video games
Musical Monday: Storm in a Teacup
This will probably be the best recording I put up this month, and that’s taking into account the fact that I’ve edited the ending slightly to take out a flubbed chord.
I forgot to notate some of the fingering and counterbass notes in yesterday’s sheet music update, but I think it’s fairly self explanatory. There are some respectable jumps in this one, but even with the distances involved they feel quite manageable.
Anyway, enjoy!
Sheet Music Sunday: Song of Storms
Running behind… running behind. I’ll get the recording up tomorrow.
This transcription presented me with a few dilemmas as I kept swapping between time signatures (3/4? 6/8?) and tempos. Anyway, here’s the score. A very straightforward one – but feel free to repeat ad infininatum instead of ending after two loops as I’ve done here.
Three-Dee Thursday: Pokemon Gym Badges
I designed these badges and had them 3D printed by Shapeways. The first set is printed in sandstone, and the other set was printed in alumide. For the alumide badges I painted them and then used liquid polymer clay to create the glassy filled-in areas.
I have also printed Johto and Sinnoh badges, however they require additional work to complete.
You can get your own Hoenn badges from my Shapeways store here:Â http://www.shapeways.com/model/1065186/pokemon-gym-badges-hoenn.html
If you’re in Australia, total price may work out cheaper if you buy directly from my Storenvy store:Â http://chenonetta.storenvy.com/products/2257809-pokemon-badges-hoenn
Contact me if you’re interested in a set of Unova badges.
Musical Monday: Rocket Jumping our way across the bass keyboard
Yesterday I shared with you the sheet music for the Rocket Jump Waltz. It’s a fun little piece that isn’t at all like a waltz.
Today I’ve got my attempt at playing it!
It’s not perfect… I did promise that my recordings this month would be a bit choppy. The most distracting part for me is the C major to B minor alternation that means I need to do some leaps of faith across the bass buttons, which look something like this:
Currently I’m doing that big jump between B and C marked by the arrows. There’s a B counterbass which I might be able to transition through, but I haven’t quite worked out how to use it yet. I think the key is just more practice. Also A minor.
Sheet Music Sunday: Rocket Jump Waltz
Oh, right, this blog thing.
Been busy this last week… I’ll see about getting the fan art post up Tuesday if not its watercolour version on Wednesday.
Today’s sheet music is the Rocket Jump Waltz, which like Petite Chou Fleur originates from Team Fortress 2.
No it’s not actually a waltz.
This transcription is an accordion-ised version of the track based on a transcription done by another fan.
Tomorrow we’ll find out if I can still play it!
Sheet Music Sunday + Musical Monday: Korobeiniki
On Sundays/Mondays throughout the month I’ll be sharing my adventures in accordioning. The accordion is an awesome instrument capable of rich depths of harmony and melody. Unfortunately, I barely make any time to practice it, so what I share with you this month is going to sound rather choppy.
For the rest of the month I’m hoping to share accordion arrangements on Sundays, and recordings on Mondays. This week I’m a little behind, but that’s okay, because if you’ve followed my blog in the past you’ll have already heard the recording I’m going to share today. (I’m too lazy to record a more recent/fluent version)
That’s right, it’s Korobeiniki, a delightfully suggestive Russian folk song. It’s best known for its inclusion as the Tetris A music across a multitude of Tetris titles. A simple transcription of the song is below. (I haven’t done music theory in aaaaages, so apologies for errors. Let me know if I’ve notated things poorly and I’ll endeavour to fix them)
This is a pretty straightforward arrangement mostly comprising of alternating bass patterns. You start on the hatched E button in the top half of the keyboard and alternate with the E minor chord, then move to A -> Am. After that is the E Counterbass (G#, denoted by the underlined fingering) which alternates with the E Major chord.
There’s only one tricky bit in the arrangement, a little bass run through A A B C. It crawls from the upper half of the keyboard to the middle section, ending on the middle C button. I’ve put in some suggested fingering.
Then it’s a slow progression back up the bass through D minor. (I used to jump up to a different chord from the C, but my hop was just too unreliable)
I was going to add some little diagrams here but is anyone actually going to find them helpful? I’ll consider them for my next post if anyone is interested.
EDIT: Scribbled a thing in the end. Dunno how helpful it is.
Have fun with Korobeiniki! Don’t have an accordion? Try out my accordion simulator. You’ll be able to play most of the piece except for the G#s in the right hand. Just hum them or something.
Squirtle
Whew! It’s about time for another one of these life-sized Pokemon. This one’s been waiting a while to be posted. I started on the templates on the drive to and from Manifest last year and have had it sitting mostly-assembled on my table for a few months now. I stalled in sticking the limbs to the body because I’d toyed with the idea of making them poseable, but I’ve finally given up on that idea and have just stuck them on.
As usual I’ve gotten my papercraft templates from pokemonpapercraft.net. Those guys do really awesome stuff!
Next papercraft: Tepig.
Bulky Buddy Box
I’ve been talking about making a Weighted Companion Cube out of Sculpey since at least May last year.
Finally got around to it! Bad photo because I lost my phone last week 🙁
The main exercise here was to learn how to make canes, I made my heart cane based on this tutorial.
[edit] I made more! Each one I made was smaller than the last, until they got real teeny…