Category: Film Music

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All Sheet Music Children's Music Film Music

The Rainbow Connection

(from “The Muppet Movie”)

Words and music by Kenneth L. Ascher and Paul Williams; Arranged by Elena Fortin

The Rainbow Connection Cover

Most people hear the intro of this piece and immediately picture Kermit the Frog, strumming his banjo and singing this wistful little tune. It is one of the very first music sheets that I went out and bought at our local music store. I was so excited to learn it!

Fast forward many years later and I am so happy to see it entertaining a whole new generation of people. On YouTube, Kermit uploaded a special performance of it in April 2020!

I performed a version of this as a duet with a student at a recital and it was a big hit (we even came up with our own choreography to go along with the piece)! This melody is one of those timeless and iconic pieces that will forever have a special place in my heart.

About the arrangement

My version starts out in the key of A major, and like the original modulates to B flat major. The left hand is arranged in a simple, arpeggiated/broken chord accompaniment that makes the style more pianistic. These smooth, flowing arpeggios accompany most of the piece.

The first verse is left to be fairly simple and lets the melody shine. The second verse is slightly more complex, with more harmony added to the right hand notes, and some fills that build on the melody.

The key change has more movement and signals the last verse done in a very full, orchestra-like sound that takes advantage of the breadth of the piano keyboard. The finish brings us back to a more simple arrangement–back to its’ humble beginnings!

I hope I made Kermit proud!!

Video Performance

Purchase Information

Clicking on the link below will bring you to a new site: Sheet Music Plus. This arrangement is under copyright with the ArrangeMe program by Hal Leonard.

Sheet Music Plus – The Rainbow Connection

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The Rainbow Connection Sheet Music Sample

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All Sheet Music Film Music Rock and Pop Music

Shallow

(from “A Star is Born”)

Words and music by Stefani Germanotta, Anthony Rossomando, Andrew Wyatt, and Mark Robson; Arranged by Elena Fortin

Shallow Cover

This is an advanced intermediate piano solo arrangement of the beautiful song “Shallow” from “A Star is Born”, made famous by Lady Gaga (aka Stefani Germanotta) and Bradley Cooper.

I have been working on arrangements that have stood the test of time and that I consider to be beautiful and inspirational. While this piece is fairly young (it came out in 2018), it’s one of those pieces that give you chills when you hear it. I have never seen the movie, although I have seen various YouTube videos of this being performed by Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper.

There is something magical in the melody and in the emotion that they convey when they play and perform this song together.

About the arrangement

This arrangement follows the basic structure of the vocal arrangement (intro, verse, verse, chorus, bridge, chorus, outro). The arrangement stays fairly plain at first and gradually introduces some alternate melodies and fills. The left hand alternates between gentle arpeggios and areas of strong octaves and chords to build a powerful chorus and bridge section.

The arrangement was written for the early-advanced to advanced pianist. I enjoyed adding to the melodic line to fill it out in the piano solo version–the vocal version has Lady Gaga’s lovely voice to add beauty to the melodic line, but the piano solo version needs a little more!

Video Performance

Purchase Information

Clicking on the link below will bring you to a new site: Sheet Music Plus. This arrangement is under copyright with the ArrangeMe program by Hal Leonard.

Sheet Music Plus – Shallow

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Shallow Sheet Music Sample

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All Sheet Music Film Music

Rewrite the Stars

(from “The Greatest Showman”)

Words and music by Benj Pasek and Justin Paul; Arranged by Elena Fortin

Rewrite the Stars Cover

This beautiful piece was sung as a duet by Zac Efron and Zendaya in the movie musical “The Greatest Showman“. As if the duet wasn’t challenging enough, they filmed it while performing a breathtaking aerial act. This is one of my favourite parts of the movie (aside from the fact that finding out Wolverine can sing?!).

About the arrangement

This arrangement is written for the advanced pianist–the left hand has an accompaniment that alternates between arpeggios going all over the piano keyboard, and deep bass notes and full chords. Take the time to figure out a fingering that works for you! I made suggested fingerings in the score, but fingering is always personal–what works for me may not work for you.

Aim to bring out the melody while you play. I usually hum the words in my head when I’m playing! The rhythms in this song are challenging–there are a lot of offbeat rhythms that have to keep moving forward–keep your left hand steady and use it as your metronome!

