❗NEW: How to Check Piano Arrangements on NinSheetMusic

[Kricketune54]

Well, looks like I'm the first to it  , let's say I'm on European time and not that I can't count to 12 properly. My preparation for this year's 12 Days of Sheetsmas is higher than last year, but two group sessions of EU4 over the weekend took a lot of time I had planned to use for arranging so hopefully there isn't a crunch in the latter part of next week...

On the First day of Christmas, my true love gave to meeeeeeeeee

Title Screen - Pokémon Black 2 Version and Pokémon White 2 Version

PDF   MIDI   MUS  MUSX

Keeping with Gen 5's more dramatic tone, this rendition of the Pokémon series title theme one of my favorites in the series. I remember listening all the way through when I first booted up my copy of White 2, and being astounded by the audio quality and the depth of the arrangement. I think the rendition sounds somewhat Akira Ikafube-like (original composer of the Godzilla films), which fits the kaiju aesthetic of the cover 'Mons.

While the depth made it tough to arrange for piano, and there's parts I'm not entirely satisfied with (looking at you intro RH), I still am happy to put this up as my Day 1. I had this mostly arranged and on my YouTube (in "Synthesia" form) back in October, but I did more editing in the lead up to today.

I hope you enjoy some different sheets from what you normally see from my submissions for this Christmas, no repeats of games this time!

[Kricketune54]

On the Second Day of Christmas, my true love gave to meeeeeeeeee

Tournament (In Progress) - Animal Crossing: New Horizons

PDF   MIDI   MUS  MUSX

It seems I've returned from my trip overseas. Not exactly unfamiliar arranging territory for me yet, but this one is a follow up to last year's Tournament (Waiting) theme. I think this was slightly more difficult to arrange, as it features some solo instrument parts trading alongside some lower layer chords (representing the acoustic part). Still, it feels good to put this one up, a year later to the date!

[Kricketune54]

On the Third Day of Christmas, my true love gave to meeeeeeeeee

Frontier Serenade - Star Fox: Assault

PDF   MIDI   MUS  MUSX

Okay. I lied. Not breaking new ground quite yet. But here's a non-replacement Star Fox: Assault sheet! This track is actually a remake of Katina from Star Fox 64, and is fairly faithful to that despite this being a live orchestra performance (this version has a lower tempo). There's some interesting stuff going on with the time signatures, and I really like the m30-38 build up. Overall, a very jubilant piece for an alien invasion.

[Kricketune54]

On the Fourth Day of Christmas, my true love gave to meeeeeeeeee

Fire Emblem: New Mystery of the Emblem: The Right Road

PDF   MIDI   MUS  MUSX

This is the first Fire Emblem arrangement I've ever completed. I discovered this particular track, which is an arranged version of the famous "Advance" theme from Fire Emblem: Mystery of the Emblem, through the Relaxing Music from Fire Emblem Series compilation on YouTube; it's a great compilation containing four hours of tracks from games prior to Three Houses (it was released in 2017). This track stuck out in particular for not only the calmer rendition of a distinctive melody, but also for the piano part that seemed like it would make for a fine arrangement.

For those not aware, New Mystery of the Emblem is a remake of Fire Emblem: Mystery of the Emblem for the Nintendo DS. It is a follow-up to the DS remake of Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon, and to my knowledge, it is the most recent of the series to have never seen official release out of Japan (this track name is what I see most commonly translated). I haven't played too much of the series, having 15 hours or so in a Awakening, on a file I haven't touched in at least 7 years (though many hours played as Marth, Roy, and Byleth over the years in Smash). This year though, I checked out the series' music beyond what I was familiar with from that game and Smash, and have come to really enjoy it, mainly the 3DS games and Valentia in particular.

[Kricketune54]

On the Fitfth Day of Christmas, my true love gave to meeeeeeeeee

Call of Duty Black Ops II: Main Theme

PDF   MIDI   MUS  MUSX

Well I did a Battlefield sheet from a ten year old game last year, only fitting I do a Call of Duty one I guess.

