B is fine so as not to repeat the B in the melody, but I would include the G on beat 4.
- I'm getting something different for the bassline in m9-10:


- I don't hear any of the lower RH notes in m10 in any of the voices. Are they improvised notes?
- In m11 RH, the strings (starting on beat 2) go G(quarter)-B(dotted quarter)-D(eighth), instead of G(quarter)-B(quarter)-A(quarter), or is the A at the end also improvised? I would still use the dotted quarter-eighth rhythm in Layer 2 because nearly every voice in the original does that as well.
- LH beat 1 of m12 sounds like a low E instead of an A.
- I also hear an E on RH beat 3 of m13.
- In m17 RH Layer 2, you might consider transposing beats 2 and 3 up an octave to preserve the downward F#-D-C# pattern from the original.
- I'm assuming you transposed the bassline up one octave in m18-20 so that the LH could also play the chords, but I would suggest at least transposing the E on beat 1 of m18 back down an octave to preserve the downward motion of the D#-B-E pattern that starts at the end of m17.
- The chord at the beginning of m20 also has a G in it. The RH chord on beat 3 also has a G right below the high A, but I can understand leaving that one out since the dissonance on the piano is harsher there.
- You could also add grace notes leading to beat 3 of m20 RH (grace notes D-E-G).
- In m25, I hear a B in the chord, but no C, so I think it would be better to make the first Layer 2 note a B instead.
- It took me some time to figure out which line you were transcribing in m28. I think it would be better to transcribe this more prominent line into the LH instead (see below). The piano line you have right now could also be written into the RH (in its original octave), but I'm not sure if the two lines together would sound good on piano.

[Latios212]

Sky Garden - Mario Kart: Super Circuit
- BPM is 149 instead of 150.
- m5 RH has staccatos on the tied eighth notes.
- The unbeaming of the RH Layer 2 eighth notes in m3/5/7 looks confusing to me because it's not clearly evident that the accented chords are following the rhythm of Layer 2 (especially in m3/7, where it might look like the RH has 4.5 beats without the LH part). I would personally prefer to see them beamed, at least in m3/7.
- The layering in m10 looks weird because the Layer 2 rests aren't shown, so it's not super clear that the notes belong to two different layers. At first glance, it looks like a single melodic line starting on Bn with a random quarter rest on top. IMO the measure would look better as a single layer without the rest, even if the Bn doesn't belong to the main melody.
- Would the m9/11/17 RH staccatos look better above the noteheads, and/or would the m14-15 RH staccatos look better below the noteheads?
- I would prefer to write the staccato'd quarter note in m16 as an eighth note and an eighth rest instead.
- Some measures require the use of pedal to be played as written (m11, m14, maybe m13 to an extent), but there are also staccatos everywhere. I'm not really sure how I would reconcile this if I were playing the sheet. Is there a way to edit these parts so that they don't require pedaling over several beats?

Good suggestions, implemented them all with the following caveats:
- Don't want to move the staccatos in m. 9/14/15 because there's stuff happening in the other layer. m. 17 I like above though, so I moved those.
- m. 11 is now one layer so no pedal needed. For 13-14 the performer can just lift the note a bit early.
Also, we duplicated the intro measure at the end since it's a pickup to m. 2 and structurally makes a bit more sense than a DC. The last system on page 1 is comparatively empty and eats up the extra measure pretty gracefully.

Mystery Gift - Pokémon Diamond & Pearl
- Beat 2.5 of m1 RH sounds like it should be tied over to beat 3.
- On beat 1.5 of m4 RH, I hear the Layer 2 note as a G instead of an E.
- On beat 3 of m7 RH, I hear the Layer 2 note as a D instead of an E.

Yep, you're right (assuming you mean beat 2 instead of 1.5 for the second comment). Fixed, thanks!

Battle! (Team Plasma) - Pokémon Black & White - I really like the lull you added in the sheet in m35-38! On another note, the melody in m51-54 is really reminding me of something else from Pokémon, but I can't remember exactly what...

lol I honestly just didn't know what to put there, I'm glad you think it works xD I've heard this song too much for it to remind me of something else, but I will keep that part in mind...

- Very minor nitpick, but I think the dynamic in m11 could be moved down a little.
- In m13/14/17, the natural on the Bn in the LH at the end of the measure is really close to the previous stem (directly touching it, in the case of m17). The natural sign could be moved a bit more to the right, maybe along with the note itself if you added a little bit of extra space to the end of the measure.
- I would suggest transposing m68-71 RH up an octave to preserve the upward contour of the line.

Got these things

- IMO m11-26 should still be forte since I think a ff-mf drop is too big and sudden, although dynamics are subjective anyway. You also do have a nice dynamic contour on page 3, and it makes sense for m11 and m39 to have the same dynamic, so I don't really mind the mezzo forte in the end.

This whole song is just one big wall of noise so the dynamics are pretty subject and this is my interpretation of what I imagine the ebb and flow to be when played on piano... that said, it makes sense that it's a big drop when the loop begins. I'll make the intro forte instead - that way I still have the same dynamic relationship with the rest of the piece. I feel like if I changed that to f too then it would feel like almost the whole piece is f.

