I wanted to know if this song is playable, since I don't know the ranges of many of the instruments and I may have transcribed an impossible arrangement.:unsure: It's a transcription and not a composition but I thought it seemed to fit here because I've finished transposing it so it isn't a "sheet music request" per se. I am most worried about Cello, Flute, Violin, and Trombone, but I may have missed something so if you could look over all the instruments, that would be great. Also, anything I have in there is straight from the MIDI with a few edits, so if you could check and see if anything can be simplified as well (as said in the title), please don't hesitate to say so. PLEASE DO NOT STEAL MY TRANSCRIPTION! :heh:

First of all: you have got to learn how to edit stuff from a MIDI file, and don't just assume what you see when opening the MIDI file is how you do it. Like, there's some weird rhythms noted here and there. Learn how to simplify it, and I'll comment.

EDIT: And, it's playable.

Well, I'm not very experienced in this sort of thing since my only musical experience is Band and Choir. My school doesn't offer a Music Theory class. The only rhythms I know how to simplify is noting a quarter-note-and-eighth-note triplet into 2 eighth notes marked as a jazz swing.

^I have the same experience with you (I have only taken those kinds of classes). Basically, it's just pure logic and math at times. For example, do you see the woodblock part at meas. 3 (where the 3/4 time signature starts)? Note the dotted-eighth notes with the 12 on the bottom. It seems obvious that they are the same length, and they cover one beat. Now since they both cover the same length, and there's only 2 in one beat, you can therefore, conclude that they are eighth notes. See what else you can do :) .

Measure 2, Timpani: just a standard 3-eighth triplet, right?

Measure 4, Cello: 2 double-dot eighth notes with the 14 underneath are 8th notes?

Measure 11, Trombone: The eighth rest, 32nd rest, and the eighth note tied to a 32nd note with the 10 underneath should equal one eighth rest followed by one eighth note?

Measure 10, Drum Set: Same thing? Measure should be eighth rest, three untied eighth notes, and a quarter note?

I think this could be easy enough...

Edit: General Tambourine melody is bothering me. I don't know how to simplify it and it looks like a big mess! Measure 11 is a good example.

Measure 2, Timpani: just a standard 3-eighth triplet, right?

Measure 4, Cello: 2 double-dot eighth notes with the 14 underneath are 8th notes?

Measure 11, Trombone: The eighth rest, 32nd rest, and the eighth note tied to a 32nd note with the 10 underneath should equal one eighth rest followed by one eighth note?

Measure 10, Drum Set: Same thing? Measure should be eighth rest, three untied eighth notes, and a quarter note?

I think this could be easy enough...

Yes, Yes, *Meas. 11- you should probably listen to the MIDI file and interpret it yourself, or you could ask me, and the same applies with the Drum Set.

Okay, the furthest I got for Tambourine is:

[Eighth Rest][64th Note][Double-Dotted 16th Rest][64th Note][Eighth Rest][Double-Dotted 16th Rest][64th Note][Dotted 16th Rest][Eighth Note]

But it still seems messy and I think a staccatoed eighth note could suffice for a percussion 64th note, correct? I'm so confuzzled.

But it still seems messy and I think a staccatoed eighth note could suffice for a percussion 64th note, correct? I'm so confuzzled.

#1 Rule- Anything shorter than a 32nd note, put it as a Grace Note, and make the note after it slightly longer.

You may want to get used to it, it's very complex :P .

Yes, Yes, *Meas. 11- you should probably listen to the MIDI file and interpret it yourself, or you could ask me, and the same applies with the Drum Set.

Well, the playback as it is sounds completely accurate. I was just wondering if what I put for Drum Set would equal what is there.

#1 Rule- Anything shorter than a 32nd note, put it as a Grace Note, and make the note after it slightly longer.

You may want to get used to it, it's very complex :P .

As a standalone note, though? How could I put that as a grace note?

As a standalone note, though? How could I put that as a grace note?

What program do you use?

Finale 2007b

I know how to add Grace Notes, but they usually mean "optional" and they must precede actual, non-rest notes, correct?

