[GCN] Kirby Air Ride - "Celestial Valley" by Bespinben

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Submission Information:
Series: Kirby
Game: Kirby Air Ride
Console: Nintendo GameCube
Title: Celestial Valley
Instrumentation Solo Piano
Arranger: Bespinben

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[Bespinben]

[mikey]

In measure 4, why wouldn't the fingering be 52132123?  Then your #5 is all set up for the octave in the next measure.  Plus for most people the 3 crosses over more easily.

[Bespinben]

Good question! Look at the same run in measure 8 and 12. I finger them differently based on the upcoming measure (so you have the right idea!). In fact, m. 12 I do use 52132123. But, for m. 4 and m.8 I prefer crossing over with 4, especially m. 8 because the octave comes up on G, the note right after finger 4. I try to give the 4 finger as many possible opportunities to perform, since there's such a tendency to neglect it.

[mikey]

Wow!  I just mentally played all the pieces I know and only in like Maple Leaf Rag, Hyrule Field, and WW's Title Theme do I ever use finger 4 D:
Still, your ring finger is pretty much your weakest finger (the pinky is very flexible and useful, whereas the ring finger is stiff and nowhere near as strong as a pointer or middle) so I think there's a reason for that.  I guess in this case it would come down to preference but if I learned to play this piece I think I would actually ignore your fingerings
Maybe I'm the weird one here

[The Deku Trombonist]

Isn't the chord on beat 1 of bar 31 just D minor?

[JDMEK5]

Yes! I love this song! One thing to ask about though: would it be possible to add that little flourish in the pickup to m.37?

[Bespinben]

Hmm... the enthusiasm, I sense it.

@Deku - That's what I thought too initially! But, listening really closely, I actually don't hear a 3rd or a 4th at all in the piano strike, much like the beginning of SSBM Opening (the open chord that plays when like Link's sword hits the ground in the cinematic). I put the 4th in there because you can still hear some echo from the previous measure, and the G of the previous chord just seems to suspend the most, almost in more than just a "sonic sorcery" sort of way. So I thought, "Oh hey wynaut?". Quartal chords seem to work well with piano "punches" anyway

@JDMEK - I brushed it off at first as just an unnecessary arpeggiation, but listening closely now I caught that it had some scalar elements, including a B natural. It is now included!

[The Deku Trombonist]

I dunno, it just sounds a bit strange. It really stuck out the first time I listened to the sheet. It'd be the only use of a tonic suspended chord in the whole piece and apart from anything else, it's a mirror of the chord progression from 4 bars before.

Bar 18 also sounds a little strange. And I'm pretty sure a G would better fit the harmony of bar 25 instead of an A.

[Xaoz]

Oh... I just realized this is here... Obviously love this song and still wondering how it was missing all the time. Love the arrangement. Good job.

[Bespinben]

Point taken about m. 31. It's a bit of a "black sheep" having a sus4 there when it's not present anywhere else. Changed.

Aww... I actually like how m. 18 came out. The reason why I put an A there was to serve as a "anticipation of the anticipation", so to speak. The E natural is by all counts a non-chord tone, making sense only in the context of the following measure's A7 chord, but it still comes out of the blue because the root of m. 18 is an Eb. So, to help smoothen the gap, I put an A in m. 18 before the E natural played. It also has the nice side effect of functioning as a #11 in the moment (gotta love 'dat Lydian mmm mmm).
I really would prefer to keep it this way.

(Added in some slurs to that section btw for the melody)

[The Deku Trombonist]

Wait, I'm lost...are we talking about 18 or 25 here?

In either case it's just neopolitan to dominant chord (with a resolving suspension) which is not really out of the ordinary.

[Bespinben]

18!

Right, I see that. That is definitely the function. I guess, from your end, does the A detract from the function or simply sound off? The intent of putting that in was to help that function and to give some harmonic variety, but if it does neither, then yes, I will move it to G.

[Bespinben]

Oh wow. Shows how much I read.

25.



That's what I meant.

BUT! Now that I know you have concerns about the TRUE measure 18, allow me to explain that I think it sounds strange too. I played with it a lot, and this seemed to be the best way to make not just the harmonic, but also textural, transition to the next measure. I didn't want to resolve the suspended 4th right away, so instead of doing Amsus4 ---> Am within m. 18, I went for A7sus4(b9) ---> Am(add11), using the elimination of the 7th (G) and flat 9th (Bb) as a sort of pseudo-resolution.

[The Deku Trombonist]

I just thought the b9 in bar 18 was a bit much. The b7 works rather nicely.

And the #4 in bar 25.

Kirby Air Ride already has its fair share of chord extensions and stuff but they're usually pretty tame i hope that made sense...