1000 Words #1

This is a first read (and also first.. listen?) of 1000 Words from FFX-2 from earlier this month; I only clocked in like 10 hours as a kid and unfortunately never went back to the game but I know the plot vaguely and FFX also still hurts my feelings so HERE WE ARE!! I got a new piano book and was browsing through things to sightplay and I stopped after the first 30 seconds or so because 1) I was too distracted getting emotional over the chords to READ and 2) I wanted to record my very first sightplay for this. I actually also had not listened to this AT ALL before playing, so.. it was an interesting sightread..

I need to preface by saying that I usually listen to an official recording AT LEAST ONCE (usually more like multiple times) prior to trying to play something. I don’t know if it’s the perfect pitch at play, but having a baseline guide in my head as I tackle the score really helps and I can automatically know if I’m playing something wrong because my brain will be like “hey, that isn’t what that should sound like”. On the downside, this does make me lazier when sightplaying because I’ll tend to just play by ear for segments I Don’t Want to Read, but.. trying to break the habit.

Okay, now that that’s out of the way.. let’s move on to analyzing this extremely embarrassing video of me struggling for 14 minutes LOL. Also, I have already learned a decent amount of this by this point, but I’ll try to capture my initial thoughts as purely as possible.

Detailed Breakdown

Having not listened to the recording beforehand, I didn’t realize these first broken chords are supposed to be really loose instead of the typical fast rolls. It’s also interesting here because the RH chords roll to the left rather than to the right, which is conventional.

Just like with Nostalgia, the theme’s first appearance is my favorite (so far, anyway). After I realize I’m in the WRONG OCTAVE at 0:30, the theme begins with a very isolated melody in the RH, and supporting chords in the LH. I can already tell that voicing is, once again, going to be a Key Player with this piece..

Around 1:38, we transition to the theme again, this time in a lower register and with more momentum in the LH. I really love the phrase from 2:06 to the chord at 2:12.. and the chord at 2:18.. this entire section makes me so emotional honestly…. and the F MAJOR9 AT 2:33!!!!!! BIG TEARS!! And the resolution to C major at 2:38!!! I’m sorry I just.. have a lot of emotions about this section..

(me struggling to keep this thicc book open on the page I need..)

The melody at 2:33 sounds a little more bittersweet than the melody before this for some reason. Things get spicy at 3:26, and I really love the Eb ornament at 3:38- it’s got a slight jazzy nuance and you know how I feel about those.. (a lot. I feel a lot.)

(more struggling)

The section from 3:59 is more soothing and melodic phrasing. My favorite bit here is from 4:08 to 4:22!! The ascending chord progression is DELICIOUS. And the phrase at 4:28 is going to be fun to learn, what with the melody starting in the LH and shifting to RH seamlessly.

We reach the “height” of this piece at 4:59 for the first time: lots of octaves, lots of jumps in the LH, lots of syncopation, a.k.a. all things I struggle with but masochistically enjoy :^) It is a lot of octaves for me, but the performance tempo is pretty lenient and the octaves don’t jump all that much, so.. all things considered, I don’t have any huge concerns. I’ve certainly had to contend with worse.. this part was tricky to sightplay because both hands have a lot of notes going on, plus there’s some quarter note triplet vs. eighth note polyrhythm which is my WEAKNESS.. (but the recording straight up ignores the markings so…… what is the truth?)

7:09 introduces the “B” section of the piece. For some reason, it reminds me of a starry sky at night- my chromesthesia activates and I see bright sparkles of light blue and purple on dark blue. The first half of this phrase isn’t that bad but then around 8:18, the syncopation goes ham between both hands. I’m pretty sure I was like “screw it, no rhythmic accuracy, note accuracy only” LOL so you can expect the final version to sound very different. I am looking forward to learning this section, though- the way the hands complement each other is really neat!!

We come back to the melody from the ~5 min mark around 10:07. The RH is similar (if not identical) to the first time, but the LH is different enough that I’ll have to treat this as another section while learning.. The RH octaves for this section do worry me a little when there are too many chords in rapid succession, but still, not a showstopper by any means.

From 12:40.. I don’t even know what was happening.. I was so tired from reading.. The chord in the LH at 12:59 is the only one that I have real concerns over upfront- you can see that the stretch is at my limit AND I have to add a middle note.. sigh.. at least it’s slow.

13:10 is this descending pattern that seems to use both hands? I focused on notes rather than the markings so I’m pretty sure I used the wrong hands for most of these lol.. I am looking forward to the octaves from 13:23; I love the majestic atmosphere, and it’ll sound REALLY cool as a closer!! And then a quiet ascending arpeggio to bring us to the end.

Overview

This piece is supposed to take around 5 to 6 minutes at tempo, but I took 14 minutes to read through.. not too bad, I guess, though could be better. I thought it’d be interesting to have a true “before” to compare to the “after” this time around!

There is nothing technique-wise that stands out as a big issue, aside from that one LH stretch and some RH octaves, but I can say that voicing is going to be key for this piece. Another thing to work on is the use of empty space. I typically play pieces that are always full of motion so there aren’t really many spaces to take a break and pause in. I think this piece will give me an excellent opportunity to practice utilizing rests as something that actively plays a role in the music rather than being a passive tool. I’ll discuss this in more detail once I post a progress video.

I did listen to the piano recording a few times, as well as the original vocal track (which is a BOP, I highly recommend for some EARLY 2000s JPOP VIBES) to get a better feel of what the piece should sound like, but I think this piece leaves more room for interpretation than things I normally play, so I’m looking forward to that. It does help that I am virtually a blank slate here, which is a stark contrast to the me that usually listens to something on loop for hours while learning something new.

All in all, this arrangement is really lovely in my opinion and the chord progressions are chef’s kiss so I’m looking forward to learning the whole thing.. Anyway it’s 2020 and I’m still emo over Yuna, WHAT ELSE IS NEW

(Also, I need to record differently so my head isn’t so prone to appearing in the shot.. I don’t want to be perceived.. lol)