Hi, everybody! Great community here. Fact is I recently began a little side project of mine. I play the saxophone, and I've put together a few sax quartet arrangements in the past, so I decided to try my hand at arranging some of the more popular songs from one of my favorite bands into a neo-classical, sax quintet setting. I've arranged about 4 selections now, and I wanted to know the opinions and suggestions of other fans on what I've written so far.

Here is the link to the work in progress MIDI on my SoundCloud (no download required):
[url]http://soundcloud.com/mhong/sing-out-the-future-a[/url]

Please let me know what you think! I would also like to know what other tunes I should consider including. I know I want to write in Strange Chameleon (though it's already in the intro), One Life, Please Mr. Lostman, and My Foot, but other specific requests would make my life a lot easier.

Also, keep in mind that I plan to record these in the future; the MIDI is not the final product! I want this to end up being 10min+, almost like a symphony. I also wanted the songs on here not to be too obvious. I tried to arrange them in a way that keeps the spirit of the songs while being entirely in another genre, and I'd like to know if I over did it! I've titled it "Sing out the Future," a line from one of their more famous songs that I'm sure you all know.

Thanks!

Awesome project! I love the sax, so I can't wait for the finished piece!

This is sounding great! The only song I couldn't identify was the first one (I listened before reading the rest of your post, lol.)

Be sure to post in the newbie thread on the Living Field section to tell us more about yourself. Welcome to IM!

Thank you for uploading to soundcloud, man.

This sounds pretty sweet

Good start so far! Looking forward to hearing the rest. With any luck, we'll have two super-famous musicians who have re-arranged pillows music in IM.

That was really great! Look forward to hearing the finished product.

My vote is for Sonna fuu ni Sugoshitai

You should use Strange Chameleon as the final part as well as what you did in the intro to bring it full circle, I think. This sounds like it'll be really freaking awesome if/when you get it recorded with real instruments. Looking forward to the final product when you can get it done for sure.

[quote="A.Fish"]two [b]super-famous[/b] musicians [/quote]

Thank you for the comments, everybody! It really is encouragement like this that motivates me to complete these sorts of projects.

Jono, I don't blame you; the intro is the subtlest section of all thus far. The beginning of the intro doesn't even use any melodic elements from "Strange Chameleon," only a modified version of the chord progression, and, of course, the ending of the intro is a heavily romanticized recitation of the opening guitar lick. I tried to follow the tradition of these sorts of rearrangement pieces to include a nearly original opening sequence that has only a subtle connection to the source material. In that sense, I pretty much ripped off "The Symphonic Gershwin," heh.

Tidusauron12,

Raid, thank you for the compliment, and I'm happy to use SoundCloud!

A.Fish, I don't how "famous" I am or ever will be, haha, but I look forward to finishing this up as well.

Utsuseru, I'm not too familiar with that number, but if I can motivate myself to sit down at the keyboard and transcribe it like I did these others, I may just include it. Thanks!

Marekenshin, that is actually a great idea, and more or less what I was planning on doing from the beginning. It's rather good form to close off in that way, and I'm glad "Strange Chameleon" is a bit theatrical and dramatic in the first place, to help give the ending some more oomph. The only issue I have at the moment is that my recording equipment is absolute garbage. I managed to record my other arrangements with only acceptable sound quality, but I don't think I will tolerate sub-par sound for this kind of time investment I'm making.

If anyone wants to get a glimpse at what this may end up sounding like, I encourage you to take a look at some of my other arrangements that I've done in the past, namely three anime OP arrangements that I have on my SoundCloud. Here are the links:

"Hare Hare Yukai" from [i]Haruhi Suzumiya[/i]
[url]http://soundcloud.com/mhong/hare-hare-yukai-for-four[/url]

"Bouken Desho, Desho?" also from [i]Haruhi Suzumiya[/i]
[url]http://soundcloud.com/mhong/bouken-desho-desho-saxophone-1[/url]

"Cruel Angel's Thesis" from [i]Evangelion[/i]
http://soundcloud.com/mhong/cruel-angels-thesis-final-1


Thanks!

Sax covers for Haruhi, Evangelion, and soon The Pillows?

You're already my best friend