[PS4] Yakuza 0 - "Theme of Serena" by rcpercussionist

[Zeta]

Submission Information:
Series: Other
Game: Yakuza 0
Console: PlayStation 4
Title: Theme of Serena
Instrumentation Solo Piano
Arranger: rcpercussionist

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[attachment deleted by admin]

[rcpercussionist]

Hello to anyone that looks this over!
I generally use Sibelius, so some of the formatting for this piece was difficult, though I tried to adhere to the site's submission rules. Feel free to tear apart my engraving, or my transcription in general, and I'll be happy to make changes!
Cheers.

[rcpercussionist]

Also the piece can be heard here.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K0CJKaGCwbQ

[Maelstrom]

Alright, I did the quick and dirty way of fixing the formatting by copying it into my own template and adjusting it. Please tell me if I changed anything in a way you didn't want and I can work it out. I'll just make some changes while I'm going and put a list here.

-as an aside, make sure you capitalize all of your arranger name ......
-Made the first measure into a pickup measure.
-measure 2, beat 3, right hand - Not sure I agree with the rhythm here. It certainly hangs on the G longer, but not for a full quarter. Maybe make the pair of notes 2 dotted 8ths instead? THis appears elsewhere, like m4 b3. Alternatively, this could be like the doublets you have in m7. This seems ot happen throughout the piece so I'll leave this one up to you.
-Fixed the rhythm in m11. I think you'll see it's much simpler and easier to parse now. (and more accurate too)
-Added paranthesis to m7 b3 RH. Feel free to delete the note if you want, but it's doubled right here.
-m8 moved the C to the other hand becuase it's a continuation of that voice. Also easier to read now.
-Deleted the D in m9 b2 RH (it's not there)
-Removed layer 2 in m20 RH altogether and combined it with layer 1. Also added a note on beat 3.
-m22 LH - beat 1.5 is a D, not a G.
-m23 LH b1 - the chord is A-G, not A-A. No C on beat 3 either.
-m24 LH - first 2 notes are Fn-Cn
Note that this is not exhaustive by any means, but a starting place.
I left the "quicker" and "freely" text in, despite them being overly large, because I wasn't quite sure what to do with them. The tempo itself doesn't change more than a few bpm so I'm not totally sure what you wanted here.

Two big things:
1 - held notes and staves - A lot of note here are held much, much longer than they would need to be if there was any ped. here. It feels like the ped is heavily implied by the tied whole notes, but it's never explicitly stated. I would recommend reigning in some of those lengths (like m15 and 16) to account for this. It'll make your notation cleaner and easier to read. While you're at it, try playing this on piano. There's some stuff that's basically unplayable as you have it written (m20 beat 1) and others where it's unfeasible for one hand to play everything in its staff (m9-10, etc). These, however, are very playable if the LH is what's playing them. There's no harm in a few ledger lines, so I'd recommend just moving them down to the treble clef across the board. If you get too many ledger lines, just tell me (or whatever updater is working on it) and we can add some mid-measure clef changes in for you.

2 - the elephant in the room: Is there a reason why this is only the first 1:15 of the 4 minute song in the video you posted? We don't really do incomplete arrangements on this site. You gotta have it all in here. This might influence the time change at the end, so I didn't change it right now.

and once again, I could have sworn I heard sunlight garden from Utena in m20, but i was mistaken.
whoops, I should include the file, shouldn't I?
[.mus]

[rcpercussionist]

Hi, thank you so much for looking it over & for your work!
Couldn't figure out the antecedent bar in Finale, thanks haha.
I definitely agree about measure 2 beat 3, and changed that.
I think having the note in parenthesis in measure 7 is a great idea. I did know it was a melody note but wasn't sure which way to notate it since it went so low under the staff.
I was really having a hard time hearing the low notes in measures 23 & 24, so I'm specifically grateful for those corrections, and of course everything else.

As for the two other topics,
1. Totally agreed on the held notes, I'll be looking through everything and making some edits. I didn't really feel like writing out pedal markings and in-depth dynamics but yeah, things can and should look better. Generally with the notation as well, I went more for register than right/left hand, so I was hoping, for example, the stems in measures 9 and 10 being faced up and down would imply different hand usage. But if you think it would look better as notated by hand, I can definitely try that out.
Unfortunately I don't have access to a piano at all right now, but you're totally right. I wasn't really thinking about playability, so while I might be able to hit those 10ths, I'll edit that haha. Thank you again.

