Katamari Damacy: 'Katamari on the Rocks' (marching band) DONE!

[Steben]

http://www.auburn.edu/~clontsc/katamarimarch.jpg

http://steben.noplaceforatoaster.com/music/index.htm

Yes, folks, it's finally done. Go right ahead and click the link above to download the music for my arrangement of Katmari on the Rocks for marching band. See page 5 (http://www.ocremix.org/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?p=2646733#2646733) for the full announcement.

Below is the original post.

Hey guys. This is totally my first WIP. However, I think what I have to show is slightly different than what's normally found on this WIP boards. But let's give it a try.

As is evident from the thread title, I'm arranging Katamari on the Rocks for marching band, specifically as a stands tune. (And giving it the most predictable title ever -- get over it.) :P My eventual goal is to make it available for anyone to download and use for their high school band. OCR submission would be nice, but this arrangement is probably too close to a cover to be accepted as-is. Also, I'd have to find a competent band who would be willing to make a high-quality recording of the song.

Instrumentation is thus: two flute/piccolo parts, two clarinet parts, two trumpet parts, two F Horn parts, two alto sax parts, two tenor sax parts, two baritone parts, two trombone parts, and a tuba part. I have a friend who's going to arrange the drumline parts for me, and I haven't begun on the auxilary percussion yet.

I have a PDF of the conductor's score (http://steben.noplaceforatoaster.com/katamarimarch.pdf) and an MP3 recording of the MIDI (http://steben.noplaceforatoaster.com/katamarimarch.mp3) available. I haven't bothered with sequencing the midi in order to make it sound pretty - I wouldn't know how, and I'm only providing it as a reference to follow along with the score.

At the moment, the score lacks articulation markings and in-depth dynamics. Also, I play trombone, so I may have made some mistakes in the keys for other instruments, or chose a bad range for them. If you happen to play an instrument, I'd really appreciate it if you could give the score a look over, at least for your part, and let me know what you think about how it'd be to play it.

Thanks in advance for the help. I'll also be getting feedback from my music professors and fellow band members here at Auburn, but I definitely would like feedback from the people who know the source material best.

[IC]

I don't play any instruments like that, so I'm sorry I can't help you there, but as far as the song goes, I think this genre will suit it very well, and you're humble midi is enough to show that.

Nice work! I'd like to see where this goes.

[cobaltstarfire]

Midiness aside, it's kind of bland and the wind part is too loud feeling to me. It feels like it should be in the background.

It's really hard for me to distinguish instruments in midi. (which is funny cause it's all I have to work with myself).

I play trumpet so I'll peak at the score for you.

I know how to do a bit of stuff to midis if you want me to do that just pm me with the original midi file, and I'll do as much as I can for dynamics and stuff that the free version of anvil studio will let me.

EDIT: Trumpet part is mostly cake.... The constant C's above the staff might be a bit much for a Highschool band though, actualy I can gurantee that they are a bit much.

The tenor sax part is fine too, from what my friends have told me tenor range is a little less then trumpet (before it starts sounding shitty)

The flute/piccolo part is probably a bit low though for even really good people to play unless its on like...an alto flute. I've met a single flute player that cam play from about the middle a or b of the staff and up. (If you've looked at flute music before you'll notice most of what they play is like...8+ above the staff, I have no idea how they can read that stuff.) Again not extremely feasable for a highschool band.

I don't know a whole lot about low brass, but I could argue that some of the Tuba part is a bit too high to be practicle for a tuba player...especialy in highschool.

At the highschool level there aren't really a lot of trumpet players able to consitently play C's above the staff and do it well. A college band might be able to do it, but if this is to stay for a highschool band you'll have to tone down a lot of parts.

EDIT#2: I missed the part with Aux percussion, but if this is ment to just be a standtune you won't need Aux at all unless you means just crash symbols for the snare's to play on.

[Steben]

Midiness aside, it's kind of bland and the wind part is too loud feeling to me. It feels like it should be in the background.

It's really hard for me to distinguish instruments in midi. (which is funny cause it's all I have to work with myself).

I play trumpet so I'll peak at the score for you.

I know how to do a bit of stuff to midis if you want me to do that just pm me with the original midi file, and I'll do as much as I can for dynamics and stuff that the free version of anvil studio will let me.

The actual dynamic markings are in the score. Of course, woodwind parts are naturally softer than brass parts. But whenever the sax parts are playing in this midi, it's like all you can hear! D:

I think maybe some trills in the woodwind parts might make things less bland? I'm gonna look into it.. I realize the woodwind parts are probably terribly easy, technically. I guess it comes from playing trombone for nine years. At least I can chalk it up as a point towards accessibility for high school bands. :)

Thanks for the offer on the midi. I may take you up on it when I'm closer to a final score.

EDIT: Trumpet part is mostly cake.... The constant C's above the staff might be a bit much for a Highschool band though, actualy I can gurantee that they are a bit much.

Yeah. There's a good chance that I can convince my university's marching band to play it in the stands, so I think it'll be fine for them. But for high school bands... I feel the top note needs to be a C, and I'm hesitating to just drop the part an octave.

The tenor sax part is fine too, from what my friends have told me tenor range is a little less then trumpet (before it starts sounding shitty)

The flute/piccolo part is probably a bit low though for even really good people to play unless its on like...an alto flute. I've met a single flute player that cam play from about the middle a or b of the staff and up. (If you've looked at flute music before you'll notice most of what they play is like...8+ above the staff, I have no idea how they can read that stuff.) Again not extremely feasable for a highschool band.

I'll probably just bump the piccolo part up an ocatve (something I meant to do, but totally forgot about). I wonder if an 8va would do the trick, or if it'd be easier to read if I actually moved the notes up the staff?

I don't know a whole lot about low brass, but I could argue that some of the Tuba part is a bit too high to be practicle for a tuba player...especialy in highschool.

At the highschool level there aren't really a lot of trumpet players able to consitently play C's above the staff and do it well. A college band might be able to do it, but if this is to stay for a highschool band you'll have to tone down a lot of parts.

As for the tubas, their part doesn't go above a high G. As I understand it, the tuba range is roughly an octave below the trombone/baritone range, so a G isn't terribly bad. Maybe I could throw in some alternate notes there. Speaking of which, the octaves in the baritones for that same part are supposed to be alternate notes, but the version of NoteWorthy I'm using doesn't support that. Hopefully I'll be trying out their beta 2.0 soon, and I can add in stuff like that..

EDIT#2: I missed the part with Aux percussion, but if this is ment to just be a standtune you won't need Aux at all unless you means just crash symbols for the snare's to play on.

True, but I want to write it out, just in case someone does want to march it. But that's a good point to keep in mind - I don't want anything critical in there, because in the stands it wouldn't get played.

Thanks a bunch for your help. :)

[cobaltstarfire]

I can honestly say, I totaly missed the dynamics in the score 8O. In my defense it WAS like 4 in the morning.

