[GBA] Pokémon Ruby Version & Pokémon Sapphire Version - "Slateport City" (Replacement) by Th3Gavst3r

[Zeta]

Submission Information:
Series: Pokémon
Game: Pokémon Ruby Version & Pokémon Sapphire Version
Console: Game Boy Advance
Title: Slateport City
Instrumentation Solo Piano
Arranger: Th3Gavst3r


Replacement Information:
Links to Existing Sheet: MUS | MIDI | PDF
Replacement Type: Challenge (new arranger)

[attachment deleted by admin]

[Th3Gavst3r]

Back in business babyyy

[Altissimo]

The playback starts at m. 70 and I can't do anything about this. I don't know if it's my fault or something with the arrangement but I've never had this issue before

[Th3Gavst3r]

That's really strange, I know Latios was able to play it. I did just change the files a bit, maybe try again now?

[Pianist Da Sootopolis]

Flip stems for the opening layers.
Also, layer 2 can just be marked "staccato" or "sempre staccato".
Good arrangement, I'll have more soon.

[Th3Gavst3r]

Flip stems for the opening layers.
Also, layer 2 can just be marked "staccato" or "sempre staccato".
Good arrangement, I'll have more soon.

Mmk, the quarter notes should be more obvious now. There is a specific pattern to the staccatos though, so I think bulk labeling would be a bad idea

[Pianist Da Sootopolis]

Nice arrangement, by the way.
Do you have the systems set up the way you do on purpose, or just because they came out that way?
I'd standardize the systems, if I were you. I'm going to play around with this to give some recommendations.
What I'm finding: 1-27 looks way better with 3 measures per line. 28 and onward looks great with 4. That would be my recommendation. You'll probably have to move some stuff around, but it fits much nicer IMO, even with the last system as only 3 measures

[Th3Gavst3r]

Thanks, I really want to do this song justice lol
Do you mean like the number of measures per system? I usually see how Finale does things and shift things around if I think it's cramped or there's a lonely measure in the last system etc. Does it look bad somewhere?
Edit: just saw your edit, gonna read it lol

Edit2: It's a bit difficult to fit everything onto 2 pages like this, but I got it to work by resizing the score a lot. Did you go with 3 pages?

[daj]

Haha xD

At some point, if I ever feel like sight-reading something Pokemon, I would definitely read this. No promises, but heck, I love this score. It is the most creative rendition someone can get of something as straightforward as Slateport City. The semiquaver flourishes are magnificent. There are so many ways to make this arrangement boring, but clearly you weren't into those. So that's really really good.

With the amazing creativity checked off the list though, I don't agree completely with your voicings and style, buuut bleh. It's your style. But I do believe that for your staccato flourishes, adding some slurs would paint the phrases more effectively. If you have a non-staccato to a staccato note, slurring the first note to the second accomplishes the same effect, and it's infinitely more clear to the performer.

Small nitpick. But otherwise, I'm keeping this in view; all the best and hope to see this on the main site soon, hehe.

(also do half-expect a rough recording of this at some point. whee~)

[Th3Gavst3r]

Oh yeah, I've fixed my "style" a couple times before lol. Normally I just forget about slurs because Finale doesn't seem to care whether they're there or not as far as playback goes, but I agree that adding slurs makes it much easier to read, so thanks for picking that out! Was there something else about it that bugged you? Because how I write music is pretty much baseless lol

If you end up playing this though THAT WOULD BE SERIOUSLY SO STUPID GREAT. I haven't actually heard a real playthrough for any of my arrangements yet, and in terms of arranging I don't think anything would make me happier (half-expectation is more than enough hehe)

[daj]

Oh yeah, I've fixed my "style" a couple times before lol. Normally I just forget about slurs because Finale doesn't seem to care whether they're there or not as far as playback goes, but I agree that adding slurs makes it much easier to read, so thanks for picking that out! Was there something else about it that bugged you? Because how I write music is pretty much baseless lol

Ooh. You write music baselessly? Bwahaha. Prepare to be stoned to death.
(nah, kidding. that's violent and sad.)

Mm, took a closer look at the score and did a little mental-sight-reading of it though. Found some things!

b. 4, bt 3-4 is dangerous. You've omitted the third note of both the G major and A major chords - that makes the harmony ambiguous (i.e. without the 3rd you don't know whether it's a major or minor chords). Adding a little harmony note (B, then C#) in the middle of the right hand octave would be an easy fix

b. 8, bt 3 same thing!
b. 8, bt 4 has a C natural which I'm convinced doesn't belong there. It also makes a nasty clash with the F-sharp in the bass; you've got a bunch of other clashes but this one would probably stand out the most.

