[SNES] Plok! - "Beach" by Cashwarrior1

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Submission Information:
Series: Other
Game: Plok!
Console: Super Nintendo Entertainment System
Title: Beach
Instrumentation Solo Piano
Arranger: Cashwarrior1

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[cashwarrior1]

My best arrangement yet >:]

Firstly, there is wonky rhythm stuff going on, it can be interpreted in two ways, I chose to treat the 4/4 section as anticipating the downbeat because i think it leads to a better piano performance.

Secondly, this is all playable, I checked every single measure and it is actually pretty comfortable. The hardest thing is rhythm because the bassline and whatnot. (also the tempo is fast but not too fast)

Thirdly, the chords are a little hard to decipher since they're all like 9ths and 11ths. The SNES uses samples so the channel playing the chords will always use the same chord shape until the sample changes so I tried to keep that in mind.

[Kricketune54]

Man this must've not been fun to arrange as far as how different the pitching is. And not to mention there is a A LOT going on here. A few sections here need a bit of a revisit though in order to increase the note accuracy.


Doc/Format
• I think you forgot Software Creations in the copyright
• Thoughts on maybe adding a 2-2-1.5-1.5 beat count to the q = 120 tempo? Someone correct me if this is erroneous but I was thinking would be helpful when trying to count this 7/8 section.
• The 4/4 section tempo seems a little fast at 120. I think q=117 seemed right.
• m54 this Forte is oddly aligned could go lower

Throughout page 2 (last system LH), 3 (LH and RH) and 4 (RH 1st system) there are quite a few ties that are jumbled over and under each other. Go through, do your best to flip them around nicely, like this for m38 (or better if you can pull off because oh dear are the ties not cooperative with this little space in Finale...).

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   - Also maybe widen m50 system or lower the cresc. so it isn't touching ties.


Notes
• m23-24 LH and similar I'm hearing the C still, as opposed to Dn.
• m26 RH 4th note sounds more like An, 6th like Fn, and 7th pitch is An 
• m29 RH first dotted 8th note you could add the En grace note on this Fn

• I regret to inform you but m31-34 RH is a bit misaligned on the beat, as well as at a few other areas of the section. I would suggest listening to the bassline more closely particularly on beat 4 and how beat 4.25 should line up with the RH chord there. That RH chord in question (current 4.0, actually 4.25) is actually 2 beats long instead of 3, like it is currently written at m49 and m52 for example. That could be a good starting place for rewriting this section, but also make sure the organ bit part is falling on the right beats in earlier part of these measures
   - This misaligned feedback also applies at m51, m53, m59 and 61 at beat 4. It seems like you had this beat aligned correctly in a quite a few places, but this chord's placement is consistent throughout the entire section.

• m31 LH and similar maybe this was an intentional simplification but this is how I'm hearing this part:

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• m32 and 34 LH something odd in playback the Bn is sound like a Bb?
• m35 LH and similar patterns first note I hear as an 8th with two 16ths tho makes sense if this was a simplification. For this same similar pattern, I'm hearing the beat 3.75 E as a Dn.
• m43 LH

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• m46 LH check this measure again for accuracy

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• m47 RH the tie could flip up to avoid going through the flat
• m47 LH slightly different rhythm.

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• if you were to keep the first beat of m50 LH like is, this would be more accurate -

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• m51-54 LH  beat 2.75 doesn't tie over, the next E is down an octave.
• m54 beat 4.75 and similar this tied note is a Dn. Basically the leading into next measure downbeat in this section should be a Dn.
• m55 LH beat 2.5 and similar actually an E restrike here. On beat 3.75 this is also an E, but down an octave from 2.5.
• m56 should also look like this,

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. This applies in other places like m59 and m61
• m58 grace note on beat 4.0 (A#)
• Every instance of the B-D-B-D movement in the guitar section that starts at m55: you could add the Bb/A# grace note where possible on the B's. Currently these parts lack a bit of the pizazz of the original solo without this
• Similarly, the grace notes on the En's should be D#'s.
• m62 LH same changes for beat 2.5 as mentioned elsewhere
• m63 LH beat 3.5 G# grace note could be added here, and m65
• Hearing m64 and m66 LH like this:

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• m71 RH you could add a slur on the first note. Same at m75 as well
• Hearing LH m73 and m75 as follows. Same for m77 bass notes but probably not feasible to integrate with the chord notes:

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• m73 RH grace note sounds like A#
• m76 RH beat 1 think there's an En you could include between current pitches, and on beat 3.0 an A (to mirror how m75 is)
 

Admittedly was a bit general with the RH 4/4 section feedback, but there was a lot to tackle with the LH first. Hopefully you can take a further stab at checking the beats and where chords are falling in the 4/4 section based off the above.

