Built-In "Megalovania" is wrong?

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funkymonk42
Posts: 8

Post by funkymonk42 »

Hi,

Just trying to get the rhythm of Megalovania down and was struggling, then I figured out it was because it said quarter note when it should be an eighth, no? Am I reading that wrong or is that a mistake in the music? And how is it possible to create music that has more beats than there are in a measure? I would think that the software wouldn't allow that.

https://www.screencast.com/t/y7FfCUZHf41
Image

Thanks!
Nicholas
Posts: 13135

Post by Nicholas »

If you look at the falling notes, you'll see that those two continue on into the next measure. This is definitely incorrect behavior, but instead of just eighth notes, they should be a tied pair of eighth notes with one in the following measure. The current version of Synthesia doesn't support ties and reporting the correct duration, even if it exceeds the length of the current measure seemed like the lesser of two evils.

Synthesia 11 will add support for ties. (And many other things: 32nd notes, triplets, down-facing stems, better beaming, and the list goes on and on.)
funkymonk42
Posts: 8

Post by funkymonk42 »

Thank you, @Nicholas! I'm getting excited for Version 11, now! That's 2 things I've noticed that are on the way so thank you, thank you for all your hard work and your immediate responses on here. I am finding that Synthesia is really an AMAZING way to learn piano! Works so much better than anything else I have ever found for learning piano.

You are right that there is a small rest in the next measure, and that covers it for now. I guess as long as newbies realize that and then don't count the rest as well.

Thanks again and keep it up!

Ben
funkymonk42
Posts: 8

Post by funkymonk42 »

I am also confused by "Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring." Seems like it should be 9/8 with rests and triple 1/8th notes. It plays properly when you listen but what I am reading seems very different than what I hear. Am I just reading it wrong or is that also just a limitation of the software and something that will be fixed in version 11?

Thanks!
Nicholas
Posts: 13135

Post by Nicholas »

That one is less of a limitation and more to do with the source material. Most of Synthesia's built-in songs come from G Major Music Theory. Both difficulty levels of "Jesu" come from these two pages.

If you look at the PDFs there, both are arranged in 3/4 time. Synthesia is just reporting what the song contains in this case.
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jimhenry
Posts: 1899

Post by jimhenry »

A better version of Jesu arranged in 9/8 is available here:
http://www.free-scores.com/download-she ... ?pdf=37814#
Jim Henry
Author of the Miditzer, a free virtual theatre pipe organ
http://www.Miditzer.org/
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jimhenry
Posts: 1899

Post by jimhenry »

I transcribed the free-scores version of Jesu to create an XML version for Nicholas' amusement. It is in the MIDI Club area. There are a few interesting notational issues, such as the LH rests on beats 4 and 5. I'll be interested in seeing what he thinks having read "Behind Bars" and how Synthesia handles these things in version 11.
Jim Henry
Author of the Miditzer, a free virtual theatre pipe organ
http://www.Miditzer.org/
Nicholas
Posts: 13135

Post by Nicholas »

Yeah, I was just poking around in the XML file, comparing it to the PDF. This will be a nice test case. I suspect near the end of this process, we'll have quite a few nice test cases. :D

Checking that section in the book, there are a full four pages dedicated to "Grouping rests according to the metre" with 27 different "do this; not this" examples. That includes four that are in 9/8 time (with about half of them for compound time in general; lots of 6/8's). Those double-eighth rests are all over the place on these pages. :lol:

It really does make me cringe when I think how naively I implemented rests the first time around. It's something close to "see how much empty space is there and fill it with the largest possible rest (and then repeat with the remainder until you can't jam any more rests in)".
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jimhenry
Posts: 1899

Post by jimhenry »

Given that beat 4 is a strong beat in 9/8 meter, are rests on beats 4 and 5 best notated as 2 eighth rests or a quarter rest? The score I was transcribing had it both ways. And I can see arguments for either way of doing it.

The treble clef in measure 9 is interesting too. I think that it should be stem up as the end of the line from the preceding measures and not part of the 3 measures of dotted half dotted quarter rhythm, which suggest the choral part.

This video shows the subtleties of this piece in a more advanced arrangement:
https://youtu.be/BHYXapJNc9M

Even with the arrangement from free-scores, the challenge is not to clunk out the notes mechanically but to elicit a smooth "singing" performance and suggest the choral parts, which are the melody that the rest ornaments, from the piano. The goal of the notation is to give you hints on how to do that, which this score does very little of. Anyone who really wants to play this well needs to listen to a number of performances, including the original chorus and orchestra version, to understand what it should sound like. It's not all in the written score.
Jim Henry
Author of the Miditzer, a free virtual theatre pipe organ
http://www.Miditzer.org/
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