This is the longest arrangement I've done to date, and while there are certainly some repetitive cut and paste bassline parts, I found it quite difficult to adapt the whole song. This track plays in abridged form on BO2's main menu with just the piano and synth parts of the full track, and in full in a few dramatic moments of the campaign. Hopefully it doesn't sound too empty at parts because I was trying to get the same deep bass sound from a piano as all the stuff Trent Reznor was playing around with this (yes, the Nine Inch Nails dude wrote this track but for some reason didn't compose the whole soundtrack like promos make it seem like he was going to).

At the end of the day, not a very difficult song to play. I like the dark, brooding feel to it, and the building tension leading to the dramatic reveal at the end.

[Kricketune54]

On the Sixth Day of Christmas, my true love gave to meeeeeeeeee

Snowbelle City - Pokémon: X & Y

PDF   MIDI   MUS  MUSX

And were half way there. Time to get thematic.

Spent a bit longer on this than I expected - it's a relatively short loop, but there's some density to what's going on and I felt I wasn't capturing it enough with my first go through.

[Kricketune54]

On the Seventh Day of Christmas, my true love gave to meeeeeeeeee

Failure - Mario Kart DS

PDF   MIDI   MUS  MUSX

I didn't contribute to the Mario Kart project, but if it were beyond just tracks, I guess this is my contribution lol.

Heard this many a time as a kid; the goofy, somewhat bashful tone contrasts well with the disappointment and occasional rage felt by the player. It was fun to figure out how to best work it for piano, as the accompaniment is a mix of the bassline and some modification of that plucky banjo. Haven't swung in a good while.

[Kricketune54]

On the Eighth Day of Christmas, my true love gave to meeeeeeeeee

Dai Senryaku VII: Modern Military Tactics - Green Belts

PDF   MIDI   MUS  MUSX

I have a strong feeling no one has ever heard of this game, but that's okay. Dai Senryaku, literally meaning Grand Strategy in Japan is a military turn based strategy game. And while I've never played Advanced Wars, that is the series it is often compared to (Daisenryaku/Dai Senryaku predates Famicom Wars by a few years).

The series has had only a couple releases outside of Japan, with DSVII being the one most known to players due to it releasing on Xbox and PlayStation. A later sequel did make its way on Steam in 2018, but it wasn't until last year that many of its bugs and translation issues got solved. I wouldn't recommend it to anyone unless you are willing to pay $30 when it is on sale, and can stomach some very amateurish presentation and bad graphics. What can I say though, I've put 500+ hours into it... 

The Dai Senryaku titles are very cool games for a very specific type of person, but I'm glad to have a small group of irl friends who I got hooked to it as well. Almost got some US Army officers and State Department personnel into it too at one point...

Anyway, that's enough of that, onto the track. The music in DSVII is also a bit ear grating, and I wouldn't doubt this track will have few fans as well. That said, it's like the only one I can listen to in Dai Senryaku VII. It's a very different sort of musical track for a strategy game, as most strategy game tracks are fairly dramatic, or have a march theme to them. "Green Belts", however, is rather funky, with a very cool bass part laying it down throughout the track, and even a couple synth solos. Whereas most tracks in this game are short, dramatic loops, this track is cool and laid back, almost like, "c'mon, you've got all the time in the world. Beat the map". The hardest part of the track to arrange was the end, and is also the part I look forward to the most (it sounds almost like the music is skipping, but it's actually some really interesting off beat choices).

I started this arrangement quite a while ago, and had intended to submit it for the Colors update, but it was not close to being done when the deadline hit. The reason I even bothered arranging this track though is the connection I've had to it, and that's one thing I try to bring with the arrangements I put out 

Note the YouTube link starts at m21 and then loops back to the repeat. Couldn't find a proper YouTube upload, and whoever uploaded to KHInsider actually didn't rip the music right (there is a skip where it should loop at m40) KHInsider Link

P.S wot is a Green Belt anyway

[Kricketune54]

On the Ninth Day of Christmas, my true love gave to meeeeeeeeee

Moonlight Café - Harvest Moon: Magical Melody

PDF   MIDI   MUS  MUSX

This is the second arrangement of this 12 Days that I will have discovered from a compilation. I've never played a Harvest Moon game before, but this track was quite nice and I have wanted to arrange it for a while. Hopefully this isn't too much of an accidental minefield; the further I got along, the more I could tell that it was getting outside my comfort zone. But a challenge is a challenge, so I likely will revisit this with less of a time constraint in the future.

