[PC] Minecraft - "Comforting Memories" by PlayfulPiano

[Zeta]

Submission Information:
Series: Other
Game: Minecraft
Console: PC
Title: Comforting Memories
Instrumentation Solo Piano
Arranger: PlayfulPiano

[attachment deleted by admin]

[PlayfulPiano]

Another one of the Caves & Cliffs tracks, this time by Kumi Tanioka. This should be a pretty straight forward arrangement.
Only aspect that I don't know if I have the formatting right is in regards to the L.H. notation for the octaves on page 2, the use of sus2 chords for the strings at times, and if I should be including an 8va/b anywhere or not.

[Whoppybones]

Pretty song! Here's my thoughts:
 - This sounds more like 6/8 than 3/4. Your notations already seem to show that you feel the same way (especially those dotted quarters), so I would just change the time signature and leave everything else as is.
 - The chord in m14 sounds like it starts in m12. Some of the other atmospheric chords have a similar feel, where they should be started sooner than they are (at least imo).
 - For the chord in m29, I hear an F right beneath that high G
 - m47 There's a really high note that you could have the left hand play
 - I feel like you should probably try to incorporate some of those repeating notes in m48-51. It would make it feel a bit less repetitive, as well as accenting the simplification of those same notes in m51-52.
 - I disagree with the niente marking as it doesn't really seem to fade out completely. I feel that a piano/pianissimo would work better.
I love that you're working on songs from a game I love! Great work!

[PlayfulPiano]

Pretty song! Here's my thoughts:
 - This sounds more like 6/8 than 3/4. Your notations already seem to show that you feel the same way (especially those dotted quarters), so I would just change the time signature and leave everything else as is.
 - The chord in m14 sounds like it starts in m12. Some of the other atmospheric chords have a similar feel, where they should be started sooner than they are (at least imo).
 - For the chord in m29, I hear an F right beneath that high G
 - m47 There's a really high note that you could have the left hand play
 - I feel like you should probably try to incorporate some of those repeating notes in m48-51. It would make it feel a bit less repetitive, as well as accenting the simplification of those same notes in m51-52.
 - I disagree with the niente marking as it doesn't really seem to fade out completely. I feel that a piano/pianissimo would work better.
I love that you're working on songs from a game I love! Great work!

-I changed it to 6/8. I also rebeamed everything to hopefully match a 2 beat subdivision (e.g. some of the half notes that were included).
-They do start earlier but figuring out when to notate slow strings is always a bit complex. I tend to start it when the volume is at its loudest (see my quiet & falling arrangement as a reference0.
-Added the F note.
-I don't hear a high note in m47 at all?
-I'm not exactly sure how to notate the echo correctly. Do you have some possible ideas? I was only able to really hear the B in m48/m50.
-I'll make it a pianissimo.

Updated.

[Bloop]

much comforting yes yes

-This piece might have worked better with doubling the note values and writing it in 3/4 (so bar 1 would be two bars of 3/4), but I think you can keep it in 6/8 so you don't have to re-format the whole sheet. Usually in 6/8, the bar is divided in two triplet beats (1-2-3-4-5-6, or 1-and-a-2-and-a), but we feel this track in 8ths. The tempo marking for a dotted quarter note would be 24, which is slower than the slowest bpm a human can feel (around 31).
If you keep it in 6/8, you can rewrite some of the rests at the start of a bar (m5 R.H. or m25 R.H. layer 1, for example) as dotted quarter rests, so the beats are a bit more compact and easier to read.
-For the pedal lines in your score, either use the fancy ped+star marking You cannot view this attachment. or a Ped.+line with bracket at end You cannot view this attachment.. The arrowhead at the end of your pedal lines indicate lifting and repressing the pedal (which would be used instead of the bracket if you wanted to notate the re-pedaling), and there should be a marking to indicate that this is a pedal line. You could maybe even put the 'Ped' in brackets, so it's a bit clearer that the pedal doesn't have to be repressed at the beginning of the bars.
-m14: I hear something like this as the synth strings chord:
You cannot view this attachment.
-m20: You could maybe add the low G to this tring chord too in the L.H.
-m22: I think the L.H. note here is a C-D dyad (instead of a C).
-m25: There's a G below middle C too on beat 1, which you can add in the R.H. You could also write this G, the E in the R.H. in m23, the F in the L.H. in m24 and the B in the R.H. in m27 in a separate layer as a dotted half note, so it's a bit clearer that these notes belong to the same line as the other dotted half notes in m22, 26 and 28.
-m29: You can also add the high C in the strings, as well as possibly the lower string notes (I believe middle C + the G and C below).
-m39: I believe there should be a C in the R.H. too, kinda like in m14.
-m45: In this string chord I hear something like this:
You cannot view this attachment.
-m48-51: I hear the echos like this (the timing of these notes is also slightly earlier than you have):
You cannot view this attachment.
If you really wanna keep it as dotted 8th-16th though, you should then beam the dotted 8th to the 8th before it like this:
You cannot view this attachment.

