{063} "In the Hands of Fate" (Grovyle Goes to the Bar) - PMD 2 | Jazz Rearrangement

!!! Spoilers !!!
Videos with {curly brackets} mean spoiler territory! Tread carefully!
The music box-ified Time Gear motif from the video games Pokemon Mystery Dungeon Explorers of Time, Darkness and Sky, arranged for jazz quartet + percussion.
Instrumentation: 1 Piano, 1 Melodica, 1 Electric Piano/Rhodes, 1 Acoustic Bass, 1 Drumset, 1 set of Congas, 1 Triangle
In the Hands of Fate plays a few times in the game, namely before Sealed Ruin when your partner thanks you for motivating them, and after Grovyle's Sacrifice. Although it's such a simple arrangement - just the main Time Gear motif played on a music box - it being played during such grave situations just reinforces those scenes so much more.
The last couple of arrangements have really just become excuses for me to play around with the Time Gear theme, especially with this track, since it is literally just the Time Gear motif! This time round I wanted to go for the lo-fi-beats-to-study-and-relax-to jazz vibe, which I've been craving to do for a while. Felt that there was a lack of more muted jazz arrangements on this channel. And of course, what would a lo-fi rearrangement be without the ambient rain and/or bar sound effects? So I also went a lot harder on mixing and SFX for this. I recorded the rain you hear at the very start of the arrangement a few years ago, back when my apartment had quite a large bay window that was great for rain sounds, just in case I needed it. I guess it finally got its use :P In addition to that, I also recorded some audio from rain/bar ambience generators online.
Initially this arrangement was only for a jazz trio of piano, bass and drums but I added in a melodica because I've heard it in some jazz arrangements and wanted to try writing for one myself. It also added some more variety to the timbre.
The final section of this arrangement takes more inspiration from the (pretty famous) piano arrangement by Bespinben of In the Hands of Fate (I quote the intro to it hehehe).
In terms of engraving, the drum part is /actually/ now more realistic to how a jazz sheet would look like, yay! It was a bit more difficult to engrave this one because most of it was written in Musescore's continuous view when I usually just work with the regular score view.
This is part of my Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers - Re-scored project, otherwise known as PMD: ExR. It's where I attempt to re-arrange all of the music in the Explorers games (and a few extra) in mostly chronological order!
This piece was originally composed by Arata Iiyoshi, Hideki Sakamoto, Keisuke Ito, Ken-ichi Saito and Ryoma Nakamura, and is the 63rd track on the Sky Jukebox.
Support Arata Iiyoshi!: blog.ssd-studi...
Rain sound generator: mynoise.net/No...
Thunder effect: • Video
Bar ambience generator: www.imissmybar....
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My NSM non-piano thread: www.ninsheetmu...
Downloads:
Score (pdf)... : bit.ly/30Zixpn
... with the ad lib. sections written in: bit.ly/3ESBj0U
Audio (wav): bit.ly/3p52bUH
Please request for part scores if you'd like! :D

[@galacticsilver9033]

I love this take on the song, it's extremely unique and stands out against most other interpretations. Amazing work!

[@FiveNineSquared]

Thanks! It is a pretty short piece. I think maybe most of the arrangements go toward the actual time gear theme.

[@xXChickyChuXx]

This is incredible! I love it when covers have their own identity, and this one certainly does. You took a short song and stretched it out in a way that doesn't get boring or repetitive at any point. Great mixing and use of the motifs. With this consistent quality, you're certainly making it hard for me to pick a favorite from your covers.

[@FiveNineSquared]

Thank you!! Making arrangements that don't get overly repetitive is a goal I set for myself. I honestly didn't want to do a jazz version of this because I thought others would've done it before, but surprisingly there aren't many reinterpretations of this theme out there.

[@TheExplorersGuild]

Oh, shoot how have I missed out on this for so long! This is so jazzy! I love it!

[@drazorleaf]

Man, I can listen to this all day long. Great arrangement! 🔥

[@FiveNineSquared]

Thanks man!

[@Awniber]

I love this cover. There are several tone shifts in this collection. I think it recreates several plot points in Grovyle's story. 0:00 Now, I read the description and recalled this piece also played before Sealed Ruins... but coming back from the end of this composition, I think this prelude also fits into Grovyle's story. With the thunderstorm relenting into a pitter-pattering shower (heard in the beginning), it tells the story of Grovyle arriving in the present world before dawn. He is separated from his partner, feeling dazed and lost, as well as the residual emotion from the moment of collective determination and partnership before the travel and while grasping onto his partner's hands in the thunderstorm. 0:48 Then it's followed by a mixed sense of discretion and casualness, stemming from conflicting relish and stress: the relish of escaping from the rigorous future world and adapting to this lively, lovely present, and the stress of being laden with an onerous world-saving mission and needing to maintain vigilance for this hard-earned opportunity. Then onwards, his now solitary journey also calls for discretion; like, he's just slinking through the bushes and caves following previously established plans and clews, doing stealthy investigative works xD. Meanwhile, the fact that he has committed his life to this meaningful enterprise sets him in a deep calm state of decisiveness and readiness to tackle any incoming challenge; hence an unhesitating tranquility exhibited as casualness (as can be observed by how readily Grovyle moves onto seeking Celebi when he is caught back to the future). 2:33 Onwards this feels like the bittersweet reunion with his partner, now half a stranger... Regaining a chance to share the joy and woe of the adventure after the arduous solo journey must be cathartic and relieving. 3:33 When that melodica solo came out for the first time, I inhaled and held my breath. It feels so delicate. I subsequently begin to picture it as the moment when the heartbreaking truth of fates to all future pokemons is broken to the protagonist and then the partner with sorry. The momentous words and the implication resonate, float and flicker in the grave atmosphere, without being fully digested only to be cut short by the further-saddening urgent, stern departure. 4:55 The last part with the thunderstorm feels somber and solemn. I imagine it to be the frozen moment of reminiscence when Grovyle's falling through the time portal with Duskoir and recalling that previous event with a similar setting - namely, being separated from his partner by the time portal in the thunderstorm. The mission, with the end insight, will now be passed on. It has to be done. Wow... this part of the music really communicates what Grovyle must be feeling there. I thought at first it was my imagination that's making associations between different segments of music and Grovyle's life story. But upon re-examination, the subtle usage of game footage to suggest context of the music is remarkable. I love how you incorporate expanded narrative into your covers! Astounding... Nicely done. (Fun aside, the rain sounds and visuals, stirring music, and the jazzy style culminating in that one quiet, melancholic moment at 3:33 really remind me of insaneintherain Carlo's rescore of city of tears "Splashes of Sorrow" from hollow knight... )

