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My Piano Transcriptions


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Hello everyone! This is a forum I've dedicated to piano transcriptions I've created myself which were either unreleased at the time, or unreleased as of now. There are some exceptions that I've made, but hopefully the sheets are a little more complete than to what was previously released. This is as of now a product of the six or so months I have spent in creating this (and playing them!), so I hope you will have the same enjoyment as I did :)
Here is everything I've written for your pleasure:

WAR HORSE (includes Dartmoor, 1912, Seeding, and Horse vs. Car, The Reunion, Remembering Emilie, and Finale, and The Homecoming [NOTE: I made this about two months before the official news of a published piano book for War Horse was to be released. Take your pick, but I enjoy both!])

THE ADVENTURES OF TINTIN (includes Sir Francis and the Unicorn, Snowy's Theme, and The Adventure Continues)

NIXON (includes The Turbulent Years, Growing up in Whittier, Making a Comeback, The Miami Convention: 1968, The Meeting with Mao, and The Farewell Scene)

SINGLE SHEETS (includes The Carriage Ride to Thornfield from "Jane Eyre," The Early Days; Massapequa from "Born on the Fourth of July," Arlington from "JFK," End Credits from "Presumed Innocent," and Gillian's Power from "The Fury")

THE STAR WARS BATTLES (includes The Battle of Yavin and The Battle of Hoth)

GROUPED SHEETS (includes: Angela's Prayer and Lord, Why Do You Want the Wee Children? from "Angela's Ashes"; and Theme from Jurassic Park, Welcome to Jurassic Park, and End Credits from "Jurassic Park" [Again, these were already released, but the versions here are a little bit different as well as a little more complete])

MISCELLANEOUS (includes The Family Farm from "The Patriot" by John Williams and I Can't See You Anymore from "The Amazing Spider-Man" by James Horner)

THE TREE OF LIFE (includes River from "The Tree of Life" by Alexandre Desplat [for Two Pianos; you and a friend can play together!] [The complete score for this can be found here])

Again, I hope you enjoy!!

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I just wanted to say great work on 'War Horse.' Really terrific. As for requests, I'll look forward to whatever you come up with next. But I've always enjoyed the main theme to 'Always' ...

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"Always" is already in a JW piano book. Though if you mean the version on the Spielberg/Williams collaboration, I'd be all for it :)

I have a particular request, one which I've had for ages. I don't know if you have the piano solo sheet music of "Remembrances" from Schindler's List? If you ever have time, it'd be great if you could transcribe the opening and ending of the extended concert version (leading it into and out of that existing sheet music). (Especially the opening actually; the ending is more or less available in the violin-piano sheet music.)

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It will be a while before I have more (I want to try and share this in groups of sheets), but I'll keep in touch as often as I can! And when I get the chance, I'll definitely work on these requests; I have some for more of Tintin and others!

Thanks for the great feedback; it means a lot! Would you care spreading the word to others about this forum if you have time; I'd like to see what others think of this too!

For "Remembrances," I have the standard piano solo as sheet music, but sure! I can certainly provide the concert version; do you have an audio recording of the specific one you have described, and if so, would you mind sharing it with me? It would be most helpful for the transcription.

Again, thanks everybody for the kind words and the feedback! :D

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Well, I'm working on The Adventures of Tintin right now! And everything you pretty much requested is exactly what I planned on doing as well, so you'll get them eventually!

I think I could make the last one work. I think I can, so I'll try it out!

I was also thinking about doing Snowy's Theme, and possibly Presenting Bianca Castiafore (with vocal, of course!) and The Clash of the Cranes as well! You'll have a huge plethora of Tintin once I'm finished, but it might be a while!

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I think your transcriptions are excellent and detailed, I like them very much!

So you know what I'd actually really like to have? "The Turbulent Years" from Nixon. I've always been dying to have some music for that.

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Another one I'd love is the theme from The Eiger Sanction. There was a fairly basic rendering of the theme released in a songbook many years ago, but I'd love an accurate transcription of track 2 on the soundtrack, which features the jazzy trumpet solo.

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For "Remembrances," I have the standard piano solo as sheet music, but sure! I can certainly provide the concert version; do you have an audio recording of the specific one you have described, and if so, would you mind sharing it with me? It would be most helpful for the transcription.

Again, thanks everybody for the kind words and the feedback! :D

No, thank you. :)

I'll be sure to PM you.