[PlayfulPiano]

-This piece might have worked better with doubling the note values and writing it in 3/4 (so bar 1 would be two bars of 3/4), but I think you can keep it in 6/8 so you don't have to re-format the whole sheet. Usually in 6/8, the bar is divided in two triplet beats (1-2-3-4-5-6, or 1-and-a-2-and-a), but we feel this track in 8ths. The tempo marking for a dotted quarter note would be 24, which is slower than the slowest bpm a human can feel (around 31).
If you keep it in 6/8, you can rewrite some of the rests at the start of a bar (m5 R.H. or m25 R.H. layer 1, for example) as dotted quarter rests, so the beats are a bit more compact and easier to read.

Might it be possible to rewrite it with doubled values but in 6/4 instead of 3/4? Ideally I didn't want to double the value / measure count as I feel the sheet would've become too large for a track that was already extremely slow in its tempo. This is assuming that the tempo count for 6/4 wouldn't be the same as 6/8's "1-2-3   4-5-6" and would be more "1-2-3-4-5-6".
I won't do any tempo changes for now though, but I did make the rest change.

-For the pedal lines in your score, either use the fancy ped+star marking You cannot view this attachment. or a Ped.+line with bracket at end You cannot view this attachment.. The arrowhead at the end of your pedal lines indicate lifting and repressing the pedal (which would be used instead of the bracket if you wanted to notate the re-pedaling), and there should be a marking to indicate that this is a pedal line. You could maybe even put the 'Ped' in brackets, so it's a bit clearer that the pedal doesn't have to be repressed at the beginning of the bars.

The main goal for these lines is to notate specific points where the performer is meant to release the pedal completely during a rest, but otherwise continue pedaling throughout the track (hence the initial con pedale in measure 1). With that in mind, would the "Ped" in brackets beside the currently notated pedal lines be a good solution?

-m14: I hear something like this as the synth strings chord:
You cannot view this attachment.

Listening to it while overlapping, actually I think it might be G+B+C+D instead of just B+C+D. I can definitely hear a G in there. I don't hear the lower C though.

-m20: You could maybe add the low G to this tring chord too in the L.H.

Ah I hear what you're talking about, gotcha. Added.

-m22: I think the L.H. note here is a C-D dyad (instead of a C).

Yeah I hear what you mean here. Good catch.

-m25: There's a G below middle C too on beat 1, which you can add in the R.H. You could also write this G, the E in the R.H. in m23, the F in the L.H. in m24 and the B in the R.H. in m27 in a separate layer as a dotted half note, so it's a bit clearer that these notes belong to the same line as the other dotted half notes in m22, 26 and 28.

I see the G correction, but how exactly would the (third?) layer be shown, in terms of beaming and stem flipping? m21-24 is one thing, but due to the high G octave in m25-28, that would be 3 layers and I'm not exactly sure how stem flipping should be done there. I did add the G for now though.

-m29: You can also add the high C in the strings, as well as possibly the lower string notes (I believe middle C + the G and C below).

I think the C6 and C3 might be a bit much of a range to include on piano vs how it sounds with strings. So I excluded those two notes, but I think that should be fine.

-m39: I believe there should be a C in the R.H. too, kinda like in m14.

Added.

-m45: In this string chord I hear something like this:
You cannot view this attachment.

Like before, I added the middle chord note changes but took off the C note extremes. I think it sounds a bit better and more condensed that way.

-m48-51: I hear the echos like this (the timing of these notes is also slightly earlier than you have):
You cannot view this attachment.
If you really wanna keep it as dotted 8th-16th though, you should then beam the dotted 8th to the 8th before it like this:
You cannot view this attachment.

