Return to Nifl sheet help

[Kaphita]

Hey guys,

I've had a decent amount of trouble with Return to Nifl. As usual, I apologize if posting this here violates some rule I'm not aware of—I usually hang around the discord, so I'm not very familiar with the forums.

Here's what I got so far (mscz and xml).

First: chord voicing vs. relative strength of the notes in the chord. The opening chord in the RH is F#m7, with an A on top (so second inversion)— but the F# is a lot stronger than the A, so it SOUNDS more correct to write it in first inversion. So which should I prioritize: technical accuracy, or sound accuracy?

Second: the LH is getting overwhelmed in the phrase starting in m5. How do I get it to sound above the RH? Octaves would work in theory, but they'd be kinda boring, and kinda annoying to play... Similar thing for m33-40; I'd much prefer not to resort to octaves (though here they're present in the OST), but I'm not sure how else to enrich the melody over its previous repetition.

Third: how do I maintain the momentum once the opening 16-measure figure ends? m17-24 lose the energy built up in the opening as written, without the aid of the percussion track. It'll sound even more slow if I drop some of the voices to make it playable.

And I guess it'd help a lot to check my notes (and notation, like the direction of the staves in m37—whether I need to keep them all pointing down or not to indicate that those 16ths are part of the cello phrase). In particular, the chords from m1-16, which I've listened to countless times and still am not entirely sure if they're correct, the LH phrase from m9 to m16 (are there more notes in beats 2 and 4?), and the LH figure starting in m25. (In measure 26, I actually hear A# on b1 and b3, but that makes no sense...)

Hopefully this wasn't too long. Thanks for the help!!!

[Latios212]

I've had a decent amount of trouble with Return to Nifl. As usual, I apologize if posting this here violates some rule I'm not aware of—I usually hang around the discord, so I'm not very familiar with the forums.

This is the Help board. Of course it's okay haha

First: chord voicing vs. relative strength of the notes in the chord. The opening chord in the RH is F#m7, with an A on top (so second inversion)— but the F# is a lot stronger than the A, so it SOUNDS more correct to write it in first inversion. So which should I prioritize: technical accuracy, or sound accuracy?

Generally the goal of making a piano arrangement is to play something that sounds like the original. Sometimes overanalyzing the audio file can lead to conclusions that are technically correct but don't translate over to piano well, so use your best judgement on what "sounds most accurate".

That said, as for this specific case, I would actually write it as in the original with the A on top because I feel that the strength of the F# perhaps should come from the bass, not necessarily being on top of the right hand chord. Either way is fine by me though.

Second: the LH is getting overwhelmed in the phrase starting in m5. How do I get it to sound above the RH? Octaves would work in theory, but they'd be kinda boring, and kinda annoying to play... Similar thing for m33-40; I'd much prefer not to resort to octaves (though here they're present in the OST), but I'm not sure how else to enrich the melody over its previous repetition.

Lower the left hand by an octave. That alone will set it apart and give it more weight without needing octaves. Another thing to consider is that it's perfectly possible to play the left hand forcefully and have the right hand pound out the chords lightly; don't let the playback tell you that the fact that there's four notes in the right and one in the left means that the left hand will get drowned out.

Third: how do I maintain the momentum once the opening 16-measure figure ends? m17-24 lose the energy built up in the opening as written, without the aid of the percussion track. It'll sound even more slow if I drop some of the voices to make it playable.

Try filling in the harmonies more for m. 17-18 and 21-22. There isn't much rhythm to work with so you have to put as much force as you can into the strikes you do have.

Don't have time to go over the whole thing right now, but I don't think the constant 16th notes in the left hand of m. 25 onwards work very well. Besides being a pain to play continuously and pass it between hands, you're prioritizing a relatively quiet line and losing the rhythmic drive of the low parts. I'd suggest synthesizing a left hand pattern based on the root of each chord and the rhythm given by the percussion. Let me know if you need help with that.

One other thing I've noticed is a tendency to fill in measures by extending notes instead of using rests in some places. For instance, for the main rhythm at the beginning think about if the dotted 16th notes should really be those since those notes sound relatively abbreviated. Similarly for the bass part in m. 9 onwards.

Hopefully that helps you get started a bit even though I haven't gotten around to checking pitches yet!