S_Mario86's arrangements

[S_Mario86]

I'm fairly new to posting to the forums.  I've been using this site for a while now though.  I've been playing piano for a long time, so I'm fairly advanced.  Every now and then I will make some arrangements when I can't find what I want elsewhere, but they tend to be somewhat difficult to play due to my skill level.

Since I've been wanting to play the final battle against Malladus from Spirit Tracks for a while, I've been working on that song recently.  I noticed that a another arrangers have also been doing it and that it's been requested by a few other people, so I thought I'd post my work on it as well.  Specifically one person had asked for the Sacred Duet to be arranged into the same song as the Malladus battle.

Sacred_Duet_and_Final_Battle

I use MuseScore for arranging, so I exported to MusicXML which can be imported into Finale, as well as a typical PDF and MIDI.

[EDIT] I now have the free Finale Reader which can import MusicXML and save them as .MUS, so you won't have to worry about the importing now.

[BrainyLucario]

Oohh! It sounds really good. Welcome to the forums btw.

[S_Mario86]

I can't all the credit for the Sacred_Duet_and_Final_Battle piece.  I found these on MuseScore:

Sacred Duet

Malladus Battle

Then I took as much as I could and fit it into a piano score.  I nearly got all the parts pulled into the piano score, which is one reason why it's as difficult as it is right now.

[WaluigiTime64]

Ah yes, the classic MuseScore to NotePad XML sheet. If you're wondering, you can make an export from Musescore look like this if you mess around with the Style and Layout options enough. If you want, I could show you how, provided you give me the MSCZ file.

[S_Mario86]

I've dropped the MSCZ file into the dropbox folder.  Since NinSheetMusic uses .MUS for everything, it would be rather helpful to know how to get the formatting to look more like what everyone else is using.

[S_Mario86]

I've updated the piece into what may be the final version.  I added an ending that I'm feeling alright with.  I just need to run through it and the actual song side by side a few times to see if there's anything that needs to be added or changed.

[maxmic480]

Some feedback:

-At measure 87, you should switch to F major key signature.
-Lots of sharps and flats need to be fixed
-Some of the chords can't be played (see measure 109, and are you able to play measure 29?)

[WaluigiTime64]

[MSCZ] [MUS]

I'll just go over some things you'll need to know:

First things first, MuseScore:

MuseScore Instructions

In MuseScore, you have a bunch of tabs at the top, one of which being "Style". Through that, you'll get options of "General", "Text", "Load Style" and "Save Style". You want to press "General".


Here you can see a whole lot of options on the left-hand-side, but what we'll focus on first is the circled part. Make sure this is NOT ticked. Otherwise the systems will be too far to the left for the instrument text (Piano and Pno.).


Now this is the biggest part. Under the "Page" tab, you have all of these options. By default, yours will look very different to the settings shown here. You can simply fiddle around with these until they match up with this image. You could also make it look however you want it to! It's up to you.


Finally, you can change the distribution of the measures using the "Increase/Decrease Stretch" function under "Layout". This is one of the most useful features for making a unique and visually appealing sheet. You can use the "Select" tool to select various parts of the sheet to stretch, or you can just select the whole sheet. Just remember that in a 4/4 piano arrangement there should be 2-4 measures in a single system.

[close]

Now, you should be aware that a fair amount of stuff still doesn't transfer to NotePad. That's ok, because it's simply not possible to make a fully formatted sheet like this. You need to get it fixed here if you want to submit it to the site.

Also more things of note:
  - Use double barlines to break up the song into various sections. The minimum amount of measures between double barlines should be 8, but there can easily be exceptions.
 - Changing key signatures is incredibly important in some songs, especially this one. A lot of the accidentals were either incorrect or unnecessary (such as the start where there were Ab's which should've been G#'s), so changing key signature really fixed... most of it up. I'm pretty sure I screwed up somewhere.
 - There wasn't a tempo marking at the start, which was weird, especially considering it was there later on.
 - You should also have a dynamic at the start. I didn't put one there, but you should be able to do that quickly.
 - When using the first and second layer, always have the first layer on top. Layer 1 automatically beams upwards, while Layer 2 automatically beams downwards.
 - There's a lot of clashing notes at some parts. You should look into that.
 - Also there's a lot of ridiculous 10ths and whatnot.
 - You might want an 8va from Measure 100 to Measure 110.
 - Give these a read if you want to know any specific NinSheetMusic stuff. I try to keep my sheets as close to these as possible, but there are always limitations.