Oh, and the original is pitched a bit sharp, so you'll notice that if you play the midi for this; it will be a bit jarring.

Tomorrow is Friday and the start of the Holiday Weekend, but it will be a shorter arrangement. Shorter, but relevant to world events of the past couple weeks...

[Kricketune54]

On the Tenth Day of Christmas, my true love gave to meeeeeeeeee

International Superstar Soccer 64 - Title Screen

PDF   MIDI   MUS  MUSX

In honor of the World Cup's recent conclusion, I present this gem. Though this song went viral three summers ago, it's okay if you don't recognize the name. Yes, I am talking of course about Ronaldinho Soccer, the bootleg version of International Superstar Soccer 64, the former of which was highly memed for about a month. This sheet is short, and a bit hard on the right hand. I was going to arrange this if Sports won the last project update, but it makes for good content for the 12 Days countdown 

Bootleg Sheet

[LeviR.star]

This might be the meme-iest sheet I've seen all year. Thanks for doing this one, as well as the bootleg version for good measure!

[Kricketune54]

This might be the meme-iest sheet I've seen all year. Thanks for doing this one, as well as the bootleg version for good measure!

Thanks! It's a bit old, but it still checks out (the meme)



On the Eleventh Day of Christmas, my true love gave to meeeeeeeeee

F-Zero - White Land II

PDF   MIDI   MUS  MUSX

I guess this is thematic by virtue of the title. Why White Land II and not just White Land? Well I was a little short on time today, and the first seemed like it would take a bit more to arrange (I ran out of time to work on the the track I had planned to upload ). I made some small changes to the left hand part (i.e. tying beats 1.75 and 2 and 3.75 and 4), because despite its simplicity, the bassline is quite fast.

Hope everyone had/has a nice, warm Christmas Eve!

[Kricketune54]

On the Twelfth Day of Christmas, my true love gave to meeeeeeeeee

Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards - Shiver Star

PDF   MIDI   MUS  MUSX

Merry Christmas everyone! For the final present of the 12 days, here is not only a Kirby classic, but also a replacement sheet. Hopefully the cheery melody of "Shiver Star" brightens a cold winter's night.

This track is definitely not one that you can do much with with by just sticking with the melody and bassline octaves as is, but if there's anyone who thinks more could be fit into the RH from m32 to the end, certainly post your comments!

And with that, my 2nd 12 Days project comes to an end. Lessons were learned last year, and this time I made sure to have more preparation for the 12 Days, both in what I had ready to work on and in what I knew I could accomplish in this time period. The goal was to focus on series that I don't usually arrange for and to avoid repeat games over the 12 Days, and I think I mostly succeeded that. Hopefully I will be able to do this again in a 2023, but until then, enjoy the rest of the holiday weekend 

[Kricketune54]

Pokémon XD: Gale of Darkness - Normal Battle

PDF   MIDI   MUS  MuseScore

An update of a sheet that was quite outdated.

https://www.ninsheetmusic.org/forum/index.php?topic=11337.msg421160#msg421160

I'm beginning a project where I'm going to be transferring sheets of mine into MuseScore. My desire is to eventually have most of my stuff available in that format with as much consistency visually as possible. Still figuring out some stuff related to margins, but thanks to Xiao's most recent template it I am mostly there.

My plan is to continue with Finale as my primary editor, so I'll be working backwards from how many are using MuseScore to export to Finale format 

[Kricketune54]

A Guide to Checking Sheets

For everyone who is reading this, this is my attempt at pulling back the curtain a bit on my personal sheet checking process.  With this, I hope it gives some insight into what I'm looking for personally, how I come to conclusions that I do, and hopefully inspire others outside of the updating team to look at other submitted sheets with a constructive eye.

When someone submits an arrangement, the first thing you can do, especially if a person is submitting for the first time, is to be helpful to that person and give them a bit of their bearings. What that often looks like is explaining the submission process, replying to to their submission in a timely fashion (ideally in under a week), as well as offering feedback (there is also a good chance that there is some formatting that could be assisted with as a start, and first time submitters will not realize that a YouTube/source recording is preferred to be posted alongside their files).

