Game of Thrones - Great music and great for speed and coordination

A place to discuss Playground's main curriculum, the Bootcamp.
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sw1tch73ch
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Re: Game of Thrones - Great music and great for speed and coordination

Post by sw1tch73ch » Sat Aug 12, 2017 3:39 pm

It seems silly that nowhere in the documentation for MuseScore or SONAR do they state that tempo is always quarter notes per minute. But that seems what MIDI programs expect. They ignore that the time signature defines what a beat is - so a 2/2 time means the half note is a beat, and there are two per measure. The MIDI programs will organize the staff view around the half note, but the BPM is still in quarter notes as far as the computer is concerned. 170 half notes per minute, which I would THINK 2/2 Time at 170 means, it turns out the MuseScore software still thinks the 170 is quarter notes per minute.
== Just keep playing. Just keep playing. Just keep playing, playing, playing! ==

-- jbs --

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sw1tch73ch
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Re: Game of Thrones - Great music and great for speed and coordination

Post by sw1tch73ch » Sat Aug 12, 2017 4:18 pm

OK, after much further reading about MusicXML and the various DAW software, I believe Playground Sessions is working correctly. The XML file clearly states a tempo of 170 and a beat-type of 2. That means there should be 170 half-notes per minute. The staff view of the music should organize the music into 3 half notes per measure because the time signature is 3/2. Based on this, we should see Dotted Whole notes representing a complete measure. And we do. And when it plays, it plays at 170 Half Notes Per Minute, which is correct for 3/2 at 170 BPM.

The trouble is the programmers of the vast majority of DAW software and Muse Score see only the quarter note defining Beats Per Minute, which is musically incorrect. MuseScore is incorrect in how it is reading the MusicXML file.

The MIDI file I am using with Cakewalk SONAR has a Time Signature of 3/2 and a tempo of 170, but it also plays as if the BPM is based on the quarter note. SONAR is wrong, too.
== Just keep playing. Just keep playing. Just keep playing, playing, playing! ==

-- jbs --

globetrotterdk
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Re: Game of Thrones - Great music and great for speed and coordination

Post by globetrotterdk » Wed Aug 16, 2017 5:14 am

The reply I have received from MuseScore is that MuseScore also reads the "tempo of half note = 170" and converts that to 340 BPM "automagically". Sounds like a bit of a cludge, but if true, it still means that Playground Sessions is waaay off on this song.
Military justice is to justice what military music is to music. - Groucho Marx

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sw1tch73ch
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Re: Game of Thrones - Great music and great for speed and coordination

Post by sw1tch73ch » Thu Aug 17, 2017 12:36 am

I figured out how to get MuseScore to play 170 Half Notes per minute without resorting to a tempo of 340.

In the sheet music you should see, at the top of the score, a quarter note symbol = 170
TempoInQuarterNotes.PNG
TempoInQuarterNotes.PNG (1.22 KiB) Viewed 5818 times
You can change that to show a half note symbol = 170
TempoInHalfNotes.PNG
TempoInHalfNotes.PNG (1.47 KiB) Viewed 5818 times
To change the quarter note there to a half note - Select or Highlight that default tempo marker with a single click, then delete it (just hit the delete key). Then select the first note of the score, that dotted whole note with the tie to the next measure, and select the tempo item from the "Palettes" along the left side (Press F9 if you don't see it - you might also need to turn on "Advanced" editing at the bottom of the Pallettes workspace). Once you see the options for tempos, you see the first choice is a half note symbol = 80. Double click that and it will add that tempo marker to the top of the score. Double click that new text to edit it and change the 80 to 170.

Then play the music at full speed.

It doesn't appear that MuseScore is automagically changing the tempo based on the Time Signature. You still have to tell it you are using Half Notes for the beats. THEN it will use 340 Quarter Notes Per Minute.
== Just keep playing. Just keep playing. Just keep playing, playing, playing! ==

-- jbs --

scirocco
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Re: Game of Thrones - Great music and great for speed and coordination

Post by scirocco » Sun Sep 24, 2017 9:36 pm

I enjoyed learning Game of Thrones, but its placement in the sequence of lessons seems really odd. It is 10x as hard as anything before or after.
I get through most rookie bootcamp lessons in a day (in fact each lesson is usually a nice daily dose) but it took me a week to get Game of Thrones to the point where I could play it accurately (and I still can't do it perfectly at full speed).

After that it was strange to be going back to the "one finger at a time" type lessons that follow it.

kly411
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Re: Game of Thrones - Great music and great for speed and coordination

Post by kly411 » Thu Sep 13, 2018 2:09 pm

Just a +1 on this odd spike in difficulty experience. I came googling for this exact discussion for a little encouragement and glad to have found it and know it is not just me that finds this specific piece so difficult. I've got about 6 hours (over 3 days) invested in this lesson so far and none of the previous took more than 1, though that may have been 20 minutes here and 20 minutes there. I just slowed the tempo for the first time and still botching it in places. Well, back to it.

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