Free Electone sheet music and registrations for 隨想曲 (Ceoi Soeng Kuk), Paula Tsui’s award-winning Cantopop hit from 1982.
I started work on this Cantopop classic two weekends ago, and managed to get the bulk of the arrangement and registrations done up within a few days. There’s also a story behind my sudden interest to arrange another Paula Tsui song.
Ceoi Soeng Kuk (隨想曲), composed by the legendary Joseph Koo, was Paula’s biggest hit from 1982. The subsequent year, i.e., 1983, the song also won a gold award.
I’m familiar with the tune since young, of course, but as it’s not one of my favourite Paula Tsui songs, I rarely listen to it. In fact, up till a fortnight ago, I didn’t even remember that I have the piano score for it.
What happened was this. Two Saturdays ago, I was taking hawker stall photos at Chinatown Complex. Some sort of community performance was happening at adjacent Kreta Ayer Square, and as I lumbered from stall to stall, snatches of Ceoi Soeng Kuk drifted to me. After a while, I start humming along. I even recalled most of the lyrics without much effort.
Seems like I remembered the song better than I realised.
Before long, I also concluded that the song is just perfect for a quick Electone arrangement. It’s not too complicated. It doesn’t require much programming for the drums and accompaniments too. Most importantly, the ELS-02C seems well capable of reproducing the choir effects the original arrangement is known for.
And so I got down to work. By Thursday, I had about 80 percent of the work done. This is a classic Asian 8-beat and like many Joseph Koo’s compositions, lyrical but straightforward.
Have to say, I enjoyed this quick project . It necessitated an hour or two each day but it was a good exercise in reverb and delay effects.
Naturally, the more I played, the more I loved the graceful, oriental tune too.
Yamaha Electone Sheet Music and ELS-02C Registration Data for Ceoi Soeng Kuk (隨想曲)
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 Sheet Music Free Download
Electone Registration Data for Stagea ELS-02C
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Arrangement Notes
- As with most Joseph Koo Cantopop compositions from the early 80s, this is a straightforward A-A-B-A 8-beat tune. With the introduction reused as the bridge, i.e. C.
- I’ve kept everything simple too, although I still tried to mimic most of the original accompaniments. On that, my emphasis was on capturing the studio strings.
- My choice of lead this time round is the S.A. Soprano Sax Growl. Since day one, this has been one of my favourite lead sounds, I really love the timbre and nuances. However, S.A. Soprano Sax Growl is also one of the hardest Electone ELS-02C lead sounds to control because it can easily get too shrill or overpowering. Worse, you need to play it with intuitive touches of delay to achieve the real Soprano feel. Lots of work to experiment with, in other words.
- Which Chinese instrument did Paula’s original recording use during the introduction? Or is it actually some sort of synth clavichord? I have no idea, though I suspect it’s the latter. For this arrangement, I’m using a combination of the Liu Qin and the Steel Guitar.
- Once again, I’m experimenting with ELS-02C choir sounds, and they don’t really cut it, do they? At least not when compared to Paula’s recording. I just can’t get the “punch” and “dreamy” feel that I want, no matter what audio effect I add. Oh well.
- Lastly, the Cantonese name of this 1982 hit translates to Capriccio. The tune is anything but playful or capricious, though. In Cantonese, Ceoi Soeng simply means “imaginary,” or “whimsical,” or “as-you-imagine.” (The transliterated name, which I got from a website, sounds thoroughly Korean too, yeah? But nope, no K-pop here!)
Recorded with Samsung S22 (I.E., S22 Video Quality Sample)
On another note, I recorded this Cantopop performance with my brand new Bora Purple Samsung S22. Settings: UHD 60 frames, It’s the first time in over four years that I’ve recorded an Electone video using a cellphone.
I was tempted into doing so. Out of curiosity, I recorded a few seconds of myself at the ELS-02C and what was displayed on the screen was nothing short of stunning; all those Nits and Hz are really doing their magic. In fact, the recording was so gorgeous, I remarked to my mom. “Jau mo gaau co! My phone seems to record better videos than my three thousand dollar Nikon D780 setup!”
Once the S22 clips were imported into Adobe Premiere Pro, however, the difference shows. Everything is still bright and clear, of course, but there’s noticeably much more noise than the clips I previously recorded using the D780 or D7500. That brightness was obviously achieved with high ISO.
When viewed on a monitor, the S22 video quality was also slightly inferior to those of my older recordings. Slightly flatter in colour and saturation too, if you ask me. In other words, still not quite there when compared to the products of a DSLR lens.
(If you like to know, the same goes for photos. Beautiful on the phone screen, but the slight difference shows on a comp)
To be honest, I’m not sure whether I’m happy or sad about this. I deeply appreciate a phone camera capable of fantastic quality. But I can’t stand the thought of my DSLRs and lenses being replaceable.
It’s probably better that I don’t think too much about this.
(PS: The audio isn’t by the S22. That’s recorded using the built-in recording function of the ELS-02C)
Full List of Downloadable Electone Sheet Music and Stagea ELS-02C Registration Data. ( English / 中文 / 日本語 )
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