Rick Wakeman - Merlin Coda - Piano Sheet Music + PDF, MIDI file & MP3
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- Опубліковано 28 гру 2021
- A sheet music transcription of the Merlin Coda by Rick Wakeman from 2006.
PDF etc. can be obtained thru www.buymeacoffee.com/ElektrikHob or the usual
DropBox link if you've already donated. Please click on SHOW MORE (just below) for more info.
One of my supporters commisioned this one and it’s a fun (albeit very short) party-piece.
Over the years, Rick has played this live on many occasions, sometimes at light-speed, sometimes only at a break-neck pace (!) 😂
I’ve based this version on a 2006 performance (also available on UA-cam - • The Other Side Of Rick... ) that was released in 2007 on ‘The Other Side of Rick Wakeman’ DVD.
Performance notes (also in the PDF).
All tempi below refer to crotchets (quarter notes) per minute.
Rick's YT video (which doesn’t include the bracketed notes in my score) starts at around 210 and slows to a more leisurely(!) 190 halfway through.
However, in my video it's played around 160 which is about the fastest I can play it at!
There is a piano-only studio version I have that is 'only' at 166, but that one really is an exception; not surprisingly, there are more notes being played on that one, especially in the left hand (LH).
Every other version (all but one is live) that I have is considerably faster (usually starting over 200 and slowing a little as the piece progresses) with that one other studio version clocking in at roughly 220 for the whole piece!! 😳
All bracketed notes in the LH (bars 2, 5, 13 & 14) and the single right hand (RH) instance (bar 10) can be omitted when playing above 200 as that's what Rick does; his above YT video being an example.
When he performs (most of) this section a few times earlier in Merlin (which he usually does around 170-180), that's when he plays these bracketed notes (or something very similar).
Whether or not you include these notes is up to you; I do, but then, like I said, I only attempt this piece at around a 'sedate' 160 😉
Bar 3 (and 15). On the original "...King Arthur..." studio album (and on the 166 studio version mentioned above), the 2nd arpeggio is a simple C major (E, G, C, E), similar to the other chords in that bar; likewise, the 2nd arpeggio in bar 6 is an E dominant 7th (E, G#, B, D).
I suspect that, rather than trying to faithfully reproduce the original, even Rick found that playing it this way (as I’ve scored it) is a little easier at warp speed! 😂
Even though I play it at a relatively slow speed, I actually prefer this way too; I think it sounds more interesting.
Again, what you choose to do is entirely down to you.
In the end, this score is a snapshot of just one performance - albeit tidied up a little through listening to other versions. Rick never performs it exactly the same each time so this score is really a template for you to use to work out what's best for you; the LH in particular can be adapted to have as many or as few notes as you feel comfortable with.
Thank you and goodnight! 👍 (for this year anyway 😉)
![Rick Wakeman - Excerpts from The Six Wives of Henry VIII [Live Cover]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/4EcVms_XBoE/mqdefault.jpg)
![Rick Wakeman - Excerpts from The Six Wives of Henry VIII [Live Cover]](/img/tr.png)
Just found this and I bought the King Arthur Album many moons ago, thank you for posting this I never thought I would one day get to attempt to play this.
Superb transcription yet again 👍👍🏴
Thank you, one of my absolute favourites
It's become a bit of a favourite of mine too now I've worked it out 🙂
wow, I always wanted to figure out how to play it, thank you very much for uploading it!!
Awesome! A brilliant piece from one of the greatest keyboard players ever. Since the first time I heard this (almost 15 years ago), I wished to play it. But I never had the sheet music, and it goes way to fast for me to transcribe. Finally I have the chance to learn this magnificent piece. This is just amazing! Thank you so much! And happy New year 😀
Another astounding piece!!! Your painstaking attention to detail is beyond reproach!!! Thanks for sharing the transcription to one of Rick's most difficult solos, as if he has any that are easy lol!!! Great way to ring in the New Year as well!!!