For the flute/piccolo just move everything up an octave (or 2).

For the the trumpet part if you want to make it highschool friendly I don't think you'd have to take it down an octave, changeing the note may work. Although I can understand your reluctance to alter what is already there.

All of the parts look extremely simple even for highschool band, if it wasn't for range I could probably hand this to a middle school band and ask them to play it and get a reasonable responce.

If you do get the college to do this, ask them if you can get a recording of the band doing it, I want to hear what this sounds like when the saxaphones aren't makeing a hostile takeover of my eardrums.

[Rusty Jefferson]

I approve of the PDF score (always nice to see scores in progress).

Regarding the Alto Sax part... they are all in the lowest register of the alto. A few times you hit low Bb with the 2nd Alto part, which is literally the lowest note on the Alto unless you put your foot in the bell. (Then you can get an A, but it's a useless talent).

I would recommend bumping both parts up an octave (or 2), as it will provide a much nicer sounding Alto section. (Instead of Altos trying to be Trombones). The same is roughly true with the Tenor. Bump it up an octave if it's hitting middle C on the score. Saxophones can ALWAYS go higher, but when you go low, there isn't much room to go.

The other thing that I would bring to your attention is the fact that most of the parts are incredibly similar. The simplicity of the piece is definitely a bonus for it being a High School Marching band piece, but don't oversimplify. When the Flutes, Saxes, and Clarinets are playing the exact same lines, you are really limiting yourself and actually hindering the music. I would recommend looking at those lines (Flutes, Alto & Tenor Sax, Clarinet) and figuring out where you can single out a specific instrument. For example, in the higher parts of the song, have the flutes play (and maybe add your trills like you wanted), while the Saxes are hitting half notes. This will add a much greater dynamic to the piece, and gives the musicians some ownership of their specific parts.

You did a great job on the low brass section of the score, and the piece could really benefit from that attention to detail with the woodwinds.

Looks like it's off to a really good start though. Good luck!

[Steben]

I approve of the PDF score (always nice to see scores in progress).

Regarding the Alto Sax part... they are all in the lowest register of the alto. A few times you hit low Bb with the 2nd Alto part, which is literally the lowest note on the Alto unless you put your foot in the bell. (Then you can get an A, but it's a useless talent).

I would recommend bumping both parts up an octave (or 2), as it will provide a much nicer sounding Alto section. (Instead of Altos trying to be Trombones). The same is roughly true with the Tenor. Bump it up an octave if it's hitting middle C on the score. Saxophones can ALWAYS go higher, but when you go low, there isn't much room to go.

The other thing that I would bring to your attention is the fact that most of the parts are incredibly similar. The simplicity of the piece is definitely a bonus for it being a High School Marching band piece, but don't oversimplify. When the Flutes, Saxes, and Clarinets are playing the exact same lines, you are really limiting yourself and actually hindering the music. I would recommend looking at those lines (Flutes, Alto & Tenor Sax, Clarinet) and figuring out where you can single out a specific instrument. For example, in the higher parts of the song, have the flutes play (and maybe add your trills like you wanted), while the Saxes are hitting half notes. This will add a much greater dynamic to the piece, and gives the musicians some ownership of their specific parts.

You did a great job on the low brass section of the score, and the piece could really benefit from that attention to detail with the woodwinds.

Looks like it's off to a really good start though. Good luck!
Awesome advice - I'll look into it now. Thanks a bunch. :D

[Sil]

When the Flutes, Saxes, and Clarinets are playing the exact same lines, you are really limiting yourself and actually hindering the music. I would recommend looking at those lines (Flutes, Alto & Tenor Sax, Clarinet) and figuring out where you can single out a specific instrument. For example, in the higher parts of the song, have the flutes play (and maybe add your trills like you wanted), while the Saxes are hitting half notes. This will add a much greater dynamic to the piece, and gives the musicians some ownership of their specific parts.

Variety in the parts is good on occasion, but adding doublings, especially octave doublings, is actually the most effective kind of orchestration there is.

Some other things to consider:
-flutes play up higher
-clarinets playing in octaves (so add a higher part)
-a bass line at rehearsal D that is not rhythmically interfering with the rest of the piece, but instead playing something more idiomatic such as 1 5 1 5 as per a usual march

[Steben]

Variety in the parts is good on occasion, but adding doublings, especially octave doublings, is actually the most effective kind of orchestration there is.

Some other things to consider:
-flutes play up higher
-clarinets playing in octaves (so add a higher part)
-a bass line at rehearsal D that is not rhythmically interfering with the rest of the piece, but instead playing something more idiomatic such as 1 5 1 5 as per a usual march

I've definitely raised the flutes up an octave. Having the clarinets play in octaves might be something to look into, since often I have them only on one part...

The bassline at D comes directly from the original song. It's actually one of my favorite parts, so it stays. I should note that "Katamari on the March" is kind of a misnomer -- I'm only using it since it'll be played by a marching band. I'm not necessarally interested in making it fit the style of a march.

Thanks again to all of you who've given your input thus far. I'll hopefully have a revised copy up sometime early this week for you guys to see.

[Rusty Jefferson]

When the Flutes, Saxes, and Clarinets are playing the exact same lines, you are really limiting yourself and actually hindering the music. I would recommend looking at those lines (Flutes, Alto & Tenor Sax, Clarinet) and figuring out where you can single out a specific instrument. For example, in the higher parts of the song, have the flutes play (and maybe add your trills like you wanted), while the Saxes are hitting half notes. This will add a much greater dynamic to the piece, and gives the musicians some ownership of their specific parts.

Variety in the parts is good on occasion, but adding doublings, especially octave doublings, is actually the most effective kind of orchestration there is.

Some other things to consider:
-flutes play up higher
-clarinets playing in octaves (so add a higher part)
-a bass line at rehearsal D that is not rhythmically interfering with the rest of the piece, but instead playing something more idiomatic such as 1 5 1 5 as per a usual march

I agree with you on octave doublings being a powerful method of orchestration, but too much of it can lead to a duller sound; "too much of a good thing". I've always found the resolution chords that receive octave doublings to achieve the greatest effect, but they need to be balanced out with some variety and individual instrument specialization.

[Bongo Bill]

Needs more percussion. Lots more percussion.

[Steben]

Needs more percussion. Lots more percussion.
Instrumentation is thus: two flute/piccolo parts, two clarinet parts, two trumpet parts, two F Horn parts, two alto sax parts, two tenor sax parts, two baritone parts, two trombone parts, and a tuba part. I have a friend who's going to arrange the drumline parts for me, and I haven't begun on the auxilary percussion yet.

You're totally right, but I'm on it, dude. :D If Daniel (my friend) doesn't come through, though, I may be looking for someone 'round these parts who can arrange for a drumline, and maybe even the auxilary too. I played a bit of the keyboard instruments in high school with our percussion ensemble, but I was never really good. So if someone more familiar with the auxilary wanted to arrange it, I wouldn't make a fuss.