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Yup, you're right. I was talking about the version in the Spielberg / Williams collaboration. I should have specified. I didn't know there was already sheet music for "Always." I wonder where I can find that ...

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For "Remembrances," I have the standard piano solo as sheet music, but sure! I can certainly provide the concert version; do you have an audio recording of the specific one you have described, and if so, would you mind sharing it with me? It would be most helpful for the transcription.

Again, thanks everybody for the kind words and the feedback! :D

No, thank you. :)

I'll be sure to PM you.

Okay, thanks very much! I await the recording, then, and I'll go from there when I can!

I've finished The Adventures of Tintin officially, but I'm going to work on a few more Tintin sheets before I share so that all of you have a multitude of music!

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Such an impressive job. I really admire your diligence! I printed the Dartmoor arrangement, and enjoyed playing through it very much. I was a little sceptic as to how it would work as a solo piano piece, since it clearly isn't written for that purpose at all. But it has the potential to work fine. I hope its ok to offer a little critique?

- Some slight notation errors, mainly rhytmic in nature. In measure 3, you need to make it clear that the g is accented, not the c. And in measure 9 you abandon Williams' idea of the interruptive flute, which I think is crucial. So I would suggest removing those extra beats and making the abrubtiveness audible. Otherwise, those measures just don't make sense.. ;-)

- In measure 4, there are two things. Firstly, the dynamic marking doesn't work. It needs to be forte, and its appassionato, with great intensity! Once again, its the contrast Williams is after. The three-measure long flute solo introduction, which one expects to continue, is interrupted by this passionate outburst (very clever, isn't it!). It needs to become clear in your arrangement as well. The second thing, and that is a general thing, is that you seem to underestimate voicing. The melody needs to be lifted an octave, and the voicing needs to be spaced out in order to better match the intensity of the string orchestra the passage was originally written for. I quickly made an example of how I might have solved the issue, personally. I'll post a link afterwards in case your interested :-).

- Measure 22 needs to be in 6/8 time, I think...?

- The quick figures from 32 could use some fingering advice? I would also consider marking them "leggiero". Later, when the quick figure returns as commentary to the new melody starting at measure 40, the quick figures should be placed below the accompanying left hand figure, in the bass! After all, Williams wrote it out in widely spaced octaves, and that's exactly the thing that makes it work. So I think it would be wiser to prioritize the dazzling appeal it has in that register instead of the dull middle register of the piano. Another argument to do this, is that this way it won't get confused with the melodic voice, which is slightly disturbed by it. I hope you know what I mean, and again, think about marking it "leggiero"? :-)

- In measure 53, you could accent that wonderful detail starting on the third beat, by writing the right hand part in octaves. Its fun to play it that way, and the expressive potential is so much increased, IMO. :-)

- The new melody in measure 58 needs to be written out in octaves. It sounds unbelievably dull in a single voice. I also think you could make more of the bass part. Something is lacking, I feel. In general, it needs to sound "tutti".

Finally, thanks for the great work! I enjoyed having this wonderful music in front of me :-)

Link to my personal suggestion, considering the opening of "Dartmoor, 1912":

https://rcpt.yousendit.com/1429562896/2caa967b02778c0d4515c6a68213cd1b

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I'm still a novice on piano, but I'm really enjoying learning the brief solo piano part from "Remembering Emile & Finale". The melody looks so simple when I look at the notes, but the sounds it produces is just divine. Looking at the music and tinkering with it on piano has really increased my appreciation and respect for that little melody.

Thanks again for all your hard work, and it was fascinating reading Mark's Dartmoor suggestions.

Has anyone thought about uploading performances of these arrangements on YouTube??

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Hello WML,

First thank you very much for your war horse transcription.

I'm in this forum for and because of you.

I've been looking for this score all over the Internet.

It would probably be too difficult to transcript the concert work of Williams for Yo-yo Ma.

Sadly, it is not available to buy anywhere -that I know of-.

My favorite is Heartwood. A very moving piece.

And again an incredible journey for a composer who started as a jazz piano player, and is now a master at contemporary concert music.

I wonder if other members would be ready, like me, to make a small donation to you for the time spent on this transcription ?

Anyway, thank you for your presents on this forum.

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Hey guys! Sorry I haven't been here lately; I can be pretty busy at times! But I wanted to share my progress, so here you go!

