Maelstrom's Arrangements - 8th Anniversary - Xeno Suprise

[SlowPokemon]

Here's an edited version of your sheet for Sebastian Debeste. The changes I made were as follows:

-I double-checked the title and the second half reads "ichiryuu no suiri." While usually "no" signifies "of" or some sort of possession in Japanese, in this case the word "ichiryuu" (literally "top-notch" or "first-class") is describing the word "suiri" ("reasoning"). So the actual title would be "Yumihiko Ichiyanagi ~ First-Class Reasoning" which is basically what you had the first time. I edited the title and changed it on the second page as well (which you had forgotten to change from your Sebastian Debeste title).
-Corrected the composer information to Noriyuki Iwadare (I would imagine this was just an oversight of a spelling error or something)
-I changed the tempo marking from 170 bpm to 172 bpm as I feel it's more likely that this is the actual tempo. 170 is not a default tempo marked on metronomes, but 172 is, and 2 bpm is hardly any difference in speed.
-Added slurs and phrase markings to the melody throughout. In an upbeat waltz like this, the phrase markings are very important; though legato playing is always implied, it's very important to recognize where the notes tie into one another and how a drawn-out note plays into a staccato one. I don't mean to rant about this, but just to be clear, every slur indicates a "drop-lift" motion, meaning that the first note of the slur should be slightly heavier (dropping your hand more forcefully) and the last should be lighter (lifting your hand up). Therefore, at the end of a slur, it typically signifies a lift. This is especially helpful in the LH, where it accentuates the heavier first beat leading into very light second and third beats, which is very typical for waltz music. For a more specific example, at the phrase in mm. 49-50, where your slur ends at the end of m. 49 and another one starts at m. 50, that means you want the pianist to lift between the measures, when in fact all of the notes are played legato. So my correction there was simply to create one larger slur over both measures.

Specific instances of changes:
-m. 10 & m. 18: Changed the G-flat in the LH to an F-sharp since you have an F-sharp fully-diminished seventh chord. It's good to keep in mind that if you have the same note in both hands, you'll almost always spell them the same way, meaning that you shouldn't have F-sharp in the RH and G-flat in the left hand. Your RH was correct: since it's the G that's moving down, it's better to spell it as F-sharp so you have a G moving to an F rather than a G moving to a G.
-m. 11: The E here is only held for three beats, meaning that the first two beats of m. 12 are rests.
-m. 27: Corrected the chord on the first beat as your notes were incorrect (though you had the chord right). The only notes present from the G chord is the G in the LH; the RH has E and A, which are both nonharmonic tones. Technically speaking, if you wanted to keep a consistency, the LH should have the A, but as that requires hand motion that may be uncomfortable for some, it's easier to put it in the RH.
-m. 30: The G in the LH moves down to an F-sharp in this measure.
-m. 32: The LH chord should still be omitting the third.
-mm. 33-34: Again, your chords are right, but the notes you have are different from what's actually in the music due to nonharmonic tones. I changed the notes accordingly.
-m. 36: Changed the A-sharp to B-flat as you actually have a dominant seventh chord built on C, signifying the modulation to the key of F major (the chord from the root is C,E, G, B-flat)
-mm. 37-50: The LH is an octave too low here and it sounds very awkward; however, I can't really see a way out of this as the bass is overlapping with and sometimes higher than the melody. I think probably how it is stands as the best way to handle it, unless you wanted to take the RH up an octave, which is also a viable option. I didn't change anything though.
-m. 38 & m. 46: Similarly to m. 10 & m. 18, which has the same chord in a different key, the A and C move down to G-sharp and B-natural rather than A-flat and C-flat. The chord is G-sharp, B, D, F. Notice how your third beat uses D and B? That's correct, so make sure your first beat matches. Since the chord hasn't changed, to remain consistent, your D and B would have had to be C-flat and E-double flat.
-mm. 41-44: Your RH harmonies aren't wrong for the chords, but they aren't what are in the music (again). I corrected the harmonies and added the D's drop to D-flat at the beginning of m. 42. In addition, since some of the harmonies in the RH are held for longer than you have them, I put these on a second layer as a second melodic line to accurately convey their durations.
-m. 48: Changed the G-flat to F-sharp as you have an F-sharp diminished chord here. In addition, if you listen closely, you'll notice that the F-sharp is actually held for the entire measure, so I changed that as well.
-m. 50: The LH chord is staccato and not held for the entire measure.
-mm. 55-70: The first note of every measure of the LH is an octave too high--listen to the beginning C and notice that the G that appears in every measure here is at a lower pitch, not a higher one.
-mm. 62 & 70: Again, where this comes into play in this key, the LH chord should contain a C-sharp, not a D-flat. And again, that makes it parallel with the C-sharp in the RH (which is correct).