So yeah. Post or PM me if anyone's interested in the drum parts. 8) Depending on your experience and how soon you can have something arranged, I may go with you instead.

[Ralphis]

If you read you would see his friend is writing a drumline score

[Steben]

Latest score: http://steben.noplaceforatoaster.com/katamarimarch2.pdf
Latest sound: http://steben.noplaceforatoaster.com/katamarimarch2.mp3

Agghh... the sound is really grating. But it should give you the idea of how the score sounds.

Changes I've made since the first draft:
- Fixed ranges in the flute/piccolo and saxes
- Fixed the key for the F Horn
- Added new parts for the flute/piccolo and clarinets at rehearsal letters B-D and G.
- Added trills for the woodwind parts (not heard in the sound)
- Put in some placeholder percussion in the sound file (just a woodblock, not in the score, and pretty bland)

[Sil]

Get rid of the key signature on the horn part. Write out the accidentals instead.

Your clarinet part, except for rehearsal G, is too easy. You really should give the first clarinet octave doublings over the second clarinet (assuming what you have now is mainly second clarinet), or unison doublings with the flutes when they're playing low.

Consider using divisi to separate staves when parts are being played in unison (such as clarinets 1 and 2.) If you don't want to do that, write divisi when they split, "a2" when they play in usion, "a1" when it is solo.

Other markings you still need to add include slurs on pretty much every part (especially those 16th runs), and crescendos wherever they might fit. Since this is a march, I bet you could find lots of places for accented notes.

[Steben]

Get rid of the key signature on the horn part. Write out the accidentals instead.

It was my understanding that marching french horn parts are written in F... why get rid of the key signature?

Your clarinet part, except for rehearsal G, is too easy. You really should give the first clarinet octave doublings over the second clarinet (assuming what you have now is mainly second clarinet), or unison doublings with the flutes when they're playing low.

I've fleshed out the clarinets and gave them two parts for most of it in the latest draft. Thanks for the heads up.

Consider using divisi to separate staves when parts are being played in unison (such as clarinets 1 and 2.) If you don't want to do that, write divisi when they split, "a2" when they play in usion, "a1" when it is solo.

All the part switching is pretty much implied, but I'll definitely pretty up the arrangement before giving it to people to play. I'll probably just write out each part individually, rather than force people to read with both parts on the staff.

Other markings you still need to add include slurs on pretty much every part (especially those 16th runs), and crescendos wherever they might fit. Since this is a march, I bet you could find lots of places for accented notes.

Yeah, I haven't gotten around to the articulations and such yet. Part of the problem is that the current version of the notation software I use, Noteworthy Composer 1.75b, lacks a symbolic cresendo, a symbolic diminuindo, and a rooftop accent, which I'd prefer to use over a regular accent and staccato. I plan on joining in on the public beta of 2.0 soon, so hopefully that will fix that problem.

----

Also, I've uploaded the latest draft of the score and sound. I'm printing this out to show to my band director (slash applied teacher) tomorrow during my lesson, so hopefully I'll get some good pointers from that.

[Sil]

Horn parts not having key signatures is a long-standing tradition of scoring since horns used to be adjustable based on what key they were playing in. While it is acceptable to give them key signatures, and any good horn player should know them as any other instrument, you'll find most experienced (or should I say "well-informed") composers/orchestrators know that horn players generally perform better with no key-signature attached, but accidentals written instead. Why? Because most classical repertoire is written that way, even up to this day, so it’s no wonder they’d be used to no key signatures. Yes, this means writing in a ton of accidentals, but the way modern music is written calls for all instruments to no longer have key signatures anyway.

Also, it might be a little pretentious to say this, but it makes the score look more "professional." I see a horn part with a key signature, and I immediately think the guy didn’t do his research.

[Steben]

Horn parts not having key signatures is a long-standing tradition of scoring since horns used to be adjustable based on what key they were playing in. While it is acceptable to give them key signatures, and any good horn player should know them as any other instrument, you'll find most experienced (or should I say "well-informed") composers/orchestrators know that horn players generally perform better with no key-signature attached, but accidentals written instead. Why? Because most classical repertoire is written that way, even up to this day, so it’s no wonder they’d be used to no key signatures. Yes, this means writing in a ton of accidentals, but the way modern music is written calls for all instruments to no longer have key signatures anyway.

Also, it might be a little pretentious to say this, but it makes the score look more "professional." I see a horn part with a key signature, and I immediately think the guy didn’t do his research.

Maybe someone else could chime in, but I don't believe there's a large precedent to do this in marching band charts. Also, my target audience doesn't exactly have much experience with "classical literature" - we're talking high school kids and non-music-major football marching band. But I have zero experience reading horn music, so what do I know?

It's no trouble to force accidentals, so I can change it up no problem. I'm actually writing everything in concert pitch anyway, and converting it to written pitch before making these pdf scores.

In any case, it may be a moot point. I might be changing it from a horn part to a melophone part in the near future - that'll put it in B-flat. Depends on whether or not Auburn's replacing the horn section with melos next year.

[Sil]

You can do what you want, I'm just pointing out a common tradition in orchestration that sounds reasonably applicable to even a highschool orchestra or band. It would be a good idea to ask the horn players what they prefer, and then go with that. As a clarinetist I prefer key signatures on pieces where a ton of 16th note runs that would merit a lot of accidentals otherwise. Horn players don’t often get that kind of part, so writing in accidentals isn’t all that painful a process.

[cobaltstarfire]

That's funny cause most horn parts I have seen old or not are written just like every other part, with a key signature.

Sure it may be the classical way to do it, but if people wanted to do it the classical way then there probably wouldn't be "flag trumpets" with valves either, yet there you go, we've got flag trumpets with valves to play on since it's easier and more practical for general use.

[Sil]

I know, it's crazy how this "unspoken rule" mainly exists in specific circles of composers, so anyone who writes for orchestra as they would any other kind of ensemble wouldn't imagine that there is this tradition that came out of the late-Romantic period/Impressionist period that treats horns differently than every other instrument (Rimsky-Korsakov, Mahler, Ravel, etc.) I certainly didn't notice this in their scores until I was told. I just assumed horns got key signatures as other people would assume apostrophes denote plurals of acronyms or single letters. It makes sense, and isn't entirely wrong.

[Steben]

Just got back from talking to Dr. Good -- instead of my applied lesson we mainly listened to and looked over my piece, which is just as well considering I've been working on this instead of practicing! D:

He totally hinted that our band may possibly play this on the field, in the same show as our arrangement of "Tank!" (of Cowboy Bebop fame). Glee!

