This is a front ensemble arrangement of a song by Lights from her album "Siberia." Specifically, the first half is of the acoustic version and the second half is of the original electronic version. It still needs some finishing touches but is pretty close to done.

Just a random project to keep me busy.

"Siberia" by LIGHTS (for Front Ensemble)

This is the track "Fighting" from Final Fantasy VII, composed by Nobuo Uematsu.

The goal was just to redo the track with virtual orchestration, but keep the spirit of the instrumentation as similar as possible. I took a couple liberties, the largest of which is the small intro. Before writing this, I hadn't yet heard a version which was both faithful to the original feel of the track but updated with modern sounds.

This version could do with some mixing and mastering still, so I'd call it version 0.9 if anything. I still appreciate feedback, but concerning levels and space there's a good chance I already know about it. :) Also, listening to it on SoundCloud makes some of the percussion sound pretty unfortunate, so download it if you can.

Reclarification: This is a reorchestration. I did not write the original music, I just rearranged and resequenced it.

FFVII - Fighting (Reorchestrated)

===============
This is what I get for trying to push projects out the door before giving myself a couple days to review them. The last version of this was okay but it needed some polishing desperately and it was going to kill me not to fix it. So I know I'm not supposed to update old music for some reason, but here's the updated version anyway.

Also, one last thing: SoundCloud's compression makes the cymbals in this sound like garbage. The file in the download link will sound much better. :)
===============

Third in this series, back to Nobuo Uematsu and again an adaption of Super Nintendo music, this is "Decisive Battle" from Final Fantasy VI or Final Fantasy 3, which is the standard boss battle music.

This was my first foray into rock-style instrumentation and I think it went fairly well (as always, feedback is welcome). The only big trouble were the synth strings, but even those I'm fairly happy with. Playing with the already-groovy drumset part was especially fun. It was written to be fairly impossible, so I didn't bother too much with the part making any physical sense. Maybe two people could play it, though.

Original version: www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mb-Lhkm93pI
One-man acappella by vocal genius Smooth McGroove: www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Wu9DnbzB8g
The Black Mages version (fairly liberal): www.youtube.com/watch?v=c-1I81xrE4A

Reclarification: This is a reorchestration. I did not write the original music, I just rearranged and resequenced it.

FFVI - The Decisive Battle (Reorchestrated) [update]

New beats, better notes, better sounds -- this is a rewrite of the Doctor Who front ensemble etude I made a couple years ago. 

I got so many requests to use it and play it, but it was never meant to be playable. Now it is. [Parts and score not yet available, though]

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This is "I Am the Doctor" from the new-series Doctor Who soundtrack, arranged for front ensemble as an ensemble tune/warmup.

Here is the original: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K7VmOZ4Ppj8

Doctor Who logo and music are copyright BBC, obviously.

"I Am The Doctor" from Doctor Who (for Front Ensemble)

From a series of four short front ensemble pieces for a high school I'm teaching. Intended to be quickly learnt and played.

"Wide Awake" by Katy Perry (Front Ensemble Short)

"Counting Stars" by OneRepublic (for Front Ensemble)

"Africa" by Toto (for Front Ensemble)

More nonspecific music for your game/film/project.

This music was designed to sound vaguely sad or plaintive, like it's the slums of a city or something.

The Dejected

This is the track "Jenova Absolute" from Final Fantasy VII, originally composed by Nobuo Uematsu.

Finally finished another video game reorchestration. The goal is always to match the spirit of the original music as much as possible, while updating its sound. The original track is one of my favorites from the game, it's just raw and menacing the whole way through. Again, my choice to do this piece is based largely off of not finding a reorchestration out there that really captures the original music.

The original can be heard here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2yX4h8Agi7U

Reclarification: This is a reorchestration. I did not write the original music, I just rearranged and resequenced it.

FFVII - Jenova Absolute (Reorchestrated)

This is "Magus Confronted" from the classic RPG Chrono Trigger, written by Yasunori Mitsuda and reorchestrated by me. 

I'm not actually sure I'm done with this, but I've been working on it for waaaay too long. I wanted to play with more mixing, but honestly I think I need to just post it and move on at this point. Besides, if it sounds a little extra "raw" I think it works well for this track.

This is another piece of music that I've wanted to hear a modern version of, but all the versions out there are either too liberal or too unfaithful to the original. I'm confident that this is one of the most accurate reconstructions of this great music. That said, I definitely had to get creative to make some of the instrumentation to translate into non-SNES sounds. Even the repeat structure sounded too rushed when the sounds got fuller.

The original can be heard here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G-UNgi8kmaY

Reclarification: This is a reorchestration. I did not write the original music, I just rearranged and resequenced it.

This piece uses a number of samples from FreeSound. Those are:

Sound 158684 by alex@vsi-tv [CC-A]: https://freesound.org/people/alex@vsi.tv/sounds/158684/
Sound 210220 by ERR0 [CC-0]: https://freesound.org/people/err0/sounds/210220/
Sound 186674 by katdhamphir [CC-0]: https://freesound.org/people/katdhamphir/sounds/186674/
Sound 17645 by Cyril Laurier [CC-A]: https://www.freesound.org/people/Cyril%20Laurier/sounds/17645/
Sound 26729 by Leady [CC-A]: https://www.freesound.org/people/leady/sounds/26729/
Sound 155633 by gabemiller74 [CC-A-NC]: https://www.freesound.org/people/gabemiller74/sounds/155633/
Sound 98382 by The Baron [CC-A]: https://www.freesound.org/people/the%20baron/sounds/98382/
Sound 267639 by BrainClaim [CC-0]: https://www.freesound.org/people/brainclaim/sounds/267639/
Sound 250148 by debsound [CC-A-NC]: https://www.freesound.org/people/debsound/sounds/250148/

Chrono Trigger - Magus Confronted (Reorchestrated)

Quick turnaround time on this one. This is "Golbez, Clad in the Dark" from Final Fantasy IV. The track was originally written by Nobuo Uematsu and reorchestrated by me.