If you're having any more troubles, don't hesitate to ask me (or anyone else for that matter)!

[S_Mario86]

Thank you for the editing tips.  I realize that the sharps and flats are not consistent.  I merely forgot to fix those before putting this up.  I do agree that the key signature should be changed part way through, since at that point, the song goes from one theme to another.  That's one of the reasons I love the Malladus battle theme.  It's a medley of two of the games main themes.

In regards to the 10ths, I somewhat larger hands, so I can easily hit a tenth.  Some of those however, can be played using the other hand.  For example, in 29 (which maxmic480 mentioned) the top of the chord in the bass clef can be played by the right hand.  It's in the bass clef since it looks better, and it's up to the pianist to decide whether it's easier to play in the left hand or the right.

With measure 109, I realize that the notes in that chord are impossible to hit at the same time.  In this case, the top note should be played first and then the hand should quickly jump down to play the other notes.  Either the damper pedal or middle pedal can be used to sustain the higher note (I do need to put in pedal markings still).

My justification for leaving those large jumps in comes from some classical pieces I've played that have similar jumps and large chords.  In particular, Rachmaninoff's c# minor prelude, which is one of my favorite pieces to play, has some of those impossible chords that must be played in the manner I described for measure 109.

Thank you WaluigiTime64 for the styling tips.  I'll be sure to clean up the sheet some more using what you described.  I was planning to submit it once I got everything fixed up.

[WaluigiTime64]

Thank you for the editing tips.  I realize that the sharps and flats are not consistent.  I merely forgot to fix those before putting this up.  I do agree that the key signature should be changed part way through, since at that point, the song goes from one theme to another.  That's one of the reasons I love the Malladus battle theme.  It's a medley of two of the games main themes.

I love when games do that.

In regards to the 10ths, I somewhat larger hands, so I can easily hit a tenth.  Some of those however, can be played using the other hand.  For example, in 29 (which maxmic480 mentioned) the top of the chord in the bass clef can be played by the right hand.  It's in the bass clef since it looks better, and it's up to the pianist to decide whether it's easier to play in the left hand or the right.

Yeah, try to make it obvious what hand should be used for what chord. Sometimes there's "implied pedal", but just try to keep it simple-ish.

With measure 109, I realize that the notes in that chord are impossible to hit at the same time.  In this case, the top note should be played first and then the hand should quickly jump down to play the other notes.  Either the damper pedal or middle pedal can be used to sustain the higher note (I do need to put in pedal markings still).

Yeah, "implied pedal".

My justification for leaving those large jumps in comes from some classical pieces I've played that have similar jumps and large chords.  In particular, Rachmaninoff's c# minor prelude, which is one of my favorite pieces to play, has some of those impossible chords that must be played in the manner I described for measure 109.

I don't know what the limits of playability are here on NinSheetMusic, but generally the sheets don't have much over an octave, and are certainly a lot easier than a fair amount of classical pieces.

Thank you WaluigiTime64 for the styling tips.  I'll be sure to clean up the sheet some more using what you described.  I was planning to submit it once I got everything fixed up.

Now, you should be aware that a fair amount of stuff still doesn't transfer to NotePad. That's ok, because it's simply not possible to make a fully formatted sheet like this. You need to get it fixed here if you want to submit it to the site.

The styling tips are there if you want a sheet to look ok if you're not getting it formatted. However, you can still use the styling if you give the formatter a better idea of what it should look like.

[S_Mario86]

I don't know what the limits of playability are here on NinSheetMusic, but generally the sheets don't have much over an octave, and are certainly a lot easier than a fair amount of classical pieces.

Since I've been playing classical music for a while and am an advanced pianist, sometimes I prefer a harder piece that follows along the original music better.  I'm sure I'm not the only one.  Perhaps if this site had multiple copies of the same piece in different difficulty levels, then both intermediate and advanced pianists could be satisfied.  However, if you say it should be simpler before submitting, then I can do that and leave the harder one here on the forums.