That's all of my corrections. You don't have to update the files if you don't want to, but I suspect if you go to submit this you might run into some of the same comments. I don't mean to pry or change your arrangement without your permission, but after printing out a copy and playing through it I went to Finale to make these changes to make my own personal experience playing the piece better. That's all! Here's a link to my MUS file if you want to check them out.

[Maelstrom]

Thanks! I won't pretend that I know more about music theory than I really do, but isn't that F# dim just an inversion of a C dim?
I'll edit this with more when I finish looking through everything.

I did mean to add slurs and such, but I completely forgot. It always makes it look so much nicer.

As for the tempo, that makes sense. I only have a digital one that can do any tempo, so you may see why I forgot to account for more classical ones.

Yes, the composer must have been a typo.

And accidentals are my weakness. I try to get them right, but it doesn't always happen. I really should start printing them out and just playing them. I've found so many accidental errors in sheets on the site by doing that.

mm. 37-50 -- I wanted to avoid moving the RH up an octave just because the next portion is already high enough as it is and I didn't want to mess with the transitions. I completely get what you are saying about the bass sounding weird, though.

mm. 55-70 -- Moved up the bass for playability's sake. If it's still readily playable, than I'll keep that.

And finally:

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: /

[SlowPokemon]

Technically they're enharmonics of one another but the reason you would use F-sharp is because the G is moving down.

[Bespinben]

-m. 10 & m. 18: Changed the G-flat in the LH to an F-sharp since you have an F-sharp fully-diminished seventh chord.

Actually, you're going to want to spell that like D#dim7. This is to show the chromatic movement D# to E and F# to G with the following measure being C major.

Example:

Spoiler

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[Jompa]

When dim-chords appear in tonal music, in general it can be from two cases: the first case is when it acts as a dominantic chord, which is when it is on the leading tone to the next chord (like a dominantb9-chord with the root left out), which means that there would be no discussion what the root would be (and it would create perfect voicing anyways, so noone would disagree).
The second case is when it isn't a dominantic chord, but still leads to the next chord - which is common when both the dim and the next chord is on the step of the tonic! This works because some of the notes move to the next chord chromatically, and eventhough it isn't a dominantic chord the "dim-tension" is still there, and is still moving to a stable chord.
In this case one should NOT pay attention to what the root of the chord is when it comes to accidentals, cause that wouldn't get us the optimal voicing, but what we HEAR is that it is a dim on the tonic-step, so harmonically/functionally speaking; if this were to happen in C-major, like in this piece, it would be a C-dim.
But as I said, we shouldn't notate as that, because the note-picture is actually more important than the harmony (because this isn't jazz). So as a conclusion: The best thing to do considering the note-picture would be to do what Bespin's saying.

[Maelstrom]

In this case one should NOT pay attention to what the root of the chord is when it comes to accidentals, cause that wouldn't get us the optimal voicing, but what we HEAR is that it is a dim on the tonic-step, so harmonically/functionally speaking; if this were to happen in C-major, like in this piece, it would be a C-dim.
But as I said, we shouldn't notate as that, because the note-picture is actually more important than the harmony (because this isn't jazz). So as a conclusion: The best thing to do considering the note-picture would be to do what Bespin's saying.

I kinda get it. So I was right with the chord, wrong with the notation. Well, I guess I can fix that in Notepad.

[SlowPokemon]

Yeahhhh they're both right. And oh man I'm sorry I have Finale 2012 so you must use an earlier version.

[Maelstrom]

Fire Emblem: Blazing Sword
Requiem
[PDF] [.mus] [midi] [Original]

