Transcription: Image & Collage - Haruomi Hosono (Shoplifters)

 

You can find the downloadable PDF here

Another transcription from the Shoplifters soundtrack. I decided to transcribe this little section from 'Image & Collage', which is actually used multiple times in the soundtrack.

Harmonic Analysis: Swipesy Cake Walk (Joplin-Marshall)

 

I decided to do a quick harmonic analysis of Arthur Marshall and Scott Joplin's Swipesy Cake Walk. This is one of my favorite ragtime pieces so I thought I'd examine it a bit closer. I learned recently that Joplin only contributed the trio section, which was surprising to me.

Transcription: Shota & Yuri 1 - Haruomi Hosono (Shoplifters)

You can find the downloadable PDF here

This is one of the tracks from the soundtrack to the film 'Shoplifters'. I was surprised to see that it had been scored by Haruomi Hosono. I'm planning on transcribing something from 'Image & Collage' next.

Transcription: Results - Soyo Oka (Super Mario Kart Prototype)

You can find the downloadable PDF here

This is taken from the 1992 prototype of Super Mario Kart, scored by Soyo Oka. It was surprisingly hard to transcribe because it is a few cents off tune. The chords gave me enough trouble that I actually had to find a SPC file and convert it to MIDI to double check my work. I'm surprised this track did not make it into the final version of the game.

Transcription: Solo from Happy Roaming - Lorin Nelson (Lego Island)

 

You can find the downloadable PDF here

I just transcribed the keyboard solo on the track Happy Roaming from the Lego Island soundtrack. I never played the game, but its OST is pretty good. It was a headache to deal with all of the accidentals in the solo, but I tried to make it as readable as possible.

Transcription: Opening - Jung Jae-il (Parasite)

You can find the downloadable PDF here

The first track of the soundtrack to Parasite. I love this theme, and the celesta is a great addition.

Transcription: Objection! - Masakazu Sugimori (Dai Gyakuten Saiban Piano Album)

 

You can find the downloadable PDF here

I like this arrangement, it is a surprisingly fresh take on the original. Simple but effective. I decided to only transcribe the section from the original game's soundtrack, partly because of my dislike for the second game's 'Objection' theme and partly because of laziness.

Transcription: Excerpt from Channel 4 - 猫 シ Corp. (NEWS AT 11)

 

 You can find the downloadable PDF here

I played around with the scrolling video transcription this time, but I'm not sure if I like it. I think it's fine for single stave transcriptions like these, but would probably be too cramped for things like piano. We'll see.

What I've Been Working On

I've written about this over on NinSheetMusic, so this will mainly be a rehash of that post.

For the past 8 months or so, my main music-related project has been creating arrangements of video game music for the guitar. The bulk of the work was done over a period of 5 months from late August 2022 to February 2023. So far (as of this post's creation), I've made 72 guitar arrangements.

A Dropbox link containing all of the PDFs

A YouTube playlist with all of the video transcriptions

Until I did about twenty-or-so of them, I was just using a recording of the MIDI for the video transcriptions, but I later decided to put some more effort into them. Although by "effort", I really mean 30 minutes to an hour spent in a DAW. The results were mixed, but some of them I like.

It was definitely a great learning experience, and I am still learning all the little details of notation, making it easier for performers to read. I cringe looking back at the mistakes in the sheet music - especially when I was still using Guitar Pro to make them - but it's not a bad thing to be able to do that, I think.

In regards to the quality of the arrangements themselves, I'm reasonably proud of my work. That was the vast majority of the time spent, after all.

Anyway, here's a list of the songs I covered (as of 6/10/23):

