[NES] Super Mario Bros. 3 - "Airships" (Replacement) by Bespinben

[Zeta]

Submission Information:
Series: Super Mario
Game: Super Mario Bros. 3
Console: Nintendo Entertainment System
Title: Airships
Instrumentation Solo Piano
Arranger: Bespinben


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

[attachment deleted by admin]

[Maelstrom]

As expected, excellent. But the recording makes it sound like the RH in measures 3-6 is slightly ahead of the beat. Might just be me.

[Bespinben]

Keke! Thank you

the RH in measures 3-6 is slightly ahead of the beat. Might just be me.

Ah ha! You noticed. You are correct. In the original SMB3 OST, the long tones in the RH begin exactly 1/3 of a triplet before measure 3 (e.g. beat 4 & 2/3 of measure 2). I simply chose not to include that though. I guess I could, but... all later incarnations of this song attack on the beat.

[Maelstrom]

And the correct way just sounds wrong. Since we don't have many/any other versions on the site, it would probably be best to just leave it

[Bloop]

I have a feeling this song is in Gm. Not completely sure though, but kinda sure enough-ish. Sorta.

[Bespinben]

song is in Gm kinda sure enough-ish. Sorta.

While that may be true for the Super Mario Galaxy rendition of this song, it is not so true for this incarnation.

[Bloop]

Could you explain me why not? If I were to arrange the SMG version, it would be almost exactly the same like this one (excluding that little bridge part). Notes are equal too.

[Bespinben]

First, let's agree that a bass drone does not necessarily indicate the tonic. The song that Airship was inspired by, Mars, unrelentingly plays a bass G drone throughout, yet the final chord is an open 5th C.
http://imslp.org/wiki/The_Planets,_Op.32_(Holst,_Gustav)

Second, let's delineate the differences between the SWG and the SMB3 versions of this song, using a transcription I wrote up just for this occasion.

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1.) (I love snipping tool xoxo) The first immediate difference is that the SMG version has a bass G drone, whereas the SMB3 version has a more dissonant B natural drone (which from the get-go puts the G minor key idea in a crutch).
2.) The SMG version adds a third voice to the long tones in the right hand. That voice being a Bb in the first 2 measures corresponds well to G minor, but in the SMB3 version this voice does not exist, and, if it did somehow, it would clash with the B natural drone and result in a split third, making the whole idea of major/minor tonality dead.


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The SMG version of this passage is drastically different than in the SMB3. I wrote the chords into the SMG snippet to help illustrate that more easily. In the first two measures, the melody itself a half-step lower than in the SMB3 version, and the bass is also different throughout the whole passage. While the chordal quality of the first measures are similar in beats 1-3 (both derive themselves from a minor ninth chord), one simply cannot say both are in G minor when the SMB3 version is clearly in a different transposition for that moment. Additionally, if we did impose the key of G minor into the SMB3 version, you would have to rewrite the C#m9 chord (in m. 7 of my sheet) as Dbm9 because the D# would need to be an Eb to confirm with the G minor key signature, resulting also in having spell the B natural bass drone as a Cb for that moment, which would be inconsistent with the rest of the song. Everything speaks against that key.

Finally, if anything, our dear future president Maestro writes this keyless in his arrangement.
(And end it with a tasty triple forte fully-diminished 7th on B!)

[mikey]

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