I added in your echo here with a slight modification so it transitions a bit cleaner per phrase (so it changes every 2 measures).

Updated.

[Bloop]

Might it be possible to rewrite it with doubled values but in 6/4 instead of 3/4? Ideally I didn't want to double the value / measure count as I feel the sheet would've become too large for a track that was already extremely slow in its tempo. This is assuming that the tempo count for 6/4 wouldn't be the same as 6/8's "1-2-3   4-5-6" and would be more "1-2-3-4-5-6".
I won't do any tempo changes for now though, but I did make the rest change.

Oh yeah 6/4 would work too, even better than 3/4 actually: 6/4 is pretty much a slower version of 6/8. If you change the time signature to 6/4 and change the note durations to 200% (via Utilities -> Change -> Note Durations), most of the heavy lifting should be done: dynamics/text/pedal marks may get a bit messed up though. If you do this, there will be some measures with 3 or more quarter rests at the start: you can change these 3 quarter rests to dotted half rests for a bit easier reading. If there's 5 quarter rests, you can do dotted half rest + half rest too.

The main goal for these lines is to notate specific points where the performer is meant to release the pedal completely during a rest, but otherwise continue pedaling throughout the track (hence the initial con pedale in measure 1). With that in mind, would the "Ped" in brackets beside the currently notated pedal lines be a good solution?

Yeah I figured that was what you were going for. I think adding "(Ped.)" at the start of the pedal lines works. You could possibly also add a short line after the arrowhead, to further indicate that the pedal needs to be held after repedalling (like this: You cannot view this attachment.). Other additions that could work if you wanna be 200% sure the player will hold the pedal throughout, change "con pedale" to "sempre con pedale" (always with pedal), and/or add "(Ped.)" at the beginning of each system.

Listening to it while overlapping, actually I think it might be G+B+C+D instead of just B+C+D. I can definitely hear a G in there. I don't hear the lower C though.

Yeah it's possible that the C I'm hearing is just the piano C still ringing. Looks good then!

I see the G correction, but how exactly would the (third?) layer be shown, in terms of beaming and stem flipping? m21-24 is one thing, but due to the high G octave in m25-28, that would be 3 layers and I'm not exactly sure how stem flipping should be done there. I did add the G for now though.

There are a few options, depending on what you prefer:
You cannot view this attachment. or You cannot view this attachment.
However, if you decide to change this to 6/4, these notes will be (stemless) dotted whole notes, so you don't have to worry as much about beaming. Just make sure the notes won't clash with any flags of the 8th note.

All other changes look good! The only other thing I could mention is possibly moving the extra bottom notes in the L.H. (like in measures 15-17) to a separate layer, so it's clearer the notes are part of another voice (the player might give more effort to accentuating this note):
You cannot view this attachment.

[PlayfulPiano]

Oh yeah 6/4 would work too, even better than 3/4 actually: 6/4 is pretty much a slower version of 6/8. If you change the time signature to 6/4 and change the note durations to 200% (via Utilities -> Change -> Note Durations), most of the heavy lifting should be done: dynamics/text/pedal marks may get a bit messed up though. If you do this, there will be some measures with 3 or more quarter rests at the start: you can change these 3 quarter rests to dotted half rests for a bit easier reading. If there's 5 quarter rests, you can do dotted half rest + half rest too.
Yeah I figured that was what you were going for. I think adding "(Ped.)" at the start of the pedal lines works. You could possibly also add a short line after the arrowhead, to further indicate that the pedal needs to be held after repedalling (like this: You cannot view this attachment.). Other additions that could work if you wanna be 200% sure the player will hold the pedal throughout, change "con pedale" to "sempre con pedale" (always with pedal), and/or add "(Ped.)" at the beginning of each system.
Yeah it's possible that the C I'm hearing is just the piano C still ringing. Looks good then!
There are a few options, depending on what you prefer:
You cannot view this attachment. or You cannot view this attachment.
However, if you decide to change this to 6/4, these notes will be (stemless) dotted whole notes, so you don't have to worry as much about beaming. Just make sure the notes won't clash with any flags of the 8th note.

