November 20, 2009

Covers in Progress: “Assault” and “Gusty Garden Galaxy”

It’s been slow around here again, hasn’t it? I’ve been working on a few small projects, both as a personal hobby and for clients.

On the YouTube end, I’m trying to decide what song to cover next. At the moment, “Assault” from the FFX Piano Collections is the farthest along, though I still have a long way to go before I can perform it.

“Assault” from the FFX Piano Collections, a beautiful piano arrangement of the original, composed/arranged by Masashi Hamauzu and performed by Aki Kuroda.


The other piece I’m working on is “Gusty Garden Galaxy” (by popular demand) though truth be told, I’m stuck! I’ve worked out an introduction that I like, but it’s tough recreating the sweeping emotions of the piece without an orchestra to back me up. I also want it to stand as a good piano arrangement rather than a simple imitation of the original, so we’ll see how this goes.

“Gusty Garden Galaxy” from Super Mario Galaxy, also considered the main theme of Mario Galaxy. I believe it was composed by Koji Kondo, but I’ve been known to credit everything to him and should probably check on that.*

*Thanks for correcting me, guys! I had a feeling I was giving Koji Kondo too much credit again! Mahito Yokota composed the Gusty Garden theme.

25 comments:

  1. I've been subscribed to your videos for a long time, and can't wait to see anything you decide to upload... especially from FFX :)

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  2. Gusty garden GUsty garden Gusty garden GUSTY GARDEn! (and if you could, please, Star Festival and GUSTY GARDEN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)

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  3. Wow, Gusty Garden Galaxy is by far my favourite Super Mario Galaxy song, and I would love to hear your take on it! All your arrangements are so beautiful, and yet they always stay true to the original work.

    And by the way, Gusty Garden Galaxy was composed by Mahito Yokota.

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  4. Hurrah!!! Gusty Garden is such a beautiful song and is one of my favorites. I can't wait till you post it, and no doubt it will sound just as great and epic as the original!!!

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  5. I'm so glad that you're all excited for Gusty Garden! That inspires me to work harder on it! :)

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  6. Gusty Garden is one of the most beautiful songs in videogame history! (Okay, so I say this about almost every Nintendo song but they're all so beautiful I can't choose a fav x3)
    Anyway, I can't wait to hear your arrangement of it!
    The other song also sounds beautiful (:
    I think Mahito Yokota arranged Gusty Garden though, not Koji Kondo.

    Thank you again for being so awesome and a huge inspiration to me ^^

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  7. Aivi, honestly, i think we all know that gusty garden it's a little too much for a piano alone.

    I am excited about that arrangement too, but I think it would be much better to have some flute or/and guitar company for this. Piano may be able to do almost everything, but a trio would be so much better in my opinion that...

    Oh, hell, do what you will, You'll do an amazing arrangement for sure :D

    And no, Kondo didn't create this masterpiece. He only composed 4 pieces on Galaxy (good egg galaxy and the 3 arrangements of rosalina spaceship) which are also incredible.

    But the man behind this one is Mahito Yokota.

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  8. Thanks everyone for correcting me about Mahito Yokota! I had a feeling I was doing something wrong there, haha.

    @Knoll - I knowww... I've been tempted to find a duet partner to add more instruments to Gusty Garden, but I feel like it'd lose the intimacy of having a single piano play it. I'm conflicted about what I'm trying to accomplish with this arrangement... All I know is it's the single most requested song I get so I can't mess it up!

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  9. Hehe... I understand your feelings, but don't worry about us. At least I am an inconditional fan of yours, the only thing I want is listen your arrangements and original pieces the way you like to play them.

    Hell, I have your Egg Planet version on my i-pod, which at first I though it wouldn't end up being so amazing. The original Gusty Garden theme may be the best description for "Epicness", but I think that the piece itself has potencial for something different, more personal.

    And, well, Piano is The King there if you ask me.

    Just keep going, enjoy what you are doing, make Gusty Garden yours. I believe we all will enjoy it no matter how you actually arrange it =P

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  10. huh, I haven't checked here in a whiles XD.

    Hi again! I hope that turns out well for you Aivi! I'm stuck in music too (all the time) because of my tendency to take bites I can't chew. Right now, I'm chewing Tatakau Monotachi. ..It's been half a year, and half the song. =_=

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  11. Gusty Garden is, like, my favorite song from Mario Galaxy! I found an arrangement on www.gamemusicthemes.com (just click on the Wii link on the side) but it's way too advanced.
    I love your arrangement of Good Egg Galaxy for piano! I was astounded that my piano could make that beautiful a sound! XD
    Thanks for the music!

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  12. Gusty Gardens is by far my favourite theme from the game, makes me happy and tingly at the same time xD

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  13. You have wonderful talent and ability, and I have full faith in your abilities to transpose Gusty Garden. It's always the challenging piece that makes us grow as musicians and artists, and your wonderful renditions have certainly been challenging (at least to me! :D) to learn. Thank you for sharing your talents; if more people shared their talents the way you do, the world would be a much better place. :)

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  14. Gusty Garden [or Wind Garden if we're going by the soundtrack titles] could possibly be my favourite Mario track ever. You can tell it's the most loved by the new orchestrated Galaxy 2 trailer from GDC.

    If you ever get around to transposing Wind Garden for Piano I'm sure people will adore it :)

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  15. I just sit here staring with my head empty et the screen when your playing , and i feel a harmonic relaxation when you play . I just cant w8 for you to play "Gusty Garden" : D

    Your a wonderful Piano-aritist :D

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  16. Hey, I loved all of your music so far, and I'm very excited to hear more... How about Ghastly Galaxy?

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  17. AHH! Can't wait for the Gusty Garden sheet music. Everything else has been fantastic, props!!!

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  18. YOUR MUSIC ROCKS!!!!!!!!!



    PLEASE DO GUSTY GARDEN!!! :) :) :) :) :) :)

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  19. Along with Wind Garden, you now need to look into Cloud Garden [Fluffy Bluff Galaxy] from Galaxy 2. Might be a little tricky, but I'm sure you like a challenge. :P

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  20. Just found someone who has done Cloud Garden on YouTube, might give you an idea of one way to do it. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lfhLB0-UGk8

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  21. Can't wait to see you play this one! :D
    And Melty Molten Galaxy too. Mwahahaha.

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  22. I want to play gusty garden but I can't find sheet music (flute lol) I can hear flutes in the song so it's weird.

    Your such a good piano person lolz

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  23. Hi Aivi!

    Just wanted to say hello and thanks so much for your wonderful sheets!

    I am a piano teacher and have a 5-year old student, who is a huge fan of Super Mario Galaxy (he'd rather play the game than play the piano ;-)).

    So everytime he masters his piece (Mary had a little lamb...), I play a Super Mario song for him. He likes your arrangements best (so do I, by the way), he says that they feel like the real thing.

    So, thanks for making us happy.

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  24. Still a working on gusty garden? truth be told, I think it would be awesome if you also did some covers of the less appreciated galaxy pieces :P Although i do like the gusty garden theme. and also, about the Mahito Yokota affair, although it is true that he composed most of the music it was under the direction of koji kondo anyways- the first score he produced was all-electric, and then Kondo pushed for a completely orchestral score and wrote his four pieces to set a model for Mahito Yokota to follow.

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