[GBA] Pokémon Ruby Version & Pokémon Sapphire Version - "Littleroot Town" by dajwxp

[daj]

Hey, Mael's going on a spree! ^^ Thanks for taking the time to help us with our sheets, really appreciate it

Now on to your questions~

A few questions:
Why are there no LH harmonies on the even beats in the LH?

Mm, I wouldn't call it an absence of harmonies rather than an absence of bass notes. For this arrangement I followed my two-part/four-part rules pretty strictly, and the function of the off-beats on 2 and 4 is to fill chords rather than reinforce the bass harmony.

In a general sense, the strong beats dictate the harmony while the weak beats fill it. So if beat 1 of bar 1 dictates an F major root chord, beat 2 will fill the chord based on that (therefore an F, to complement the A in the right hand).

Why is the lower bassline included for just 2 measures? It looks rather strange

Yes! Finally, someone notices this <3

The notes in the lower bass layer highlight a chromatic descending kinda-sequence, which indicates the subtle tailing off of a phrase.

To execute this tailing off you'd also need to distinguish the important notes from the embellishments, and so writing in two layers best communicates that effect

Why does the slur go over clearly disconnected notes, like beat 3 of m2?

Why are there slurs under a slur?

It's another fantastic set of questions! ^^ Usually I try not to use slurs in the way I did here, but this arrangement demands so much subtlety and vocal phrasing that it was impossible to leave the slurs out.

Here, slurs do mean legato, but not in an all-encompassing sense. Long slurs are "phrasing slurs" and short ones are "lilting slurs".

A track with such a singable melody like this one can reasonably be treated as a vocal score, in which case a composer (or arranger, hehe) can force the performer to follow his/her intended phrasing by adding slurs. In a micro sense, yes - the example at measure 2 is a momentary start/stop of two phrases, but in a larger sense that break is like a comma or dash in a full vocal line.

Short slurs, or "slurs under slurs", indicate a vocal effect called "lilting", which is the subtle (i've overused that word, ahaha) tailing of a vocal line such that the ending is gentler and more empty than the start of it. On the piano you can create this effect by gently lifting your wrist on the lilt.

As a side note this effect also supplements the tailing off of the lower bass line in line 1, hehe

Why are the expressive texts so large?

Because I did a Sibelius XML export and didn't notice xD

Is there a mandated size for expression text? I don't remember there being one, but if need be I'll change it.

Though, y'know, if we could leave it as it is and close one eye to the awkwardness, that's be great...hehe~ *wink*

(do you want me to change it? i can but me totally not lazy, so)

Why "singing" and not "cantabile"?

As a personal preference I avoid Italian terms for fun arrangements like this one.

If necessary I can add the "o"s and "é"s though

~

Once again, thank you for stopping by and much cheers, Mael~

[Maelstrom]

Your explanations for the first 3 sets questions pretty much fail Occam's Razor.

While it may be more artsy and look cooler to do this, it's just simpler, and more clearly communicated to the performer who likely doesn't have the musical experience of either of us. I'd still argue what I said, but, if you really want it this way, it's your arrangement.

[daj]

Your explanations for the first 3 sets questions pretty much fail Occam's Razor.

While it may be more artsy and look cooler to do this, it's just simpler, and more clearly communicated to the performer who likely doesn't have the musical experience of either of us. I'd still argue what I said, but, if you really want it this way, it's your arrangement.

Haha, all cool. I won't negotiate the expectations of my publisher, and hey, there needs to be a balance of intricacy and learnability anyway. ^^

I'll go take your advice and go work on this one a little. Thanks for the feedback!

[Maelstrom]

bmup for arranger

[Bespinben]

As part of my tradition, I gave this an Extreme Notation Makeover.
(Totally not a TV show... yet)

[MID] [MUS] [PDF] [MUSX]



P.S. Dajwxp has seen this already (and didn't puke upon seeing it, yay!), but I wanted to post it for public view and review before making edits to the OP.

[Latios212]

We all good now? :3

[Zeta]

This submission has been accepted by Bespinben.

~Zeta, your friendly NSM-Bot