[PS2] Devil May Cry 2 - "A Prayer for the Goddess (Divinity Statue)" by Zanza

[Zeta]

Submission Information:
Series: Other
Game: Devil May Cry 2
Console: PlayStation 2
Title: A Prayer for the Goddess (Divinity Statue)
Instrumentation Solo Piano
Arranger: Zanza

[attachment deleted by admin]

[Zanza]

Original Song:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YztD7GCGL8I

[Kricketune54]

Hey good to see you making a submission!

I'm seeing this listed under the official game soundtrack as A Prayer for the Goddess (Divinity Statue).  The comments on the video you linked suggest that these are played for divinity statues though, so if someone is more familiar with the game's music it can stay but otherwise I think that what was on vgmdb should be the sheet title.  Also it looks like Spotify has this title wrong, based off of the writing at the bottom of the vgmdb page?

Also linking here a bit of a modified sheet, MuseScore must've done its margin trick again of shrinking the staffs.  Till next time, refer to this post as a guide for Musescore to finale notepad conversions.  It also will show you how to add measure numbers, which is something else required.

Here is a new file though, I kept the systems and measures distribution mostly the same but fixed the margins and the title (for now).

Now for some feedback:

-The tempo and tempo text should line up with the time signature.  See a current sheet for an example of that https://www.ninsheetmusic.org/download/pdf/4948
-m11 flip the RH layers so the stems are reversed from what they currently are.  This can be achieved with the L key
-m8, m16, m19-21, m28 move this beat 1 rest in LH layer 1 down a bit so it's within the staff
-m16 there seems to be a bit of a pause/hold on the An here before the next measure.  Any ideas about how to show/capture this?  I was thinking a fermata maybe since it is a bit of a held note, but perhaps others could weigh in.

Note stuff:
-m3 beat 3 I hear an F#, maybe that could go in a second layer of the LH.  Also, I would either swap m3's layers or m4's (preferably m3 so the note stems being tied are facing the same direction) so the tie is between the same layer.
-m5 I hear another C# an octave higher in addition to the one you currently have, but only held for 2 beats.  I hear it move to a Bn, so perhaps make this a second layer for the RH
-I hear the m6 with the same rhythm, but an E and D#
-m8 is really quite beautiful.  However, there is an F# currently missing there, which is technically held for the entire measure.
-m9 I hear a C# below the En in the LH.  I also hear it carrying into m10
-m11 I hear the same half note quarter note rhythm I've mentioned, this time G# to F#.  m13 I hear this as well, with a C# and Bn
-m14 I hear En and D# doing the same rhythm pattern; I'd suggest moving the current top layer in the LH up to the RH, and putting the missing notes in as the new LH top layer.
-m17 I hear an F# above this D# in the LH.
-m18 above the G# in the LH, I hear a held Dn
-m21 I hear a held Dn and Fn dotted half notes but I don't hear the G# held in the LH, but rather as a quarter note.  Make this a quarter, and make a new bottom layer in the LH with the Dn and Fn.
-m23 I hear an Fn above the C# in the LH
-m24 I hear a descending line below the Fn F# Gn that is going Cn Bn An, put this either in the same layer as the current RH notes or a second RH layer if you want to differentiate them.

That's a pretty good amount of stuff at this point though, I'd really recommend giving a listen in for those inner moving parts and identifying when they're ascending, or when a note is being held.  Some of them are in there currently, but there's some additional inner detail missing that really adds to this piece. I've included a lot up to m24 for fixes to be addressed, but for the measures afterwards, give those the same sort of look!  Once again, very cool piece

[Bloop]

Bump for arranger!

[Zanza]

Reply to Kricketune54


Thanks for your valuable feedback. You made my score sound incredible!

I've implemented basically everything you have written: the only thing I don't completely agree with is the "fermata thing" in m16, because that rest is so tiny that I wouldn't even write it on the sheet.

About formatting the score- I've read and studied well the guide you linked; I've also asked for some help on the server and I should have done everything correctly (I hope, at least). Cacabish has even released a new version of his MusicXML cleaner because of some problems I had!

Again, thanks, and sorry for the late response, but better late than ever I guess. 

[Bloop]

Hi Zanza, pretty nice work on this sheet! I think you have a lot of the right notes, but there's still some work to be done. The biggest thing I can say about this is the way the piece is written: this piece is a contrapuntal work for a choir of 4 female voices. This means there are 4 different voices that all have their own melody. In an arrangement for piano, it's best to make it as clear as possible what each voice is doing in separate layers. I won't go into detail for the whole sheet right now, but here's what I can say about the first 8 measures:

m1-8

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[close]

-I think this piece is supposed to be in C#m. The A#'s in the sheet are more of a Dorian add-on for a more church-like character (the Dorian scale is like the minor scale, but with the 6th raised: in this case, the A becoming A#). Later on you can see more An's too.
-Notice that I gave each voice their own layer: two voices in the R.H., and two in the L.H. This makes it clearer what each voice is playing, instead of using dyads or chords when notes have the same length.
-m3: The rest in the L.H. isn't really necessary, since the other layer hasn't started their part yet. In the R.H., I hear an G# on beat 1 as well.
-m4: I heard the C# on beat 1 in the L.H. getting restriked here. I also choice to put a unison in the R.H. (so both layers are playing the same note), as I think that's what the second voice from the R.H. is doing.
-m6: I hear the top line (E and D#) an octave lower. I put this in the L.H., and moved the An-G#-B in the L.H. to the R.H.
-m7: I hear a C# in the L.H., and moved the F#-E-G# to the R.H.
-m8: I don't hear an F# getting restruck on beat 3, and I hear a B# on beat 1. I notated this as B# instead of Cn, because it's a leading tone to the C# (the B# being the raised 7th in a C# minor scale). Because there's a Bn in the R.H., I put a cautionary accidental (an accidental with parentheses) there, so it's clear that there's both a B# and a Bn playing.

