Two news posts in one day? What a treat! This is a special project that’s been a long time coming and it deserves a blog entry.
I contributed two covers to NieR: ReArranged, a free Nier series tribute album by Pixel Mixers that was released in March. It features 31 covers by 71 musicians in a wide range of styles, from electronic to metal, instrumental to vocal. Many of them are collaborations, but since this was the first album I participated in, I felt more comfortable sticking to my normal piano solo style–though with a bit more effort put into the arrangements compared to my usual output.
I covered “Halua” and “Cold Steel Coffin” from the original Nier (Gestalt/Replicant/Replicant ver.1.22474487139…).
The theme for Emil’s sister, which he is playing on the piano when you first meet him. It wasn’t released on an OST until NierReplicant ver.1.22….
The haunting music from the Aerie. I’ve wanted to cover this myself this ever since I found out it wasn’t in the official piano score book.
This is a really fantastic album by a bunch of great musicians, so please listen to the whole thing!
Pixel Mixers is a friendly community of video game cover musicians of all ages, genres, and skill levels. Check out our other albums at https://pixel-mixers.com/. Join us on Discord and other social media! https://discord.gg/6DHDY4Myvb
Apparently Sunday was the 22nd anniversary of Vagrant Story’s release in North America, and I remembered just how long I’ve wanted to cover that game’s music. I still have files backed up on my computer from 2009, when I first tried my hand at transcribing. (I had taken piano lessons for many years at that point, but they didn’t teach me any transcription or arrangement skills.) I thought it would be fun to share a small glimpse of my feeble early attempts, so here are images of the transcriptions of “Joshua” and “Joshua 2” that I quickly abandoned.
I think I’ve improved a lot since then! (lol) In honor of the Vagrant Story anniversary, I made a short medley of both of Joshua’s themes. Please check it out!
Hello again, it’s time to wrap up another year. I was pretty productive on the piano in 2021 despite (or thanks to?) the unending pandemic. I uploaded 44 more videos on YouTube, bringing my total number of sheets up to 119. I participated in 7 of the Pixel Mixers’ 12 monthly contests, and I contributed two arrangements to their upcoming Nier tribute album (stay tuned!). Please check out our community on Reddit and Discord.
Here are some statistics:
Most-viewed new video: “Dripstone Cave / Waterfall” from Super Castlevania IV (248 views) Most-viewed video ever: “Starlit Night” from Digimon World (16k views total)
Last year’s cover of “Thirteenth Chapter – Closing” from Drakengard has really surged in popularity with almost 4,000 views! No idea how. I’m working on more Drakengard and Digimon World covers for 2022 since they seem to be so popular, though I expect my covers from 2011 will always have the edge over the new stuff due to their age and YouTube’s mysterious and mercurial algorithm.
A big thank you to everyone who downloads my sheets/MIDIs or listens on YouTube! Playing video games and piano are my favorite hobbies, and I love to provide sheets for all the underappreciated game music that never gets covers or official arrangements. Here’s to even more music in 2022! Have a safe and happy new year.
Hi everyone, I went on a hiatus because I’ve been busier with personal stuff lately. But I’m back now, and it’s been a little over a year since I revived my channel and started posting a lot. I can’t believe it’s almost September already! I wanted to finish covering and moving all the sheet music from my old Blogspot this year, but I’m not sure that’s going to happen….
I just posted four new covers. They should sound a bit better than my previous uploads because I started doing noise reduction after recording.
I’ve been participating in the PixelMixers community more over the past year. It’s a bunch of musicians who like to cover video game music and they make great stuff. Check out our subreddit and Discord:
Hi everyone, I didn’t think there was much point making a blog post for every single upload, so I’ll make a summary post every few months or when there’s really big news.
I’ve been playing piano since I was a kid, and I started transcribing sheet music 11 years ago specifically because there were pieces I wanted to play that I couldn’t find any sheets for. I’ve spent varying amounts of time at the piano over the past decade, but I never completely stopped transcribing after I let my old blog languish.
I’m happy to be uploading sheets and videos again and that people are enjoying my music. I’ve still got lots of old transcriptions that just need a little refinement and practice, and I’ve been transcribing new pieces too. I’m phasing out my old Blogger (Blogspot) site, but I don’t post any sheets on WordPress until I have recorded a video to prove they’re playable because I didn’t always take that into account in the past. All of my videos feature me playing on a digital piano, but I post computer-generated MIDIs here too for people that like Synthesia.
One thing I haven’t really addressed since my last blog post is that I have so much trouble with my computer consistently recording video footage that I’ve dropped video capture entirely in favor of scrolling sheet music and, when possible, game footage.
Here are some statistics: New sheets: 20 Old sheets: 54 (17 revised and migrated to WordPress so far) Total recorded: 37/74 (50%)
Most-viewed new video: “Promise (Dream Version)” from Moon Most-viewed video ever: “Starlit Night” from Digimon World These two videos also have the most sheet music downloads from my WordPress site.
Least-viewed video: “Underground Ruins” from Ōkamiden with only 1 view (lol) I know this game wasn’t as popular as Ōkami, but this is my favorite piece in the whole game and you should listen to it!
And finally, here are some highlights:
“Promise (Dream Version)” from Moon
I didn’t know much about Moon when I uploaded this–I just picked a piece off the soundtrack that sounded easy to transcribe because I was hyped for the official localization. Imagine my surprise when it turned out to be the theme you hear almost every time you rest! I also have a soft spot for Debussy’s “Clair de lune” now.
“The Bond with Claire” from Threads of Fate
This may be one of the oldest pieces I never uploaded because I was dissatisfied with my transcription. But I gave it another shot and I’m happy with it now. When transcribing, I aim for fairly one-to-one reproductions, so I’m glad I was able to fit three voices in the middle of the piece. This game is oozing with charm and even though it’s pretty simple, I highly recommend it.
“Arctic Lake” from Romancing SaGa 3
Speaking of reproducing multiple voices, I’m also very happy with how this one turned out. Passing the broken chords between both hands worked very well. It’s easier to play than it looks. And although I haven’t played RS3 yet, I’m planning on making some headway into the series next year. I recently finished playing The Final Fantasy Legend in the new Collection of SaGa port on Switch.
“Underground Ruins” from Ōkamiden
The aforementioned least-viewed video on my channel. The repeating 16-note figure in the right hand sounds so mysterious, and the melody in the B section incorporates a recurring motif from Ōkami. Ōkamiden isn’t quite as good as the first game, but it was great getting to revisit that world.
“Someone calls me…. Someone looks for me….” from Parasite Eve
My final video of 2020, in honor of the Christmas season. This is one of the old transcriptions from Blogger that I revised, adding the vocal melody that I omitted when I first uploaded the sheets in 2011.
Have a happy new year, everyone! Look forward to more sheet music, more videos, and special projects in 2021!
endlessrepeat 