Graaawr! I exported Tambourine to be on its own, and despite the Midi Instrument for it sucking to the point where each note is a different percussion instrument (and apparently the ones I put in the same spot as noted when in 5-line with standard notation don't make the same noises as the default ones), I've noticed that Tambourine also has Cymbal in it, so that needs to be added to Drum Set, or I'll have to make a new staff which always sucks in Finale products...

Here's the updated score. I still need a way to make the Tambourine less messy and still sound relatively the same. I'm still thinking staccatoed 8th notes and ridding myself of a few rests, but haven't gotten around to fooling with it.

Edit: Are you SURE that the Trombone part is playable? It seems a lot higher than generally accomplishable.

It's perfectly fine. Just watch out in measures 92 and 96, I've said this to someone esle too, those notes are hitting the range of a regular trombone. Those are fine, just don't go any lower. And unless your dealing with a beggining band, then the high notes should be just fine. In fact, most of the song is in the lower-medium range of the trombone. Just don't go too much higher than a high A or B flat if you're doing fast or complex rythems.

P.S. Don't double post, just edit your first one. I would've thought a member would know that. Unless you just haven't been active for a while on Ichigo's... ^.^

EDIT: I love it when people ask trombone questions!

Yeah, I know not to double (TRIPLE! T_T) post, but I've been preoccupied and flustered with completing this piece all day. I currently have Tambourine and Cymbal finished (which means it's all done! YAY!) so I've uploaded the new score. I plan to make full orchestral sheet music for all 85 Final Fantasy VII songs. I have 6 nearly-done ones and this fully-done one.

I plan to make a Final Fantasy VII Orchestra website for my transcriptions.

Also, if you know where to find a "General Midi" for Cymbals and Gongs, that would be great. :heh:

._O The flutes are so out of range... Not to mention the rhythm in percussions can be cleaned up much more... And what happened to the first and second violin sections division?

You can't get sounds of tam-tam, gongs or any of those fancy cymbals on MIDI.

Flutes are out of range, Tamborine should be cleaned up more (see what you can substitute it for).

Oh my gosh. I just went back into the MUS file for the score to up the flutes an octave, which sounds better actually, and I noticed that my MIDIs are completely out of whack! I go into Instrument List and all seems well, but everything sounds dissonant (because half the instruments are piano and a few sound like Sitars), and what's worse, the last page's staves are HUMONGOUS! This makes no sense. The last change I made before this was changing the key so I wouldn't have so many accidentals, but I played through and made sure all was well. Arrgh!

the last page's staves are HUMONGOUS!

Click the staves (the beginning of the staves on the last page). Type in 100. Repeat for any others that look humongous.

As far as Tambourine goes, I'm very content with what's been done and I personally believe it to be simplified enough. Thanks for the critique, though.

I've attached the new-and-improved version (complete with Wood Blocks on an actual note, and Drum set actually having REAL drum set notation! :D)

Tell me what you think!

Edit: If you're wondering where the cymbal went, it's now part of Drum Set!

Concerning how MIDIs are, the 2/4 measure at the beginning is unnecessary. Even though Finale claims that the Drum Set Notation is correct, that is not the correct notation. Here's a little guide to it: http://forums.ichigos.com/showthread.php?t=811&page=44 . Check my lowest post.

I used the following guide to make percussion rhythms:
http://www.altnet.com/store/file/301678//Songwriting_and_Arranging/Drum_Set_Notation_in_Finale/Berklee_College_Of_Music/index.aspx

I'm basically saying that Finale does not do the notation correctly, according to most published versions.

Yet in the tutorial I posted, it explains the "standard method" of Drum Set notation, and if you read it, it does admit that Finale has trouble with this method, hence its extreme difficulty to properly note. I've seen drum set music used by our school band and while I have none on-hand to do a correct comparison, if memory serves, the tutorial's notation method bears incredible similarity (nay, identicality) to what we use.

If you are to keep it like that, in the least, note when you have something playing, like for the cymbals, write "Susp. (or Crash) Cymbal" and if the instrument does not play for a long period, write the instrument playing again.

Besides that, would the score be a good score for a conductor to follow, had they never before heard the song?

No. All you need to do is to put in what I told you in the previous post. But for other percussion, click on the link I gave you a few posts ago.

Yes, yes, that has been done. Is that all I need for it to be a good score?

For most of it, yes.