http://www.squaresound.com/forums/blogs/ A forum for discussion about the SquareSound site, store, and fan-arrangement archive. en Fri, 19 Mar 2010 03:39:57 GMT vBulletin 60 http://www.squaresound.com/forums/images/bluesaint/misc/rss.jpg http://www.squaresound.com/forums/blogs/ http://www.squaresound.com/forums/blogs/mellosinfonian/53-new-arrangement-chrono-trigger.html Sun, 27 Dec 2009 08:16:57 GMT I just uploaded my first woodwind quintet arrangement for Squaresound. It's Wind Scene from Chrono Trigger (the music that plays in the overworld in 600 A.D.). I started this one several months ago, and just got around to finishing it this weekend. Nothing too complex, but it was fun to work on and I'm pleased with how it turned out. ]]> MelloSinfonian http://www.squaresound.com/forums/blogs/mellosinfonian/53-new-arrangement-chrono-trigger.html http://www.squaresound.com/forums/blogs/mellosinfonian/46-transferred-arrangements.html Sun, 21 Jun 2009 23:52:27 GMT I just completed transferring all of my existing Squaresound arrangements to the forum side of things. In case anyone reading this is out of the... I just completed transferring all of my existing Squaresound arrangements to the forum side of things. In case anyone reading this is out of the loop, Tim's in the process of moving the entire archive to the forums, which makes the whole website more interactive and user-friendly. As such, he's no longer updating arrangements under the Featured Arranger sections. I'm not sure what his plans are for fully integrating this section into the forum, but I know that you won't find any new arrangements from me right here anymore; they'll all be on the forum. However, I still plan to update this blog whenever I add anything on that side.

As of now, I have 18 files containing 17 different arrangements (I have the MIDI and the Sheet Music for my Uematsu Contest entry). ]]> MelloSinfonian http://www.squaresound.com/forums/blogs/mellosinfonian/46-transferred-arrangements.html http://www.squaresound.com/forums/blogs/mellosinfonian/45-new-arrangement-ffvi.html Sat, 20 Jun 2009 08:26:50 GMT Don't know if anyone still reads this, but I enjoy writing in it. Clearly you do read it, if nobody else does! ;)

I just submitted my latest work, a wind ensemble arrangement of Searching for Friends. I plan to print it out and have my community band read through it on Monday. It's fairly simple (aside from the somewhat intricate bass line), but has lots of nice chord progressions. I was inspired to write this a month or two ago, when I was playing Final Fantasy VI on the GBA pretty often. I was leveling up in the Tyranosaur Forest, so naturally I heard this song quite a bit. Hope you all enjoy it! ]]> MelloSinfonian http://www.squaresound.com/forums/blogs/mellosinfonian/45-new-arrangement-ffvi.html http://www.squaresound.com/forums/blogs/mellosinfonian/38-new-arrangement-submitted.html Sun, 05 Apr 2009 00:35:36 GMT I think I first mentioned my arrangement of Slider from Super Mario 64 for brass quintet about 6 months ago. I'm finally done, and quite proud of it! I just submitted it, and hope you all enjoy during the next update.

Also, this one's pretty difficult. If anybody feels intimidated by the 1st trumpet part (and I certainly would!), let me know; I have a few tips that'll make it a little bit easier. ]]> MelloSinfonian http://www.squaresound.com/forums/blogs/mellosinfonian/38-new-arrangement-submitted.html http://www.squaresound.com/forums/blogs/mellosinfonian/33-completely-unrelated-video-game-music.html Thu, 11 Dec 2008 06:52:11 GMT But hey, it's my blog, and I've posted several times about my arrangements, right? :) Thought I'd share a little about my personal life, in case anybody reads this.

