[N64] Star Fox 64 - "Bill's Theme & Katt's Theme" by Kricketune54

[Zeta]

Submission Information:
Series: Star Fox
Game: Star Fox 64
Console: Nintendo 64
Title: Bill's Theme & Katt's Theme
Instrumentation Solo Piano
Arranger: Kricketune54

[attachment deleted by admin]

[Kricketune54]

[Zeila]

Overall the notes are mostly there and most of the issue is with the formatting, rhythm, and structure. Here's some feedback:

Formatting and general stuff

• The composer/arranger info seems a little too high and has plenty of space to be comfortably below the subtitle; the copyright text is also outside of the margins
• This is definitely too fast; the note values and the tempo marking should be halved
• Everything is off beat after the first chord and the G-B-D chord should start a new measure. since everything should be halved now, that means that the first chord should last 4 beats and everything should either be in 2/4, the first 4 eighth notes should be a pickup measure, or there should be a 2/4 measure in the middle while everything else is 4/4. The second option is probably cleaner/better
• The rhythm goes off beat again once the the second melody line starts, so it should start on beat 1.5 instead of 1.25 (after halving the note values); also the left hand should be quarter-quarter-dotted eighth-sixteenth tied to quarter note so that it's always on a down beat until it matches with the ending RH chord on beat 3.75
• You should add some accents on the brass/timpani part that does the three sixteenth notes as a lead in to the next part; maybe you can add them at the very end too (but if not, those last two notes in the RH shouldn't be staccato'd)
• I don't know if you can add tremolos in Finale Notepad but it would be nice to include one alongside a crescendo for the last chord

Notes

• Maybe you could rethink the 10th stretches in the LH for those with smaller hands, but I don't have any suggestions for that as playing the C#'s in the RH is awkward, soz
• You're missing some harmonies in the opening part, and instead of a low E on the first chord it should be a low A that the RH could play, while the LH could take the G
• in the new measure 2, the A should be raised an octave; also you could add more harmonies to the sixteenth note line here in the RH, but it's okay if you want to omit that
• The last chord sounds too dense imo, and the lowest note should be an A, not a C (I don't even hear a C at all tbh); you should take some notes out and/or redistribute some

Sorry if this is confusing, but hopefully having the file would make it easier to understand and follow along. There were a few things I didn't do but those are up to you unless Notepad is incapable of doing it the way you'd like

[MUS]

[Kricketune54]

Hi again, and thanks for the edits/feedback!

• This is definitely too fast; the note values and the tempo marking should be halved

I should've seen this one... when I went to figure out the tempo I felt the offbeats, but for some reason I didn't rationalize that the feel certainly slower.  Tricked by the eight notes in teh opening; not sure why I didn't pick this up because I also did listen to the Star Fox Zero version and that's pretty clear with the more jazzy bossa feel there

• I don't know if you can add tremolos in Finale Notepad but it would be nice to include one alongside a crescendo for the last chord

Tremolos are not possible in NotePad unfortunately (I tried to put a tremolo on my Bounty Hunter submission to no avail), but I agree that fits with the timpani roll on last chord here.

• You're missing some harmonies in the opening part, and instead of a low E on the first chord it should be a low A that the RH could play, while the LH could take the G
• in the new measure 2, the A should be raised an octave; also you could add more harmonies to the sixteenth note line here in the RH, but it's okay if you want to omit that
• The last chord sounds too dense imo, and the lowest note should be an A, not a C (I don't even hear a C at all tbh); you should take some notes out and/or redistribute some

I think I struggle as an arranger sometimes when it comes to picking out harmonies.  And in other instances, I find harmonies that I trick myself into hearing!    Hopefully the last chord is properly changed now, though I once again agree a tremolo would feel/sound more appropriate.

Maybe you could rethink the 10th stretches in the LH for those with smaller hands, but I don't have any suggestions for that as playing the C#'s in the RH is awkward, soz

My fix is an attempt to kill too birds with one stone.  Although it sacrifices accuracy of octave, I made new measure 2 LH A all the same octave.  As mentioned above, in my harmonic struggles I sometimes forget about those with smaller hands when I make the chord changes.  I wish I had a keyboard/piano to play this out at but my current irl situation doesn't allow that unfortunately.

This stuff wasn't confusing at all though! Accents sound appropriate where added.  Changes have been made and resubmitted for review.  I did add another lower octave to RH melody but I am not opposed to just doing the two original octaves because they definitely stick out more in the piece to me.  Hope that didn't wreck the last chord density again.  I though about adding a low B for LH there but I didn't think it fit; hope it's not too awkward having five notes in the chord (thought it was appropriate to double the A in the chord)

[Static]

Looks really good! I don't really have much to say here, so here's your sheet with the tremolos added.
I also moved the title within the margins; before it was sticking out a little.

If it looks good to you, feel free to upload this version. I approve.