Maybe soon I'll reorchestrate something not by Square from the 90's, but I definitely have another track from FFVI coming, so sometime after that. This track was always one of my favorite mood pieces for its simplicity and creepiness. I'm totally a sucker for really cheesy bad-guy music in general. I mostly wanted to do it because I knew I could add some life into its moderately short length through orchestration.

Here is the original version on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lNXB1xO5CyQ

Reclarification: This is a reorchestration. I did not write the original music, I just rearranged and resequenced it.

FFIV - Golbez, Clad in the Dark (Reorchestrated)

From a series of short front ensemble etudes, written for an accessible level front ensemble. Shared marimba parts (two per marimba), some basic four mallet block chords, no rhythm section outside some percussion, no electronics.

"If I Lose Myself" by OneRepublic (Front Ensemble Short)

All three people that played Lufia 2 will know it has great music. This is a track from the end of the game, "The Savior of Those on Earth," reimagined with not-Super-Nintendo sounds.

The original can be heard here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6gyiPK-8hko

Reclarification: This is a reorchestration. I did not write the original music, I just rearranged and resequenced it.

Lufia 2 - The Savior of Those on Earth (Reorchestrated)

「U.N.オーエンは彼女なのか？」 from 「東方紅魔郷 ～ the Embodiment of Scarlet Devil.」

There really wasn't a lot of reason to arrange this, besides the fact that I wanted to. I got introduced to the song and its crazy rhythmic intricacies and wanted to see how it worked, so I remade it for front ensemble. 

It's pretty hard! I tried as many tricks as I could to match the notes without writing impossible stuff, and it came out doable, but very challenging. There's only so many things I can do with repeating sixteenth to quarter note triplet arpeggiated figures in 5/4. That said, if you think you can handle it, you can definitely purchase it.

Instrumentation: 3-5 marimbas, 2-4 vibraphones, xylo/glock, 2 synthesizers, 2 racks, drumset, bass

'U.N. Owen was Her?' from Touhou (for Front Ensemble)

A short, 6/8, background track. Mysterious, I guess? Inscrutable? Who knows.

The Scythe and the Stone

UPDATED October 2015:  It turns out that the previous version of this was weird dynamically, but now it should be fixed. Thanks to @adrian-jacubiak for his advice on the subject!

Original description: This is a portfolio piece I worked on a while ago.

It is inspired by similar piano-centric tracks from visual novels like Katawa Shoujo*. It's not really playable by a human -- mostly due to some 3-voice sections -- though it could be with a little bit of editing.

* e.g. www.youtube.com/watch?v=NkzIj2y18Q0

Memories of Arcadia

UPDATED October 2015: Slightly remastered.

--

Where "Rumble" is my take on standard video game battle music, "Cataclysm" is my ideal version of music to fight a boss to: Aggressive, menacing, and exhilarating.

I drew inspiration from all over the place -- from standard RPG fare such as Hitoshi Sakimoto and Yasunori Mitsuda to Romantic music like Mussorgsky's Baba Yaga and hip-hop influences in bass and percussion. I chose to forgo a traditional drumset for a strange battery of Chinese, Afro-Cuban and western orchestral percussion instruments. The melodic instruments are a painstakingly detailed full orchestra with solo dizi and horn, plus Bulgarian singers.

Libraries used are EastWest/QuantumLeap series and Virtual Drumline.

Cataclysm

An arrangement of "Sweet Religion" by Imogen Heap for front ensemble. Premiered by Gateway Indoor 2013.

"Sweet Religion" by Imogen Heap (for Front Ensemble)

"Go the Distance" from Hercules, arranged for front ensemble.

"Go the Distance" from Hercules (for Front Ensemble)

This is a fugue written for my 18th Century Counterpoint class. I don't consider it a masterwork, but I can't get it out of my head, so it's pretty catchy, I guess. I also think it's moderately baroque -- there are a good number of anachronisms in there, a small number of which I actually know about, and about 70% of that small number I decided not to fix just for my own personal reasons. Maybe that's a dumb thing to do for a class assignment. Who knows?

It's copyright me, CC BY ND, etc etc etc.

Fugue No. 1

"Titanium" by David Guetta/Sia, arranged for front ensemble, written for Grain Valley High School Front Ensemble 2013.

"Titanium" by David Guetta ft. Sia (for Front Ensemble)

I'm a composer. I grew up in St. Louis, went to the UMKC Conservatory in Kansas City, and now live back in the St. Louis area. Most of the music I write is either for marching groups or video games. I played with the Madison Scouts for three years (2009, 2010, 2012) and Gateway Indoor Percussion for four years (2010-2013), playing keyboards in the front ensemble for both groups. I'm pretty friendly and passionate about music, but also terrible at responding in a timely manner. :)

Joshua Link

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