Piano Sheet Music Question

[theBruiser500]

I just got a bunch of stuff from the music store, sheet music for the piano. They are Jesus Christ Superstar, West Side Story, Piano Man, Simon and Garfunkel and a couple more things. They all say "piano/vocal" on them and the sheet music has 3 lines in it, not the normal 2. I guess the 3rd line is for the vocal part of it.

But I think this piano/vocal combo is somehow messing up the music because it doesn't sound like what it does in the originals. It might just be because I can't play the songs yet and I suck at it but I don't think so, take this for example web page, the easiest song in there Scarborough Fair I can kind of play and it just doesn't sound like it does when I listen to the mp3. Can anyone offer help on this? Thanks.

[James Boston]

It looks like a fake chart. It's not the original arrangement, just a sing-along type version. You don't play the vocal line.

[deacsoft]

[ QUOTE ]
It's not the original arrangement,

[/ QUOTE ]

[theBruiser500]

In the sheet music book though it doesn't say anywhere it's simplifed, on each song it says "arranged and written by paul simon".

[nothumb]

One other possibility to consider is that the sheet music doesn't reflect some overdubs or additional parts in the recording. I haven't listened to S&G in a long time so I can't talk specifically about the music you provided.

Sometimes, in these beginner books, the person transcribing it will intentionally simplify things somewhat. They still have to attribute it to the original author.

The other possibility, of course, is that you suck.

NT

[Fabian]

I have this exact book, and incidentally Scarborough Fair was the first song I learned to play a few years ago.

I agree it doesn't sound quite like the original track at first, especially when you're still learning and don't play it as fluently as you'd like. When you can play it, though, it does sound very nice. What you play with your left hand is basically the guitar in the original, and the key is how fluent you can play that.

Some songs in there are quite simplified, IIRC The boxer is the best example of this, but others are very similar to the original, the best example being Bridge over troubled water, which is very complex (for me anyway), and is (almost) exactly like you hear it in your mp3.

Good luck.

[turnipmonster]

it's not the original versions note for note, it's some dude's arrangement of the original for piano and vocal. sheet music is almost never the original note for note unless you buy a transcription, which is exactly what's on the record. this is because you just have a piano whereas simon and garfunkel have a bass, guitars and piano etc. so the music has to be rearranged so it's playable on just piano.

--turnipmonster

[smokingrobot]

most often the piano/vocal books are often not written and put out by the musician himself (i might even be 100% correct if i were to change this to never) i have a couple hal leonard books with ben folds five songs in them, and clearly there are differences between song and CD. paul simon isnt writing the sheet music down so people can publish it. in fact usually some guy with perfect pitch or (apparently close to it) writes it.

as for the simon and garfunkel stuff, since most of their stuff was arranged for a guitar, it might sound different on the piano.

the other thing you hafta remember is when you are listening to the song, the main melody is SUNG not played. so when you play the piano, it really is an accompaniment.

if you are looking for the song to sound like the one they play, try playing the vocal line with your right hand and just playing the chords (with proper inversions) with your left. you can see what chords the melody is implying written out above in guitar tab above the vocal staff there. (i.e. first chord: E-flat, then B-flat) etc.

try it out and see how it sounds then. if it still sounds odd, perhaps you just need some more practice.