Video Game Lead Sheets

I finally convinced the music director at my school to let me form a small ensemble that plays video game music. So, as the 'leader' of the group I've started writing up lead sheets for songs that we're going to play. We had our first rehearsal today, and it went pretty great. We've got piano, violin, guitar, bass, and drums. Pretty gnarly small combo.

Anyway, I figured I'd post the lead sheets I came up with for you guys if you're interested in playing them.

Koopa Beach - Super Mario Kart


Koopa Beach (printable version)


Professor E. Gadd's Lab - Luigi's Mansion


Professor E. Gadd's Lab (printable version)


PS. 5/8 resizes the displayed images, but if you right click and "view image" it's a pretty readable size.

Most excellent, sir

If anyone has any requests I'd probably do them...so long as it's not some huge orchestrated piece. I'm more in the routine of doing the simpler chord+melody tunes.

Scars of Time?

That's an orchestrated piece.

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g5W2rCfcWsQ"]YouTube- The Advantage - Castlevania 3 - Boss Music - NES remade theme song[/ame]


[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qXN-p14cg74"]YouTube- The Advantage - Batman - Stage 1 - NES remade theme song[/ame]

Anything from Super Mario Bros 2.

Tetris theme, even though it's vastly overdone.


EDIT: Also, you absolutely MUST do something from Yoshi's Island. I hold myself to the belief that no other Mario game has better music. I'd absolutely love to hear the Flower Garden theme.

Here you go. Everything off Super Mario Bros. 3

There is some error with the clef for World 3, 4, and 5. (The upper stave is written in bass clef).

http://sites.google.com/site/manolitomystiq/SMB3PDF.pdf

i did a modal jazz arrangement of song of storms (zelda) a month ago; it's pretty much 'my favorite things' in dm with some small touches here and there. i've yet to convince anyone to play the thing

Lots of that Zelda shit is great for modal vamps. Currently I was thinking about doing Aquatic Ambiance from DKC. The soundtrack on the game is the balls! We were thinking of doing a huge Zelda medley with just the temple songs from OoT.

Nice man. Did you transcribe all that? Good man.

I agree. Yoshi's Island is sweet, I will keep this in mind.

I think we had the overworld theme on the table. You've seen that gypsy jazz cover it on YouTube, no? I was planning to do something in that vain.

Aquatic Ambience - Donkey Kong Country


Aquatic Ambience (printable version)

Yeah, and it's pretty cool, but my harmony is probably my favourite part of that tune.

Did you like The Advantage? I know there's hundreds of video game cover bands, but there's something about their execution, I think it's their drummer (who, incidentally is one of my favourite guitarists).

why do you write the chord every bar

Just to make sure it's not ambiguous in any way.

Do some megaman shit, Elecman maybe?
And do Casino Night Zone or Green Hill Zone from Sonic 2!

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_T7hdIh-gtw"]YouTube- Sonic & Knuckles Music: Flying Battery Zone Act 1[/ame]

I haven't played Sonic in a long time, I didn't know it had such gnarl music.

Gnarl?

"Gnarly"

smw castle theme

Are you a member of the OneUps? All the tracks you posted so far they've covered. Check out their cover of Sonic's Green Hill Zone.

Also, thanks for the sheets.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UImt...F03852684&playnext_from=PL&playnext=1&index=5

If you get the chords and melody line for this I'll try and orchestrate it for a laugh.

You can thank me later.

EDIT: Here it is for Wind Quartet. Now the nostalgia trip is over and I never want to hear it again.

http://www.mediafire.com/file/mzuu5iujtg2/James Pond 3.mp3

Is that Symphonic Orchestra Gold?

It's Finale 2010 with the really shit MIDI.

I was thinking about getting the Garritan Personal Orchestra, it sounds pretty awesome.

You need to do stuff from Donkey Kong Country 2

Especially Brambles!!

Lost Woods - The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time

Lost Woods - The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time(printable)


Nocturne of Shadow - The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time

Nocturne of Shadow - The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time(printable)

an F in a C# chord? oooooohhhhhh

It is definitely just a C in Lost Woods, not C/E.

idunno, my memory makes me think it's C/E. last i played was a month ago.

He-Beast is correct, it's a C.

Let me find proof...

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Dt3QWsJ0Bs"]YouTube- Zelda: Ocarina of Time Music - Lost Woods[/ame]

E#.

