Notation help

Thought it would be most appropriate to post my little question here. It's been a while since I last touched the forum and I'm still a horrible newbie.

Now, I'm not the greatest keyboard player - actually, I'm probably the polar opposite - but I have an audio sample of a little run I want to notate. I apologize for the cheesy sound :)

I wrote down what I think it might be, but I'm just not sure. You'll hear the pattern I want to keep, anyhow.

Thanks to anybody that can help a poor amateur composer out!

piano playing.mp3 (part of song to give context, followed by the pattern 4 times)

(I can only do triplet groupings in noteworthy - sorry :()

Cheers,

Matt

Well, the pitches you wrote down are correct (except that you play them an octave lower than you wrote it here). The difficulty is determining the rhythm, since in that soundfile it's always a bit different all the four times - you even have the order of notes slightly mixed up in some versions (in the first two, for example, you play C-E-G-E-C-G instead of C-E-G-C-E-G), but I guess the one you notated and played it in the last versions is the one you want.

Rhythmically, what you wrote certainly works, but as you played it, the first arpeggio seems to be somewhat delayed and the second (the one with the Eb) always a bit faster, so that the high G always comes on the beat. Something like that:

But that may simply be my impression because of the fast tempo and the somewhat unclear note groups in the recording (no offence :P), which make the high G's stand out more as reference tones. In the end, the recording is just not enough to get down a clear rhythmic notation of this, so you should tell us some more about what you want. Which notes should be on the beat? Should the second arpeggio be as fast as the first one? Etc.

Or even better: Make a recording of it played slowly enough that a precise rhythm is audible.

piano playing 2.mp3

now, this one has a bit of narration. If my playing wasn't so sloppy, it would be alright :D

[C E G C E G] should be one beat, and [C Eb G C (Eb)E-natural G] should be another. (lowest Cs of each arpeggio fall on the beat - and, yes: the second part of the pattern should pull a bit more)

Thanks again :toothygrin:

Well, here are three options, based on what I heard:

The first is what the faster version you played now sounded most like to me. Here, the ending note of one arpeggio fall together with the starting note of the second. This will of course produce the effect of it getting faster towards the end of the second arpeggio, but your own notation looks more like you don't actually want them at the same time.

The second is pretty much what you wrote, just with 16th notes and sextuplets. But of course you can also use 8th sextuplets if you prefer that. That version is the simplest to notate and works very well, but you won't get the effect of the second arpeggio "pulling a bit more", but it will be relatively steady.

The third is a more modern kind of notation, which signifies that one should continuously speed up during one such pattern. If you -do- want it to speed up continously, that's probably the best way to clearly write that.

In some cases it can help to additionally write the duration of the whole pattern underneath such a notation, somewhat like this:

But in relatively simple rhythmic cases, such as this one, this is hardly necessary.

Holy cow Gardener. You're the man. Or woman, I'm not sure. But I think man.

That's service.

Actually, he could be an android...I don't know if any man or woman could consistently be so helpful...

*giant amount of help*

Wow!

Thank you so very much. I wish I could give you a 5/5 somewhere!

Unfortunately, YC has no such rating system implemented. Also, to my great desolation, the city will not allow me to erect a shrine of you in the park.

I will play around with all three of these options for a while and then choose. The first option seems to be the best for me so far.

This run will be dedicated to you if my piano work is completed. Hopefully the piece will not cause hemorrhaging, but serve as flattery - a opposed to a non-intentional insult that will cause you to completely de-affiliate yourself from the piece by travelling to the deepest and darkest parts of Ontario (where I reside) and incinerating my piece, personally, shortly before giving me a horribly painful death.

Again, I thank you for your assistance!

Matt

:D

You're welcome.