If it's in one of the shows, there's a good chance that it could be recorded for the band's CD. Legality issues aside (I'm not very hopeful that I could convince the powers that be to let me submit such a recording here), I wonder if such an arrangement would be accepted here? Any judges want to chime in? ;)

[Nuravar]

Hey Steben, this really sounds like a great start. I'm definitely here to help out with the sax parts if you would like. Just let me know.

[Steben]

Latest score: http://steben.noplaceforatoaster.com/katamarimarch4.pdf
Latest sound: http://steben.noplaceforatoaster.com/katamarimarch4.mp3

Fixed some range issues for the piccolo. Also, I changed up rehearsal F to bring in the "nah nah" background earlier, so I could squeeze in Auburn's fight song in the background on the next phrase. Incredibly cheesy, which makes it perfectly fitting for the song, if you ask me.

Also, piccolos and clarinets don't change up the "doo-doo-doodoo" part at B until C.

Aaaanyway. Updates will probably slow down now. I only made this one because I wanted to show the head director of bands here at AU the latest revision, so I went ahead and posted it here too. Once Daniel does the percussion, I'll put it here for the world to see.

[Steben]

Latest score: http://steben.noplaceforatoaster.com/wip/katamarimarch5.pdf
Latest sound: http://steben.noplaceforatoaster.com/wip/katamarimarch5.mp3

After talking to the head of bands here at Auburn, I got a bajillion suggestions on how to improve the piece. I'm not done, but this is a major improvement from my previous drafts. Instrumentation is tweaked as to sound good on a marching field or in the stands, score order is corrected, the ranges of a few of the instruments have been adapted so as to be less taxing, and a few other things.

I still need articulations and percussion. I'm going with Daniel up to the band room tomorrow to try a few things out, hopefully. Percussion should really help flesh out this piece, particularly the beginning.

[Blake]

Yeah this sounds awesome. Just throw any fast paced marching drumline beat in and it will sound twice as good.

[cobaltstarfire]

You mentioned something about haveing trouble getting a recording....it shouldn't really be that hard, you arranged the music, just ask if you can have a copy of it being played by a band. That's what the guy that arranged music for the band I was in did. (Granted we had to pay for his services)

It doesn't hurt to ask.

[Sil]

Wow, what's going on with your tied notes? The slurs are sometimes facing the opposite directions they should be.

Also, if two parts are playing the same line, don't write two stems on the one note. Write "a2" instead. This especially makes sense for the 16th notes in the winds at G. You often resort to unison doublings when octave doublings would work just as well.

[Steben]

Yeah this sounds awesome. Just throw any fast paced marching drumline beat in and it will sound twice as good.
Working on this today, hopefully. My percussion guy said he'd be all for it if he "isn't hungover".

So maybe tomorrow! >_<

You mentioned something about haveing trouble getting a recording....it shouldn't really be that hard, you arranged the music, just ask if you can have a copy of it being played by a band. That's what the guy that arranged music for the band I was in did. (Granted we had to pay for his services)

It doesn't hurt to ask.
I'm sure I could get a recording. I was more curious as to whether I could get a recording good enough for OCR submission, or at least to post on VGMix.

Wow, what's going on with your tied notes? The slurs are sometimes facing the opposite directions they should be.

Also, if two parts are playing the same line, don't write two stems on the one note. Write "a2" instead. This especially makes sense for the 16th notes in the winds at G. You often resort to unison doublings when octave doublings would work just as well.

Problem with using $40 notation software is that sometimes you just can't always get what you want. The layering system (which I discovered between writing the 4th and 5th draft) is kind of clunky. What I do, is write each part on a sepearte staff, and then layer the staffs over each other. Which means I don't really get the choice of only having one stem on unisons. On the bright side, now that I have the parts written on seperate staves, I can print out individual parts easily. For an amatuer effort, I think a little bit of clunkiness in the conductor's score is acceptable as long as the individual parts are good.

As for octave doublings, I could see a few instruments I could do that with at F. Other than that, I'm not sure there are any other places where I'd want to put any unisons in octaves, considering range issues and just the sound of the notes an octave up and down. Do you have any suggestions? Note that I'm planning on scrapping the second flute and tenor sax parts once I figure out how to cover their notes, so as to match a more traditional marching band instrumentation. (1 flute, 2 clarinets, 2 altos, 1 tenor, 3 trumpets, 2 f horns, 3 trombones, 1 baritone, 1 tuba)

[DDRKirby(ISQ)]

links not working?

[Steben]

links not working?
Y'know, it'd certainly help that if I were to move the files on my webspace, to update the links that lead to them, eh?

They're almost at the same place, just in a subfolder called wip/ now. I've updated the links to the latest versions of the score and recording. Thanks for the heads-up.

[Sil]

Tenor sax unisons are not so great, but I can see that there's some craziness with all those homophonic rhythms. If you could come up with a second rhythmic line, counterpoint if you will, that contrasts the rhythms here, imitates them, offsets them, and moves in contrary motion, you could put it in the lower second voices (of the saxes and clarinets) and it would sound great. Also lots of unison at C and D.

Trombones in octaves for those long whole notes is good for pedal points, but at times you can just move the first trombone down so it plays the third or fifth of the chord, and it would sound better (like it would for bassoons.)

I don't full understand the piccolo/flute line since it's going to sound like they're playing in 10ths (piccolos sound an octave higher than written.) Piccolos are great for octave doublings over the flutes, or even bass line instruments. For example, the flute can continue what it's doing at E, but the piccolo would sound more interesting if it was playing 2 octaves above the trumpet line.

Speaking of brass, the trumpet and trombone lines starting at D and E aren't too pretty in their doublings and could be spread out over their individual octaves. The trumpet part maybe could be raised by an octave entirely and the lower line could play in 6ths below that instead of 8vas so it doesn't have to go so low.

At F I don't know what that will sound like, but I like the contrasting rhythms at 56 and 60. Again at 64 consider using thirds, or more chordal textures instead of unisons. At G, I don't know why you still have the tenor saxes up so high. If you wanted, you could put the seconds doubling the bass line in the trombones, which would sound more spread out. At H the trombones look like they should be playing in octaves here. It might clash with the third trombone voice, so yeah, it will be tough to make it work. This is why writing things like fugues is so hard.

The higher wind parts actually look really good with lots of intervals. I just don't know if the piccolo/flute combo are doing what you think they're doing. I'd actually suggest having that line be two flutes, and then you can start a new staff and put a piccolo line to double in octaves the most important melodic content throughout the piece (or play typical Sousa-like trills and runs contrasting various rhythms.)

[Dryad-Forgotten]

I'm not sure weather you are referring to the chords or the range of the tenors at G, but everything in here is easily in a tenor's range, especially a high school tenor.

Also, I don't know if this has been addressed yet, but although it might not be a traditiona marching band setup (I thought it was, but I guess I was mistaken), but a lot of marching bands have bari saxes. It would be better if you wrote them a line, especially because if a school has some bari's (which they should), they'd have to either write their own part from the tubas, or play the only other thing in Eb (alto).

