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Update #1: SMRPG Piano - Normal Battle


Karth
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Hey all. I have no title for this yet, and it's in its early stages. But, the idea I had was to take the normal battle theme from Super Mario RPG (I'm sure some of you can recall this monotonous ditty) and reshape it into something completely different. I have a feeling I'm on to something, but I'd appreciate some feedback to determine whether I should keep going.

Version 1: http://soundcloud.com/dmguillotine/smrpg-battle-piano-rendition

MOST RECENT Version http://soundcloud.com/dmguillotine/smrpg-battle-v2-piano

The thing is, even though this theme in its original form is annoying, I had always liked it. I guess I wanted to give it the royal treatment, breathe new life into something many of us may agree has grown stale. I'm curious to know what anybody thinks of this attempt, so I'll leave this here and see what happens.

Thanks for listening.

- karth/dmGuillotine

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This is a very interesting idea.

Is this sequenced or did you play it? Some ornaments sound odd due to all the notes having similar (or the same) velocities.

Other than that small detail, I think this is quite nice, but I feel you'll have a hard time expanding on it. The source is pretty limited so unless you really change it up, the arrangement will start becoming stale.

The best suggestion I can give you is to experiment with a different chord progression after the cameo of the star theme (don't know its real name). You can also try playing with the melody by changing it, maybe on a different key, or with different notes.

P.D. I didn't think the original source was as bad as you say. It managed to be somewhat interesting during the game, maybe because it uses many different sounds. You can't do that on a piano solo rendition sadly.

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jnWake: Yeah, this is a sequenced attempt. Although it pleases me you felt the need to ask. By the ornaments you mean the rolled chords and the star theme's trill, for example? I can surely experiment with the dynamics to get them sounding more real.

Because the source is, as you reminded, very limited, I had considered maybe creating a medley with some other tunes from the game. At the same time I feel that's a cop-out, and I'd like to take this theme as far as it can possibly go without breaking the established mood of the arrangement. How I can avoid staleness I'm not sure...

...oh there's a thought, I could incorporate the battle theme's victory music. It's related, similarly brief, but could provide further motivic material to flesh out the ideas. I think I'll try that.

Finally, I must reiterate that I love the source tune and have a strong nostalic connection to it; I still don't think it's objectively very good, but I accept it for what it is and remember that--battle theme though it be---this is a Mario game, and silliness is expected and encouraged. :)

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Alright, I have an update where I incorporate the Victory theme, further employ the star acquisition motif, and after some exploration suggest the possibility of transitioning into part of the game's end credits theme.

(bump)

The piece has more than doubled in length now, and opinions on the new material would be great.

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