Old School

The new WCU Courtyard.  This area used to be busy road.  The grass and fountain is a nice upgrade.

Allow me to apologize for the lack of updates.  I've been rather busy for the past month and half, preparing for graduate school.  I do have some non-school related projects that have been put on hold for now:

• Producing a real recording of High, High, High
• Revising the sheet music for High, High, High and Resuscitated Hope.
• Per a few requests on youtube, I also intend to post midi files of these songs. 
• I am considering arranging Cras numquam scire from Dantalian no Shoka.  It has already been arranged for piano however, I don't think I could add very much.  I may do a literal transcription as a learning exercise, and because I like it. 

As I said, these projects have been put on hold due to Graduate School, which is what the rest of this blog article is about.  Hit the jump to read more!

New Arrangement: High High High (Usagi Drop Ending 1 - TV Size)

 RobUsa B is proud to present: Karasinchu's High, High, High.  This is the first ending theme for Usagi Drop.

Download Sheet Music (PDF)

Watch the original ending theme (YouTube)

High, High, High is a different style than what I usually listen to or work with, so it was an excellent learning opportunity.  I took drafts to a piano much more frequently than I did for Resuscitated Hope (which was almost never), so the final product has less awkward voice leading and is closer to my personal playing ability (after much practice).  I smudged the rhythm of the melody around in places for easier performance.  A specific example is in measure 5:  The original recording here is syncopated on the 16th notes, which feels very natural when singing.  On the piano however, I thought it made things unnecessarily busy, and caused the difficulty to exceed my intentions. 

I was hoping to have an actual piano recording of this finished before I go to Otakon.  I leave for Otakon tomorrow -- so much for that.  Now my goal shall be to have a recording done by time I leave for graduate school. 

More Music

It's becoming crunch time.  In the next month I will have to move (twice!), attend Otakon 2011, study for a rather nasty pre-assessment, take said pre-assessment, and get my class scheduled sorted out (it's broken right now).  I'm sure I'm forgetting a few things.  But before I do all that, I want to put out at least one more arrangement before I go on hiatus.

I want to choose something from the 2011 Summer Anime Line-up, and I'm very strongly leaning towards Usagi Drop.  I think the open and close themes are both good, and different from my usual tastes.  It will be good practice for me.  I will have find time to crank this out this weekend though, or it probably won't happen at all (or for a whole month).  Stay tuned.

Piano arrangement of Resuscitated Hope (GOSICK)

RobUsa B's first upload:  Resuscitated Hope by Lisa Komine.

Resuscitated Hope, piano arrangement sheet music (pdf download) 
Resuscitated Hope, Lisa Komine - Original (youtube)


This is the first season ending theme for GOSICK, which finished airing earlier this month.  It details the mysteries surrounding Victorique and her friend Kujo, in the fictional European country of Sauville just prior to the second world war.  It is basically Sherlock Holmes but with a touch of Gothic fashion and a touching love story.  I highly recommend it.

I can talk about how I chose to arrange this because of the dark tones and dramatic hits juxtaposed with airy motifs of hope and light, but really I just think it sounds cool.  Also, I felt it was pretty simple and fun.  I tried to go beyond "right chords" and incorporate some of the characteristics of the orchestral/rock accompaniment.  The solo in the middle is loosely adapted from the original guitar solo, and I think it takes on an interesting flavor on piano.  The final arrangement is slightly beyond my ability to play without lots of practice time -- if anyone wishes to perform and record (and credit me for the arrangement...), feel free to do so and please send it my way.

I will definitely have to work on my ability to arrange for specific difficulty levels; and I also would really like to play this song easily, so I will probably make an easier arrangement in the future.  I also think Resuscitated Hope would work with with a solo instrument and piano accompaniment -- which offers opportunities for the pianist to play more of the colorful ornaments in the orchestra.  We shall see, so stay tuned!