Also, I do partially agree with the tenor sax unison thing. as a tenor saxophoneist myself, I find that tenors are best for harmonies and countermelodies. But that's just my opinion.

[Steben]

Tenor sax unisons are not so great, but I can see that there's some craziness with all those homophonic rhythms. If you could come up with a second rhythmic line, counterpoint if you will, that contrasts the rhythms here, imitates them, offsets them, and moves in contrary motion, you could put it in the lower second voices (of the saxes and clarinets) and it would sound great. Also lots of unison at C and D.

I've actually reduced it to a single tenor sax part. I've been told there's a chance my school could play it on the field next year, so I'm arranging it with our instrumentation in mind.

Trombones in octaves for those long whole notes is good for pedal points, but at times you can just move the first trombone down so it plays the third or fifth of the chord, and it would sound better (like it would for bassoons.)

The original song has the synth bass playing a single note. I'm not really going for the sound of a complete chord. My reasoning for the octaves (instead of unisons) was that it'd be easier to hear in the stands.

I don't full understand the piccolo/flute line since it's going to sound like they're playing in 10ths (piccolos sound an octave higher than written.) Piccolos are great for octave doublings over the flutes, or even bass line instruments. For example, the flute can continue what it's doing at E, but the piccolo would sound more interesting if it was playing 2 octaves above the trumpet line.

I was confused about this at first, but then I realized what you meant. The flute/piccolo line was meant to be played by either two parts of piccolos, or two parts of flutes, not both. However, I've also since axed the second flute/piccolo part, so it's not really an issue I guess.

Speaking of brass, the trumpet and trombone lines starting at D and E aren't too pretty in their doublings and could be spread out over their individual octaves. The trumpet part maybe could be raised by an octave entirely and the lower line could play in 6ths below that instead of 8vas so it doesn't have to go so low.

Again, I'm trying to stick with the original here. A tenor voice solo has that melody in Katamari on the Rocks, so I don't want any harmony there. That's also why the trumpets only play for a few measures at E - I didn't want to make the trombones play high A flats while marching. Range issues bar me from putting the 2nd trombones an octave below - they could do it, but it'd sound really muddy on a marching field.

At F I don't know what that will sound like, but I like the contrasting rhythms at 56 and 60. Again at 64 consider using thirds, or more chordal textures instead of unisons. At G, I don't know why you still have the tenor saxes up so high. If you wanted, you could put the seconds doubling the bass line in the trombones, which would sound more spread out. At H the trombones look like they should be playing in octaves here. It might clash with the third trombone voice, so yeah, it will be tough to make it work. This is why writing things like fugues is so hard.

Again, I'm just really not going for the sound of a full chord here. Octaves are something to consider though. If anything, I may put in some 5ths... maybe I can plug that in and see how it sounds.

The higher wind parts actually look really good with lots of intervals. I just don't know if the piccolo/flute combo are doing what you think they're doing. I'd actually suggest having that line be two flutes, and then you can start a new staff and put a piccolo line to double in octaves the most important melodic content throughout the piece (or play typical Sousa-like trills and runs contrasting various rhythms.)

I covered the confusion with the flute/piccolo line. At Auburn, we recently switched from flutes to piccolos, so I'm writing just for that instrument. However, I wrote flutes/piccolos since alternately, a flute line could cover the part.

Thanks for the input, Sil. :)

---

I'm not sure weather you are referring to the chords or the range of the tenors at G, but everything in here is easily in a tenor's range, especially a high school tenor.

Also, I don't know if this has been addressed yet, but although it might not be a traditiona marching band setup (I thought it was, but I guess I was mistaken), but a lot of marching bands have bari saxes. It would be better if you wrote them a line, especially because if a school has some bari's (which they should), they'd have to either write their own part from the tubas, or play the only other thing in Eb (alto).

Also, I do partially agree with the tenor sax unison thing. as a tenor saxophoneist myself, I find that tenors are best for harmonies and countermelodies. But that's just my opinion.

As mentioned above, I'm writing with AU's band in mind at the moment. When I officially release the score for people to download and use in their own marching bands, I'll definitely consider throwing in parts for a bari sax, and maybe a few other things. However, they'll probably only be doubling parts already written here.

----

Anyway, tonight was the rehersal for AU's pep band before they go to the SEC women's basketball tournament. I brought my WIP for them to try out playing. Only one person there had even heard of Katamari Damacy (when I said it was a Playstation game, someone blurted "oh, well, I have X-Box."), so they had a bit of trouble figuring out the tune at first. However, they seemed to get the hang of it after a couple run-throughs.

So yeah, if you're watching Auburn women's basketball in the SEC tourney this week (God knows why you'd actually want to, though... our team kind of sucks), keep an ear out for the pep band. You might hear some Katamari on the Rocks. :D

[Moppo]

He totally hinted that our band may possibly play this on the field, in the same show as our arrangement of "Tank!" (of Cowboy Bebop fame). Glee!
I hope you put up a recording of your show!

Also, it's hard to get high school marching bands (At least in Arizona) to play video game music. I saw one band last year do FF6 but for the most part the judges like that artsy crap. The bands who know they don't stand a chance are the ones who play the fun stuff.

EDIT: Also, I just realized I have the AU recording of "Hey Baby!" Great sounding band! My high school marching band played it too but didn't sound as good.

[Steben]

He totally hinted that our band may possibly play this on the field, in the same show as our arrangement of "Tank!" (of Cowboy Bebop fame). Glee!
I hope you put up a recording of your show!

Also, it's hard to get high school marching bands (At least in Arizona) to play video game music. I saw one band last year do FF6 but for the most part the judges like that artsy crap. The bands who know they don't stand a chance are the ones who play the fun stuff.

EDIT: Also, I just realized I have the AU recording of "Hey Baby!" Great sounding band! My high school marching band played it too but didn't sound as good.
I've only heard one school do a video game based show at a competition, in 2004. It was called Play On! and featured every gimmick you could imagine, including an electric saxophone. It overall was kind of boring... straight covers of stuff from the Smashing Live! CD pretty much. Then again, maybe I was just jealous because I wanted to be the first one to seriously arrange video game music for marching band. :P

Thanks for the good words about AU's band. :D If it makes you feel any better, I bet if my old high school played "Hey Baby!" it wouldn't sound that good either. ;)

EDIT: If Auburn actually ends up playing my arrangement, I'll certainly look into getting a recording. If possible I'd like to submit it to OCR, although getting permission for that might be a little difficult. Also, we only usually record our standard stands tunes, and the show tunes.

