My Secret Tricks to LEVEL UP Piano Arrangements

10 tips to help make your pop song arrangements for the piano sounding more original and awesome! I'm using "As It Was" by Harry Styles as an example. My full arrangement is at the end of the video.

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As always, thank you so much for watching, and thank you to all of you that leave comments.

[juneyoo]

Great video. Even though there's lots of talented pianists these days, most don't know how to write and there's an unfortunate oversaturation of non-idiomatic, transcriptive, unoriginal piano covers on this site. Incredibly rare to find a truly good arrangement, and hopefully people like you can change that. So many people could learn so much from this!!

[NolaPiano]

For everyone that wants to check out "advanced" piano arrangers of pop songs have a look at:
- Costantino Carrara (almost solely does pop)
- Akmigone
- Peter Buka

[wiesorix]

Ah yes, my favorite type of video: a bunch of tips for a thing I don't do for an instrument I don't play, but with a beautiful piece of music at the end. I love it.

[JulienAndo]

Lovely arrangement!
5:40 I agree so much. Pop songs melody lines are generally not super interesting to be played as they are on an instrument. Definitely need to make them "organic" to the instrument they are played on. ^^
I rarely comment, but just wanted to say I love watching (lurking) your videos a lot. Take care!

[TanakTiri]

feels like she's still got a bit of that studio ghibli magic in her soul

[Potterfamilias]

This gave me a lot to think about, and I've been making my own piano arrangements of pop songs for 25 years. I expect to return to this video a lot. Thank you!

[guyb]

what a rich approach - without being too cheesy, it gives a Burt Bacharach after-hours feel, especially the first full chord melody you introduced. I'm not a pop fan, but this sort of translation proves there can be good compositional gems hidden behind the pop.

[jamesbannon]

The thing I admire most about your playing is your delicacy of touch.

[hydro___]

As an experienced arranger myself, this is very very good advice, even has some stuff I'll try to pay more attention to! Way to go, Nahre!

[boldandthebeautifulgimbal]

7:31 I don’t have the words to describe it, but this unique complexity of sound when I hear it, I almost immediately know it’s yours.

[LightMusicProductions]

Love the idea of adding your own original material! I used to be afraid of adding my own melodies to covers because I thought people wouldn't like it, but so far, I've seen a positive response.

[obquixote]

The obvious happiness you feel when you play is inspiring.

[TheTroubadourRecords]

Oh Nahre, you managed to turn a cheesy pop song into something I truly aspire to play in the future. And not only that, there are several parts in which I can hear your own voice that's prevalent in some of your original pieces. No wonder I always come to you for inspiration when I feel like writing. Thank you for the lessons!

[unworthyServant]

This is single-handedly the most important video I've watched to provide guidance on how to make a song my own! I appreciate the different steps you present here, demonstrating how to evolve from the basic block chords + melody style.

[Stick-a-fork-in-Gmorks-tort]

Your full arrangement feels like Spring life breaking through the Winter. 🌱🌼🌺🌹💐

[Thr-Words]

Holy hell I'm out of the loop! I've never heard about Harry Styles, but that music is pretty good, so I just casually googled him while listening to your video and HE'S A FREAKING SUPERSTAR!

[jorgemoran]

I'm just so fascinated with your skills as a pianist-composer. Thank you for sharing them. Hope to see you perform some day (although it's a bit hard as I live in Colombia but, you know, you can always dream...)

[IanWaugh]

Hey Nahre - ❤️ your videos. If I had your chops and Harry's dance moves I'd be a happy man.

[iagonizante]

i am so deeply inspired by this video nahre! It's amazing how you can make the pop song work and SHINE in a piano, making what would be an otehrwise unremarkable "cover" into a beautiful arrangement! Stunning!

[ScottsSynthStuff]

♡♡♡ the JD-800 in the background. I'd love to see what you come up using that thing!