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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

Sheet Music Sample

Audio Sample

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

Sheet Music Sample

What A Wonderful World sheet music sample

Audio Sample

Categories
All Sheet Music Rock and Pop Music

True Colors

Words and music by Billy Steinberg and Tom Kelly; Arranged by Elena Fortin

True Colours Cover

This ballad was a hit back in the 80’s by Cyndi Lauper. It was also recorded by Phil Collins, Jenna Ushkowitz (from Glee), and as a duet by Justin Timberlake and Anna Kendrick. I can’t say which one is my favourite, I’ve listened to all of them and like them all for different reasons!

About the arrangement

This is my first arrangement of a pop song. I wrote it as an advanced arrangement–there are some complicated syncopated rhythms, and large stretches for chords. But it has such a beautiful melody and a lovely message with the lyrics 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 – True Colours

Sheet Music Sample

True Colours Sheet Music Sample

Audio Sample