[Wii] Super Paper Mario - "Francis Battle" by Bloop

[Zeta]

Submission Information:
Series: Super Mario
Game: Super Paper Mario
Console: Nintendo Wii
Title: Francis Battle
Instrumentation Solo Piano
Arranger: Bloop

[attachment deleted by admin]

[Bloop]

[Sebastian]

My favorite Super Paper Mario boss battle! Love this song.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/p71iq8e1kqkur45/Francis%20Battle.musx?dl=1

What I did:
- Added the bass in M. 1-4 to make it fuller.
- Added some left out notes in M. 5-8 to, again, make it fuller.
- Added some notes in M. 5-12 to spice it up.
- Filled out the chords in M. 13-16.
- There were a few wrong notes (both hands) from M. 17-28. I fixed those.
- There were a couple wrong notes from M. 29-43 (right hand). I fixed those.
- Totally revamped the last two measures.
- Updated the formatting.

Please tell me what you think of my edits! Great work on this song. I love it.
Totally fine if you don't agree with my edits. It is your song after all haha.

[Dekkadeci]

Listened to the linked Youtube video.

Gosh, it's hard to hear the accompaniment starting at Bar 29. The drumbeats tend to overpower it (at least from my speakers). I'm curious whether you ever considered doing something to the accompaniment in Bars 43-44 to take the increased drumbeat rate into account.

In the meantime, I heard at least one high G in Bar 27 and only one high G in Bar 28 in the Youtube video (these contradict the PDF). Also, at least to me, it sounds like there are more middle Gs in the video's Bar 28 than the PDF's.

(I apologize if Sebastian already covered both paragraphs' comments; I cannot read .musx's with Finale Notepad 2012.)

[TheZeldaPianist275]

Bloop, how on earth do you hear those pitches?

[Bloop]

What I did:

Listened to the linked Youtube video.

I'll take a look at these later today. Already thanks!

Bloop, how on earth do you hear those pitches?

Earbuds and guessing

[Bloop]

Please tell me what you think of my edits! Great work on this song. I love it.
Totally fine if you don't agree with my edits. It is your song after all haha.

Great edit! I took some time to think about it myself too. Here's what I changed from your version:

-m. 5-8: I edited the second layer, so the upper notes have the melody of the second voice.
-m. 9-12: Good idea to spice it up, but it felt to be a little too much imo. I also removed the octaves in the second part of m. 12, so the melody corresponds with the melody in m. 13-16
-m. 13-16: I removed the lower f's for playability.
-m. 17: Replaced the glissando with a slur
-m. 29-44: Added some slurs. I also replaced the 32nd notes with a tremolo.

Gosh, it's hard to hear the accompaniment starting at Bar 29. The drumbeats tend to overpower it (at least from my speakers). I'm curious whether you ever considered doing something to the accompaniment in Bars 43-44 to take the increased drumbeat rate into account.

In the meantime, I heard at least one high G in Bar 27 and only one high G in Bar 28 in the Youtube video (these contradict the PDF). Also, at least to me, it sounds like there are more middle Gs in the video's Bar 28 than the PDF's.

(I apologize if Sebastian already covered both paragraphs' comments; I cannot read .musx's with Finale Notepad 2012.)

I changed m. 27 and 28 to include the g's. It does look a little dramatic now, though. If anyone comes up with a better way to notate it, let me know.

[Sebastian]

-m. 5-8: I edited the second layer, so the upper notes have the melody of the second voice.

Sounds good.

-m. 9-12: Good idea to spice it up, but it felt to be a little too much imo. I also removed the octaves in the second part of m. 12, so the melody corresponds with the melody in m. 13-16

I would highly recommend filling in the chords. This is an intense song, and it already, in my opinion, sounds "flat" or sub-par without some of those extra notes. That's why I suggested filling in the chords from M. 9-16 (second layer from M. 13-16.). Again, it's up to you!

-m. 13-16: I removed the lower f's for playability.

I'd say those Fs would be perfectly playable if the performer ad-libbed  pedal (something I do in almost every piece I play, regardless of the piece's markings.)
Since there is nothing being played on (except for 15 which is playable since the hand can reach the entire span with ease) the first beat, you could easily add the entire chord of whole notes (using pedal of course).

-m. 17: Replaced the glissando with a slur

👍

-m. 29-44: Added some slurs.

I think I accidentally removed those. My bad.

I also replaced the 32nd notes with a tremolo.

This is fine.

I changed m. 27 and 28 to include the g's. It does look a little dramatic now, though. If anyone comes up with a better way to notate it, let me know.

I like it.
Thanks for the input, Dekkadeci!

Bloop, how on earth do you hear those pitches?

I would recommend headphones for arranging, especially for hearing hard-to-hear notes. I use Sol Republic headphones that totally cover your ears and block out any sound, so you can focus on the notes. Also, I use a program like this:
https://www.tunetranscriber.com/
I highly recommend it. In addition to slowing down songs, it can pin-point certain parts of a song to replay, etc.
You can load MP3s or YouTube videos into this online program. No downloads needed.
I'm hoping to have something like this on NSM sometime soon

[Bloop]

I would highly recommend filling in the chords. This is an intense song, and it already, in my opinion, sounds "flat" or sub-par without some of those extra notes. That's why I suggested filling in the chords from M. 9-16 (second layer from M. 13-16.). Again, it's up to you!

I think the way I wrote it will get the point across just fine. Full chords just sounds a bit too full compared to the rest of the song.

I'd say those Fs would be perfectly playable if the performer ad-libbed  pedal (something I do in almost every piece I play, regardless of the piece's markings.)
Since there is nothing being played on (except for 15 which is playable since the hand can reach the entire span with ease) the first beat, you could easily add the entire chord of whole notes (using pedal of course).

That's true: the pedal does work in that particular place. I added the f's back with parentheses.

[Sebastian]

I think the way I wrote it will get the point across just fine. Full chords just sounds a bit too full compared to the rest of the song.

Cool with me!

That's true: the pedal does work in that particular place. I added the f's back with parentheses.

Sweet.

[Sebastian]

One more tiny tiny thing: Maybe an expression text?
It'd be really nice to have one for this awesome battle theme.

[Dekkadeci]

One more tiny tiny thing: Maybe an expression text?
It'd be really nice to have one for this awesome battle theme.

I think something like "Allegro" would work well enough for the main tempo marking. Perhaps a more specific direction would be neat at Bar 29 (where the music gets quieter and fuzzier), but that's up to you!

[Bloop]

I added an Allegro. If I were to add another tempo marking at m. 29, people might think that the tempo changes in that part, while it doesn't.

[Bloop]

[JDMEK5]

Your cry has been heard. Pink Floyd never fails.

Latios and I went over this on Skype and fixed some enharmonic spellings. Pretty much everything is good save for one thing we're going to suggest:

In measure 5 RH we're hearing the second voice rearticulate on beat 4. Maybe look into that?

Oh and also, here's the new file that we finished with:
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/93589150/Francis%20Battle.mus