All other changes look good! The only other thing I could mention is possibly moving the extra bottom notes in the L.H. (like in measures 15-17) to a separate layer, so it's clearer the notes are part of another voice (the player might give more effort to accentuating this note):
You cannot view this attachment.

Updated with all the changes you mentioned.

[Bloop]

Yup, looks good! There's just two small things I can see now, but other than that it's approved!
-In m23, the E in the R.H. should also be in a second layer as a dotted whole note, as well as maybe the F in the L.H. in m24.
-The fermate at the end is clashing with the triplet mark

You cannot view this attachment.

[PlayfulPiano]

Yup, looks good! There's just two small things I can see now, but other than that it's approved!
-In m23, the E in the R.H. should also be in a second layer as a dotted whole note, as well as maybe the F in the L.H. in m24.
-The fermate at the end is clashing with the triplet mark

You cannot view this attachment.

Fixed both! Updated.

[PlayfulPiano]

i'm just replying here because I feel this might've slipped through the cracks after getting an updater's approval

otherwise college moment

[Libera]

Sorry for the wait. 

The notes in general here look pretty good.  I think my primary concern with this arrangement is the way that the strings are handled.  At the moment it feels very inconsistent and where they do make it in, it's kind of just plonking a chord down at the end of a phrase despite the strings having been there (building up) the whole time that gives the whole arrangement this sort of wonky texture.  Most of it is light/ethereal and then occasionally you get this heavy chord that comes completely out of nowhere, which isn't how the original piece feels at all to me.

With that in mind, my main suggestion would be to try and work in the harmony coming from the strings more consistently across the whole arrangement.  For example, for the section starting at 21, I don't see any reason why the RH can't have these alternating C, Gsus4 chordsin the right, with the ostinato playing over that.  Especially when you compare bar 21 to bar 20 (where you wrote in the strings), now the strings suddenly aren't present anymore even though they're louder in bar 21 than they are in bar 20.  There are lots of places like this where I can see the string harmony being added in (slowly, as the strings build up) alongside the ostinato in the right hand.  I think it would work well and would give a much more balanced texture.

If you have any questions about that or need anything clearing up, feel free to ask.

[PlayfulPiano]

just replying saying that I saw the feedback but am currently busy with end of college (also in general my musical energy is being put into passing music theory II)

will make the corrections probably sometime in may

[PlayfulPiano]

Sorry for the wait. 

The notes in general here look pretty good.  I think my primary concern with this arrangement is the way that the strings are handled.  At the moment it feels very inconsistent and where they do make it in, it's kind of just plonking a chord down at the end of a phrase despite the strings having been there (building up) the whole time that gives the whole arrangement this sort of wonky texture.  Most of it is light/ethereal and then occasionally you get this heavy chord that comes completely out of nowhere, which isn't how the original piece feels at all to me.

With that in mind, my main suggestion would be to try and work in the harmony coming from the strings more consistently across the whole arrangement.  For example, for the section starting at 21, I don't see any reason why the RH can't have these alternating C, Gsus4 chordsin the right, with the ostinato playing over that.  Especially when you compare bar 21 to bar 20 (where you wrote in the strings), now the strings suddenly aren't present anymore even though they're louder in bar 21 than they are in bar 20.  There are lots of places like this where I can see the string harmony being added in (slowly, as the strings build up) alongside the ostinato in the right hand.  I think it would work well and would give a much more balanced texture.

If you have any questions about that or need anything clearing up, feel free to ask.

I think I get what you're saying, and I made edits with the strings to hopefully match the idea. Updated.

[Libera]

Yes this looks a little more like what I was thinking.  I think we can get better though.

-I still think 21-29 can be bigger.  You can put these full alternating C / G7sus4 chords into the right hand, not just single notes.  At the moment it seems kind of arbitrary what else is going into the RH asides the ostinato.
-The crescendo in bar 29 doesn't make any sense.  I would just restrike the chord fully on bar 29 and stop the crescendo there.
-I don't hear the A in the chord in bar 39, although I do hear a C.
-Similarly to 21+, 40-45 can be fuller.  You can add an E in bar 40, an A in bar 42 etc.
-In bar 46-47 this is again the alternating C to G7sus4, as opposed to what you have written in.  At least that's what I hear anyway.
-In bar 52-53 I don't hear the echo at all.  It just sounds like normal piano again.