FɪᴄᴛɪᴏɴJᴜɴᴄᴛɪᴏɴ Yᴜᴜᴋᴀ - ピアノ (Piano Cover)

[His_Cifnes]

Ahoi together! ^^/

It's been five weeks, before things started. At work I heard the song "Piano" [ピアノ] played by Yuki Kajiura und sung by Yuka Nanri. With this song I had a ~ W O W ~ moment.
Some moments into the song, I had to switch over to the video, stopped work and had to watch that in full screen with headphones on.
What - a - beautiful - melody, I thought, so nicely sung by Yuka, and so perfectly accompanied by Yuki on the piano.
And it got even better: Further into the song, Yuki e s c a l a t e d her play, and I knew.. that has to be the new project to cover.

Week 1 to 3 went into managing the piano works and get used to the stuff to play, the dynamics, her usual broken chords and getting the right expression. Result was [Take 01] of that song.. just the piano itself.

Week 4 to 5 went into actually playing the piano alongside Yuka's voice. (lalal.ai'ed, uploaded to the piano and activated by pedal at the right moment)
Once activated, the timing needs to be pretty acurate. Playing the piano too quickly would result in having a gap until Yuka starts singing again. Playing too slow would result in Yuka non chalantly singing into the piano play. - So it all needs to be timed by the second. This was quite a challenge at first, but in the end worked out just fine.

I even discovered that Yuki and Yuka had a timing issue in the original song.. ; ) - That I could fix with my release, still it is far from being complete. - Yuki's piano play is just so elegant and perfectly balanced. In comparisation my play still is kind of mechanical. But I work on this ... on a daily basis. :D - I certainly WANT to copy Yuki's style and expression, and am not going to slack off until that is achived. May it take 10 years or 20..

Also I discovered that her play uses a mix of reversed chords, octaves for both hands. And she's grabbing each chord individually. Her hands go off the piano each time a chord has been played. This makes her play look more dramatic. :D - Tried this... ugh.. and decided to give this more time. :p
In my case piano technics are still basic, and that might end up sounding differently. This is a bigger challenge, and will require YEARS of training and dedication... which I will invest. :D - Her music is so nice, so this process means loads of work but also FUN and lots of ear candy.

So, here we are. Please have a listen to Take 2, the current version of me accompaning Yuka Nanri in ピアノ --> [ c l i c k ]

So, what do YOU think? ~
I am interested in inputs of any kind. Please let me know.

Cif ~

 

[Decretum]

You did a great job! “Piano” is such an underrated composition, and I really like your interpretation of it! I know you described your playing as ‘mechanical’, but honestly, I think you added an excellent amount of creativity and emotional weight. Especially with the opening notes.

Your passion for the song truly shines through!

 

[MushiMushi]

Thank you for sharing your journey! I can definitely feel your love for this song!


By 'mechanical' do you mean you think you are not playing natural enough? Hmm, if I were to describe it, it feels to me that maybe you're putting a bit too much focus on each and every single note/chord rather than the general flow and fluidity of the entire piece. Regardless, good job - it always makes me happy when I see someone dedicating themselves into covering YK stuff!

 

[His_Cifnes]

Hi~ho Decretum and MushiMushi \^^
First of all, I'd like to thank you for taking the time to 1) watch AND 2) write a comment!
Your opinions are very useful and interesting to me. ^~^

Piano is, indeed, one of the forgotten songs. - I wonder why. : )

I know you described your playing as ‘mechanical’, but honestly, I think you added an excellent amount of creativity and emotional weight. Especially with the opening notes.

Hmm.. ^^ thank you! - Maybe it's just me. It is... somehow different to [the original]. Good chance I don't yet have the knowledge and spectrum to analyse why this is, since I am quite early in piano development still. (2,5 years now)
To have the correct sounds, I even bought a Roland piano and expanded this with the official RD-700 GX and NX sounds. So it should be close, but still something's missing. Looking forward to discover more secrets! ^^/

By 'mechanical' do you mean you think you are not playing natural enough?

This is hard to describe. With mechanical I mean, when I press a range of keys, this somehow sounds so immediate. When she does that, the tones have more of a soft / more rounded / have kind of a lyric touch. Supposedly that's because of two things (atleast) -- see below:

Possible reason #1: Her fingers are used to the piano for 30+ years now. She does not need to pay attention. Her hands just do what she thinks. (Only an assumption) It's like the difference when you have completed your driving license, and are now alone in your new car.. versus you've been driving for 30 years, and know each grab, don't need to think about everything, your brain just does everything without you having to think about each sub step, while you can focus on more important things in the meanwhile.

In comparisation.. I have to focus on many things at the same time still: Not to play too silent, not too loud, not too fast, not too slow, don't exaggerate the left hand (right one should be slightly louder), don't press two nebrary keys at the same time, go for the correct chords, don't take the wrong exit (the song has more than one. :D), remain clear about where in the song I am.. for instance some parts repeat, but they do differently at the 2nd time, keep in sync with Yuka's voice, don't let your thoughts wander off while playing.. - Yes, I sometimes find myself enjoying the songs too much, so I forget to pre-cache new notes.. (even though playing from memory) and the note cache runs empty... and I have to stop. :D [...] - I have asked other pianists and they agreed this is 100% normal, and there are some strategies to go against that... (yesss.. more stuff to learn and to take care of.. xD)

And possible reason #2: She's technically that advanced, so she can effordlessly play reversed chords everywhere, which gives so much confidence, that you can actually pay attention to deepest levels of expression. Could be that's why it sounds SO rounded and almost designed. I suppose she does not follow fixed notes but actually adds progressions and single arpeggios at will (since her piano play is not the same in numerous recordings of the same song).
Until now if I derive from a certain way to play a piece, this leads to unplanned thinking while playing, which leads not to be focussed anymore, which possibly leads to mistakes. She, on the other hand, appears to be free in what to play and can adapt anytime something odd happens.
I remember (even happened in this very song), Yuki did mix up fingers on the escalation piano solo part in the middle of the song while playing a broken chord. She can IMMEDIATELY recover from this, and play on as if nothing had happened. - That's astonishing. I would be thinking about this (unplanned) while playing, which potentially leads to more mistakes as I wouldn't be focussed anymore. (Recovering from a mistake is a skill in itself, and requires specific training. I remember quite a few Rebecca Bogart YT videos about this topic.)

Hmm, if I were to describe it, it feels to me that maybe you're putting a bit too much focus on each and every single note/chord rather than the general flow and fluidity of the entire piece.

Ahh yes, this would be in short words, what I thought about above... ^^'''
This is interesting to hear, as it shows I appear to be on the right track. ; )

it always makes me happy when I see someone dedicating themselves into covering YK stuff!

Ohh yes. My pleasure. : ) - I really DO WANT to learn how to play this way. It's like an obsession. Time flies fast as soon as I sit at the piano, so I make sure time's invested well. There are still pleeeenty of YK songs to cover... so much potential FUN left. :D
Let's hope Yuki will continue to compose and play such great songs and melodies for a loong time.

Cif ~