[NES] Final Fantasy - "Flying Fortress" by Fantastic Ike

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Submission Information:
Series: Final Fantasy
Game: Final Fantasy
Console: Nintendo Entertainment System
Title: Flying Fortress
Instrumentation Solo Piano
Arranger: Fantastic Ike

[Fantastic Ike]

Taking it easy with this submission (at least in theory)

[XiaoMigros]

easy

• I have a feeling this track would be better in Bb minor, but I think it's best to wait for a second opinion. Some accidentals would need to change too
• It's not super clear whether beat 2.5 in the LH of m1 and similar is natural or flat, could you add courtesy accidentals?
• m10 & m12: I hear the Eb in the RH at beat 1 as staccato
• m9-12 LH: Beat 3.5 would be better off with a tenuto marking or a slur, instead of staccato
• I don't think the caesura in m13 is needed, the original sounds like what would be played with a regular rall./rit. marking

[Fantastic Ike]

I have a feeling this track would be better in Bb minor, but I think it's best to wait for a second opinion. Some accidentals would need to change too

I kind of saw it as a whole-tone scale tonality, so I kept it in Bb major to be "safe." Not a scale I'm particularly used to writing out enharmonics for so will defer to your judgement.

t's not super clear whether beat 2.5 in the LH of m1 and similar is natural or flat, could you add courtesy accidentals?

Sure thing.

m9-12 LH: Beat 3.5 would be better off with a tenuto marking or a slur, instead of staccato

Going with tenuto for now

I don't think the caesura in m13 is needed, the original sounds like what would be played with a regular rall./rit. marking

Sure. I thought I'd err on the side of having it since there's kind of a pause in the track

Updated

[XiaoMigros]

Awesome! Leaving a note to the next updater about key signature and accidentals, but in the mean time I approve this sheet

[Fantastic Ike]

Oh wow! Don't think I've had a sheet approved so quickly. Thanks!

[Kricketune54]

I think I agree with Xiao that Bb minor seems more appropriate.  Tonally, I'm picking this up as a minor track. You might find you have to re-add some of the courtesy accidentals, as well as some notes like Fb in m10 that will become En's when you hold the notes enharmonically switching keys, just as a heads up.

• With the Bb minor change I believe also at m10 and m12 RH lower layer, the An becomes a Bbb on beat 1.0. Most if not all En's should be changed to Fb's as a result as well.
•  m4 RH and m8, I'm actually hearing the lower octave Cb play first and the higher octave one on beat 2.75. So just swap rhythms

[Fantastic Ike]

Cool. I'm assuming keep all those D naturals as is? There's not a huge reason to make them all Ebb

Updated.

[Latios212]

Cool. I'm assuming keep all those D naturals as is? There's not a huge reason to make them all Ebb

I don't think having the D naturals as-is (if you are referring to places like m. 1 LH beat 3.5) is right - you lose the interval consistency you have with the first ascending pattern (diminished fifth vs. augmented fourth) as well as having Dn and Db in the same group of notes which is awkward to read.

If this is staying pretty much as is in Bb minor, I think those would be better off respelled. But I am not sure if Bbm is best since it doesn't really stick to that well and sounds kind of whole-tone-y/atonal overall. Anyone better at theory than me want to weigh in?

[Bloop]

Funnily enough, I think this piece works better in D# minor (6 sharps). The current An's in m4 and 8 in beat 4.75 will need to be Gx's, but anything else is fine as naturals.
My reasoning for D# minor btw is mostly m9-12, which fits best in Ebm or D#m (or phrygian, if you account for the b2 in m10 and 12). m1-8 is mostly based on the whole-tone scale, which doesn't give a clear tonality by itself. The melody in m4 and 8 does nod more towards Ebm/D#m though. Eb minor and D# minor are interchangeable because they both have 6 accidentals, but because there's a lot of flattened notes in this piece (b5's in m1-8's L.H., descending chromatic scales in m9-13, and the aforementioned b2's in m10 and 12), D# minor is a bit more intuitive to read. In D# minor most sharps become naturals, but in Eb minor most flats will become double flats.

[Fantastic Ike]

Can do. Updated!

(Who'd have thought the hardest part would be figuring out the key signature?)

[Bloop]

You can write the B#'s in m9, 11 and 13 as Cn's, but other than that it looks good accidental-wise ^^

[Fantastic Ike]

Sure, updated.

[Kricketune54]

Just one really minor formatting comment before I accept, the first 3 systems are a bit cramped while the last system has a bit more space above it that could be utilized. Again, super minor, but it would help declutter the 2nd and 3rd systems a little if the space around them was widened a bit

[Fantastic Ike]

Hmm, tried to balance it out a bit more. Updated