So you might see it here someday... on the offchance we play Katamari on the March in a show, on the offchance it gets chosen for recording, on the offchance I get permission to submit it here, and on the offchance the judges think there's enough arrangement in the piece. And that'll probabaly be a year from now at the earliest! D: But I can dream. :D

[RocketSniper]

EDIT: Trumpet part is mostly cake.... The constant C's above the staff might be a bit much for a Highschool band though, actualy I can gurantee that they are a bit much.
Pfft. I could play that C at the end of middle school.
I could see it now, a big katamari made of tubas rolling around and picking up the flutes. =D

[Steben]

School's kept me busy for the past month, but I'm almost done with this, I think!

Latest score: http://steben.noplaceforatoaster.com/wip/kotraumb.pdf
EDIT: seems I'm retarded and forgot to change the keys from concert to written... just ignore that! D:
Latest sound: http://steben.noplaceforatoaster.com/wip/kotraumb.mp3

I've added in all the articulations that I wanted to do. (Note that the recording reflects this, although not realistically.) I've tweaked the instrumentation a bit more to my liking. With the exception of percussion parts, I think I'm done here.

Speaking of which. Anybody out there know how to arrange for a drumline? It looks like I'm going to have to do it myself otherwise, but I'd prefer someone who actually plays percussion to do it. Send me a PM or reply here if you're interested, thanks!

[ink]

Hey! I was thinking of arranging this or the samba one for my band! This is so cool that someone else had the same idea. Our band is a marching band, and it's pretty good. We're a high school band, but, we've played in some fairly big events. And Everyone would love this... we always play music from movies, T.V., random stuff; game music would be fine.
May I download the score and can we play it?

[Steben]

Hey! I was thinking of arranging this or the samba one for my band! This is so cool that someone else had the same idea. Our band is a marching band, and it's pretty good. We're a high school band, but, we've played in some fairly big events. And Everyone would love this... we always play music from movies, T.V., random stuff; game music would be fine.
May I download the score and can we play it?
The plan is to have individual parts available to whomever wants to use it for their high school band, once it's finished. (It'll probably only be available by request, since I'd like an idea of who's playing my stuff. But I can't imagine turning anyone down.)

I'll try to remember to send you a PM when it's done.

[ink]

Okay, thank you. I hope you finish it in the near future.

[B3NJ1]

It's awesome to see someone doing this. I'm completely looking forward to this and I pray that you finish it. The one problem that people or stupid 8th graders not completely unlike myself will run in to is many people in marching band use mellophones insted of F.horns. If you could knock the horn stuff up to Bb, that would be awesome.

[Steben]

It's awesome to see someone doing this. I'm completely looking forward to this and I pray that you finish it. The one problem that people or stupid 8th graders not completely unlike myself will run in to is many people in marching band use mellophones insted of F.horns. If you could knock the horn stuff up to Bb, that would be awesome.
That shouldn't be a problem.

Finals are coming up, but I'm hoping to find time to wrap this up before summer starts - I have a few other arrangement projects in mind (not vg-related, mostly) that I want to feel free to work on.

[charliebud12]

I'm loving the 1st Trumpet part alot, because I can wail on high C's like nothing, and I can cap them, up to doubles too. The fun part is that i'm just a 16 year old and can already play double C's, so the regular high C's would be no problem for my band at least. I was just doing them plently for a musical this weekend, and I saw this, and got my Trumpet out and started playing through it, and it's pretty fun. I play all the wind instruments in my band, so it's pretty fun reading through all this on all my instruments. Please, if you can, remember to send this to me when you are done, so my band can use this, i'm sure they'd love it. Plus this reminds me, I need to finish the score for my Kingdom Hearts Band arrangement. If you need help with the percusion parts, I can do Drumline and Aux Perc. stuff, just tell me how many of everything you have. IE Bass Drums, Snare, Quads.

[Rainman DX]

'Sup Steben?

I told you I'm on the drumline at Georgia Tech, right? I have the original on my computer already, and Finale Notepad 2006 - I'd be pleased to arrange for you a percussion part. Let me know if that's satisfactory - a PM would do just fine. I'll get started on it right away.

BTW, good luck on finals.

[Steben]

'Sup Steben?

I told you I'm on the drumline at Georgia Tech, right? I have the original on my computer already, and Finale Notepad 2006 - I'd be pleased to arrange for you a percussion part. Let me know if that's satisfactory - a PM would do just fine. I'll get started on it right away.

BTW, good luck on finals.
Rainman DX is working on the drumline stuff. Double high fives to him!

[Rainman DX]

I intend to finish the drum part today. It's in the final stages, and I'll be sure to post the Finale copy immediately as well as the pages in .pdf form possibly by tomorrow. Thanks for being so patient!

[Rainman DX]

Okay, the Finale NotePad file has been posted at Finale Showcase, and here's the URL:
http://www.finalemusic.com/showcase/fs_home.asp

To find it, type in "Random Percussion" in the Find: box and select "Children's Music" on the scroll-down bar, and you should yield only one result. Click on the name to download it.

Steben, the midis on Finale NotePad suck, so you may have to convert the work to NoteWorthy, but that shouldn't take too long, really. It needs to be converted exactly as you see it written. I'll try to post the .pdfs this afternoon, when I have a chance to go to the library.

Anyway, let me know asap if there is anything, besides converting to .pdf, that you need for me to do. Also, I'd appreciate it if after you convert it to Noteworthy, you'd send me an image and the sound file, with or without the band behind it. Thanks, it's been a pleasure!

[Rainman DX]

... And ... (Drumroll please)

Here's the pdfs of the sheet music. http://www.prism.gatech.edu/~gtg226y/main/music/KOTRPerc.pdf

Regardless of what Finale says, the first staff is Snare, the second staff is Bass, the third staff is Tenors, and the fourth staff is Cymbals.

Yay for triple post.

[Steben]

Rainman DX is the coolest guy on OCR.

I've been running my local NYLT course (Boy Scout leadership training camp) the past week, so I just now had decent internet access (aka better than using my cell phone as a modem).

Once I get my own computer hooked back up I'll look at the parts more indepth, but they look sweet. The plan is to send my director whatever I can asap so I'll know the chances of AU playing this on the field. Either way, I think I'm going to bite the bullet and get a student copy of Finale, so I'll be caught up with the times. That way I'll also be able to directly use your drumline parts.

More details as they become available! Thanks again, Rainman. I'll send you a PM if I have any questions. You've been great to work with - maybe we should do it again sometime? :) Let me know if there's something you're interested in collaborating on.

[Karth]

Would you have any qualms if I had this performed at my school? I really, REALLY like it. :D

Katamari's kinda big at PJP high--I know at least three people who would be very appreciative if the school band performed this.

[Rainman DX]

Okay, the Finale NotePad file has been posted at Finale Showcase, and here's the URL:
http://www.finalemusic.com/showcase/fs_home.asp

To find it, type in "Random Percussion" in the Find: box and select "Children's Music" on the scroll-down bar, and you should yield only one result. Click on the name to download it.

