What key/time signature is this song in?

[Code_Name_Geek]

Part of the reason 4/4 looks difficult to read is that the third eighth note in the RH crosses the middle of the bar. In 4/4, it is important to show a clear distinction between beat 2 and 3 as it is easier to read for the performer, and it what they are used to reading in published sheet music.

Here I've recreated the first two bars of your arrangement to show you what that would look like. In this case, you don't need a staccato on the 16th note as a 16th followed by a rest is already understood to be short, and will end up being about the same length as an eighth note with a staccato. This solution also makes it clear that the fourth and fifth notes are simple off-beats, lining up with the bassline. (I put a dotted line in the middle of the bar to show the split I'm talking about, though you wouldn't actually put this in the arrangement of course.)


To simplify it further, you could also beam the second eighth note to the 16th across the rest. You want to be careful about beaming across rests because it can easily get confusing if done all over the place, but in this case showing that those two notes are both part of beat 2 makes it easier to read.


Simplifying all of the rhythms like this will go a long way towards making them more readable for the performer. Hope this helps, let me know if you have any questions!

[invy]

Thanks for the advice! I'll most likely use the beaming because it condenses the arrangement enough to fit on two pages if nothing else

If anyone wants to weigh in on which version is better, the original is here and the version with beaming is here.