2. I don't consider all 4 minutes of that video to be one piece. I believe what I transcribed to be a full piece in and of itself, then there's a fade in of a second "Theme of Serena" at 1:36, in a completely different key. As I understand, these are the background themes that play in Serena, a location in Yakuza. The second theme has a Synesthesia like video on Youtube already, while I couldn't find a full transcription or sheet music for this first theme. Here's that video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uuo54bBTK6Y

Hope this answers some questions! I'll be making some edits, be back within a few hours. I appreciate it.

[mastersuperfan]

2. I don't consider all 4 minutes of that video to be one piece. I believe what I transcribed to be a full piece in and of itself, then there's a fade in of a second "Theme of Serena" at 1:36, in a completely different key. As I understand, these are the background themes that play in Serena, a location in Yakuza.

In-game, are these distinct themes? i.e. When the first theme reaches the end (1:35) while playing in game, does it loop back to 0:00, or does it transition directly into the second theme at 1:36 like it does in the video? If the former, then it's fine; if the latter, then the piece would need to be arranged in its entirety.

[rcpercussionist]

In-game, are these distinct themes? i.e. When the first theme reaches the end (1:35) while playing in game, does it loop back to 0:00, or does it transition directly into the second theme at 1:36 like it does in the video? If the former, then it's fine; if the latter, then the piece would need to be arranged in its entirety.

These are distinct pieces. They neither loop nor fade into eachother, but are played independently, either as a snippet or in their entirety.
You can hear the second theme at about 13:35 of this video, preceded by a completely different, non-piano tune. The piece is then followed by a guitar solo. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P8qPz34_l5Q
In addition to not being able to find sheet music for the piece I transcribed, the OST for Yakuza 0 was not released in the US, and the album doesn't even include all of the background music that takes place in the game. I believe that none of the piano solos which play in Serena are included in that album.

[mastersuperfan]

These are distinct pieces. They neither loop nor fade into eachother, but are played independently, either as a snippet or in their entirety.
You can hear the second theme at about 13:35 of this video, preceded by a completely different, non-piano tune. The piece is then followed by a guitar solo. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P8qPz34_l5Q
In addition to not being able to find sheet music for the piece I transcribed, the OST for Yakuza 0 was not released in the US, and the album doesn't even include all of the background music that takes place in the game. I believe that none of the piano solos which play in Serena are included in that album.

Got it, that makes sense.

That said, it's kind of weird to name this one track "Theme of Serena" when there are multiple tracks in the YouTube video titled "Theme of Serena," of which this is only one (what if you wanted to arrange and submit the others later?). Since the OST wasn't released, though, I'm assuming there aren't any better names, so that's best left up to your discretion.

[rcpercussionist]

Got it, that makes sense.

That said, it's kind of weird to name this one track "Theme of Serena" when there are multiple tracks in the YouTube video titled "Theme of Serena," of which this is only one (what if you wanted to arrange and submit the others later?). Since the OST wasn't released, though, I'm assuming there aren't any better names, so that's best left up to your discretion.

That's fair, thanks for the input. I was trying to go with the current YouTube naming scheme, but I went ahead and changed all the files to "Serena Background Music"

I've made all the updates I'll be able to tonight, still open to suggestions or if someone wants to take the reigns. I've left in "Quicker" and "Freely" as pointed out by Maelstrom, I can't change them in Finale Notepad but if someone else wants to they could be replaced with Quarter = 75 and A Tempo, respectively. Also not sure what to do about the chord at the downbeat of measure 16? I know that is unplayable but I think I can hear 3 distinct notes when listening to the video.

Thanks again to everyone.

[mastersuperfan]

I'm not sure how much of this you'll be able to do in NotePad, so let me know if there's anything you can't get it, and I or someone else can get it for you.

The notes seem good, so this is mostly formatting and notation stuff:

- In m2, the "2" should be under the RH staff, not above the notes. Not sure why it's above the notes; it should be below by default. Maybe try re-entering it?
- In m4 RH, the eighth note - quarter note (A - G) on beat 3 sounds like it would be better approximated with a duplet, IMO.
- In m4 RH, I would write in a D on beat 4. Even though the LH already plays a D, the D is much loader on beat 4, which suggests that it is also part of the melody there. In turn, I would parenthesize the D in the LH.
- In m6 RH, the E-A and Eb-A dyads should have their stems flipped up.
- In m10 RH, the 8va should be moved up a bit so it's not colliding with the beam.
- In m10 LH, you should probably flip the upper notes downward to be consistent with m9.
- In m10 LH, the incoming tie on the bottom whole note should be flipped downward. It's difficult to change this manually, so the easier solution would probably be to swap the notes between Layers 1 and 2. Finale considers Layer 2 to be below Layer 1 by default, so this should fix the tie.
- m11 RH beat 1 is written very strangely and confusingly. Instead of trying to use a triplet within a beat in 12/8, I think it would be better to approximate the rhythm as two eighth notes and two sixteenth notes.
- The natural sign on the Cn at the end of m12 RH is nearly colliding with the dot on the previous note. I would use the Note Mover or Accidental Mover tool to separate the dot and natural, but if you're using NotePad, I don't think you can do this.
- The dotted half note in m13 RH should be flipped upward.
- For m16 beat 1, it's probably the easiest solution to transpose something, most likely the Cn down an octave.
- On m16 beat 1, I think the RH would be better approximated as a 4-tuplet (a quadruplet?).
- In m17 RH, all the eighth notes should be flipped downward. It'd also probably be easier to turn the half note into a dotted half note so as not to have to deal with a stray quarter rest on beat 4.
- For m18, instead of the sextuplet, I would just make it four sixteenth notes. At the new tempo, those notes are, in fact, sixteenth notes.
- In m21 RH, the eighth rest should be moved back down onto the center of the staff. Also, the quarter rest on beat 1 should be unhidden.
- In m27, the fermata should be moved up a bit so it's not so close to the slur. Although, for that matter, it doesn't sound like there should be a fermata there based on the original.
- The "Quicker" and "Freely" are really big; maybe you could decrease the text size a little bit?
- The system distribution on page 2 is wack and the first and last systems are way outside the margins. Not sure if this is something you can fix in NotePad, though, so if you can't get it, I or someone else can.

[rcpercussionist]

Thanks for all of your suggested edits! I've reuploaded the .mus and .pdf files with what I was able to change. I've fixed everything, save for what I mention below. I appreciate it!
-m10 incoming LH tie - Can't fix. I tried to redo the ordering but it continuously made the tie delete itself.
-m11 RH I did not touch, as that was a Maelstrom edit.
-m12 RH I cannot fix in Notepad.
-m18 I disagree, I don't think that those are sixteenth notes in the new tempo. If you continue to play notes at that same speed, you will be able to fit 3 notes into every eighth note the LH plays, making them sextuplets.
-Page 2 System Distribution I'm not sure what you mean or if I could fix it but I'd appreciate assistance with that.
Thanks for your time!

[mastersuperfan]

Updated the files after fixing them in full Finale. Importing from Finale v26 into an older version of Finale causes articulations to get screwed up, so you might have to delete and replace the parentheses and fermatas in m4/7/18/28 when you open the MUS. Also, I moved the fermata in m28 above the note since I believe it's more conventional to have the parentheses on top. Let me know if the files look good to you.

I replaced the "Quicker" with "Più mosso" and turned the "freely" to italics since it's an expressive direction rather than a tempo marking. Let me know if that's all right with you.

-m18 I disagree, I don't think that those are sixteenth notes in the new tempo. If you continue to play notes at that same speed, you will be able to fit 3 notes into every eighth note the LH plays, making them sextuplets.

You're right, my bad.

I noticed a few missing notes while editing the formatting, so thorough note-checking will come soon.

[mastersuperfan]

Thorough note-checking comes now, actually:
- In m2, you might as well tie the second note of the duplet over to beat 4 (instead of putting a rest there).
- In m3, is there any particular reason for leaving a dotted quarter rest at the end of Layer 1? You might instead consider tying the A to a dotted quarter, which is then tied to a dotted half, in order to hold it out for the full measure. The way you have it now just seems too arbitrary of a point to cut it off.
- In m5, there is also an Ab (below treble clef/top line of bass clef) and an Eb below that (middle of bass clef) on beat 1. You could write the Ab into the RH and the Eb into Layer 1 of the LH (replacing the rest).
- The Eb on LH beat 2 of m5 sounds like it should be transposed an octave lower (should be the bottom note of the triad, while C is the top).
- I don't hear the A on beat 2-3 of m7 LH. Also, you could probably just remove the F# from LH beat 3 and unparethesize the F# in the RH.

I'm getting something pretty different for m11 LH entirely:
- On m11 beat 1, I don't hear the upper G in the LH.
- In m11 LH, the Fn comes directly on beat 2, not between beats 2 and 3. I also don't hear any G or Bb on beat 2.
- On m11 LH beat 3, I'm not 100% sure if there is a note above the Bb, but if there is, I think it's an Fn, not a D.
- I believe m11 LH beat 4 should be F-Bb, instead of D-G-Bb. You might also consider writing this chord directly into the RH staff (in a different layer; maybe labeling it "L.H." to indicate it's still played by the LH) since it's a lot of ledger lines for the LH staff.