Ya, I didn't even look at what I was writing until I brought the sheets in for rehearsal today. Lol. I think I finished writing that lead sheet at like 2 am. I was just transcribing the notes clusters without looking at the melodies. I will upload a fixed version in a second...

The better question, which I meant to ask is this:

Does anyone know of any firm, accepted nomenclature for harmonic 4ths or 5ths in lead sheet symbols?

Also, let me know if you think it makes more sense to notate the last 4 bars as (Ab-Bb-A-B-C#) as opposed to like Ab Bb A B Db. At first look, it makes more sense to me to write a Db chord since the F natural is present in the main melody, it's just reappearing. But then it seems to contradict the chords that precede it which was from # keys.

Can you not hear the squacky voice instrument going?

F-F-F-F-E-E-E-E? but I can hear it plenty well as the bass note.

Is there an instrument below this I'm not hearing?

Actually he's right, it is a C/E.

Please do this one:

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hYxlqTpZ-24"]YouTube- Sonic 3 Music: Ice Cap Zone Act 1[/ame]

Yeah, I was sure, because that's how I play it on the piano, but that video seemed to go against me, not for me.

I mean, no biggie, it's rather pointless in the scheme of things, but I appreciate the challenging of my lead sheet, so I'm forced to reconsider/fix things.

Guys, don't you hear the bass (probably a harp patch) on the left channel? It's in same range as that squeak of an F and E thing, but it hits a C when the squeak hits the E.

This is what I make out of it:


http://yfrog.com/0wlostwoodsp

I hear the quartel chords of Nocturne of Shadow starting in C#


Indeed it's not easy what to decide the progression is at the end.

I don't know how you can "hear" that as sharp, as they're enharmonic and so it mostly depends on context. Using sharps though it obviously complicates the notation especially over that G#. And it's also sort of silly to analyse the harmonies in that song, because they obviously are not functional in any way.

Also, I hear F# G G# distinctly as the bassline, I'm not hearing a C# below it, and I don't see the sense in giving the song a C# key signature when it just forces you to use accidentals, and complicates the stacked 4ths in terms of notation. Also, I'm only hearing a harmonic fourth, not two stacked fourths.

There's definitely a C#, D, D# (or enharmonically differently written) in those [F#-B] [G-C] [G#-C#] stacked 4ths. I hear it as the root, I do think it's not easy to make out, because of the string patch, though, but they're definitely there.

And I try to see functions in everything. I believe you can always find functions. Also, I don't see how a key signature makes things more complicated.

If you hear it, I'll believe you. You have a good ear, but somehow I'm not picking it up. I wish I had headphones or something so I could really hear the mix, my shitty speakers aren't very good for separating voices/instruments, especially in this type of music.

Concerning key signatures, some are easier to play in than others. It is also harder to read, acknowledge and apply accidentals than it is to just play the naturally occurring notes. So in the case of "Nocturne of Shadow" where everything melodically pretty much fits into a C major scale (or a mode derived from it), it doesn't make much sense to me to notate it in C# major, when it just results in a bunch of accidentals, and when C# isn't even clearly a tonic until the typical Zelda picardy third resolution at the end.

Concerning harmony and function, very much music has nonfunctional harmony. I think this is a case for that. Obviously after the Classical & Romantic periods in music harmony started to break down pretty fast. It became more about color, and just matching the melody tone, but not thinking in terms of progression or function. In the case of this song I think it's fairly obvious. In the A section we have non-tertian sonorities (stacked 4ths), which are devoid of function in a vacuum - they're ambiguous. These chords are just planed up half steps, which further indicates they aren't functionally in a traditional way, they're just adding color.

The B section is just a sequence of ascending major triads until it resolves up to C#(Db), there isn't really any common progression of chords here, and there are no distinct or even vague tonic-dominant relationships - so with the concept of key out of the way, the exercise becomes rather futile. My 2 cents.

Guys, I just did this one real quick and haven't had a chance to look back over it. Let me know if there are any errors in the harmonies, the Bb/F, Bb/E and Bb+ are questionable to me.


Epona's Song - The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time

Epona's Song - The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time (printable version)

Fairy's Fountain

Nice!

This is quite an old video of me performing it. I mess up at the end.

0:52 at full speed

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CZgzfQuACQ4"]YouTube- The Legend of Zelda Fairy's Fountain (sort of instructional video)[/ame]

Not a video game, but could someone put up the lead sheet for the baywatch theme ("I'm always here" by Jim Jamison)?