The Adventure Continues is done! I'm currently working on The Adventures of Tintin and The Pursuit of the Falcon right now, and possibly Snowy's Theme later on!

I've also been working on some other major standalone themes too; Arlington from JFK and Angela's Prayer from Angela's Ashes are two that I've finished previously. My next few transcriptions, then, are going to be sheets from Nixon; The Turbulent Years, Growing up in Whittier, The Meeting with Mao, and The Farewell Scene.

I'll try to have all of these shared by the end of the week; I'm pretty much keeping myself busy for now with all this music, so there you go! Thanks again, all of you, for the kind feedback :D

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Happy Easter, everyone! The sheet music is finally here; I hope you enjoy!! :D

NIXON: http://www.sendspace.com/filegroup/h0dwJWdE5B8%2FejyXlFsqqPZ8vZOdBbnL

TINTIN, ARLINGTON, AND ANGELA'S PRAYER: http://www.sendspace.com/filegroup/ZjcLMgkpkCUInUSfpEccNyHIsVTx4bB%2F

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Thanks so much! Time to try and use my limited knowledge of piano to attempt and play these masterpieces.

I'm looking forward to The Adventures of Tintin, The Pursuit of the Falcon, and the Escape from the Karaboujan!

Ever try and attempt to transcribe the Battle of Hoth (The Battle in The Snow segment)?

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Thank you so much for this! I'd love to see transcriptions for "Death of Topthorn" (War Horse) and "General Grievous" (Revenge of the Sith) some day, but in the meantime, keep up your tremendous work!

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I Just bought the War Horse pIano book. I'll compare them with yours and let you know about differences. Already there is one thing about this book like, the print is normal. It seems like in recent years the piano arrangements have been so sparse that they made the print bigger... probably to make it seem like more was there? I dont' know what that was about.

Glancing over both there is a big difference in the Finale. Compared with the arrangement here. The piano book leaves out quite a bit. In the OP's arrangement everything from the part in E flat major in the beginning to where it changes to G major has been cut out. The book starts at the G major section til the end. Everything before that in the FInale isn't included.

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To everyone; not a problem at all! I'll try and work on some more in the future! :D

To ComposerEthan: I have actually thought of it, but I've decided to work on that transcription - and the rest of the major Star Wars battles - once summer rolls around. That way, I'll have more time to spend dedicated to completing it efficiently; I'm pretty busy at the moment.

To ShowUStheHOOK: Awesome; thanks very much! From that glance, the book is already beginning to sound disappointing...

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Most piano score books for big movies are. They're often just awfully simplified versions of the themes for beginner piano players.

But let me take this moment to really thank you for your piano transcriptions WML. I'm really impressed by them and I loved learning your transcriptions for War Horse. I can't wait to get started on Tintin, Nixon and etc. I hope you keep doing this and I am really grateful for your time and effort. Thanks a million dude!

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Most piano score books for big movies are. They're often just awfully simplified versions of the themes for beginner piano players.

But let me take this moment to really thank you for your piano transcriptions WML. I'm really impressed by them and I loved learning your transcriptions for War Horse. I can't wait to get started on Tintin, Nixon and etc. I hope you keep doing this and I am really grateful for your time and effort. Thanks a million dude!

Not a problem at all; it's the least I can do, and it's fun!!

I actually did get a chance to look at the official War Horse piano book; I halfway agree with it, and I halfway don't. Funnily enough, I noticed a lot of what was printed down on paper was already so much I had written!! There were some differences I agreed with, and others I didn't, but it wasn't too bad. This book is definitely not a beginner one though, so if you ever have the chance to get it, it's a really interesting piano book!

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  • 2 weeks later...
  • 4 weeks later...

Let me thank you once again for your wonderful work.

I have a joined interest for Mark of the Unicorn from Tintin.

I play your war horse transcription often, and I am grateful to you every time.

Stef

Oops, of course I meant : Sir Francis and the Unicorn".

It would be unfair not to send you something in return for your gifts of transcription.

I send you the piano part from ET.

I was very frustrated by the poor and dumb commercial piano transcription.

So I went to the manuscript orchestral score, and took the piano part out and type set it properly on Sibelius.

This is a great, and challenging, piano piece; very original, very Williams, and a moment of music History too.

Stef

over-the-moon-piano.pdf

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I was very frustrated by the poor and dumb commercial piano transcription.

