Moonlight - Dancing in the...

[ElmerJFudd]

This one irked me today. Song came up on a 70s gold mix. What a neat little intro on the electric piano.

Google reveals that this is what they've been selling for years as the sheet music:

 

https://www.scribd.com/doc/302637177/Dancing-in-the-Moonlight-Toploader-1

 

https://www.musicnotes.com/sheetmusic/mtd.asp?ppn=MN0065293

 

Arranger must have had a lot of tunes to bang out that day.

A band called Toploader did a cover, which seems to be source of the above intro.

 

This guy did the original some justice.

 

https://www.scribd.com/doc/312266621/Dancing-in-the-Moonlight

 

I tried to do a more accurate one, attached.

 

Enjoy!

[stoken6]

The Musicnotes arrangement and the first scribd link is the Toploader cover of the song, which has a different intro.

 

Cheers, Mike.

[Dr88s]

Though far and away the most ubiquitous type of sheet music for pop, I still struggle to understand the utility of PVG format sheets. If one is dependent on sheet music to learn how to play a song, they"ll only learn some hybrid Frankenstein version of the keyboard part (if any), a simplified bass line, some guitar riffs, rhythm guitar, and the vocal melody all mashed up. All of the cool stuff going on that makes the song good gets completely lost. I guess for solo type players or home enthusiasts who want to be able to play the whole song alone it might be helpful.

[ElmerJFudd]

The Musicnotes arrangement and the first scribd link is the Toploader cover of the song, which has a different intro.

 

Cheers, Mike.

 

That Scribd copy looks ancient, right? Like it got pulled from a cardboard box in the garage. But thanks, I see that now - I didn"t even imagine a cover.

[DaveMcM]

I've been doing this song for years and the intro I play is very close to the Scribd version. Although it is played an octave higher than written and the 8th bar is the wrong rhythm.

[ElmerJFudd]

Great episode of history detectives here on Ellington - publishing, sheet music, discovered printing plates and the importance of publishing rights to even keep a big band in business.

https://www.pbs.org/video/history-detectives-duke-ellington-plates/

 

From how I understand it from the golden age of piano, sheet music has been for the masses. Anyone who took lessons as part of the expanding middle class (when people could afford a piano in the home and had dreams of their kids being like Van Cliburn or other piano hero) was hungry for sheet music. Teachers to provide whatever players were hungry for, students to grab off the rack at their music store. Big business. But from the start they always provided an arrangement rather than a transcription. I suppose because the arrangement would cover all bases - solo piano part would sound like the song "singer-less" because the melody was shoved into the accompaniment, an amateur singer would get the melody played in the piano part so they could follow along and not get lost. A more experienced player or accompanist could look at the sheet and know what to use and what to throw away. That said, transcription is a great exercise for players - even those with perfect pitch. Over the years there have been note for note transcriptions of songs - but more focused on icon players and their solos (Bill Evans, Chick and the like), and immensely popular piano players like Billy Joel or Elton John. It would be a huge time saver if publishers did more note for note releases - although in current pop there's not many surprises or intricacies to work out, but for the ear candy from the DAW.

[Baldwin Funster]

Guitar sheet music is worse. When I was a kid in about 76 I bought the Ted Nugent cat scratch fever album songbook. It had piano arrangements with the melody in the chords and guitar chord hashboxes over the piano music. Worthless except for lyrics and a couple pics. Of course I didn't know its uselessness when I bought it. Thanks for screwing a kid out of his allowance.

 

The extension of the topic is youtube song lessons where the piano teacher gives a lesson that has the melody in the chord arrangement. Learn that version of say Tiny Dancer and go into band rehearsal.....

[Dave Bryce]

Great tune!

 

I used to play this song a whole bunch in my college years band. Used the intro to show off EP sounds when I was doing Alesis QS demos as well.

 

dB

[KeyboardEric]

I love playing this song. I learned it by ear a couple a years ago and have played at some gigs. Thanks for the posting!

[MathOfInsects]

The phonograph was originally envisioned as a way to sell sheet music.

[Moonglow]

Fun tune to play. Keys and bass really need to be locked, otherwise it can be a mess.

[Threadslayer]

I just had a listen to this tune and I'd forgotten all the Floyd Kramer-y things on the EP and also how up front it was in the mix.

[Shamanczarek]

Hadn't played this song in years and then it showed up on the list for an upcoming gig. Went over it last night and am ready to go with it. My Casio's and Nord S3C are all good for getting that classic Rhodes sound.

[zxcvbnm098]

Hadn't played this song in years and then it showed up on the list for an upcoming gig. Went over it last night and am ready to go with it. My Casio's and Nord S3C are all good for getting that classic Rhodes sound.

 

Or is it a Wurly??

 

 

I admit I thought it was a Rhodes, but after seeing this video with a Wurly I'm confused? I went back and relistened to the original (albeit on the work computer) and now I'm really not sure which (and I have owned originals of both). When it's in that high register it makes it a bit more challenging to positively ID....for me at least.

[ElmerJFudd]

[video:youtube]

 

The recording has a nice bell like tone in the upper part that had me think Rhodes, the lower part is gritty, which made me think the pickups were just placed to growl, but on closer listen it could be a Wurlitzer. The pitches don"t sustain very long, but when held for a bit, they decay more like a Wurly would.

 

Experts?

[Doerfler]

Experts?

 

My money is on Wurlitzer, although our brother Shamanczarek is very schooled on these things, and I hate to bet against him.

[Moonglow]

I always used a Wurli patch for this song.

[mate stubb]

I don't hear any dynamics at all, or sustain pedal use - could be a pianet.

 

FWIW, I have owned Rhodes, multiple Wurlis, and a Combo Pianet (the one that sounded most like a Wurli.) This one sounds more mellow on top than mine, so it could be the later T or M which were more rhodes-like. It could also be something more obscure like a Cembalet.

 

Edit: after listening more carefully, I am still leaning to pianet. Upper register decays like plunky reeds, so not at all like a rhodes sound to me. Low register notes would differentiate between wurli and pianet better, but everything is played in the high register so we can't hear that Wurli "beowww" you can get.

 

But the biggest thing is absolutely even dynamics. It would be impossible to play the whole part that evenly from a hammer action. I hear no sustain pedal use, and the player is carefully playing those lines and controlling note length exactly as an organist would. I had to use that same technique with mine.

[Shamanczarek]

I never considered that is was anything other than a Rhodes because the Rhodes sound on my Casio WK-3800 sounds exactly like the recording. I also have a very good Wurly sound on the Casio. This video shows a Wurly so time to try Wurly sounds.

[video:youtube]