One of my students was working on the piece and it is a really long one! (My performance is 4 minutes and 12 seconds). In order to make it a little bit shorter, we did a version where you jump from halfway through bar 56 directly to bar 83 to make the performance fit in a smaller time frame.

Video Performance

Purchase Information

Clicking on the link below will bring you to a new site: Sheet Music Plus. This arrangement is under copyright with the ArrangeMe program by Hal Leonard.

Sheet Music Plus – Rewrite the Stars

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Rewrite the Stars Sheet Music Sample

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Categories
All Sheet Music Film Music Rock and Pop Music

Yesterday

Words and music by John Lennon and Paul McCartney; Arranged by Elena Fortin

Yesterday Cover

This beautiful classic ballad “Yesterday” was written by John Lennon and Paul McCartney. The Beatles brought us so many songs–many which are still relevant and loved today.

I had heard an analysis of this song from someone who was trying to and why it still sounds so fresh so many years later. Normal musical phrases are usually 8 bars long–if you sing the opening of Yesterday to yourself, you’ll see that the first phrase is 7 bars! That means the second phrase occurs before you expect it to be–it keeps you just slightly off balance and wanting to hear more.

About the arrangement

This arrangement is written with the Intermediate / Early Advanced player in mind. The arrangement is lyrical and should always be played with the words and musical phrases in mind. Bring out the melody and play it expressively. There are some challenging rhythms and right hand fills that will be fun for practicing!

The piece is written in 4/4 time in the key of F major. Listen for the melody because sometimes it is hidden inside of melodic fills our under counter melodies.

Video Performance

Purchase Information

Clicking on the link below will bring you to a new site: Sheet Music Plus. This arrangement is under copyright with the ArrangeMe program by Hal Leonard.

Sheet Music Plus – Yesterday

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Yesterday Sheet Music Sample

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Categories
All Sheet Music Christmas and Holiday Music Film Music

Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas

(from “Meet Me In St. Louis”)

Words and music by Hugh Martin and Ralph Blane; Arranged by Elena Fortin

Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas Cover

Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas (by Hugh Martin and Ralph Blane) is a gem of a Christmas song first written in 1943. It was used in the 1944 film “Meet Me In St. Louis“. Judy Garland introduced this song in a scene where she is comforting a younger sister when they learn they are moving away from their beloved home in St. Louis, just before the highly-anticipated World’s Fair is coming to their doorstep!

A well-beloved holiday favourite, the song has been performed by several different recording artists including Frank Sinatra, Micheal Bublé, Josh Groban, and Sam Smith.

It’s funny that this song turned into a holiday favourite–in the movie, Judy Garland sings it to her little sister (played by Margaret O’Brien) to comfort her because their family is moving to New York City just before the holidays. The song has undergone a few lyric changes since it’s first incarnation–lyrics that were considered to be “depressing” were changed to be more uplifting.

About the arrangement

This arrangement is a nod to classic film–think old style soundtracks with lush orchestrations. I chose to write this song in 12/8 time, so the left hand triplets are accompanying the melody throughout. The triplets give the melody a nice lilt and writing it in 12/8 time instead of 4/4 time with triplets is just easier for editing and hopefully easier to read.

Listen for the surprise change of harmony with a trick chord near the end!

Video Performance

Purchase Information

Clicking on the link below will bring you to a new site: Sheet Music Plus. This arrangement is under copyright with the ArrangeMe program by Hal Leonard.

Sheet Music Plus – Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas

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Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas Sheet Music Sample

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Categories
All Sheet Music Children's Music Film Music

Test Drive

(from “How to Train Your Dragon”)

Music by John James Powell and Michael John Mollo; Arranged by Elena Fortin

Test Drive Cover

Composers John James Powell and Michael John Mollo wrote this soaring piece for the soundtrack from the movie “How To Train Your Dragon“. You know the moment when Hiccup is training his new dragon Toothless and they go soaring through the skies for the first time–this is the melody that plays in the background!

I wrote this arrangement for one of my students, Nicole. Whenever we are searching for recital pieces or fun music to learn, we usually turn to animated movies. (Maybe because I have been told by some of my students that my taste in music is old–but I got tired of getting blank stares when I suggest some titles of the music I listen to!) At least we can connect on film music–especially animated film music!

Nicole is the one that suggested this song–I had watched the movie a couple of times, but never really listened closely to the soundtrack, except to know that I liked it. She was my “guinea pig” while I was arranging the song and I am thankful for her suggestions for different parts of the music.