[Kricketune54]

Looks really good! I don't really have much to say here, so here's your sheet with the tremolos added.
I also moved the title within the margins; before it was sticking out a little.

If it looks good to you, feel free to upload this version. I approve.

Thank you for the Tremolos!  I think I may have figured out how to add them from MuseScore this time around.

Hopefully this isn't too much to ask as far as reformatting/note review, but I was figuring the piece was too short at 4 bars, and committed to also writing in Bill's Theme.  I'm referring to this piece now as "Medley of Allies" because the piece contains the themes that play for the two allied pilots (Katt and Bill) in Star Fox 64 you can run into.  I don't know how to correctly get the text boxes to look like they do in NinSheet's animal crossing sheets, so apologies for the sheet looking rougher than when you handed it off to me.

[Latios212]

Hopefully this isn't too much to ask as far as reformatting/note review, but I was figuring the piece was too short at 4 bars, and committed to also writing in Bill's Theme.  I'm referring to this piece now as "Medley of Allies" because the piece contains the themes that play for the two allied pilots (Katt and Bill) in Star Fox 64 you can run into.  I don't know how to correctly get the text boxes to look like they do in NinSheet's animal crossing sheets, so apologies for the sheet looking rougher than when you handed it off to me.

There's no lower limit to the length of a sheet. Aside from the two themes being related, is there any other reason you want to combine these? Just thinking if someone was looking for "Katt's Theme" specifically, "Medley of Allies" might not be the most obvious thing to find.

[Zeila]

There's no lower limit to the length of a sheet. Aside from the two themes being related, is there any other reason you want to combine these? Just thinking if someone was looking for "Katt's Theme" specifically, "Medley of Allies" might not be the most obvious thing to find.

I think a better name suggestion could just be "Bill's Theme / Katt's Theme" seeing as EarthBound has a few sheets like that such as "You Won! / Level Up / Game Over". Of course, that's just if it's decided that both of those should stay in one sheet. Since they're both short enough to fit on one page and since they are both allied themes, I personally think it's okay

[Kricketune54]

There's no lower limit to the length of a sheet. Aside from the two themes being related, is there any other reason you want to combine these? Just thinking if someone was looking for "Katt's Theme" specifically, "Medley of Allies" might not be the most obvious thing to find.

I understand there is no sheet length limit, but I thought it would be handy to have both small ally themes on the same sheet.  If you would prefer I keep the songs separate, I'll go back to Static's edited version and upload that and keep Bill's theme for another time.

I think a better name suggestion could just be "Bill's Theme / Katt's Theme" seeing as EarthBound has a few sheets like that such as "You Won! / Level Up / Game Over". Of course, that's just if it's decided that both of those should stay in one sheet. Since they're both short enough to fit on one page and since they are both allied themes, I personally think it's okay

I agree that this would be a better title format!  From a search standpoint I agree with both of you.  I guess I wasn't sure how the to combine different songs if that was the way to do it.

[Kricketune54]

Also Bill's Theme

[Static]

Here's a reformatted file for you:

- Square text enclosures around the theme titles were changed to rectangles to reduce clutter.
- Rests in m7 of Bill's Theme were edited to reflect the 6/8 time signature (8th rest + dotted quarter rest instead of half rest). The final barline was changed to a double barline.
- Space between systems and staves was increased.
- 16th notes in Katt's Theme have been beamed together properly, staccatos are now on the note side rather than stem side.
- Some 2nd layer rests were hidden to reduce clutter.
- Page margins were adjusted, measure numbers were added.
- Main title was centered horizontally.

Bill's Theme looks great, so my approval still stands.

I think maybe the title might be better with "&" instead of "/". I think it more clearly indicates that the two pieces are separate, rather than one piece of music representing both characters, but maybe that's just me. Any other thoughts on this?

[Kricketune54]

Thank you!

I reuploaded with & instead.  I also fixed a note length error in Bill's Theme on measure's three and four (16th to 8th instead of two 16th's).  I think it might be off still because the midi still doesn't sound as on point with the actual version in my opinion.

[Static]

One last little thing - you're right about that rhythm, but in 6/8 it should be written like this:


Actually, disregard that; I know why it sounds off, hold on a second while I prepare another post...

[Static]

The time signature is wrong - it should be 2/4 instead of 6/8. That's why the 16th note rhythms sound too fast. Here's what it should look like in 6/8, but you'll see why I think 2/4 is a better choice:

Spoiler

[close]

The percussion is playing almost entirely 16th note rhythms in 2/4, while the melody only has a few triplet rhythms, so I think 2/4 is the better choice.
Here's an updated version.

[Kricketune54]

The time signature is wrong - it should be 2/4 instead of 6/8. That's why the 16th note rhythms sound too fast

Aaaaah Part of me thought that it might be that

Fixed all files to reflect that and reuploaded