The following is a helpful blurb you can copy and paste into a new submission thread (courtesy of XiaoMigros and Bloop):

Hi, and welcome to NinSheetMusic submissions!

The way the submissions process works is individuals will review your sheet and highlight notes and formatting on your sheet that need to be updated, which you can then review and implement. Once two updaters approve of your sheet, it will be accepted and put on the site in the next update!

Initial Feedback
Before I listen to the song, I do tend to give an initial look over the sheet. If you don't have a lot of time on your hands, or just want to give a quick look, downloading the PDF for a short review can be a good start for the feedback process. The formatting guidelines guide my eyes here, and usually I look for stuff like different fonts, or if the template is completely different from the one people are directed to submit with.

If I do have time for a longer look, I will download the notation software files, the .mus file or .musx if it is available. As a Finale user, I often work exclusively from the submitted .musx or .mus file. I like to reference this file primarily because it has both the visual component that you get from looking at a PDF (plus any stuff that's not visible on the PDF), as well as the ability to hear things on the file's playback feature.

That's not to say that a PDF review also isn't a good thing to do, as reviewing the PDF allows you to see exactly what the end user will see (e.g. the performer won't have the extra context of hidden tempo markings when trying to read the sheet).

Doing a Closer Review
Now, outside of basic formatting what are the things to look for, if you are looking at a piano sheet for the first time?

The answer to that question can go in a lot of different directions, and most of what I'm going to say here can be seen in the Submission Guidelines as well.  Checking note accuracy is very important, yes (and all the melody notes specifically), but checking if the accidentals, time signature, tempo, or general key choices can all be manageable things to aid arrangers on and ultimately increase the site submission rate. Sometimes going right into the notes doesn't make sense, either for your own time commitment or for the potential learning experience the arranger could gain.

Regardless of which style of review I'm doing though, when first looking at someone's sheet, I will turn up on a separate monitor or tab the original song's audio. I prefer to do this with YouTube, as it has a great UI on desktop for both changing the speed of the song's playback and is easy to go forward or back 5 seconds with the arrow keys on my keyboard.

Comparing Audio
I usually like to listen through a song and compare it to the arrangement loosely for accuracy. Sometimes I come across bits where the notes are very hard to make out. Occasionally, I can mess around with the treble and bass settings on my speaker setup, but most of the time I resort to using a 3rd party YouTube-to-MP3 site, and then import that ripped YouTube video MP3 into the free program Audacity. I've been using Audacity to some degree for most of my life at this point, so while others use Audiostretch for this process, I am more comfortable with and prefer to use Audacity for looping parts or other tweaks to assist my process.

But most of the time, I am pitching up basslines, or lower notes. I tend to find bass lines are some of the most difficult parts of music to transcribe without some sort of audio manipulation, such as what I am describing. Often too, I couple pitching up or down with slowing down song tempo in Audacity. This can take a bit of time, but I do strive to get that perfect accuracy when doing my note review.

All in all, I generally listen to songs and compare it to an arrangement at least two times, one that is focused on the RH/melody part, and one that is focused on the LH/bassline/accompaniment. For longer songs, say something that doesn't loop usually beyond 2 minutes at a moderate tempo, I tend to break up my listening and feedback; it's not generally useful to go too deep on a long song all at once.

Playability
For sheets to be accepted to NinSheetMusic's site collection, it must be realistically playable for a human (This is a major bit for what makes piano arrangements distinct from making straight transcriptions). If you can discern if something is humanly possible to be played (ex. A lot of video game bass lines do not work 1-to-1 going from a transcription to trying to play on the piano), this is something that can be very helpful as far as feedback.

One thing that I find really enhances sheet reviews is having a piano, keyboard, or any type of keyed instrument on hand that you can try playing parts on. This can do a lot to determine if an arrangement needs tweaking in order to compensate for parts that are not humanly possible. Do not worry about your own playing abilities! It is less about playing at tempo, and more about if fingerings are going to be impossible at any speed. Regardless, you will find your sight-reading skills will improve the more you try out new sheets.

Next Steps
Overall sheet review can take a fair amount of time, but I hope this gives people some insight into how they can review sheets and give constructive feedback to others as well. Please feel free to ask the updaters, ask arrangers for why they did certain things on a sheet, and most beneficially, widen your own musical knowledge!