Yuna’s Determination

Hurriedly updating the blog once before the month ends- and Happy Halloween!! This update has nothing to do with spooky things, though... this is a oneshot for “Yuna’s Determination” from FFX, which I worked on last month and then just… haven’t uploaded… pretty happy with this one, though!

Detailed Analysis

The opening phrase didn’t come out as smoothly as I would’ve liked with the downwards arpeggio, but I guess I still got the general “waterfall” effect. The melody comes in at 0:23, and I had to focus a lot on voicing throughout this piece, but especially here to ensure the melody comes through between all the blocked intervals… it’s difficult for me to play anything in the LH quietly. Super love the broken chord at 0:32, of course, and then the chord at 0:34 is also delicious. The phrase from 0:44 was one of the few that I had to spend some time on, since it’s relatively dense compared to the rest of the arrangement, but overall it was very, very doable. I like the chord at 0:51, and then tried to emphasize the slight rit. and decrescendo throughout the rest of the phrase.

Then we revisit the melody right away at 1:00, this time with a much fuller sound. Again, I made an effort for the voicing, especially since there’s a lot more happening this time around outside of the melody. Honestly very not happy with how the phrase at 1:09 through 1:11 turned out… oh well. The whole phrase is pretty awkward with the chord shapes, but I played it better consistently off camera so I’m a little down about this lol. The broken chord in the RH at 1:13 is actually quite big for my hand, but somehow I managed to find a position that allows me to roll the chord quite smoothly. I tried to make 1:16 sound very delicate after the brief fermata. Then we’re back to a moderate dynamic level from 1:21 as the phrase is rather grand. Lots of voicing here, too- the Bb at 1:24 is very important!! I was practicing the voicing and I was amazed at how much difference just a small amount of effort could make with this bit in particular.

We enter a “B” section at 1:42, and it’s the reason I learned this piece; specifically, 1:48 is the exact phrase I fell in love with. Voicing is important throughout this section as well, what with all the intervals and moving flow. I’m pretty happy with how the voicing turned out in this section! I also consciously left the slight gaps in tempo/rhythm instead of trying to pursue a rigid eighth note rhythm; this whole piece really shines most with a looser interpretation with regards to rhythm. I had a track record of sometimes missing that F on top in the RH at 1:57, so it was a relief when I hit it without any issues. Also very happy with the phrasing from 2:00! And then some RH octaves and vague oom-pahs in the LH from 2:02 as we close the phrase out and have another waterfall arpeggio, calling back to the very first opening phrase… and another trill. I’m SO bad at trills, I sometimes burst out laughing by myself when practicing this piece because my trills would just be… so bad. Lol.

2:30 brings us to the melody one more time, and it’s very similar to the version from 1:00. I considered trying to make the two sections sound different, somehow, but ultimately I don’t think my attempt came through at all- I guess I tried to make this section sound a bit grander, and a bit louder, but in the take both sections sound pretty much the same.

2:53 was probably the hardest part in the entire piece since it’s a big chord, but luckily it is broken and the piece is slow, so I had some leeway to work with. The rhythm is pretty funky between the two hands and it was fun. Having leniency due to the overall loose interpretation might’ve helped, honestly. 2:58 was probably the phrase I had to spend the most time practicing due to the horizontal motion in both hands, but again, super doable. And then the piece comes to a close with the final phrase; no special notes other than that I really like how it sounds.

Conclusion

I first sightplayed this piece around two years ago now for a single evening. I was listening to this particular piano collections while working and I really liked this arrangement because the melody is lovely and it is also very freely played; it was a nice contrast compared to the more rigid and fast-paced arrangements I tend to favor. I’ve played FFX and I actually don’t remember this piece at all, but nonetheless, it’s a lovely arrangement and I really enjoyed playing it. Turns out that the arranger is the guy that wrote the FFXIII soundtrack and also arranged the FFXIII Piano Collections, so it was interesting to see some overlap with the FFXIII book.

This was a SUPER quick project- I want to say it was probably around 2 weeks before this take. I had been playing it every now and then for fun, but I never sat down to practice it seriously. The majority of it is sightplayable, with the exception of 0:44 and 2:58, but those were really, really simple. Like, it was a few reps and I was done simple. (I wish everything were this easy!!)

Overall, this piece was probably like… a 3/10 for difficulty? There are a couple of spots that are big for my hands / have awkward chord shapes, but other than that, the tempo is slow and the piece calls for a free style of playing. Well, I guess that in of itself could also be a challenge, but relative to other things I’ve learned, I give this a 3/10. Emotional value? 10/10, especially when you consider 1:48!!

I give myself an 84/100 for this take… I’ve played it at like 95/100, but I really fudged a few of the key phrases in my opinion. But, I am happy with the voicing I worked on, as well as the overall flow of the piece, so I’m content to put this up as it is. The melody is somehow both soothing and bittersweet AKA my favorite flavors :)