[@FiveNineSquared]

Ahhh-- still blown away by how meticulously in depth you're able to write these analyses :D I really have to admit that I never actually thought that hard about a coherent storyline for this arrangement though. It was more just additional exploration on the Time Gear motif that i didn't want to fit inside the actual Time Gear arrangement and the Sea of Time arrangement. However I did have the general feelings of melancholy, gravity and bittersweet-ness in mind that I associate with Grovyle's predicaments, and you certainly expanded upon them in a way that I legitimately couldn't have hahah, honestly amazing! I hadn't had time to watch that video back when it released, so I never heard Carlos' arrangement. Neither have I played Hollow Knight (even though I have it installed on my laptop lol - I'll get to it eventually). The visuals for the video are quite simplistic (my video editor just had a rain effect built in) so it's happy coincidence that the two look quite similar.

[@Awniber]

@@FiveNineSquaredI see ^^ Have to say, the succession of varying atmospheres you managed to achieve with different iterations really allows the audience to fill it in with the stories. It's marvelous! My comment stems from the point of view of an animator and a fan of the game. Frankly, I think many pmd covers of yours have great potential in leading the structure of fan music animations/animatics...

[@FiveNineSquared]

The nature of many jazz rearrangements is fitting the original work within different ideas and moods. That's something I've not thought about - this being used as a basis for an animation. I'd be honoured if anyone were to do an A(nimated)MV of sorts with my arrangements ahahah Ah no worries I didn't want to come off as harsh there. It's pretty cool that I managed to emulate the feeling of an insaneintherain arrangement because I really look up to him as an arranger and performer :D

[@Maruvert]

Woah ! Your rearrangement of "Through the Sea of Time" didn't make a particular impression on me, but this one is absoluty awesome ! @.@ Next will be Temporal Tower, I think ? I can't wait for it, but please take as much time as you need, we all want it to be a masterpiece ! ^^ I put all my hope on it, so I will be able to play it alongside Hidden Lands ! And congratulations again for "In the Hands of Fate" ! ;-)

[@FiveNineSquared]

Thanks! I'm still gonna follow that plan of a double arrangement for temporal tower methinks. Hopefully you'll enjoy trying to play it!

[@Maruvert]

My dream will come true, 20 minutes of PMD at piano, what a pleasure !

[@boonkunak]

Really like the ending with the thunder in the background! Sounds great!

[@FiveNineSquared]

Ahahah playing around with ambience like that is something I've wanted to do for a while now! Glad it sounded good :)

[@StarPlatinum-ch3gi]

Yo! Just wanted to say that it's awesome! ❤️

[@Justice-jm2cc]

This is a masterpiece

[@danielstrobel8369]

Wow, this is amazing!

[@FiveNineSquared]

Thanks!!

[@n3k0hgueimis]

My dad works at Spike Chunsoft and he said this will play at Spinda's Café in Explorers of Sky DX

[@FiveNineSquared]

I'm suing your dad for violating the NDA

[@kanchanchaudhary1973]

@@FiveNineSquared wait dOeS tHaT iMpLy tHaT yOu'Re ChUnSoFt?

[@heldon7951]

Ahhhhh 💔

[@arc_4543]

Love it

[@FiveNineSquared]

Thank you!

[@Iley1_500]

I knew the title wasn't just for fun Xp

[@rukr4845]

I need this extended for my hours long work.

[@ezdyu]

Any chance we could get a score with the piano solo included? Would like to try and rearrange this for solo piano, but who knows how long that will take me :p I know Ben has some gripes with the quality of his earlier arrangements, but what makes his Hands of Fate arrangement so infamous?

[@FiveNineSquared]

Alright I've added a version with the ad libs all written in; hope this'll help! This would be interesting to compress into just piano without drums at all... :o ahaha ok I used the wrong word there, I just wanted to put 'famous' but placed the 'in' in front of it instinctively. Maybe I was subconsciously thinking about the fact that his other (older) arrangements are very hard to master. His In the Hands of Fate score was the first thing I've ever touched that was Mystery Dungeon-related, so I do find it significant still

[@ezdyu]

@@FiveNineSquared Hah, yeah. I tried to pick up Hands of Fate when I was... 12 or so? and my hands could hardly stretch an octave at the time.