My final Yamaha Electone arrangement, i.e., free score for 2017. May I present to you Danny Chan’s 喝彩.
It’s New Year’s Eve. So, ta da! My final post for the year.
I had various post ideas during this last week of 2017. Or should I say, post intentions? In the end, as such things usually go, I barely had time to clean my bedroom.
Therefore, I decided to forgo all those and just concentrate on doing up another Yamaha Electone arrangement; it’s been a while since my last one. Once again, I’ve selected a Cantopop classic from the 80s, yet another one by Danny Chan too. (I intend to “do” a total of 3 by him; guess what’s the third one)
This piece is also arguably the most famous composition of his earlier career. One, which I’ve been told, is still regularly crooned in karaoke. May I present to you喝彩, pronounced in Cantonese as Hott Choi and in Mandarin as He Cai. The name simply means “cheer” in English.
(Click here if you wish to skip my, er, philosophical year-end ranting)
Why 喝彩?
I didn’t do any extensive research about it but my guess is, 喝彩 remains popular, especially in Hong Kong, because of its stirring melody and its incredibly positive lyrics.
Lyrics that embrace all of life’s hardships, viewing these as the necessary step before a glorious tomorrow.
The song is especially suitable for events like school graduations. You know, when a person faces an exciting new beginning, one that is also full of challenges.
That’s how I feel about 2018, by the way. In my opinion, 2017 wasn’t a particularly horrid year, at least not when compared to 1942, 2001 and the likes of. Yet, many of the worst incidences of this year still point towards the insisted segregation of mankind, ideologically or socially.
Despite our many technological advances, despite telecommunications and transportation bringing the world closer together than ever, we see countries and communities shutting up. We also see political differences dividing populations in ways that might never be resolved. Call me naïve, leftist, liberal, whatever, I think such gaps will never be solutions to any problem. If anything, don’t they just deepen everybody’s plight?
Worse, because such divides discourage empathy, they foster misunderstandings that could easily deteriorate into warfare. I’m not referring to North Korea here; that’s an extreme case by itself. But if you’re willing to consider what these differences inevitably lead to, I think you can clearly see what I mean.
Given none of these divides is anything new to mankind, such distrusts and blaming were equally rampant before the Great War, I guess it might all be an inevitable part of man’s development. We are a race that must fall again and again before terrified into a brief period of peace, and then everything repeats. In this sense, the lyrics of 喝彩 summarises what I would say to someone anxious about the New Year. To quote:
春風一吹草再蘇, 永遠不見絕路
(The spring wind resuscitates the grass. There is never an end of the road)
似朝陽正初升, 你要自信有光明前路
(With the rising sun’s confidence, believe that you will have a better tomorrow)
If 2018 is worrying for you, remember that history has shown us that dark times will always be around. They come very often! But so do better days.
If you are unsure how 2018 is going to be, then 以真誠我祝福你會踏上那光明前路. May a bright path presents itself to you in the months to come.
If you are confident 2018 is going to be great, 願將一腔熱誠給你, 常為你鼓舞. I celebrate your triumph with my utmost enthusiastic zest. I sincerely do.
Free Electone Score & Stagea Registration Data for 喝彩
Warning! The registration and Finale PrintMusic files are zip files! You might need to disable your virus/malware protection before downloading.
As I have disabled the function, do not right-click to save as. On PCs, simply click on the links and the file should auto download in a separate window.
Electone Stagea ELS-02C Registration Data
Arrangement Notes
Right! Back to the arrangement i.e. the free Electone score! Areas to note are:
- I’ll put this first. I’m immensely grateful to the wonderful people who private messaged me about MISTAKES in my previous arrangements. (I’m sure there are more too! So I would be reviewing those uploads soon). If you find any, my apologies! Apologies!
- I’m putting up the Finale “raw” file here this time. If you download this, take note that the memory buttons wouldn’t appear; it’s a linked file issue that’s too complex to explain here. Also, if you find yourself unable to edit certain segments, it’s … my fault. I messed up the layers. Try switching to a different layer under the VIEW>SELECT LAYER function if you find yourself unable to change anything.
- This arrangement follows the sequence of Danny’s original. However, the sounds are “inspired” by the (notorious) live performance by Leslie Cheung in 1985. They are more symphonic in nature.
- This is the first time I’m including expression marks. (The arc-arcs). To be honest, I hate notating these. I’m also the sort of sloppy player who tends to ignore them. However, I concluded it’s impossible to use a solo instrument to mimic Danny’s singing without some sort of marked stylization. Do note that these are my interpretations of the song; I’m not necessarily right. Feel free to experiment.
- I’d confess. I did this in a pop orchestra style because I recently uploaded a symphonic Christmas song. The orchestra registrations were … there on the Stagea ELS-02C beckoning me to reuse them for something else.
- I confess this too. My arc-arcs are probably wrong in various places. The last time I notated these were in 1990!
- I’m playing this very slightly faster than Danny’s original.
- Further to an above point, the end result feels kind of, school performance-like? You know, what a school band might perform after the valedictorian’s speech? I kind of like this, to be honest. My impression of Danny singing this is that of him in full white Hong Kong school uniform.
- Technically, take note of the following:
- I always experience this tendency to rush the signature intro/interlude. As in the parts with the various arpeggios. All I can say is, stay calm, listen to the rhythmic prompts. Continue to stay calm.
- On the above point, you could try some crush notes here and there. I couldn’t do it without going out of time.
- Don’t whack the contra bass, it’s touch sensitive. You don’t want the bass to get overpowering, especially in Section B.
- The solo violin interludes need a lot of touch and expression. (Great if you could do horizontal touch) I didn’t do enough in my upload, in my opinion.
- The solo oboe needs to be played very cleanly, no matter how you choose to phrase it.
Happy New 2018!
Full List of Downloadable Electone Scores and Stagea ELS-02C Registrations. ( English / 中文 / 日本語 )
Check out my other Electone posts here!
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