Just some more things you need to know:

1. I expect that you can open the file in a full-fledged copy of Finale, even though the file was created in Finale Notepad 2006, though I don't know what kind of quality you're going to get out of it. Double check the downloaded copy against the .pdf when you get a chance, just to make sure everything copied over correctly.

2. Those little tildas through the notes on the snare part are diddle marks - it means to double-stroke the sixteenth notes. An actual diddle mark is a diagonal slash like this ( / ) at the same location on the note as the tilda. Give your copy of Finale a good looking-through to make sure there is nothing closer to a correct notation before going ahead with the notation I used. If there is anything unclear about this particular point, make sure to PM me before you finalize it.

3. The two notes on certain measures on the Cymbals staff are, of course, split parts. That means that half the cymbal line plays the entire first note, and half the line plays only the second note. I'm sure they'll understand this. To write it in Finale, though, you will have to use a different staff color, presumably, in order for it to show up on the same staff.

4. Of course, given the chance that you yourself do not know, the drumline will know what to add in at measures 34-35, since they play that little ditty all the time, I imagine. Ignore the notes written there - they are just placeholders.

5. I trust that Finale has Marching Band midi packs. If they do, they will have preset Bass Drum, Toms, and Cymbals midis and staffs. Use those, if available. If not, just copy the look of the ones I have prepared and change the staff name. It's what I had to do. (/sighs)

6. The midis on the downloaded copy, I expect, will be all screwed up. That is because in Finale NotePad one cannot adjust the percussive sounds to make a staff just the way one wants. However, in Finale, I'm pretty sure that you can. Take advantage of this, especially when recording the final result, so I can hear, for the first time, what it sounds like. I'm sure you understand how much I would appreciate that.

I think that's about it for now. I leave the rest in your capable hands.

[Nivi]

Could somoene post a midi? I wanna stick it through reason and make it sound slightly more real.

[Steben]

Could somoene post a midi? I wanna stick it through reason and make it sound slightly more real.
My plan is to order Finale Academic, and redo the music I did in Noteworthy in Finale, then combine that with the drumline stuff that Rainman DX was awesome enough to arrange. Once I've done that and have a final version, I'll definitely send you a MIDI if you want to make a good sounding version. I'll send you a PM. (Hopefully I'll have it done by mid July... depends how long it takes me to get Finale I guess.)

[Nivi]

Could somoene post a midi? I wanna stick it through reason and make it sound slightly more real.My plan is to order Finale Academic, and redo the music I did in Noteworthy in Finale, then combine that with the drumline stuff that Rainman DX was awesome enough to arrange. Once I've done that and have a final version, I'll definitely send you a MIDI if you want to make a good sounding version. I'll send you a PM. (Hopefully I'll have it done by mid July... depends how long it takes me to get Finale I guess.)Kthx.
If I'm on holiday It's not my fault.

[Steben]

Could somoene post a midi? I wanna stick it through reason and make it sound slightly more real.My plan is to order Finale Academic, and redo the music I did in Noteworthy in Finale, then combine that with the drumline stuff that Rainman DX was awesome enough to arrange. Once I've done that and have a final version, I'll definitely send you a MIDI if you want to make a good sounding version. I'll send you a PM. (Hopefully I'll have it done by mid July... depends how long it takes me to get Finale I guess.)Kthx.
If I'm on holiday It's not my fault.
Whatever. If you're on holiday I'll hate you forever. :P (omg jay slash kay you're a cool guy for offering)

[Rainman DX]

So what's the word, Steben? Updates? Keep us posted.

[Rainman DX]

So I'll tell you what the word is -

Had drum camp at Tech this past weekend, and Eric, our drumline specialist, informed some of us that his associate "Tater" is instructing the AU drumline this summer...
And apparently has been forced to start from square one with his people. Which is good for them, don't get me wrong - but it's still funny to me.

Proving yet again GT's superiority to AU in one more area.

[Steben]

Sorry for the lack of updatage. You should have sent me a PM yelling at me, Rainman. :P

Here's the deal - director of bands here at AU has ignored my email about playing this piece this fall, so I guess it was an empty suggestion. I'm kind of annoyed, but not terribly surprised.

My birthday is Saturday, and I'm hoping to get Finale from my parents. If not, I'm going to buy it myself. Time to get caught up with the times.

I'm really not happy with the instrumentation, so I'm going to rewrite it once I get Finale. Rather than just trying to write out the whole thing, this time I'm going to start with a condensed score, so I'll have a reference when assigning parts to different instruments

I'm hoping to finish this up before the thick of football season, so people who requested copies for their bands can play it in the stands. Depends on the difficulty of my classes this semester, I guess.

I apologize for taking so freaking long with this... I think it's been half a year since I started. I've been distracted this summer with work and another sideproject of mine. The arrangement will be finished, but not before I'm happy with the results.

--

Oh, and about AU's drumline... I think I remember hearing something about them being really young this year. I dunno, though. I've been away from the whole band scene all summer, so I only hear bits and pieces.

[Rainman DX]

Don't want to lose this thread yet...

At least not before I get to hear the whole piece.

Is anybody working on making a midi of the new horns and drums? I'd really like a copy of the finished product.

Any new updates, Steben?

[Steben]

School's kicking my butt. In additon to all my performing groups (symphonic band, marching band, men's chorus, low brass studio), I have three maths and a music history to worry about. Bleh. However, I don't have a football game to worry about this weekend, so I plan on installing Finale and transfering the song over.

[Rainman DX]

School's kicking my butt. In additon to all my performing groups (symphonic band, marching band, men's chorus, low brass studio), I have three maths and a music history to worry about. Bleh. However, I don't have a football game to worry about this weekend, so I plan on installing Finale and transfering the song over.

Goody, goody. I get to hear it first. I get to hear it first.

So, like, you gotta check out the Tech-Notre Dame game in two weeks. I hope it turns out well - we knocked off two 3rd ranked teams last year. Miami and ...

oh gosh...

What was that other one?? :roll:

[Maco70]

It would be a perfect marching piece. I would help if I could, but it doesn't sound like you have much on the percussion side of things.

PS: I heard a marching band play the zelda theme in a parade last year. It was pretty friggin sweet. =D

[Rainman DX]

...it doesn't sound like you have much on the percussion side of things.


... :|

[Maco70]

...it doesn't sound like you have much on the percussion side of things.


... :|

Are you denying this?

It's truth, not criticism.

[Rainman DX]

...it doesn't sound like you have much on the percussion side of things.


... :|

Are you denying this?

It's truth, not criticism.

I'm not sure I know what you mean. The percussion part has already been written, just never midi'd accurately. If that's what you meant, then of course there's no denying it.

[Maco70]

...it doesn't sound like you have much on the percussion side of things.


... :|

Are you denying this?

It's truth, not criticism.

I'm not sure I know what you mean. The percussion part has already been written, just never midi'd accurately. If that's what you meant, then of course there's no denying it.

