Poor writing
3/13/2021 5:01:41 PMOk the overall melody and idea is really good. I have a big problem with your crossing of hands. I understand the first cross cause it makes sense because the left hand switches between treble and bass while the right hand keeps the melody. My issue is the other 2 crosses of the hands it doesnt make sense. yes it looks cooler to others but there is no reason for it. It is way easier to have the melody switch to the left hand. I actually brought the pdf of the music into adobe illustrator so i could edit the pdf to switch the staffs. Other than this clear oversight and not really thinking of how to play this, this score is really good. I know I saw your youtube video and I know it can be done to just cross your hands for all the sections it just doesnt make sense though. if I wanted to play maple leaf rag with the staffs switched I could do it, there just is no reason other than making the song look way harder and challenging your brain to reverse process the music.
Comments On This Review
Hey Jason - firstly thank you for purchasing and playing my arrangement! I put a great deal of thought into each and every one of my arrangements - this one is meant to be FUN - the song is a real adventure story and I wanted the piano arrangement to reflect that - the crossing hands feature is part of that feeling for me. I wanted the right hand to have to continue "singing" the melody as the left hand has to quickly rush to the other side of the ship or duck under the boom as the whale swims under the ship yet again - thats the thing.. this song depicts a battle between a whale and the crew of the "Billy O Tea" - so, as an arranger attempting to capture that scene, I WANT there to be struggle, I want there to be challenges, I want the pianist to embrace a sense of adventure! It also, I hope, in the end... makes the piece more fun to play! I certainly had fun writing and playing it this way - and so I hoped that others would too! Personally, I love crossing hands -
I absolutely disagree with Jason! I think he failed to appreciate this wonderful arrangement. In fact, in my opinion, the crossing of the hands is exactly what makes this piece sound as good as it sounds!
This stunning arrangement took a heavy hit for hand crossing, so I want to weigh in with my experience. As a short, portly, well-endowed middle aged woman with a little arthritis in the thumbs and wrists, the second two crossings are a challenge. I simply struggle to reach around my own mass and chalk that up to slacking on the exercise routine rather than the arrangement. My lankly, long-armed 13-year-old son manages all three cross-overs without effort or complaint and looks amazing doing it. I appreciate the visual aspect of the cross-over. If I were to get this performance ready myself, I would most likely need to uncross the last two sections out of necessity. However, I do not feel that warrants a hit to the rating – simply uncross. In my opinion, if you are experienced enough to learn this piece, you are experienced enough to switch hands as needed.