Scala Ad Caelum (Field Theme)

Shorter project this time! A friend from work recommended this arrangement and it was a nice change of pace- this is definitely my fave new track from KH3 (granted the number of new tracks introduced wasn’t… that big BUT STILL), so it worked out nicely. I learned it in a couple of days last weekend, but didn’t get a chance to record until today. Also wanted to give myself some time for muscle memory since trying to record anything TOO fresh is always a nightmare lol. (The original arrangement is here!)

Detailed Analysis

Before we begin, a note on tempo: the written tempo is 138 bpm, and I practiced with the met a lot- I considered listening to the met as I recorded, but thought that might come out feeling inorganic… I ended up clocking in closer to 140-144 bpm, with fluctuations here and there, but good enough. My biggest concern was slowing down during the eighth note sections, but that didn’t end up being much of an issue.

The original video holds down the top notes in the LH for the opening phrase, but the sheet music didn’t, and honestly I preferred not holding it down since it could get too muddy with pedaling- so I didn’t. I was a little bit worried about these RH runs at first glance because they’re fast, but it’s actually the same exact pattern repeated so it was a lot easier than I expected. I wasn’t able to get perfectly clean sixteenths in the RH; on the second descending “turn”, my 3 2 is pretty wide and not something I’m used to. Sometimes it sounds better than other times… but given that I don’t have polished dexterity, I let it go.

The jump up to the next phrase at 0:14 was actually more difficult than I anticipated. This section always feels weirdly empty after how dense the opening phrase is… but it’s a good chance to just coast for a bit. Then 0:27 switches the melody to the RH, and the LH arpeggios are spanning tenths, which are obviously way too big for my hands. Luckily, they’re manageable at this tempo, and it’s very similar to what I’ve practiced before for some arrangements from my Nier book, so it wasn’t too bad.

The momentum builds a bit from the section at 0:41. The sixteenth note pickups were harder than I expected!! Pickups into intervals, and at that tempo… it was a good challenge. I love the chord progression in this section through 0:47. I held my breath for the RH chromatic at 0:51 (and when it repeats) and was mentally telling myself JUST RELAX AND IT’S GONNA BE FINE; idk if that had anything to do with it, but I did manage not to mess that up in any of my takes. I stumbled a LOT on the final note (B natural) when practicing… I love the syncopation at 0:52.

After that, we come back down in energy at 0:54 and the repeating notes switch hands. The repeating C’s in the RH are one of the toughest parts of the arrangement for me, and honestly I don’t even think I ended up playing the syncopation correctly the second time LOL. Oh well. If I tried to play it accurately, then I ended up usually not getting enough clean “hits” to sound good… so I was like eh, as long as it’s close enough I’m good. I still don’t like the E natural in the LH at 1:07 right before entering the next phrase… something about it just sounds odd.

1:08 is probably the most high energy section of the arrangement. Lots of sixteenth note syncopation here, so I paid extra attention to making sure the rhythm is clean and methodical.

Then we go back to the runs at 1:21, though with a slight variation since the first F minor chord is blocked instead of arpeggiated. Then we repeat the whole thing.

I accidentally made the chord at 2:42 in the LH an octave chord in my anxiety to FINISH THE TAKE, but it’s fine. I was also anxious because in the take right before this, I’d accidentally taken the repeat a second time instead of going to the coda lol. By the time I hit the syncopated section from 1:08 again, I was just mentally like DO NOT FORGET THE CODA x100.

Thoughts on the Learning Process

This piece is not very long (there’s a coda so I basically repeat and play the arrangement twice) and it’s patterns galore, so it was easy to pick up. The chords are straightforward and consistent. The challenge was with the tempo and the fact that I don’t have the chops meant to play a piece like this perfectly, but I accepted that fact as I started learning this lol.

I DID change the fingering for the RH runs right before I started recording today, so I spent ~10 minutes learning and practicing the new fingering before I hit record. I originally used 1 / thumb a lot more in the RH opening phrase, especially for black keys, which was just no bueno in terms of consistency and general best practice. I changed the fingering to crossover and use 2 / index more.

I thought that the hardest part was the chromatic scale at 0:51 while learning (which I initially wrote off because I thought psh it’s just a short chromatic, ez money) because I kept messing it up over and over and OVER again, but honestly, I think playing the sixteenth notes cleanly in those big RH runs is hardest. And then the repeated C notes are just a lost cause… I never learned how to do the repeated note thing, so to try and do it at this tempo was not something I tried too hard for. For whatever reason, it was actually easier to just use one finger so I ended up going with that. When I learned the rhythm, though, I was clapping my hands and counting out “one ee and a two ee and a…” by myself reaaaal slowly lol.

Aside from that, it was fun in that it was not very frustrating, but it still is a very cool-sounding arrangement. Oh, I did end up memorizing most of it (again, patterns are great), but I wanted to have the last three pages as a safety net.

Conclusion & Final Thoughts

The difficulty is probably like… a 2/10 for me- +1 because of the tenth arpeggios in the LH, and +1 for the general chops needed to play the RH runs and that one part with the repeated C’s. Otherwise, it was super manageable; the RH runs are the densest sections, while the rest of the piece is pretty open and has plenty of “negative space”.

I have given up hope on a KH3 Piano Collections at this point, so it was nice to be shown this fanmade arrangement!! (Thanks, Patrick!!)

As for what’s next… back to the drawing board. I still kinda want to learn Lover’s Oath from Genshin, but I also just lack mojo in general…