Same here. Thanks for sharing. I've always loved this piece. I only wish there was a full concert arrangement of it, with a beginning middle and end, I used to love to play it, but once the orchestra comes in, the piano piece kind of dies out, and it changes in tone. I wish there was a whole concert piece built around just the stuff you put up, I love that piano work. Thanks for sharing!

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Hello!

I found this thread while googling for the european availability of the "Tintin" piano songbook in Europe. Guess what: Of course I didn't find any useful infos (only shop spam links and shops selling the CD)....

BUT I also found this thread. THANK YOU VERY MUCH FOR THOSE ARRANGEMENTS!!!! I have been collecting Film Music piano arrangements for more than 10 years and most of them are of abominable quality... But yours are really well done and the notation is also up to par! Well done, and thank you!!

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  • 2 weeks later...

hi, I'm new here and I would like to ask if it is allowed for someone to scan and share the War Horse Solo Piano Book for free here? if that's okay, then I would like to ask anyone here to share it. I really love the songs from that movie. Thank you . :)

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Unfortunately, it would be against the board's policies to post a complete scan of copyrighted material for download here. Sorry!

And welcome to the boards!

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Hello everyone! Thank you so much for all of the positive feedback, and I am SO sorry to have disappeared for the last month or so. I've been way too busy often and haven't had the time to check up like I have before. Fortunately, now that summer's here, I'm back! Unfortunately, this means I haven't been able to work on ANYTHING.

My plans, however, are this: I will be transcribing Sir Francis and the Unicorn from Tintin to start. I plan on working on all three major battles from The Star Wars Trilogy over the summer as well:

The Battle of Yavin

The Battle of Hoth

AND

The Battle of Endor

If I have time, I may also do a full transcription of The Battle of Mustafar from Revenge of the Sith (every cue as written for the film), but I'm not sure yet.

Again, thank you for all the feedback, and I promise you I have returned!

[To stephanemeer: You made my day with this, and I've actually been looking for something like this for a very long time! Thank you so much!)

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How about Pursuit of the Falcon and Escape from the Karaboujan? :)

By the way, thank you SO MUCH for Sir Francis and the fact that you will be starting my three favourite cues from star wars. :D

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No Problem! I'm afraid I might have to start those two later; I want to focus on the Star Wars sheets as much as I can! :)

Sorry that means you'll have to wait longer for them, but I'll do what I can!

For now, I'm going to work on those three - and periodically sheets for shorter music as well as lesser-known John Williams - out of ambitious prospect!

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Thank you so much for those transcriptions, I just wish I was able to learn how to play them as fast as you write them!

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No problem, everyone! In fact, I actually have some more! :D

I've finished one out of the three battles, and I thought I'd just share it with you instead of waiting. You can find this sheet, as well as two others, here:

http://www.sendspace.com/filegroup/Li6iG%2BWX%2FFEeefPn1b3CRmihg2kS8l1u

Included are THE BATTLE OF YAVIN from "Star Wars," THE FAMILY FARM from "The Patriot," and THE MIAMI CONVENTION, 1968 from Oliver Stone's "Nixon."

I hope you enjoy! I'm taking a short break for now, but I'll be continuing work after Father's Day! And thanks for all the feedback!

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Wow, incredible work on Battle of Yavin. (haven't looked at the other yet, but i'm sure equally incredible). You know what would be awesome, (and probably score you quiet a few views on youtube) is a video of you playing it. Some of these tougher pieces like battle of yavin would sure look great on a video. I would love to see that if you have time.

Thanks for the great work!

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Thank you so much guys! I've started on the Hoth sheet; progress is a little slow at the moment, so it'll be a while.

As for playback recordings, I have no way of doing a live one at the moment, unfortunately. I could try and put together a MIDI-like recording, if possible??

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Your work is exceptional WilliamsMusicLover.

Thank you very much!! I saw your Nixon cue..

i don't want to swamp you with requests, but music from Monsignor and Stanley & Iris would be great too, as there is nothing (regarding sheet music) from them..

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Your work is exceptional WilliamsMusicLover.

Thank you very much!! I saw your Nixon cue..

i don't want to swamp you with requests, but music from Monsignor and Stanley & Iris would be great too, as there is nothing (regarding sheet music) from them..

Thanks a lot; I'll keep them coming!!

As for those two scores, I'll do what I can. I'd like to try and get through my other sheets first at least, but after that, then most definitely!! I'll try and look for the soundtracks today and let you know my progress in due time!

Thanks again!

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