Submissions General Questions, Comments, etc

[Trasdegi]

If you want to submit an arrangement to the site, you will need a .mus. You can convert it from musescore:
1. Download finale notepad 2012
2. Open any template from http://forum.ninsheetmusic.org/index.php?topic=7600.0
3. Export it to musicxml
4. Open the musicxml with musescore
5. Copy/paste everything in it
6. Save it as musicxml
7. Reimport it in finale notepad
8. fix all collisions and the other weird things than could happen in the process
9. save it as .mus

[Olimar12345]

^to add to this, once you create the .mus file, the midi and PDF files need to be exported from the .mus (and not from musescore). This keeps all three files consistent with one another.

[ljhale]

Howdy! New here, first post. I have a few arrangements I will be submitting after I have formatted them according to the guidelines. I have a couple of questions:

1. I don't have a PC, I have a Mac. I use MuseScore for my arrangements, and cannot run Finale Notepad as it is a windows-only product. Is the music XML file acceptable, or do I need to find a member who has Finale Notepad to do the conversion for me?

2. Regarding the formatting guidelines, are there any restrictions on (for lack of a better term) non-standard notation practices? As an example, I have one piece that uses three sixteenth rests in a row several times in lieu of the probably more correct eight rest + sixteenth rest. It's an intentional choice however, the entire piece is sixteenth notes and rests played in unison, and this is much more readable (to me) than the eight + sixteenth.

2b. Another example: I have a piece that doesn't have any pedal markings (they clutter up the page, and there's nothing all that unusual about how this one should be pedaled) however, the left hand in many measures has two 'voices', and one of the voices is written over the other (so I might have a whole note sustaining the measure, but also a half note and a quarter note to be played on the 2 and the 4). This isn't all that unusual for something with multiple voices, it is to illustrate that the one voice is to be held (by hand or with the pedal) and the other is to be played on top of it. On first glance though, it might not look correct. Would this be an acceptable editorial choice in a submission?

3. Lastly, for the copyright of the piece, is there a good resource? I assume the copyright of the game itself would be used, but I'm not sure.

Thanks, glad to have found this place! I hope to be a regular contributor.

[Latios212]

Hello, welcome to NinSheetMusic!

1 - You will indeed need someone to help you convert your XML file into a Finale file. There's no shortage of people willing to help you with that, though, so don't worry.

2 - The short answer is that it depends on the sheet and the original song. We'd be able to help you determine the best way to write something out once we have something to reference. Post your arrangements [here] and we'll comment!

3 - Just look up the publisher and developer. For most games that aren't super obscure, should be easy to find on Wikipedia or something.

I also saw you had been thinking about submitting challenge replacements. Again, once you create a topic for your arrangements in the board I mentioned above, we can take a look and see if that'd be fitting.

Feel free to ask around for help with anything

[ljhale]

Hello, welcome to NinSheetMusic!

1 - You will indeed need someone to help you convert your XML file into a Finale file. There's no shortage of people willing to help you with that, though, so don't worry.

2 - The short answer is that it depends on the sheet and the original song. We'd be able to help you determine the best way to write something out once we have something to reference. Post your arrangements [here] and we'll comment!

3 - Just look up the publisher and developer. For most games that aren't super obscure, should be easy to find on Wikipedia or something.

I also saw you had been thinking about submitting challenge replacements. Again, once you create a topic for your arrangements in the board I mentioned above, we can take a look and see if that'd be fitting.

Feel free to ask around for help with anything

Thanks so much! Quick point of clarification, should I post my in-progress pieces on that page (the MuseScore format ones) and request that somebody help me with the conversion there, or do I need to have them converted first? Sorry, I'm still trying to figure out how to navigate around here.

[Latios212]

You're free to post whatever format stuff you want and ask for help on your personal arrangement thread - your space, you do whatever you want there. We just need files to be converted before you submit your arrangements officially through the NSM Panel.

[The Deku Trombonist]

I made same behind-the-scenes changes to the submission form so if you have any issues with the form rejecting files, let me know and they should be easier to sort out now.

[BotW Link]

Ok, where the heck do I go to submit an arrangement I made?

[cashwarrior1]

Under the tab "NSM Panel", go to the left bar and click "Create New Submission"

[Jack]

Hello, I was just wondering - on the submission instructions, it says to post a link to the song that I'm trying to arrange.  Where should I post this, and is it necessary to get your sheet approved? Also, I'm not in any rush, but I was wondering how long it usually takes to get a sheet approved - just wondering.

Thanks,
Jack

[Libera]

Replying to the submission thread with a youtube embed is usually what people do.  You can look at other submission threads to see that as well.

With regards to your other question, it can vary quite a lot depending on how good the arrangement is, how easy it is to check, how active the arranger is etc. The best thing that arrangers can do to shorten the time their arrangement is in submissions for is to make sure the arrangement is of high quality and to respond to feedback quickly.  Once again you can check out other submission threads in the archives to see how long it took them to be accepted.

[Jack]

Just a suggestion -
As I look through this site (I'm new here,) even in this thread, I see more and more people using Musescore for their arrangements, as I do.  I think accommodating for those folks would increase this site's appeal tremendously.  I don't hold grudges against those who use Finale, but it, especially Finale Notepad, is a pain to use for me.  Regular Finale is costly, and using the free version, even to just follow the current formatting guidelines is a chore, because of how limited it is.  To make it easy for users to use whatever software they prefer for their arrangements would be awesome.
Just a few changes to the formatting guidelines would be great - here are a few things that would help us Musescorers.

1.  Make formatting options Musescore friendly. Especially letting the site address be noted next to the copyright information, on the same line, separated by a slash because Musescore doesn't allow multiple-line copyright texts.

2.  Let arrangers submit a Musescore file instead of or along with a Musescore file

3.  Including samples and instructions for formatting with Musescore

The current system does work, however, and I am aware that this would be a lot of work on your end, but I think it would be worth it to improve the site.

[Latios212]

Valid points, but a couple of things:

- We have discussed this semi-recently here and you can read about some of the reasons why we decided not to for the time being.
- Right now we lack the manpower to go about an effort like that, as our staff members are largely preoccupied with other tasks. I don't know if that will change in the near future.

Don't mean to shoot you down, but there's some context for why I don't quite see it happening in the near future.

[Jack]

Hello, not sure if this is the right place to post this, but here's my question -
I'm working on a song from Donkey Kong Country 3 that has some heavy bongos and percussion to open the song - here it is right here.

How would I work this in a piano arrangement?  Should I skip the intro or work the percussion rhythms into notes on the piano?

Thanks,
Jack

[Maelstrom]

Either work the intro into the piano or have like a "tap" section to imply that the performer should tap on the piano or something.