antonywilliams.com

Haven't posted any piano stuff for a while as I've been pretty busy with both Uni and work.
Here's my personal piano arrangement of the main themes of both Final Fantasy IX and X.
As usual, I'll post the chords I'm playing.


Final Fantasy IX: Melodies of Life


Final Fantasy X: To Zanarkand




Chords for FF IX: Melodies of Life

E
C#m
F#m
Emaj7
A
E
F#m7
B
G#m7
C#m7
F#m7
D#dim
E
A
E
B
B7
-
///
///
E
C#m
A6
Esus4
A
E
F#m
Bsus4
G#m
C#m
F#m7
Am6
E
E
A
E
///
///
///
A
A
B
-
G#m7
-
C#7
-
F#m -> E -> DMmaj7
-
Bm
C#m7
Amaj7
-
B
-
B7
///
///
E
G#m
A
-
F#m
A6
B
-
E
G#m
A
-
F#m
-
D6
F#m7
B7sus4
-
B7sus4
-
B
-
C#
-

Chords for FF X: To Zanarkand

Em
C
D
Bm
/
Cmaj7
-
Bm
-
/
Am
-
F
F
///
///
Em
Cmaj7
D
G
/
Em
Cmaj7
D
G
/
Em
Cmaj7
D
G
/
Cmaj7
D7
Am7 -> Bm
C
-
///
///
Am
F
G
Em
/
Bm
F#m
Am
Bsus4 -> B
///
///
Bm
G
A
F#m
/
C#m
Gmaj7
F#m7
B

Knowing that basic chord structure seems a mystery to most, I thought I'd post about it, though just in basic form.

Often when I post music I've written, or a famous song that I've arranged I get people asking about chords.
Here are the basics

All examples will assume the key of C.
C Major is C E G in its first inversion (2nd inversion is E G B, and 3rd is G C E)
To make that chord minor, you just flatten the third, so C Eb G (where 'Eb' means E flat)
To make diminished, you flatten both the third and fifth, so C Eb Gb.
To make the chord augmented, you sharpen the fifth C E G#.
a C7 always implies a dominant 7th, C E G Bb
Cm7 would be the same, but with E being flattened.
a CMaj7 is C E G B
Another tricky one is Csus (C suspended) which usually means to include the perfect fourth, and sometimes the major second, so you'd play the C chord, including the F. Problem is, The F is next to both the third, and the fifth, so it can make it sound odd.

That's really all there is to it. Those are the chords that most pieces require you to know.

Also, and less important, each of the notes of the scale have specific names
in order
1. tonic (often incorrectly called the root). Root is for the chord, tonic for the scale.
2. supertonic
3. mediant
4. subdominant
5. dominant
6. submediant
7. subtonic (or leading)

These are all relative to the key that you're in. So in the key of C, C is the tonic, D is the supertonic and so on.
Some of the names should be obvious. The 'super' and 'sub' are one above and one below.
Tonic means first note in the scale.
Mediant is a third above the tonic (and middle note of the major triad in first inversion)
submediant is a third below the tonic (and middle note of the major triad in second inversion)
Dominant (creates the dominant chord)

Once again, this is my own arrangement, done by ear.
here are the chords I'm playing
--------
Bb
Bbm
F#
F
-----
Bb
Fm
F#
C#
Ebm
Bbm
C
F
-----
Bb
Fm
F#
F
F#
F
B
Bbm
C
F
-----
Bb
Fm
F#
F
-----
Bb
Fm
F#
C#
Ebm
Bbm
C
F

The main theme of the playstation game Metal Gear Solid for piano.



Here are the chords I'm playing in case you're interested.

Am
Dm9
C
Gsus4 -> G
-----------
Am
F
G
D
-----------
Bm
Em9
D
Asus4 -> A
-----------
Bm
G
A
E

The guy responsible for this was also one of the composers for "The Rock"
When I heard it, I new it was ripped from "The Rock" but that doesn't stop this from still being incredible.
I love how after it changes key, it then goes from minor to major (listen closely to tell the difference!)



here are the chords for those of you who are interested

Dm
Gm
Am
Dm
----
Dm
F
C
----
Gm
Cm
Dm
Gm
----
Eb
Bb
F

not to be confused with that fag who goes by the same name.
This is the main theme from the film starring Sean Connery
Besides the fact that the film is about the only escapee of Alcatraz being British SAS, I loved this film because of the incredible music.

In the film this is played on horns, but since I don't play a brass instrument, I figured I'd just play it on the piano.
The "Gm9" is a genius chord that resolves to a C major chord. Pay close attention to it!




here are the chords I'm playing for those of you who are interested. (the "-" means diminished)


Dm
Dm
Gm9
C
----
Dm
Dm
Gm
C
----
Gm
Dm
Dm9/E
Dm
----
Gm
Gm
Eb
Dm --> F
----
Gm
Cm
Dm
Gm
----
Eb
Cm
Bb-
D
----
Gm
----
Cm
Cm
Ab
Bb
----
Cm
Fm
Gm
Cm
----
Ab
Fm
F#-
G
Cm

I watched Gladiator (again) the other day and was so impressed with the music, that I decided to pick it out on the piano and play it.




here are the chords I'm playing for those of you who are interested.

Dm
Gm-> Gmsus5
C
C
Dm
----
Dm
Gm-> Gmsus5
C
C
Dm
----
Dm
C
F
C
Gm
----
Dm
Asus4

And for the rest of you.... No laughing!
To make the video bigger, click the "GoogleVideo" logo at the bottom right of the video, and then click "Go to Google Video."


Toby Keith - Whiskey Girl

Due to frequent requests (well, maybe not that many) I've put my piano recital online for people to stream/download at will.
I have several links.
For the entire piano recital, which lasts ~40mins click here. The others are for the individual pieces I played.

This recital was recorded live the 30th April 2003.
I started learning the fourth piece on the list (Etude in D# minor op. 8 no. 12 by Alexander Scriabin) about 4 weeks before the recital, and only had it all memorized about a week before. (but of course, you wouldn't be able to tell :) )
What seems odd about the date of my recital ?
Those of you who go to BYU will know that this is right around finals week. It was actually one day after the last day of finals. A stressful time, and one during which it was unfortunate I had to choose between studying and practicing.
Of course, I can still just make more copies of it on DVD (it was recorded digitally on a Sharp DV Camcorder) in case anyone's interested, or has dialup!



Korsakov - Flight of the Bumble-bee




Rachmaninoff - Prelude in G minor



Scriabin - Etude in D# minor



Sousa - Stars and Stripes