Exploring the Beatles Strings Arrangements: Maybe Blog Series, Part 3 - Creating the Sheet Music for Yesterdays String Parts. By the Way, Who Will Sing the Song?

Being able to read and write sheet music, and as soon as you look at it, your hands move and you can hum along.
If I were such a person, I would have dreamed about it for decades and grown old (Dazai?). Receiving specialized music education, possibly studying abroad, interacting with many music friends in a sizable community, and making a living in that field... oops, I started daydreaming again.

In reality, I have not received any specialized education, nor have I fully embraced the rock 'n' roll lifestyle. I am just an ordinary person with no creativity, watching Robert Fripp's demo of Flippertronics on YouTube and wondering when I can take my next vacation. (……It is Dazai, right?)

Despite being such a person, I am now challenging myself to transcribe the sheet music for "Yesterday." In the second part of this blog series, we encountered George Martin's handwritten sheet music for the "Yesterday" string parts. The project involves transcribing it neatly, actually playing it, and placing myself "inside" the string parts of that iconic record.

Yesterday [String Quartet Score arranged by George Martin for The Beatles' recording on June 17, 1965]

There are several music notation software options available, but I don't have the time to review each one individually right now. Instead, I'll be using a versatile music notation software that I use regularly in my daily life. The screenshots in this article will be from this software. While it differs from commercial software in terms of functionality, the tasks I aim to accomplish are fairly straightforward, so I don't anticipate any major issues with this software.

As for reviews of commercial products, I'll leave that for another time (if I ever get around to it). For now, let's get started with the work. I'm not going to reveal the name of the music notation software I'm using, but it should be easy to find with a bit of research, so I encourage readers to look into it on their own.

Launch the software → Create a new project → Enter the necessary information, and then proceed to the sheet music input screen.

Here, I have created a blank score for 48 measures for a string quartet. The title is "Yesterday Strings."

At the top of the screen, there is a task palette with various notes lined up. Simply put, you can place these notes on the staff with your mouse, which is surprisingly straightforward.
We have reached an era where you can "create" music even if you don't know music theory, have absolute pitch, or play an instrument. Schubert and people from the past would be astonished.

If I were to review how to use this software, I would need an endless number of pages, so I will show you the screen with the completed input right away. By following the steps, you can create a score like this.

The measure widths are uneven, and it’s certainly not an easy-to-read score, but this can be adjusted to some extent with the software settings, which we will address later.

This software allows you to export the completed score (MIDI file) to audio data such as WAV or m4a. Here is the exported audio file.

* Playback may be affected by the environment of each device.

By the way, how is your preparation with the instruments going? Have you placed an order with Sound House? This overlaps with the content of Part 2, but let me guide you through the instruments.
If you consider overdubbing by yourself, even for a quartet, one violin is sufficient. For example, you could get the PLAYTECH / PVN244SET (violin), PVA255 (viola), and PVC244 (cello). Purchasing all of these at once would only cost around 70,000 yen.

PLAYTECH / PVN244 Violin Set

PLAYTECH / PVN245 Violin Set

PLAYTECH / PVN255 Viola Set

PLAYTECH / PVN244 Cello Set 4/4

### How About the Vocals?

Imagining a Beatles cover band meeting somewhere in Japan:
- "My voice is similar to Paul’s, so I’m the only one who can do it."
- "I can play the Epiphone Texan left-handed, even though I'm right-handed. I practiced for it."
- "The vocalist should have the right face and build, right? I wouldn't mind stepping aside."
Everyone, please decide amicably.

As I transcribed the string part of "Yesterday" from the original score, the overwhelming impression I got was how "beautiful" it is. There are no grand tricks, just a simple arrangement that follows the song's melody. Judging by the constituent notes, it seems to be composed of minimal notes that adhere closely to the harmony and melody of the chord progression. Music teachers might have professional comments like "the use of these notes is extraordinary," but I can't quite grasp that. So, I'll just soak in the beautiful sound of this ensemble while gazing at George Martin's handwritten score.

It looks like I've managed to get as far as creating the sheet music. To get such an impression from playing with GM sounds, we truly live in an amazing time.

The next installment (probably coming) is "Reading Sheet Music. Can You Even Read Alto Clef?" Make sure to have your instruments ready. Let’s start with the violin. The PLAYTECH / PVN244 will do just fine.