[NDS] Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Time/Darkness/Sky - "Barren Valley" by InsigTurtle

[Zeta]

Submission Information:
Series: Pokémon
Game: Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Time/Darkness/Sky
Console: Nintendo DS
Title: Barren Valley
Instrumentation Solo Piano
Arranger: InsigTurtle

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[Bespinben]

Great arrangement! Welcome to the PMD club. A few suggestions:

1.) I see what you're trying to communicate with the solid line in m. 1 in terms of the shared unison note of the melody and the accompaniment, but I think using a parentheses gets that point across more conventionally. Measures 2, 5, and 6 likewise. Solid lines typically designate that a single voice is moving to another staff (ex: playing a major scale from C3 to C5 all with the RH would probably use a solid line to show the movement of the voice to the treble clef probably around C4). But, you know all this already.

(Also, a mood marking for the tempo would be good. I thought "with determination" would be fitting, but that's your call.)


2.) Just a quick fix in the guitar accomp. at m. 11 & 12. There's no E3 on beat 4.



3.) Measures 24-36. Up until these measures, you having omitted the synth bass is fine, but here, it makes all the difference (ex: m. 25 - w/o bass it's a Gm chord; w/ bass it's an EbM7 || m. 26 - w/o bass it's an F chord; w/ bass it's an Dm7).
~ (Also [see below], this is how I hear that chord cluster in m. 23, beat 4)     
~ (Also, you missed an alto string note on beat 1 of measure 32. Seems like it was just an accident though)

[InsigTurtle]

I've fixed 1 and 2. For #3, I'm a bit confused about how to combine both instruments in the right hand. Also, I only hear the bass until m.28.

[InsigTurtle]

I started working on this one again. I've been working on making the chords in the second part (starting at the Gm9 at m.24) easier to play without tying your hands in a knot. The left hand's guitar part is a bit difficult to play smoothly, so I'm not sure what to do for that.

[Bespinben]

Great! Glad to see you didn't let this one die (almost did, sitting at the back-end of submissions  ). Just ring me up if you need help with the arranging part of the sheet. Past m. 24 is my favorite part of the song, so I'm glad you're giving it some love.

[InsigTurtle]

I did a quick revision over here. (.musx file)

Quick change list:
Chords from m.24-36
Slight fixes in left hand

I'm not sure about the key signature for the first part.

[Bespinben]

I've been fiddling with your new revision for the past week little by little, and I had a few thoughts:
*Pedal works really nicely at the beginning if you apply and release every 2 beats
*2 measures per system feels less cramped, since you have all those 16th notes taking up space
*Starting at measure 9, I think you should have the RH an octave higher, because of the flute. Also, the synth bass starts playing here. I don't recommend trying to incorporate the rhythm of the synth bass, but I think you should play the first note of it sustained, then play the guitar rhythm following.

So you can get a visual for what I'm saying, I demonstrated up to measure 11 (past there it's still the same):
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/35209091/BarrenValley.musx

EDIT: My dropbox doesn't like .musx for some reason (downloads as .zip?), so here's a 2012 export -- https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/35209091/BarrenValley.mus

I'm not sure about the key signature for the first part.

The first part is in D dorian. It's really a matter of preference if you want to write this as a mode specific key signature (that is, with no sharps or flats, equivalent to A minor), or keep it as D minor and treating the accidentals as being "borrowed" from the dorian mode. You could also just think of it as a raised 6th, which is common to do in minor keys.

[InsigTurtle]

I spent the first few hours today adding the fixes you mentioned.
I haven't finished adding the pedal markings because I didn't want to do it all over again in case this wasn't good enough.
All those articulation marks cause my computer to lag when editing them

I've also added another 8 measures, since the first part is slightly different after the repeat (+synth bass)

I didn't have any trouble opening your .musx file. Can you tell me if this file works fine?

[InsigTurtle]

#Bump from the back of the board.
I'll be completely free in a week, so I'd like to see un peu de feedback to get this one finally rolling. Seems like the last post here was on my birthday.

[Latios212]

Gee, this submission has been here even longer than I have...

[DonValentino]

Bespin? Anyone?

[Bespinben]

What may have seemed like an entire year of waiting was actually no time at all. Time is frozen in the Dark Future, after all.

That said, let's finish this Dungeon, shall we?

[MUS] [MIDI] [PDF] [MUSX]

[InsigTurtle]

I blame Dialga for the delay. Delayga.

While listening through the original, I just noticed that the percussion track continuously pans back and forth. Not really relevant, but I thought it was interesting since I hadn't noticed it when I was arranged it.

EDIT: Right after I blamed Dialga, my computer wasn't able to delete files. I guess you win this time, time god...

[Bespinben]

While listening through the original, I just noticed that the percussion track continuously pans back and forth. Not really relevant, but I thought it was interesting since I hadn't noticed it when I was arranged it.

Perhaps if you ever make a two pianos duet arrangement of Barren Valley, it would be possible to recreate this effect? Hmm... curious.

(Does killing the page 2 monster of submissions equate to K.O-ing Dialga? Bwhahaha)

[Zeta]

This submission has been accepted by Bespinben.

~Zeta, your friendly NSM-Bot