[DELETED] [GCN] Animal Crossing - "K.K. Ballad" by bobisbest18

[Zeta]

Submission Information:
Series: Animal Crossing
Game: Animal Crossing
Console: Nintendo GameCube
Title: K.K. Ballad
Instrumentation Solo Piano
Arranger: bobisbest18

[bobisbest18]

I know this is from Wild World, but it's the same thing. This is the Live version of K.K. Ballad, not the Aircheck!

[Static]

Hello, and welcome to NSM! I'm especially glad to see your first submission is from Animal Crossing...

- The tempo should be just a bit faster - I'm getting around q=78.
- There's enough space on bottom the first page to move all the systems down (use Page Layout Tool > right click on handle of first system > Edit Margins > edit value of Top margin). This will allow you to move the composer/arranger info down so everything isn't all squished up top.
- The intro sounds to me like it starts on beat 1; the part where K.K. hums is the start of a 2-bar pickup (you don't necessarily have to include it since there's no music happening there). I would write it as 2 4/4 bars with a fermata on the last note.
- You included too many notes in the intro - the chords are correct but the original isn't actually as fully voiced. Here's what I'm hearing:

Spoiler

[close]

This is an exact transcription of the voices, so not all of it is playable with just one hand - feel free to move things around as you see fit. However, I would try to keep the original bassline as the bottom note, even if it means you have to move it up an octave sometimes. The sound of a chord can really change depending on what note you make the bass note. (these same things apply to the ending section as well)
- m5 is beamed incorrectly (beat 3 should be shown in standard 4/4).
- The composer credits for Animal Crossing is actually a bit of a mystery. In Animal Crossing on GameCube, Kazumi Totaka is credited as "Sound Director", while Toru Minegishi is credited for "Indoor BGM", of which K.K. songs are a part of. It's not precisely known who composed the K.K. songs, or whether one person really did write all of them. I'm saying this just to provide some info to think about. I think leaving Totaka as the composer is fine for this sheet.
- Copyright info should be "Nintendo" instead of Totaka, url should be "https", "Music" in NinSheetMusic is misspelled; copyright info is outside the margins (too low).

Nice work!

[bobisbest18]

Thanks for the feedback!

I'm not the world's best piano player, so I'm curious as to what would the largest interval be for a hand to play comfortably on the piano, or in other words, what would be the largest interval that I should write?

[Latios212]

Do you have a piano/keyboard around? You don't need to be a good piano player to judge this - you just need to try to play the notes with your hand to see how far of a stretch is reasonable.

Anyway, for a rule of thumb: An octave is normal, a ninth is a bit of a stretch, and a tenth is usually pushing it too far, especially if there are notes in between the top and bottom - unless you're specifically rolling it.

In the context of this sheet, each place you have a half note in the bass with two eighth notes on top of it is not reasonable. One thing you could consider is simply cutting out the top layer in these parts.

[bobisbest18]

OK, I made some edits and re-uploaded the files, hopefully this should do it. I am still unsure about the bass line and weather or not it is just too much of a stretch for the left hand, let me know!

[Static]

Looks pretty good, I just have a few more comments:

- Regarding the intro, some of the notes are incorrect. In m1 beats 2 and 4 RH, the Bs should be Cs.
- In the LH, the upper note on beat 4 should be an A instead of a G.
- The final chord in the intro should be G, F#, A and D on the top. There is no B in the original.
- You might want to consider just leaving the chords in the LH only and making the RH just the melody like in the rest of the sheet.
- Here's how I would personally voice these chords for piano (feel free to use this!):

Spoiler

[close]

- The rhythm in m8 should match m4.
- The rolled chord markings in m21 and 39 should go across the entire chord like in m43.
- m40-41 should be voiced like m1-2, but in D major instead of G major; the intervals between the notes should be the same.
- I think the sheet would look nicer if you increased the space between the RH and LH staves a bit. This would also give you more room for dynamics, which currently look squished (like m14 for example).
- If both hands' dynamics at the start are the same, you only need the top one.
- If each hands' dynamics are different, then move the RH ones above the staff instead of in the middle; this makes it more clear that each hand should be at a separate volume.

[Latios212]

bumpy bump

[Latios212]

Archiving for inactivity - but feel free to reach out for help or resubmit if you're still around