Great work as always - thank you! After the lovely surprise of Uncle Rick appearing could there be some more to follow in the future? When I was really young (around 12-14 ish) and a big prog and Rick fan, over a period of a year or two, with my pocket money I managed to buy the original sheet music books for Six Wives, Journey to the Centre of the Earth and Arthur which I still have in perfect condition. But the one I really regret not buying now which was there in the lovely old sheet music store (James Pass in Birmingham UK) was Criminal Record. I would love a transcription of Statue of Justice as I always wanted to play that!
Your work is giving me such pleasure - learning the Tony Banks pieces has made me appreciate even more his incredible attention to detail in the chords and lead lines - just amazing and its like discovering the pieces all over again with your amazing transcriptions. The Lady Lies is one that would also be amazing to see from you at some point albeit I finally managed to get the solo worked out by isolating it in a midi file and using Logic score editor to convert to sheet music and print it out! Convoluted but so happy to finally have that one as it may be my favourite ever Banks solo albeit a lot easier than many!
Thanks again - you are amazingly talented and so generous.
Thanks 🙂I will be doing The Lady Lies at some point.
As for Rick's material, I would only do those as commissions (like the 2 I've done so far; this and the ...Science... solo). Unfortunately, they don't come cheap; basically 6 coffees per minute of audio. The reason for this is that it takes a fair amount of time to work out.
Also, to be honest, I'm not a huge Rick fan 😔 I find most of his work too baroque'n'roll for me so I don't particularly enjoy working it out (except the two I've done which are short, sweet and to the point).
I'd rather do Tony's stuff (which I'm effectively almost giving away) whether Genesis or some of his solo output simply because I love it.
TBH, I'd rather do some more Anthony Phillips piano pieces (which I probably will at some point) and possibly some more Keith Emerson.
Don't get me wrong, I have tremendous respect for Rick's technical playing ability; I don't think there's ever been anyone in the rock arena that has as precise and agile (ie. fast) a right hand as Rick and that's including Keith and Jordan!! (though Keith's left hand is in a different league...!).
But his compositional style just doesn't boil my egg the way that Tony, Keith and others like Dave Stewart (Bruford, National Health etc.) or Lyle Mays do.
@@ElektrikHob Thanks for the reply. I fully agree some of Rick's stuff is very much your brilliant term for it and noodling for the for the sake of it in an almost fairground sounding way (where speed is the objective rather than harmony or rhythmic interest). I am much more an Emerson fan than Wakeman. Keith E is why I took up keyboards aged 11 after listening over and over to the live triple album Welcome Back My Friends which a neighbour let me borrow. Some of Rick's stuff is brilliant (parts of the big early albums) but I don't listen to him now anywhere near as much as ELP or Genesis. Emerson's left hand was something else - some of the stuff in Karn Evil 9 and any of the fugues he did are mind-blowing...His harmonic content is so diverse and at time challenging...
@@stevenkentish5389 Totally with you! I first heard 'Pictures...' when I was nearly 13 (I'd been playing classical piano for a few years by then and had worked my way through the Beatles & Elton J) and that was it; I was hooked on the idea of playing keyboards as well as piano and so my parents got me a Hammond (not a tonewheel unfortunately) but it gave me a whole new perspective on playing keyboards that served me well when I got into Genesis a year or so later :)
I think the only Rick album that I still like is 'Six Wives...' which I bought back when I was 13.
@@ElektrikHob This is uncanny...I also was lucky enough to have a Hammond from my parents to learn on but it was also not a tonewheel but an electric home one! But it was a step up from the Bontempi I started on! I then wanted a Mini Moog and used to go to the local music store and try it out but it was way too much for my parents (and in hindsight I was really pushing my luck) but I managed to get an EDP Wasp one Xmas which I still have in its box!
@@stevenkentish5389 My first synth was a Moog Prodigy that I bought (along with a Hohner Pianet T) with my student grant money (!) when I went to college at 17.
Excellent work on this, thank you. Would it be hard for you to do Rick's piano rendition of "Close to the Edge"? The only video I've seen of that has his hands out of sync with the audio, so I can't tell what he's doing since I'm more of a novice.
Thanks 🙂Please see my reply to Stephen K for info about Rick W transcriptions.
Perfect - thanks for 3/2 (:D) - of course, Uncle Rick plays it a good deal faster!
That's cos he's just showing off 😂