Hey Alexis Ffrench fans
I didn't know @Josephine and @Rubens were teacher/student, how cool!!
Rubens feel free to redistribute the notes between hands
This, IMO is the biggest challenge of Ffrench sheet music prepared by someone other than himself. One of the things, or maybe the biggest thing, that slowed me down with getting September Song into my fingers was trying to decide how I wanted to play the notes on the page, in particular the inner notes that could be taken by either the LH or the Rh.
Having played several other Ffrench pieces from official scores (i.e., scores that he released), I suspect the score for Sept Song would have looked very different if it was prepared by him.
I know it might sound weird to say that, but I know that there are lots of choices in notation, and I think most of the time, we don't see the alternatives and we just play what's on the page, so we don't even think about it.
Another thing about Sept. Song is that I think some of it (a lot of it?) was improvised when he recorded it. In the score I have, the transcriber transcribed it note-for-note, so there are a bunch of recurring motifs that are sort of like the same musical thought, but they look quite different each time they recur in the score.
As I got the piece into my fingers, I started to wonder if, had I had the score that he wrote, those sections would have all actually be written the same, but he was just tweaking them as he played.
That's the sort of thing that's hard to notice until you actually play through the score a lot (at least IMO).
So I have no idea if that's a feature of Miracles. Some of his other do not have that aspect (i.e., parts which sound improvised), so it might not be a feature of Miracles.... I haven't listened to it in that way. And again, I'm such a "reader" that I'm not sure if I'd notice it (or be able to spot it) without reading and playing through it.
I will have a look at this also, Rubens. At first glance, it looks accurate but I have to try it at the piano.
I ran the Transcribe! audio through better speakers this morning and ShiroKuro is right, there are many glaring omitted notes. That will teach me to try and do things too quickly using « a napkin on the table corner » (insert red face here). The tiny computer speakers do not usually do justice to the music, what was I thinking. I usually do not use them for such tasks.
I'm not really familiar with his music. It feels very percussive, this piece.
I have this so far. But I'm not sure if it's correct, and I know nothing about theory or how to notate a rhythm.
@Josephine lovely! That's it exactly, that's the musical thought of the piece.
Rubens I had another look and listen. I hear minor differences in the second full bar which seems also mirrored in Transcribe! (in case I thought I was hearing things). See what you think. You are right about the Db as pointed.
1st beat LH: that Eb also has the octave above it included.
1st beat RH: that Bb is held to double its current length, and the ensuing Bb is an Ab instead.
Last RH note is indeed a Db, but I also hear a repeated Ab beneath it (LH below instead of the rest).
Does this seem right to you?
I really like this, figuring out a piece together here on this forum. I got the rhythm wrong earlier and @Rubens pointed that out. Maybe it's still not completely right. But it's so nice to be here around people who all love piano music so much and trying to figure out what this composer is playing together.
I take that last comment back, no Ab repeated. It was an artefact at reduced speed which vanished at faster playback.
OK my earlier transcription from measures 8 to 11 would immediately append to Rubens’ work. I do think the notes are accurate (?). Of course, the notation has to be doubled in speed to be consistent with the beginning of the score. I attempted to replicate bars 8 and 9 as as such in bar 15 (same notes, double speed). But it is a bit of a dog’s breakfast Likely a MuseScore limitation or one of the writer !!! (font is also different - what are you using Rubens - Finale?)
- Edited
Looks like great work, Rubens. You have not been wasting time
I yet have to have a closer look. Incidentally, after working a little more with MuseScore I was able to clean up the dog’s breakfast I mentioned above. While the font is different, it now does look much more similar to the layout you did in Noteworthy Composer.
OMG you are amazing!!!! Is that the whole piece???
I wish I didn’t have to work today! (I’m in the U.S. and it’s 7am here. Your post is the first thing I’m seeing)
I can’t wait to come home and try it!!!
I have been looking at the score while eating my breakfast. I can’t wait to try it!!!!!
Glad you like his music! He has put out a lot in the last few years. I discovered him early in the pandemic, and he did an online master class, which I attended, which was wonderful!
He has made a lot of his pieces available in sheet music, but I invariably fall in love with the ones that aren't! Like this one
In my case, I had just a bit of ear training and solfège but every little bit you have helps. I usually need to rely on software essentially to slow down the playback without altering the pitch and loop sections. This way it gives me more of a chance to get the notes, since I am surely a bit of a slowpoke .