For b. 11 replace A-sharps with B-flats! because your current notation looks very wrong to a performer - it's a false relation. Theory also states that you should use a B-flat, so yeah~

b. 17-18 is in italics because I think the writing is awesome and I have to point it out. Great concept here!

for b. 20 I would put the middle part in the right staff; i'd play it with my right hand for sure, and I think it makes the transition back to the main theme + flourish much clearer if you do

b. 31-37 is really, really creative. You achieve the transition without losing the drive. The harmony at b. 32 is a little iffy, but I think it should sound okay.

b. 38 though is a pretty unsatisfying transition after such an awesome section. I think you really need that perfect cadence on bt 4; the C natural is a lottle (a little, except a lot) out of place. It might be smeared once we get up to speed, but the transition might come out of nowhere and that kinda sucks. I know the original had something like this, but there was some pedal point on B somewhere that made the transition much smoother. Do consider either throwing in a pedal point or changing the C-natural to B~

~

Yup! That's pretty much it. Hope the comments help, dont hestitate to ask me if you need clarifying on stuff

If you end up playing this though THAT WOULD BE SERIOUSLY SO STUPID GREAT. I haven't actually heard a real playthrough for any of my arrangements yet, and in terms of arranging I don't think anything would make me happier (half-expectation is more than enough hehe)

If your other arrangements are as creative as this, I think I'll definitely check them out. Yeaaaahhhh

Haha, good works deserve to be performed~

[Th3Gavst3r]

I'm actually surprised how long it took me to fix this stuff... Anyway, here's what I changed:

b. 4, bt 3-4 is dangerous. You've omitted the third note of both the G major and A major chords - that makes the harmony ambiguous (i.e. without the 3rd you don't know whether it's a major or minor chords). Adding a little harmony note (B, then C#) in the middle of the right hand octave would be an easy fix

Put them in. Turns out the B and C# were in the original anyway, I just didn't hear them before lol

b. 8, bt 3 same thing!

I tried messing around with this section a lot, but using any real chords seems to interrupt the two note melody-harmony pattern going on everywhere else. It makes those couple of beats feel much too full for me, so I left it how it was

b. 8, bt 4 has a C natural which I'm convinced doesn't belong there. It also makes a nasty clash with the F-sharp in the bass; you've got a bunch of other clashes but this one would probably stand out the most.

I'm absolutely sure it's there, beat 4.5 is just especially bad with clashing. If you listen really closely to the countermelody, it's actually playing B+F# while the melody&harmony is playing C+G... It doesn't sound too bad in the original but there are still tons of places elsewhere where the same thing happens...

For b. 11 replace A-sharps with B-flats! because your current notation looks very wrong to a performer - it's a false relation. Theory also states that you should use a B-flat, so yeah~

Gotcha!

for b. 20 I would put the middle part in the right staff; i'd play it with my right hand for sure, and I think it makes the transition back to the main theme + flourish much clearer if you do

Did this, but also put in a LH suggestion for people who'd like to opt out of that tenth

b. 38 though is a pretty unsatisfying transition after such an awesome section. I think you really need that perfect cadence on bt 4; the C natural is a lottle (a little, except a lot) out of place. It might be smeared once we get up to speed, but the transition might come out of nowhere and that kinda sucks. I know the original had something like this, but there was some pedal point on B somewhere that made the transition much smoother. Do consider either throwing in a pedal point or changing the C-natural to B~

This right here, I spent a looong time on hehe
Turns out almost nothing sounds good here... Putting a B on that note actually sounds worse than the C natural, so I tried all sorts of combinations of the countermelody voices to help cover it up instead. What I've got now sounded the best to me, but if anyone has a better fix it'd be more than welcome

Bonus Edit:
I tweaked various small things throughout, but something I should probably note is that I added the countermelody into measures 13-16 because I really didn't like how thin the arrangement got in that area. It's much easier to play there than when it shows up earlier around measure 5, so I figured why not.

(btw, Happy 4th )

[Bespinben]

I cri tears of sadness when I look at dahans' version
I cri tears of joy when looking at gav's version

~totally not quoting somebody else

[Zeta]

This submission has been accepted by Bespinben.

~Zeta, your friendly NSM-Bot