I sightplayed Lightning’s theme a couple weeks ago and am posting now since I’ve started chipping away at it properly. This is another one of those pieces that I’ve attempted halfheartedly a couple of times in the past few years but I always gave up because of hand size (the composer/arranger for this particular collection must have big hands, he uses a lot of ninths =_=). However, at this point, I’m a little more comfortable (and resigned) with the fact that I have to make do with workarounds, and I recently got FFXIII on Steam and am replaying it for the first time in several years, so I figured I’d try learning this piece again! This is arguably one of the most well-known tracks from the game, and probably from the more recent FF games.. still a bop over 10 years later imo.

Detailed Analysis

Opening phrase is something I’ve played through a number of times, and it’s not particularly difficult. First stumble is around 0:38; there’s a big interval in the RH in the midst of a faster phrase, and I am a scrub at sightplaying in general so.. yeah lol. But with a little work it’s not an issue. The first ninth chord appears in the LH at 1:09; I already anticipated this one and decided to go with the lower fifth since there’s a connected phrase following it, and swapped the top D from the LH over to the middle of my RH chord. Doesn’t sound quite the same, but the harmony(?) is close enough with the octave change. Similar case around 1:19, though the top note is connected to the following phrase. But I think the bass is important here, so I’m again swapping the top LH note over to the RH.

These eight bars or so from 1:24 are the reason I quit this piece over and over again, honestly- it’s a bunch of ninths that cannot be cheated, and I hated that I had to use so many workarounds at one time. I still kind of hate it, but have made more peace with the fact now in 2020. There are a lot “moving” notes within the chords in the LH, so my goal is to try and preserve that as much as I can using both hands, even if I end up having to deal with a “thinner” sound at some moments.

The infamous melody appears at 2:04 for the first time, and this phrase is definitely one of the reasons I want to learn this piece. It’s a timeless melody for me, and I really love the arrangement here. The melody, the syncopation, the chord progression… chef’s kiss man. I have another swap at 1:42, throwing the LH B into the middle of my RH chord.

I like the section at 3:30; I’ve spent some time on this in the past, especially for the RH, and somehow I remembered it better than I expected. At tempo, I do think it’ll be a bit tricky, but I’m not super intimidated (hopefully not famous last words). The LH actually concerns me more since there’s a pretty big jump down an extra octave a couple of times (3:42 for example), but I think with enough practice it won’t be an issue.

3:59 is another section that I really like due to the arrangement! The syncopation is very cool and is probably my favorite aspect of this section. I worry about my RH at 4:05, since there’s a 5 4 fingering that will be fast and needs to be played cleanly and evenly.. and those two are definitely my weakest fingers. In general, while neither hand is particularly complex, I feel like I’m playing Twister any time I read through this part. I’ll definitely need to spend some time finding the best fingering for each smaller phrase with minimal gymnastics.

We return to the main melody at 5:32, with the arrangement featuring some differences from the first time around. I’d say it’s a little more “compact” this time, though it packs a bigger punch at some moments. There are a couple of jumps in the LH that I’ll probably need to look at more closely, but nothing I’m too scared of.

6:52 brings us back to the rapid phrase from 3:30, though it’s in a different key. It’s basically white keys only which is fantastic; it’ll save me a little bit of heartburn at tempo, hopefully. The ending feels a little.. anticlimactic to me even after all these years, but hopefully after playing the piece as written, it’ll feel like a more complete ending.

Initial Thoughts

When I first looked at this piece back in 2017, I was intimidated by a lot of things beyond the ninths scattered here and there, but I’m a lot less intimidated now in 2020. Not sure if that means I’ve improved a bit, or if I’m just too full of myself now lol. I guess time will tell.

Overall, yeah, this wasn’t sightplayable, but I don’t have any big fears aside from the section at 3:30, and even for that I’m not dreading it. I think physically, learning the bigger jumps for the LH octaves will be tricky, and I’ll also need to put some thought into how to preserve the intended harmonies for intervals that I can’t physically reach. My biggest qualm with this kind of thing is that I usually end up compromising the “fullness” of the tone, but I guess this will be part of my journey towards.. accepting that it be like that sometimes.

I’ve personally been pretty burned out in a few different ways so I’m still working on Kairi’s Theme and “Stand Your Ground”.. I think I’m going to just record the latter on a good day and close it out, I don’t think I can get it any better than it is now and it’s just getting worse as the days pass without consistent practice.