Chapter 26

"The prince's room... Is that the door?"
"......"
"General Murdock, the prince's bodyguard, should be away. The king concocted some errand to call him from Zephiel's side... There are no guards around. This is an...easy job, isn't it? I... I can do this! This is my first mission, you know? I guess I'm a little nervous, but... I mustn't fail. Mustn't let Mother down."
"......"
"Are you ready, Jaffar?"
"I've...no desire to be a part of your blundering... If you fail, I will, without hesitation, finish the target and then you."
"What!?"
"Do not be so naive as to expect help from "friends." ...Remember that."
"I...I knew that. Don't have to tell me... I'm a member of the Black Fang, after all. Ha ha..."
"......"
"...I won't fail. I will become worthy... I will. Mother will be proud of me. She will see the daughter I've become, and she will love me. ...There are no guards. It's just like we were told, but...something's strange."
"......"
"Listen! A voice! Someone's talking in the room!"
"No... Someone's praying."
"You're right... It's the prince, isn't it? I wonder what he's praying for."
"I offer this prayer unto thee: My coming-of-age ceremony is tomorrow. As the prince of Bern, I've tried... I've tried my best not to be an embarrassment to my father. I know I've not met with his expectations. But I will try harder. I will please him. I vow to do better. For him."
"......"
"......Hear me: Tomorrow, I will be a man... So this is my last wish as a foolish child. It's the same one I've asked of you every night for all these years, but... Please, bring Father and Mother together again. Please, let the day come when Guinivere and I and her mother... When all of us can live together happily in the castle."
"......"
"It's time..."
"Oh! Jaffar..."
(Jaffar opens the chamber and attacks Zephiel)
"..."
"What!? Villain..."
"That will leave him unconscious for some time. Now, the time has come for you to do your part..."
"......"
"...Do it."
"...O-OK."
"......"
"I...cannot."
"What!? What did you say?"
"Listen to him... All he wants is his parents' love... To be accepted... That's all...... He's just like me. No matter how I try, Mother always looks at me as if I were nothing. Her eyes are so filled with disappointment. She's never held me... not even once......"
"Stop this foolishness! I told you! I will not permit you to ruin my opportunity!"
"I know... Do as you must, Jaffar. I won't resist. You can do it easily. But...please don't hurt the prince. ...For pity's sake..."
!!
"...I'm ready to die."

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[Maelstrom]

This isn't the piece I planned on finishing this week, but I've been so busy I haven't gotten around to it.
Here's a sneak peak:

Spoiler

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Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney: Trials and Tribulations
Reminiscence ~ The Bitter Taste of Truth
[PDF] [.mus] [midi] [Original]

[Maelstrom]

It's still Monday.

Fire Emblem Awakening
Id~Serenity
[PDF] [.mus] [midi] [Original]

Also, 30th arrangement! Yay!

[Jompa]

You should make sure that every accidental makes sense with all the little key changes all over the place. Also because then the right hand and left hand would have the same accidentals for the same enharmonic tone, and there wouldn't be both flats and sharps at the same time. It'll look much better that way.

[Bespinben]

*M. 9 ~ The E natural should be Fb (it's still the same chord held over from m.
*M. 9 ~ There's a third voice you missed. It goes "Fb - Eb - Db"
*M. 12 ~ You missed the Bbb root in the LH chord. Absolutely essential.
*M. 13 ~ The E natural should be Fb
*M. 14 ~ You missed the Db root in the LH chord.
*M. 15 ~ You missed the Cb root in the LH chord.
*M. 16-17 ~ The spellings are all off here. Just use what's outlined by the chord Gbm7 (Gb, Bbb, Db, Fb)
*M. 19 ~ At the end of the measure (beat 4.5), you're going to want to spell it as F# and G# to lead properly into your new key signature. Technically you would want to keep using the spelling you already have to prevent disobeying the then current key signature, but that would mean writing the forthcoming section in a theoretical key signature of Bbb major instead of A major as you already have, which would create more headache than its worth. So, tl;dr, use F# and G#
*M. 32 ~ G# in beat 1 Rh should be Ab (you used an Ab in the LH so...  )
*M. 33 ~ D# in beat 1 Rh should be Eb (you used an Eb in the LH so...  )

[Maelstrom]

All fixed except for

*M. 16-17 ~ The spellings are all off here. Just use what's outlined by the chord Gbm7 (Gb, Bbb, Db, Fb)

I won't pretend I know much about music theory, but isn't that technically the same as F# minor, which is what I tried to spell it as? I sort of get the "using flats" sort of thing, but it seems weird to go with such a strange key.

*M. 32 ~ G# in beat 1 Rh should be Ab (you used an Ab in the LH so...  )
*M. 33 ~ D# in beat 1 Rh should be Eb (you used an Eb in the LH so...  )

I could have sworn I had fixed that.....

[Jompa]

I won't pretend I know much about music theory, but isn't that technically the same as F# minor, which is what I tried to spell it as? I sort of get the "using flats" sort of thing, but it seems weird to go with such a strange key.

It's not the same same thing when you look at the context.

[Maelstrom]

I apologize for this arrangement's lack of punctuality.

Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones
Truth, Despair, and Hope
[PDF] [.mus] [midi] [Original]