[Bloop]

• Thoughts on maybe adding a 2-2-1.5-1.5 beat count to the q = 120 tempo? Someone correct me if this is erroneous but I was thinking would be helpful when trying to count this 7/8 section.

Quickly jumping in as a weird-rhythm-fan: I don't think I've seen beats noted as "1.5" before, so the correct version would be 2-2-3. However, I find noting these beats only useful when there's multiple different subdivisions. Usually it's pretty clear from the notation what the division is, assuming it's notated correctly (which it is here).

[cashwarrior1]

• I regret to inform you but m31-34 RH is a bit misaligned on the beat, as well as at a few other areas of the section. I would suggest listening to the bassline more closely particularly on beat 4 and how beat 4.25 should line up with the RH chord there. That RH chord in question (current 4.0, actually 4.25) is actually 2 beats long instead of 3, like it is currently written at m49 and m52 for example. That could be a good starting place for rewriting this section, but also make sure the organ bit part is falling on the right beats in earlier part of these measures
   - This misaligned feedback also applies at m51, m53, m59 and 61 at beat 4. It seems like you had this beat aligned correctly in a quite a few places, but this chord's placement is consistent throughout the entire section.

I had done this intentionally at m31-34 because i was trying to capture the kick and snare rhythm with the chords. I only changed it when the melody came in because i found it easier to play. That said, I went ahead and made that change.
For m51, 53, 59, and 61, the chord plays the same time as the snare on those measures.

• m31 LH and similar maybe this was an intentional simplification but this is how I'm hearing this part:

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Yeah, I didn't include the eighth note for ease of playing. (also from my ear training class in college, i found out that i suck at hearing low intervals, i especially get 5ths and octaves mixed up so thanks for helping with the bassline 😅)

• m58 grace note on beat 4.0 (A#)

I found that uncomfortable to play so i omitted it

• m76 RH beat 1 think there's an En you could include between current pitches, and on beat 3.0 an A (to mirror how m75 is)

I also had found this hard to play when arranging it so i omitted it. I just moved the C to the A because playing a full chord there doesn't come as easily :p

Updated.

[Radiak488417]

The video linked in this thread is pretty poor quality and has a lot of noise, which might make hearing notes unnecessarily difficult. Here's a better quality video:

I might take a closer look at this later, but here are a few things that jumped out at me:

-The chords in m17-18 should be C-F-A-Bb-D from bottom to top, and the chords in m19-20 should be Bb-Eb-G-Ab-C (same voicing down a whole step).
-The simplified voicings in m23-34 and m27-28 are missing Abs on top, and I don't hear any Fs in these chords (since they're just the same as the ones in m19-20).
-You could include the 9th in the LH chords in m67-70.
-m57 RH beat 1.25 the note sounds like it should be on beat 1.5 instead.
-m60 beat 3 and similar could use a mordent.
-m72 and m76 RH beat 1 sound more like As than Bs to me.

[cashwarrior1]

Updated.

[Radiak488417]

Whoops, my bad, I misread m67-70. The chords there to me sound like G-A-B-D-F# bottom to top on beat 1 and 2.5, and the same chord up a whole step on beat 4.

[cashwarrior1]

*gasp* I cannot believe you would make such a mistake!!! 🫢🫢🫢

lol updated.

[Kricketune54]

Sorry about the wait on my post. I'm feeling what you have with the 4/4 section melody a lot more now than I was in the time has passed. Took a bit to process it all so I don't think I have much to add between m30-50


• m47 beat 3 RH you could add a staccato, or staccato+tenuto here as this note is a little shorter
• m51 beat 4 I think would be better/more faithful to original with 16th A on 4.0, 4.25 is the current cluster but 8th note value. Same for m53
• m51 LH I scanned through the posts to see if I missed something (please call me out if I did) but m51-53 beat 3.0 should be a 16th E (same octave as 3.75 currently). That 3.75 E should be a B tho
• m55 RH beat 4.25 sounds more like G#
• m56 RH the A on beat 4.5 to me seems like it makes more sense as a grace note on the 4.75 B. It's a very slurred part and doesn't seem like it matches with original this current way

• Hearing LH m75 as follows.