In short, I would write m11 as something like this:

Spoiler

[close]

- On beat 3 of m12 RH, the A is not re-articulated. There should only be the D and F# there.
- On beat 4 of m12 RH, the lower note should be an F#, not a D.
- In m13 LH, the upper note should be an Fn, not a G.
- On m13 RH beat 4, the lower note should be an Fn, not a G.
- I don't hear the D on beat 1 of m14 RH. (There's also the fact that that's too big of an interval for the average pianist to play anywawy.)
- On m15 LH beat 3, the lower note should be an Fn, not a G.
- I think m15 LH beat 3 also has a D at the bottom (re-articulating the D from beat 2), and m15 LH beat 4 has an Fn at the bottom (re-articulating the Fn from beat 3). i.e. beats 3 and 4 are triads.
- On m16 RH beat 3, the A should be transposed an octave down.
- m16 RH beat 4 is missing a dyad (E on the bottom, A on top).
- In m16, I think it would be better just to move all the RH Layer 2 notes (beats 2 and 3) into the LH, and delete RH Layer 2 entirelu. The LH can easily play the full chord on beat 2, which saves the trouble of the RH having to jump down so quickly.
- m18 RH beat 1 also has an E at the bottom.
- I don't hear the C# on m18 RH beat 2; I think it's just the G and the E.
- m21 LH beat 1.5 should be an E instead of an F#.
- Since pedal usage is very heavy throughout, you could specify that with a "con pedale" marking at the beginning.
- The tempo is closest to q.=68, not q.=65.

I would suggest putting a double barline at the end of m16 to make the time signature change more visible, except there's no real clear transition that happens between m16 and m17. In fact, I think it might be better to move the time signature change to m19, since that's where an actual transition occurs. m17 still has a triplet rhythm in it, and you can write the eighth notes as duplets (you already wrote out m15-16 in quadruplets, after all). If you do that, then I would put a double barline at the time signature. What do you think?

Let me know if you need my help with any of these changes (particularly the tempo and the time signature change/double barline, not sure if NotePad can do that).

Just also wanted to ask about the title one last time—do all of the different tracks in the "Theme of Serena" video play in Serena as background music? If this is the only one that does, then that's good. However, if they're all background themes for Serena, I'm not sure this new title is any more helpful than the last, so maybe it would be better to just change it back to the original title since that's the one it's known by.

[rcpercussionist]

mastersuperfan, thanks again for your efforts.
I've just updated the files, I believe I've hit everything besides what I mention below. Also, not trying to self promote, but since you've listened to the track so much by now I thought you might find my cover interesting?

I left the notation in m.7 as is-that was also a Maelstrom edit but I like how the bar looks. Removed the incorrect note though.
I'm not able to change the tempo but I agree that 68 would be more appropriate at the beginning.
I can't hide objects-In m.11 I went with your notation but there are some kinda ugly rests in there.
I can't change the time signatures and rewrite measures 16 & 17, but I totally agree with your analysis. A double bar line at the end of 17, with the 4/4 notation starting with the new tempo at 18 makes so much more sense.
Also I just went ahead and went back to naming it Theme of Serena.

I think that's everything? If you could help with those 3 things I'd greatly appreciate it.
EDIT: Also I can't export .musx files so the current .musx file is outdated.

[mastersuperfan]

- In m5, there is also an Ab (below treble clef/top line of bass clef) and an Eb below that (middle of bass clef) on beat 1. You could write the Ab into the RH and the Eb into Layer 1 of the LH (replacing the rest).
- The Eb on LH beat 2 of m5 sounds like it should be transposed an octave lower (should be the bottom note of the triad, while C is the top).

Sorry these should have been A and E, not Ab and Eb

Looks like opening the files in NotePad really screwed up the formatting for you so I've updated the files again with some more changes:
- Fixed formatting again
- Changed tempo to q.=68
- Added "con pedale" marking at the beginning
- Added the E to m5 LH beat 1 that I mentioned (might've confused you cuz I said Eb instead of E by accident)
- Added a G to m8 LH beat 1 that I missed in my previous check
- Flipped the stems in m11 LH downward (should have done that in my screenshot too)
- Moved the last dyad in m16 on beat 4 up to the RH. I misunderstood what was going on in this measure before, probably due to something being accidentally deleted when Mael or I edited it. So I think it is actually convenient for the RH to play the last dyad.
- Changed the notes in m18 based on I heard (seems like you might've missed fixing those measures)
- Changed m17-18 to 12/8, added the double barline and new tempo marking at m19
- Changed the measure distribution (added one extra measure to the third system on page 1) so that the time signature change occurred at the beginning of a system

Let me know if these files look good, and if there's anything I missed or messed up! If you're happy with these files, I'll gladly approve.