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[Zeta]

Submission Information:
Series: Other
Game: Undertale
Console: PC
Title: Finale
Instrumentation Solo Piano
Arranger: ThePopStarDude

[Yug_Guy]

Hey, good to see you submitting Undertale stuff! Just as a general rule, it's always a good idea to post a link to the song that you're submitting. But hey, nbd.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yWjavxcGfqM

[ThePopStarDude]

Ah, ok. Thanks! I'll do that next time.

[Bespinben]

I would strongly recommend you carefully listen to the OST again and try transcribe the harmonies more carefully. For example, from the get-go at measure 1, the left hand chord is missing the very important Bb bass tone, which is crucial to the harmony -- a Bb minor 9th chord is significantly different from an F minor chord. If that's music theory jargon to you, then don't worry -- all you need to do is listen very carefully and write what you hear. It's just important to know one missing or incorrectly transcribed note can have far-reaching consequences.

As for what you already have, here's a couple quick pointers:
*The key signature is F minor (4 flats).
*Because of this, all C#'s should be spelled Db, and the Fb's should be E natural (leading tone of F minor).
*Hypermeter -- Ever wonder how many measures to fit in a single system? Following the hypermeter of song is usually a good default. For example, most songs are composed in 4-measure long phrases (such as Finale here), so by fitting 4-measures to every system, your sheet portrays this aspect of the song's structure.

[ThePopStarDude]

I see. Thank you for the criticism. I'll edit my sheet as quickly as I can.

[ThePopStarDude]

I have edited my sheet, and updated the files. Please take a look.

[Bespinben]

Well, I can see you tried. You must stay determined though!

I can't emphasize enough how exacting one must be when transcribing a piece. The sound, the presentation, the execution... they all must be considered.
Here's how measures 1-4 should be, with commentary describing the differences from your current sheet:



1.) There is no Db in the chord. The upper structure consists of an F and a Bb.
2.) There is no Eb in the chord. The upper structure consists of an Ab and a C, with the Ab resolving into a G in m. 4. Notice how I tied notes over from m. 3 to preserve the voices so that they didn't "disappear" suddenly.
3.) Articulation -- There are staccato on ALL notes, not just the quarters (with the exception of m. 3 beat 4 + m. 5, which is legato). Remember staccato isn't necessarily 50% the note duration, but rather to play with a "detached feeling" (which will often result in something akin to halving the note value, but not always).

Try now to apply this instruction to m. 5-8 on your own.

It's also important to note that m. 9-16 are NOT a copy-paste of m. 1-8. To emphasize the crescendo leading into m. 17, Toby adds an additional layer of choral voices in the upper register. Here's how you would incorporate that:



4.) The choral voices -- there are 3 voices total in this layer. Notice how I keep the stems of the melody layer pointed downwards at all times when these voices are present.
5.) You can write the most gorgeous transcription, but if it's unplayable then it's not worth much. This is why technique is so important to notate. Playing the melody and the choral voices simultaneously would be impossible without rolling the chord, and providing the appropriate fingering just helps all the more.
6.) This line indicates pedal usage. Again, it would be impossible to sustain the upper voices by holding the piano keys manually, because of the wide range between that and the melody.

Now try this out on m. 13-16.

[ThePopStarDude]

Thank you for the in-depth help, and I'm sorry you have to spend so much time with this. I haven't transcribed for piano before, so I'm learning a lot by doing this. I will try to incorporate all of your advice to the score, and keeping it in my mind for the future. Next time the intro should be finished (hopefully)!

[ThePopStarDude]

All right, I've updated the MUS and MUSX files. I don't know how to make the short slurs with the upper chords from measure 9 onwards, but I tried to fix everything the way you told me to.

[Bespinben]

The true final arranging has begun.

Do yourself a favor copy-paste everything you've done so far into this template. It'll fix your formatting problems (such as missing page numbers, removal of "Pno." abbrevation, and the site URL below copyright).
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/35209091/Template%20%28mus%29.mus

1.) Typically pedal lifts occur at chord changes. It appears you wrote for m. 9-16 to be depressed the entire time, which would distort the harmonies.

2.) Measures 17-32 have missing harmonies, most notably the harmony that doubles with the melody synth. Really try to pick that out. I'm also guessing those 2nd layer whole notes are trying to emulate the piano chord strikes, which if so, also have more notes.   
         
3.) Measures 33-46 also are empty. You need to give it your soul. For harmony, listen to the piano chord strikes every 2 measures, and for melodic material, listen for the glockenspiel-like descant high above and the other backing synth voices.

[ThePopStarDude]

Thanks. I'll get to fixing all that!

[ThePopStarDude]

I updated the Mus and Musx files. I couldn't quite put my finger on what you meant with the harmony that doubles with the melody synth at m.17-32, but I tried to add the strings-like chords in the background. Though I couldn't quite hear the whole chord, I tried to get the base right. With m.33-46, I added the melody you described, but in the later part I had to move the last 2 measures an octave higher since they would've overlapped with the main melody.

   ...What I just wrote makes sense, right? English isn't my first language so feel free to ask what exactly I mean ^^'

[Olimar12345]

With this now being an official project, EVERYONE REMOVE YOUR UNDERTALE SUBMISSIONS AND INSTEAD POST THEM HERE.

Free up your submissions for other pieces and get your Undertale arrangements all in one spot here:

http://forum.ninsheetmusic.org/index.php?topic=7974.0

[ThePopStarDude]

Awesome! Will do.