Think you missed this earlier. I also relistened and not hearing 2 16th's but instead just a Gn so correct figure for m73 and 75 is this:

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• RH Could add A# grace notes onto the Bn's in m74 and m78?

[cashwarrior1]

• m51 beat 4 I think would be better/more faithful to original with 16th A on 4.0, 4.25 is the current cluster but 8th note value. Same for m53

Discussed over discord (the chord technically plays on beat 4 so it is left unchanged)

• m51 LH I scanned through the posts to see if I missed something (please call me out if I did) but m51-53 beat 3.0 should be a 16th E (same octave as 3.75 currently). That 3.75 E should be a B tho

I think I might've missed that change. I did leave the beat 3 E as an eighth note just because it looks cleaner (and it feels better to hold it)

Think you missed this earlier. I also relistened and not hearing 2 16th's but instead just a Gn so correct figure for m73 and 75 is this:

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oops yeah I missed that

Updated.

[Kricketune54]

Sorry if I wasn't 100% clear, but this is how I'm hearing the LH at m51-53:

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I think it feels pretty good, and I think it works in concert with what's going on with the RH with this section.

-m72 and m76 RH beat 1 sound more like As than Bs to me.

relistened to this... it sounds to me like the pitch starts on A, bends up to A# and then briefly back to A before it goes to beat 1.25. I did slow it down to .25 and .5 on YouTube and it sounds like this is before the G on beat 1.25. It's so bendy though, I'm going to leave it up to you but I don't personally think there's a grace note G# at minimum

That's about everything from me though!

[cashwarrior1]

relistened to this... it sounds to me like the pitch starts on A, bends up to A# and then briefly back to A before it goes to beat 1.25. I did slow it down to .25 and .5 on YouTube and it sounds like this is before the G on beat 1.25. It's so bendy though, I'm going to leave it up to you but I don't personally think there's a grace note G# at minimum

I just moved the grace note to a Bb to get both notes. (also kept m76 without the grace note)

Updated.

[Kricketune54]

Looks good! Approving

[Bloop]

Sorry for the wait on this one! I haven't taken a deep look into the note-checking (which was what was holding me off for a little bit), but I think Kricketune and Radiak probably pointed out all the inaccuracies that were there. I mostly have some layout related things to mention:

-I rechecked the tempos a little bit: the start is at 8th=253, and at m31 it goes to 8th=235, and it stays at that tempo even when the song repeats again. Maybe you could make a note of that somehow?
-The key signatures at the start seem kinda random to me: at first it's E major, making the Emaj9 - Dmaj9 the I-bVII. Then it becomes Ab major, making the Dbmaj9 and Cbmaj9 a IV-bIII, and later on it becomes F major, making the Bbmaj9 and Abmaj9 a IV-bIII. I think it'd make more sense to have the first chord of all of these the I, so it switches between I and bVII, which would make the key signature at m13 Db major (5 flats) and at m17 Bb major (3 flats). I think switching at m17 also makes more sense than at m21, since this is where the Bbmaj9 and Abmaj9 chords start.
-m21: The rhythmic beaming in the R.H. should be 8th rest - dotted quarter tied to dotted quarter, or 8th rest - 8th note tied to quarter tied to dotted quarter. The rhythmic subdivision is 2+2+3, and the first note of the group of 3 should be visible.
-m23 and similar: Since the 3 of the 2+2+3 is usually grouped together in the rest of this section, I think you can beam the notes in the R.H. together as well (so the 8th-16th-8th-16th under one beam instead of two)
-m27: I think it'd make a little more sense to continue the 8va of the melody until m30: it's not necessarily needed from a ledger line perspective, but currently it looks like the melody is doing a weird jump while it's not.
-m35 and similar: You may have already tried this, but I think it reads a little bit cleaner to have the chords at beat 4.25 be in a seperate layer, as it looks a bit weird to have the melody tied over into the chord.
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There's one of these in m47 as well. Trying to not have accidentals clash with dots might be a bit of a thing though..
-m40: The natural at the Fn in beat 4.75 is missing.
-m71 and similar: Same thing with the beaming at beats 5-7, this can be in one big beam instead of two groups of three 16ths.