Life has been really good lately. I'm getting closer to graduating every day, and I feel confident that I'll be getting out of here in Spring 2010. That'll have me out after 6 years, which is one year more than I originally planned (5 years for music ed. here at JSU is very common). The extra time has been due to scholarship obligations that didn't count towards my major, and a bit of laziness on my part. I'm dropping a lot of the scholarship obligations to facilitate graduating, and I've largely overcome the laziness factor. I'm much more motivated. It's an exciting time; I'm finally seeing the light at the end of the long tunnel that is college. I love college, but I'm getting ready to teach full-time.

Another development in my life is a relationship. I've not had many girlfriends, and the relationships I did have were generally awkward at best. However, I've found a girl whose belief system, sense of humor, love for music, and personality very much match my own. Her name's Sarah, and she's fantastic. I don't claim to fully know God's plan for my life, but I do believe that this relationship has great potential.

Hope all is well with those of you who read this. I should have a couple of new arrangements up the next time Tim updates. ]]> MelloSinfonian http://www.squaresound.com/forums/blogs/mellosinfonian/33-completely-unrelated-video-game-music.html http://www.squaresound.com/forums/blogs/mellosinfonian/32-new-arrangements-submitted.html Tue, 02 Dec 2008 08:19:01 GMT That's right, I've finally completed some more arrangements! The theme this week is opening themes for wind ensemble. I just submitted "The Memory of Last War" from Lufia and the Fortress of Doom (the first arrangement to come from this game, I believe, though not the series). A few days ago, I submitted "Opening Theme #1" from Final Fantasy VI. My community band is performing the latter at our next concert, so I've had the opportunity to hear it live. It works quite well. As great a tool as Finale is, there's nothing like hearing these arrangements performed! I'll be working on "Opening Theme #2" pretty soon so that we can use it, too.

Still in progress are:

"Highwind Takes to the Skies" from Final Fantasy VII; symphonic band

"Slider" from Super Mario 64 (which is now VERY near completion; the trumpet parts are not for the faint of heart!); brass quintet

"Opening Theme" from Lunar: Silver Star Story; symphonic band

In case anybody's wondering, I've been labeling large ensemble music without percussion parts as "wind ensemble" while labeling large ensemble music with percussion parts as "symphonic band." In reality, wind ensembles use percussion, but it's the easiest way I could think of to make the distinction clear to potential downloaders. I often arrange based on what I currently have in the ensemble I work with. Not all of my ensemble arrangements will have the exact same instrumentation/voicing divisions. However, if people need me to re-work something to suit a particular ensemble, I'm willing to help out. ]]> MelloSinfonian http://www.squaresound.com/forums/blogs/mellosinfonian/32-new-arrangements-submitted.html http://www.squaresound.com/forums/blogs/mellosinfonian/29-im-back.html Tue, 16 Sep 2008 03:01:09 GMT By which I mean I'm done with band camp, and have high-speed internet in my house. I have a decent amount of free time, so maybe I'll get some new arrangements up soon. I've got several things in progress, including Slider from Super Mario 64 for brass quintet and the opening theme from Lunar: Silver Star Story for wind ensemble.

If you have any requests, feel free to let me know. ]]> MelloSinfonian http://www.squaresound.com/forums/blogs/mellosinfonian/29-im-back.html http://www.squaresound.com/forums/blogs/mellosinfonian/25-latest-arrangement-competition.html Thu, 26 Jun 2008 07:31:54 GMT I regret that I was unable to finish an arrangement for this competition. I kept putting it off because I had much to do for community band. However,... I regret that I was unable to finish an arrangement for this competition. I kept putting it off because I had much to do for community band. However, I did start a new arrangement, and I'm quite pleased with what I have so far. It's an arrangement of Highwind Takes to the Skies for symphonic band. I'll be much happier submitting a quality arrangement to the archive than I would have throwing one together at the last minute. I look forward to working more on this, as well as to listening to the entries from the competition. ]]> MelloSinfonian http://www.squaresound.com/forums/blogs/mellosinfonian/25-latest-arrangement-competition.html http://www.squaresound.com/forums/blogs/mellosinfonian/24-what.html Sat, 07 Jun 2008 06:06:23 GMT I just realized that there are no arrangements from the Lunar series in the archive. If I've simply overlooked them, someone please correct me, but I didn't see any. I find that hard to believe, and so I must do something about it! The opening movie theme and Wind's Nocturne are simply too amazing for Squaresound not to have arrangements for them. The same is probably true for many more, but these are two that definitely stick out in my mind.

