[DELETED] [NDS] Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney: Trials and Tribulations - "Detention Center ~ Elegy of the Detai

[Zeta]

Submission Information:
Series: Ace Attorney
Game: Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney: Trials and Tribulations
Console: Nintendo DS
Title: Detention Center ~ Elegy of the Detained
Instrumentation Solo Piano
Arranger: Onionleaf

[Onionleaf]

A fairly straightforward piece, both to arrange and play.

[InsigTurtle]

Only thing I really have to comment about is the missing harmonies in m.10-18, like B F#, A# G, B F#, A# G D E in m.14-18, and then it should be good

[Onionleaf]

Thanks, I've added the missing harmonies like you described - let me know if I missed anything.

[Latios212]

Nice! Let's have a look...

- This piece sounds to me like it's in 3/4 rather than 6/8. Thoughts?
- You could eliminate the overlapping B's in the left hand in measure 2-3. There's not really a need for them as the LH is just playing the descending voice.
- Measure 11, I'm hearing a C instead of B for the left hand.
- Measure 14-18 sound a bit heavy, perhaps consider getting rid of the lowest note in the left hand for each? (Particularly, m. 18, the D-E sounds kinda funny.)

[Onionleaf]

- This piece sounds to me like it's in 3/4 rather than 6/8. Thoughts?

I think I can see what you mean, the second half of the piece especially sounds like 3/4 would be more appropriate, but 6/8 seems more fitting for the beginning. I'm so used to seeing and hearing it in 6/8 that I find it difficult to change my thinking around. x.X

I took all other changes on board, though - any more recommendations?

[Maelstrom]

I recommend 3/4 as well.

[Sebastian]

Same here.

[Olimar12345]

Nah, it's totally 6/8. The arpeggios are accenting the top note, which is a characteristic of 6/8 over 3/4. Just look at the roost from animal crossing, it's just like this and is in 6/8. The contrasting section could probably be written in 3/4, but that could be overkill as it could work as 6/8 being syncopated.

[Latios212]

But the arpeggios aren't accenting the top note? If anything it's ambiguous because it's just a constant stream of eighth notes. The only thing we really have that anchors a rhythm is the quarter beats in measures 10-13, and I don't know why you would prefer those syncopated when they're just straight quarters.

[Olimar12345]

But the arpeggios aren't accenting the top note?

Not in a volume or attack way, I meant in a visual way. The contour goes up then down, which is better shown in 6/8 where that figure normally dwells.

The only thing we really have that anchors a rhythm is the quarter beats in measures 10-13

See: contour.

I don't know why you would prefer those syncopated when they're just straight quarters.

Well, consequently, I couldn't see why you'd want to sacrifice a clear 6/8 figure, which makes up the vast majority of this piece, all because of four bars.

Besides, like I said: you could still do this:

The contrasting section could probably be written in 3/4, but that could be overkill as it could work as 6/8 being syncopated.

[FireArrow]

I feel like it would be blasphemous to notate the first 8 measure in anything but 6/8.

[mastersuperfan]

I've always heard this in 3/4 the whole way through.

[Onionleaf]

I won't mind whatever the verdict will be, but I'll throw in my 2 cents anyways. I'm personally much more inclined towards 6/8 time due to the grouping of the arpeggios in the first few bars as Olimar pointed out, but it also seems more fitting overall in terms of phrasing. 3/4 time causes the overall feel of the tempo to be too fast for such a sorrowful piece, whereas the 6/8 creates two groups of three notes in each bar, creating a calmer flow of time, albeit sounding syncopated in several bars. (Hopefully that made sense, more or less...)

Here are the files in 3/4 time if needed: MUSX MUS MIDI PDF

[Bespinben]

Not only can any number of 8ths/quavers be beamed together in 3/4 (Elaine Gould, Behind Bars, pg. 153), it is an expected engraving practice to beam all three beats together, such as in the first 8 bars of Detention Center:

"The rule is: group together as many notes as make one beat EXCEPT .... if a bar of 3/4 ... consists entirely of quavers, then all the notes should be grouped together".
(The Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music, Rudiments and Theory of Music, https://musescore.org/en/node/9924)

Finale's default setting to separately beam consecutive quavers/8ths in 3/4 into individual beats really is lamentable, as that should really only be done if the utmost clarity is required, or to indicate a change of pitch pattern (Elaine Gould, Behind Bars, pg. 154).

Franz Liszt's Liebestraum uses a 6/4 meter (essentially a double 3/4), and beams each 3/4 subgroup in groups of 6 quavers/8ths. Just as it would be absurd to to assume that the contours of the right hand arpeggios in the beginning of Liebestraum imply a compound sub-division, it is equally absurd to assume that the contours of the right hard arpeggios in the beginning of "Detention Center" imply a 6/8 meter.