Maybe it's just my speakers, but I didn't hear any percussion. Of course, I am overly sensitive about those kinds of things. I am a percussionist after all.

[Chavous]

I also hear no percussion. If you would like, I can write a part for them.

[Rainman DX]

...it doesn't sound like you have much on the percussion side of things.


... :|

Are you denying this?

It's truth, not criticism.

I'm not sure I know what you mean. The percussion part has already been written, just never midi'd accurately. If that's what you meant, then of course there's no denying it.

:banghead:


...whew. This means that the recording that is posted in this thread doesn't have the percussion part I already wrote, though Steben is working in Finale to get it to sound accurate to the intention.

[Steben]

Guys. Check back a couple pages, and you can see the score for the percussion parts that Rainman wrote back in the early summer/late spring.

I have a MIDI which combines my stuff and Rainman's percussion, but because of the way Finale notates stuff, and the way percussion music is actually read, there's no easy way (to my knowledge) to convert the written Finale part into a MIDI where the percussion instrumentation is correct. We're talking slide whistles instead of bass drums.

Anyway, my first priority in finishing this piece is to get it written correctly. I have it all in a Finale file right now, but I lost all my articulations when converting from Noteworthy to MIDI back to Finale. Also, there's some tweaking to the overall arrangement I need to do.

Once I'm happy with the written arrangement, I'll publish the score and some sort of recording here, and if you like it, you can PM me and I'll send you the individual parts. (I'd post the parts themselves, but I'd like to have an idea of who's playing my arrangement.)

Also at that point, I'll look into finding someone who might want to take the arrangement and create a synthesized verison for OCR/VGMIX/ThaSauce submission, since getting a marching band to create a decent recording of the piece that I'd have permission to submit to any of those places would be difficult. (I'll look into AU Marching Band, but even if we play it, the chances of us recording it and allowing me to submit it are slim.)

[Rainman DX]

Don't want to lose this thread yet...

At least not before I get to hear the whole piece.

Is anybody working on making a midi of the new horns and drums? I'd really like a copy of the finished product.

Any new updates, Steben?

But it's still pertinent now.


Hey, just out of curiosity, do you know of any translations to the lyrics to KOTR online? If so, could you post the link here? I tried searching for them, but didn't find anything.

[Steben]

I'm on the final stretch of finishing this stuff. I did something weird with the key in the middle section (right after the 3-3-2-3-3-2 pattern part), which I'm trying to undo, since it sounds dumb now.

Also, KOTR lyrics!

Na na na...

Don't worry, do your best
It's picnic time, feel so good
A lovely afternoon
Then a wild midnight, yeah

Rolling it all forward, I love you, always a smile for you
It's a love moon just for you, hey so! You gotta keep going
Compression, compression

Matching T-shirts
Hand-knit mufflers
A heart-warming crowd milling about
Soak up the joy! Say goodbye (bye-bye)

Let's all roll forward, give it all you got
On a day like this let's dance and sing, I've got the leading role
It's my way, it's my way

*Na na na na na na na na na katamari damashi
Na na na na na na na na na katamari damashi
Na na na na na na na na na katamari damashi
Na na na na na na na na na katamari damashi

Drunk on feelings of peace
Yearning for the twinkling heavens
It's wonderful, that head
The deafening clamor of the festival

This is just like the big bang, I'm painting myself the color of you
If you need a reason, I just want to party
I'm rolling on, I'm rolling on

* repeat x 2
Source: http://www.chudahs-corner.com/lyrics/index.php?catalog=COCX-32760&id=4

EDIT: This game does not endorse drug use in any way, subtle or otherwise. Nope.

[Dhsu]

Compression, compression
Hahaha.

[Steben]

http://steben.noplaceforatoaster.com/music/

I am done, folks. I feel.. as if I'm a more complete person now. Or something! I dunno.

Unfortunately I don't have a MIDI or other form of recording to showcase the final version of this arrangement, because Finale refuses to properly convert the piece into MIDI format. (The percussion is screwy when I do that... perhaps I'll get a version with just the winds up.) Ideally I want an MP3, but that's a feature found in Finale '07, and I have '06. We'll see if I can't work something out, because I'm sure the majority of you just want to know what it sounds like, and have no plans to get a marching band to play it.

Thanks guys, especially to Rainman DX. I think it's time I got started on homework for class tomorrow... I've kind of been putting it off to get this finished by the end of the weekend. :D

[Red Shadow]

I'd like to hear someone make this into an audible format.

[SSB]

you can export as a wav in Finale 06.

[Steben]

you can export as a wav in Finale 06.
Ha, I'm dumb. I found the option under Save Special.

I'll post a recording asap.

EDIT: http://steben.noplaceforatoaster.com/music/kotr.mp3

There you go. Unfortunately, it has more than its share of pops and crackles... I'm not sure how to fix the problem, but you can tell what it's supposed to sound like now.

EDIT EDIT: Okay, now it sounds better. Woo.

[Kuro Hou]

Dude! I get chills when I hear this. This is fantastic, but now that it's completed I can't wait to hear a live performance.

[Steben]

Auburn University's basketball pep band played this last night, along with an arrangement of the Metal Mario theme I've done as well. They're going to play a shortened version of the Katamari theme as well as the Mario theme at basketball games. I'll try to get a recording sometime in the future.

Of course, if you want to hear the whole thing, you should get your marching band to perform it. ;)

[Trenthian]

I havent read much of the thread at all.

Speaking from a composition point, its very straightforward, which is something I like.

In the middle there are some frills to it that seem a little over the top.

Its an advanced arrangement. I heard midi and I thought for a second it was going to be terrible. not the case.

I do not have access to a marching band, but this score has taken a lot of the work out of arranging this myself for T-ROOT.
I should have something put together soonish.

[Steben]

Glad you like it. I'm not sure what T-ROOT is, but keep me posted on anything you've put together.

[Murmeli Walan]

I'll try to get a recording sometime in the future.

As soon as you can, please. It would be a direct OCR post, I guarantee it.

[Liontamer]

As soon as you can, please. It would be a direct OCR post, I guarantee it.
Pretty old stuff. Hope this one isn't DOA, since it's been a long time anything's been updated.

Well, being performed live would be a plus, but the arrangement does seem really conservative, as indicated in the first post. Depends how well the overall execution is personalized.

Doing a cover is cool, and it'll be well received no matter what. But as far as OCR's standards on interpretation, I'm not feeling how most of the arrangement is so straightforward.

More could be done to add a unique flavor to the fact that a marching band would be performing this. I'd suggest more structural leeway and creativity with the supporting instrumentation or a lot more expansion in the part-writing if you plan to keep the melody near 1-for-1.

In any case, I'm just basing it off the MIDI sketch, so it remains to be seen what else is brought to the table by the sheer number of performers involved.