::adds these two to his to-do list:: ]]> MelloSinfonian http://www.squaresound.com/forums/blogs/mellosinfonian/24-what.html http://www.squaresound.com/forums/blogs/mellosinfonian/23-community-band.html Mon, 02 Jun 2008 19:13:04 GMT The vast majority of my recent arranging efforts have gone into creating music for the community band. This has included much adaptation, but I've also created a few new arrangements, as I mentioned in the last blog. Well, at that point I had created one new arrangement, from Wild ARMs 2.

Now I've got another, Sealed Door from Chrono Trigger. I just submitted it to Tim. While listening to Kenley Kristofferson's podcast about the music of CT, I was inspired to revisit that soundtrack. Sealed Door is one of the few tracks that Nobuo Uematsu wrote for the CT soundtrack (I believe Yasunori Mitsuda developed ulcers while working on it). It was a nice change of pace, because it goes from 5/8 (or 5/4, depending on how you feel it) to 6/8, and then back to 5/8. Thanks, Kenley!

I know he talks about it sometimes on the forum, but it can't hurt for me to mention it, either. Into the Score is an amazing website, as it's a podcast devoted to the academic study of video game music. I encourage you to check it out if you haven't already at intothescore.com.

I'm not sure what's coming next, aside from my competition piece. Possibly the opening theme or Luna's boat song from Lunar Silver Star Story. ]]> MelloSinfonian http://www.squaresound.com/forums/blogs/mellosinfonian/23-community-band.html http://www.squaresound.com/forums/blogs/mellosinfonian/21-may.html Sun, 11 May 2008 05:23:16 GMT Has been a great month so far, musically speaking and otherwise. I'll mostly expand on the musical aspect here. I recorded and performed in a club with my school's jazz band. Then I worked JSU Honor Band, where I got to see a lot of great people that I don't get to see often.

In arranging news, I started work on my piece for the next competition (which shall remain nameless for now, of course). I've also been working on music for a community band that I'm starting in my hometown this summer. It's going to be a great outlet for my arranging, as well as for people to play, including many fellow alumni members of my old high school band who haven't played in years. Very exciting. Naturally, the first piece I arranged for the ensemble is from a video game. It's "You'll Never Be Alone No Matter Where You Go", which is the opening theme from Wild ARMs 2nd Ignition. It's composed by Michiko Naruke. I plan to submit it here after I finish editing. I noticed that the Wild ARMs section here on Squaresound is severely lacking (one arrangement), so I plan to do a lot more from these games, as they have some great music. ]]> MelloSinfonian http://www.squaresound.com/forums/blogs/mellosinfonian/21-may.html http://www.squaresound.com/forums/blogs/mellosinfonian/20-first-blog-entry.html Tue, 29 Apr 2008 22:20:03 GMT (see title)

In arranging news, I'm currently putting the finishing touches on my first marching show, which is "A Tribute to the State of Alabama." After I finish it, I'll be able to start preparing for the Crisis Core competition. I think I know what I'm going to do, and I plan to have a lot of fun with it.

I learned yesterday that my brass quintet will not be playing together anymore, for various personal reasons. I had a great time with those guys for a while, though, and that ensemble is the primary reason I have Earthbound arrangements on the site. I'll probably still write new arrangements for quintet this summer because I enjoy it, and hopefully I can start a new quintet in the fall.

JDS ]]> MelloSinfonian http://www.squaresound.com/forums/blogs/mellosinfonian/20-first-blog-entry.html