I'd suggest trying to figure out the rest of this sheet in the same kind of fashion: listening to what each voice is doing separately, instead of listening what notes are playing on what beat. The best way to handle that is to start with the outer voices (the lowest in the L.H. and the highest in the R.H.), and afterwards listening what's going on in the middle. I'm not sure if some of the changes I've made are easily doable in Finale Notepad, like the key signature change or the cautionary accidental, so here's a muse file that you can use to write in edits. You could also do the edits in Musescore and re-convert them to Finale, but it might be easier to fix them directly in Notepad if possible.

[Zanza]

Hey Bloop,

didn't even notice there were 4 different voices, maybe this song sound so holy that it just amazes me everytime.
I'll update the score soon, thanks for the info.

[Libera]

Bump for arranger.

[Zanza]

Did not forget about this score, apparently.
Just, y'know, have taken my time 

Something I need to say:

- I changed the name of the score to just "Divinity Statue". Kricketune said the real name is much longer, according to the archives or whatever, but I feel like it is just too long. I also added a composer I had forgotten, who also wrote this song according to the description of the song's YouTube video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YztD7GCGL8I
- I tried my best to differentiate the 4 parts. It wasn't as hard as I expected, did also notice a few other notes.
- I hear an F# being restruck on m8 for some reason. The melody goes En-D#-F#-C#, so it sounds pretty fair.

I'm a bit unsure about a couple of things:

- On m18, I put a C## instead of Dn because I hear the melody go from D(#) to C(##), instead of from D(#) to D(n), starting from the previous measure. Now, I'm a rookie when it comes to enharmonic spelling, so I don't know if there's a rule or anything.
- On m31, I hear the second layer go pretty high. It sounds like C#-F#-An-En. It is pretty hard to recognise, but, if I heard right, it should be there.

[Bloop]

This looks a lot better (as far as I can remember)! There's still some note stuff I noticed, as well as some other details:

-m11: I don't really hear the high E in the R.H. hear, but I do hear a G# below the B in the bottom layer. I think the F# in the L.H. on beat 3 belongs to this layer too, similarly to m3.
-m17-18: I hear an additional C# below the D# in the L.H. in m17, and an F# above the Cx in m18. Because this makes 3 voices in the L.H., You can delete the doubled voices in the R.H. Lastly, for the Cx, you can still write it as Dn (Cx and Dn are enharmonically equivalent), partly because it descends chromatically from D# to Dn to C#, and partly because it's part of a G#ø chord (which is G#, B, D, F#)
-m19-20: There's a middle voice in-between these parellel 5ths. I'd move the bottom voice in the R.H. to the L.H. and add the middle voice to the R.H. like this:
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-m23: I hear a Dn instead of a C# in the L.H.
-m24: Because of the Dn in m23, I'd add a courtesy accidental to the D# here.
-m25: I hear a G# and C# between these voices. I'd add the C# to the R.H. and the G# to the L.H.
-m26: I hear this instead here:
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-m29: I hear an F# held in this measure, I'd add it in the R.H. as the bottom layer.

- On m31, I hear the second layer go pretty high. It sounds like C#-F#-An-En. It is pretty hard to recognise, but, if I heard right, it should be there.

I personally don't hear this though, it sounds like there's some strings stuff going on but those play the same notes as the female choir. It could be that you're hearing overtones or something?
For m31-32, I hear this:
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Lastly, for m33, you can keep the treble clef and not switch to bass clef, the G# is still readable and has appeared before as well.

[Libera]

- I changed the name of the score to just "Divinity Statue". Kricketune said the real name is much longer, according to the archives or whatever, but I feel like it is just too long. I also added a composer I had forgotten, who also wrote this song according to the description of the song's YouTube video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YztD7GCGL8I

Just dropping in to say that, yes, you should use the names and composer info given in the link that Kricketune sent.  vgmdb is the most reliable source for these sorts of things, certainly moreso than random youtube videos.

[Zanza]

So, turns out this is a complex arrangement for me... is it not? Well, I'm currently studying music theory so I will improve for future ones.

So, this is going to be called "A Prayer for the Goddess (Divinity Statue)". Isn't that a bit long? Oh right, that's its name.

Updating the files now.

[Bloop]

So, turns out this is a complex arrangement for me... is it not? Well, I'm currently studying music theory so I will improve for future ones.

No worries, there's still a lot you had right! There's just two small things left from the changes, but that should be all from me:

-m17: The new C# in this bar is the lowest note, so it makes sense to write it in the L.H. and move the other notes up a voice:
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-m31: The F# on beat 2 in the L.H. is already played by the R.H., and I don't hear the extra A on beat 3, so I think the top voice in the L.H. can just be a dotted half C# (like in the screenshot I posted at the end of my previous post.

[Zanza]

Updated!

[Bloop]

Awesome! Then I can finally give you an approval! The accepting will be done after a second updater has taken a look at your sheet.
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