- I think the sixteenth notes in m23-30 would look much cleaner as staccato'd eighth notes, especially since you have everything beamed in 6/8 already.

Yeah, originally I wanted to at least imply that the 12/16 percussion rhythm is still there but in hindsight that didn't make a whole lot of sense to write on the sheet. I rebeamed the syncopated parts to 6/8, leaving the first half of m. 23/25/27/29 as is. Hopefully that makes some sense. I would also be open to rewriting 47-50 in 6/8 if you think that would be good

- In m59-62, I'm hearing the last note of the arpeggio going back up instead of continuing downward—so the last note in59-61 should be Ab instead of Db, and the last note in m62 should be F instead of Bb. (It also works nicely that the Ab at the end of the arpeggio ties immediately over to the first beat of the next measure—maybe it would be nice to write that tie out directly, instead of only tying dotted half notes in Layer 2?)

Hey nice that removes the overlap with the ties! I would like to leave layer 2 as is though, as I intend that as basically a direction to sustain it if you don't want to play the 16th line.

- There are some background notes you could include in the RH in m71-72.

Wow... I've never noticed those. I guess it wouldn't hurt to put them in.

All edited, thanks! I'll get to New Bark Town at a later time.

[mastersuperfan]

Sky Garden
v26 doesn't import articulations correctly so I can't check their positioning without the PDF (I used the file from your PA thread originally), but I'm assuming that it all looks good. If you could provide an updated PDF too, though, that'd be great.

The only other thing I have to say about this sheet is that the notation in m13 RH is incredibly confusing (at least to me). I'm not exactly sure what the best way to write it would be, but I think a large part of the confusion comes from Layers 2 and 3 being beamed in the same direction, which looks weird with the two quarter notes on beats 2.5-3. Maybe something like this instead?


Mystery Gift
Looking good! One last comment I have is that the high notes on beat 1 of some measures seem pretty tricky to play (leaping up there and back down at a fast tempo) for not adding all that much to the arrangement, IMO. If anything, I think they sound a bit out of place. I would consider removing them altogether or at least parenthesizing them and saying they're optional.

Battle! (Team Plasma)
Also looking good! Just some other small things:
- Perhaps beam m47-50 in 6/8 like m23-30?
- I would consider using staccato'd eighths instead of sixteenths in m23/25/27/29 because you use staccato'd eighths on downbeats in other places (m7-9, m63, m71), so it would keep consistent throughout the whole sheet.

Oldale Town
Nice and simple, not much to say here.
- Wow those strings in m4 are really faint. Honestly, if I were arranging this I'm not sure I would've included them at all. You might consider tranposing m4 RH an octave down to separate it from the main melody in m5, but that would also create a fairly big leap between m4 and m5.
- The second half of m11 sounds out of place with the LH playing the dyad on beat 3.5 instead of beat 4. Is there a way to rewrite it so it plays the dyad at its peak on beat 4 like all the other instances?
- In m12 LH, there's a C above the A's and a D above the C. Were they omitted intentionally?
- In m13-14 LH, the arpeggios go back down for a few notes after reaching the peak. You might consider writing those in as well.

[Latios212]

Sky Garden
v26 doesn't import articulations correctly so I can't check their positioning without the PDF (I used the file from your PA thread originally), but I'm assuming that it all looks good. If you could provide an updated PDF too, though, that'd be great.

The only other thing I have to say about this sheet is that the notation in m13 RH is incredibly confusing (at least to me). I'm not exactly sure what the best way to write it would be, but I think a large part of the confusion comes from Layers 2 and 3 being beamed in the same direction, which looks weird with the two quarter notes on beats 2.5-3. Maybe something like this instead?

Spoiler

[close]

Yeah sounds good I like that! Updated and also provided a PDF
edit... realized we had a typo in here and had to rework it a little bit... how's this

Mystery Gift
Looking good! One last comment I have is that the high notes on beat 1 of some measures seem pretty tricky to play (leaping up there and back down at a fast tempo) for not adding all that much to the arrangement, IMO. If anything, I think they sound a bit out of place. I would consider removing them altogether or at least parenthesizing them and saying they're optional.

Maybe it's just me, but even though it's a separate voice I've always felt those notes are important when listening because of the way they mesh with the melody I would want the performer to prioritize those few notes even if that means missing some layer 2 notes, so I'd like to keep it as is!

Battle! (Team Plasma)
Also looking good! Just some other small things:
- Perhaps beam m47-50 in 6/8 like m23-30?
- I would consider using staccato'd eighths instead of sixteenths in m23/25/27/29 because you use staccato'd eighths on downbeats in other places (m7-9, m63, m71), so it would keep consistent throughout the whole sheet.

Yup sounds good, updated!

[mastersuperfan]

Sky Garden - Looks amazing! I'm ready to accept this now but I wanted to ask one other thing that just came to mind: Do you want to keep m24 RH as two layers? I'm not sure I see the point of using two layers and think condensing it into one would be neater.

Team Plasma Battle - Did you want to change the sixteenth notes in m23/25 LH to staccato'd eighth notes as well? Ready to approve once you let me know.

Mystery Gift - Nice. Approved