Since publishing it, I had other students ask to learn it–if you want to see one of the students perform it, you can see his video on our online school’s YouTube channel: Coast2Coast Online Music School

About the arrangement

The piece is arranged for Early Intermediate players and will challenge them with fingering passages, chord accompaniment that requires a stretch of an octave, and expressive playing.

The music starts out in the key of C major, in 4/4 time. The left hand has a “drone” accompaniment–it’s a nod to it’s Scottish roots and the bagpipe instrument that plays with bass chords that continue through a lot of the opening of the piece. It eventually modulates to the key of D major (two sharps) in a very exciting bridge.

Try to follow the dynamics to help you play expressively and bring the image of Hiccup and Toothless swooping through the sky, testing their wings for the first time.

Video Performance

Purchase Information

Clicking on the link below will bring you to a new site: Sheet Music Plus. This arrangement is under copyright with the ArrangeMe program by Hal Leonard.

Sheet Music Plus – Test Drive from “How To Train Your Dragon“

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Test Drive Sheet Music Sample

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Categories
All Sheet Music Film Music Rock and Pop Music

Let It Be

Words and music by John Lennon and Paul McCartney; Arranged by Elena Fortin

Let It Be Cover

I went about this arrangement a little backwards–I normally have the copyright permissions arranged before I start working on a song, but I watched the hilarious movie “Yesterday” and this song started going through my head.

For those who haven’t seen it, the premise of the movie is based on what would happen if people woke up one day to a world that didn’t have the Beatles, and only one person–a guitarist remembered all the music and had to educate the world. It was a very interesting idea! I decided to work my way through arranging some of their songs and I am certainly glad to live in a world where the Beatles exist!

After watching the movie, this little arrangement popped into my head and worked its’ magic through my fingers. I finished the arrangement pretty quickly, and THEN decided to look for licensing. Thankfully, that finally got sorted so I could make the sheet music available! Yay!

About the arrangement

The arrangement is written in 4/4 time in the key of C major. The arrangement is very smooth and flowing and I make some different choices with the melody rhythm, and sometimes take liberties with the melodic line. I mean, if I was a Beatle, and I played my songs for many years, and I had to perform these songs for many years, I’d probably play around with the melody lines too! It’s nice that you can take the structure of their song and play around with it to make it more suitable as a piano solo which is what I intended with this version.

The arrangement is intended for intermediate to early advanced players–the left hand has a lot of movement, and later in the piece, there are some challenging melodic runs in the right hand, offbeat rhythms, including quarter note triplets, and a quintuplet thrown in there too!

Video Performance

Purchase Information

Clicking on the link below will bring you to a new site: Sheet Music Plus. This arrangement is under copyright with the ArrangeMe program by Hal Leonard.

Sheet Music Plus – Let It Be

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Categories
All Sheet Music Film Music Inspirational and Uplifting Rock and Pop Music

What a Wonderful World

Words and music by George David Weiss and Bob Thiele; Arranged by Elena Fortin

What a Wonderful World Cover

What a Wonderful World was written by Bob Thiele and George David Weiss. The piece was recorded and made famous by icon Louis Armstrong.

The story of the recording was pretty cool: Louis was in Las Vegas and the recording was setup to take place after a midnight gig. They started recording and were interrupted by a recording executive who was annoyed that Louis wasn’t recording an upbeat number like another one of his hits, “Hello, Dolly”.

After the executive was thrown out, train whistles interrupted the recording. The final take wasn’t done until 6 a.m.! In order to make sure that the orchestra members were paid for their overtime work, Louis asked to be paid only union scale for his work ($250 at the time)! What a Wonderful World indeed.

About the arrangement

This arrangement was written as a smooth piano solo, but I included the words because I love how they tell a story. I decided to make it an Intermediate/Early Advanced piano solo. The melody is supported by chords in the RH, and the left hand is arpeggios of chords for the most part, with a stride LH bass for the middle section. It is such a beautiful melody, it isn’t decorated much except for a few bridges between verses.

Video Performance

Purchase Information

Clicking on the link below will bring you to a new site: Sheet Music Plus. This arrangement is under copyright with the ArrangeMe program by Hal Leonard.

Sheet Music Plus – What A Wonderful World

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What A Wonderful World sheet music sample

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