   1. Main Plaza (Night) (Nintendo Land) - Ryo Nagamatsu
   2. Lavender Town (Pokémon Red & Blue) - Junichi Masuda
   3. Loading the Game (Isabelle) (Animal Crossing/ New Leaf) - Kazumi Totaka
   4. Main Theme (Papers Please) - Lucas Pope
   5. Death (Papers Please) - Lucas Pope
   6. Patch Castle (Kirby's Epic Yarn) - Tomoya Tomita
   7. Main Theme (Mario Kart 64) - Kenta Nagata
   8. A Requiem (Castlevania II/ Simon's Quest) - Kenichi Matsubara
   9. Stage Builder (Super Smash Bros. Brawl) - Nobuo Uematsu
  10. Grass Land (New Super Mario Bros. Wii) - Ryo Nagamatsu
  11. Age, Regret, Retribution (Phoenix Wright/ Ace Attorney) - Masakazu Sugimori
  12. Reminiscence/ Light and Shadow (Phoenix Wright/ Ace Attorney) - Masakazu Sugimori
  13. Investigation/ Opening (2001) (Phoenix Wright/ Ace Attorney) - Masakazu Sugimori
  14. Sunrise & Onett (Earthbound) - Hirokazu Tanaka
  15. Buy Somethin' Will Ya! (Earthbound) - Hirokazu Tanaka
  16. At the Bottom of Night (Chrono Trigger) - Yasunori Mitsuda
  17. Sad Song (Super Mario RPG) - Yoko Shimomura
  18. StreetPass Mii Plaza (Nintendo 3DS)
  19. Mii Maker (Nintendo 3DS)
  20. Daisy Circuit (Mario Kart Wii) - Asuka Hayazaki
  21. Dry Hands (Minecraft) - Daniel Rosenfeld
  22. Bergentrückung (Undertale) - Toby Fox
  23. Reminiscence/ Forgotten Legend (Apollo Justice/ Ace Attorney) - Toshihiko Horiyama
  24. Helper's Rest (Kirby Super Star Ultra) - Jun Ishikawa
  25. Sheik (The Legend of Zelda/ Ocarina of Time) - Koji Kondo
  26. There She Is (Portal 2) - Mike Morasky
  27. Scars Etched by Flame (Ace Attorney/ Justice For All) - Naoto Tanaka
  28. Character Select (Super Mario Bros. 2) - Koji Kondo
  29. Donut Plains (Super Mario World) - Koji Kondo
  30. Astral Observatory (The Legend of Zelda/ Majora's Mask) - Koji Kondo
  31. Ashley's Song (WarioWare/ Touched) - Masaru Tajima
  32. Elegant and Excellent (The Great Ace Attorney) - Yasumasa Kitagawa
  33. Title Theme (Animal Crossing/ City Folk) - Kazumi Totaka
  34. Detective Itonokogiri (Phoenix Wright/ Ace Attorney) - Masakazu Sugimori
  35. Littleroot Town (Pokémon Ruby & Sapphire) - Gō Ichinose
  36. Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection (Pokémon Diamond & Pearl) - Junichi Masuda
  37. Boy Meets Girl (Twoson) (Earthbound) - Hirokazu Tanaka
  38. Dungeon (The Legend of Zelda) - Koji Kondo
  39. Hyrule Castle Courtyard (The Legend of Zelda/ Ocarina of Time) - Koji Kondo
  40. Lava Landing - Temper Temple (Kirby's Epic Yarn) - Tomoya Tomita
  41. Drew Studio (Apollo Justice/ Ace Attorney) - Toshihiko Horiyama
  42. Menu BIOS (SNES Classic Edition)
  43. Title Screen (The Legend of Zelda/ Majora's Mask) - Koji Kondo
  44. Athletic Theme (New Super Mario Bros.) - Koji Kondo
  45. Objection (2004) (Ace Attorney/ Trials and Tribulations) - Noriyuki Iwadare
  46. Water Land (Super Mario Bros. 3) - Koji Kondo
  47. Creative Exercise (Mario Paint) - Ryoji Yoshitomi
  48. Lon Lon Ranch (The Legend of Zelda/ Ocarina of Time) - Koji Kondo
  49. Eterna City (Night) (Pokémon Diamond & Pearl) - Gō Ichinose
  50. Meeting Place (PokéPark Wii/ Pikachu's Adventure) - Kenichi Koyano
  51. Main Street (Animal Crossing/ New Leaf) - Kazumi Totaka
  52. Puzzle Swap (Nintendo 3DS)
  53. Afternoon on the Island (Tomodachi Life) - Daisuke Matsuoka
  54. Title Screen (Kirby's Dream Land) - Jun Ishikawa
  55. Rocket Jump Waltz (Team Fortress 2) - Mike Morasky
  56. Village (SimCity) - Soyo Oka
  57. Flower Garden (Super Mario World 2/ Yoshi's Island) - Koji Kondo
  58. The Scenery of Dusky Bridge (Ace Attorney/ Trials and Tribulations) - Noriyuki Iwadare
  59. KG-8 Incident (Ace Attorney Investigations/ Miles Edgeworth) - Noriyuki Iwadare
  60. Treasure Hunter! Monolith (Danganronpa V3/ Killing Harmony) - Masafumi Takada
  61. Closing Argument (The Great Ace Attorney) - Yasumasa Kitagawa
  62. Ending (Mega Man 2) - Takashi Tateishi
  63. You've Come Far, Ness (Earthbound) - Hirokazu Tanaka
  64. Unfounded Revenge! (Mother 3) - Shogo Sakai
  65. Twinkle Elementary (Mother) - Keiichi Suzuki
  66. Bein' Friends (Mother) - Keiichi Suzuki
  67. Kay Faraday (Ace Attorney Investigations/ Miles Edgeworth) - Noriyuki Iwadare
  68. Blooming Flower In The New World (The Great Ace Attorney) - Yasumasa Kitagawa
  69. Results (Pac-Man Championship Edition) - Junko Ozawa
  70. Welcome to Dangan Island (Danganronpa 2/ Goodbye Despair) - Masafumi Takada
  71. Ikoroshia (Danganronpa 2/ Goodbye Despair) - Masafumi Takada
  72. Beautiful Ruin (Danganronpa 2/ Goodbye Despair) - Masafumi Takada