The Theory Behind River Flows in You (What Makes it SO Good?)

Did Yiruma steal from Beethoven? Is “River Flows in You” a classical piece or a pop song in disguise?
We’ll dive into the mesmerizing world of Yiruma's biggest hit and uncover the secrets behind the song's melody, chord progression, and Yiruma's signature use of arpeggios.
You'll see how Yiruma's genius lies in his ability to blend complexity and simplicity, transforming a four-chord song into a masterpiece loved around the globe. We'll also delve into the influences of classical music, particularly Beethoven, on this piece. So, whether you're a Yiruma fan, a piano enthusiast, or just someone who loves good music, this video promises to deepen your appreciation for "River Flows in You."
⚡️Chapters:
0:00 - Intro
0:34 - The Melody - An Overview
4:13 - Diving Deeper Into The Melody
5:10 - Learn The Song With Pianote
5:24 - Rhythmic Variations (The Fun Stuff)
5:45 - Yiruma's Secret Sauce - Arpeggios
8:54 - What Made It So Popular?
9:32 - Outro
⚡️Learn River Flows in You FREE with a 7-day trial to Pianote:
►www.pianote.com/trial
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Getting Started (your first lessons): www.pianote.com/getting-started
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#Yiruma #RiverFlowsInYou #PianoTutorial #MusicAnalysis

[@PianoteOfficial]

Don't have headphones? You can read our theory breakdown on our blog >> www.pianote.com/blog/why-river-flows-in-you-is-so-popular/

[@spidyadal1577]

Please release these two songs on piano imagination foster the People and binks sake from one piece please 🙏

[@JZT97]

Please have yiruma as your guest

[@sanjeevsampath]

Yiruma made me take up learning the Piano.

[@pianiphicechoes320]

Same dude

[@debajitmajumder1551]

Coming up

[@travissubuaymanga8456]

Same

[@VINHNGUYEN-qj6sw]

Same

[@VINHNGUYEN-qj6sw]

This song lure girlfriend 😏

[@Camillus90]

I went to Yiruma concert in Malaysia. As he playing, he told the story or inspiration behind of the songs he play. "River Flows in You" is one of the song in his 1st Album 'First Love". The songs he created when he had his 1st love and heart break. From that emotion, he created it. and got one song he played for the last time in Malaysia and will never play again because the emotion too deep, he joked his wife would be mad at him ,why keep remember his 1st love.😁

[@bakerfx4968]

This song is the 3rd one I learned on piano! It was very difficult but doable so I stuck with it and took it in chunks and by about a month of practicing I could play a basic version of it! I loved this breakdown of it, thanks Kevin!

[@radvibes]

Oh gosh. That's what I'm trying to do. I downloaded a version from "music notes" with only 1 sharp (F sharp.) and I can't find anyone on KZbin playing this version.

[@bakerfx4968]

@@radvibes Klavier Lerner on KZbin has an English tutorial I followed. It was the best for this song

[@mariamhussein719]

That was amazing! Thank you so much for sharing your analysis of this masterpiece :)

[@SeanPlaysThePiano]

This is a fantastic video. Only issue is I watched it at 4am before bed and had to fire up my keyboard and play it real quick 😅

[@joeharmon4352]

Thank you, Kevin! I really enjoy learning from you, Lisa, and the Pianote Team. I happened to be studying Fur Elise and River Flows in You at the same time and each piece helped me with the other.

[@akiraralling5786]

The quality of your content is really good. Keep it up guys.

[@PianoteOfficial]

Thank you! Will do!

[@ToastandJam52]

This is an excellent video,Kevin. More like this please!

[@Tom-li9xq]

Absolutely loved this video, please more of these analysis videos ! Liked and shared it among all of my music groups

[@PianoteOfficial]

Thank you!! More planned.

[@corrina9171]

It's both... Classical and Pop. Beautiful. I know the next song I'm going try. Thank you for the video and breakdown.

[@keroppismile]

This is one of my top performing songs to play. I get to feel cool like Yiruma for just a moment. 🫠❤

[@lindayomarysgonzalezperez4472]

Ohhhhh!!! Wow!! I've been practicing fur elise in little bits and a simplified version of it for quite a few months now . Just this week, I activated my 90 trial with painote that came with my roland keyboard purchase and heard another student playing river flows in the facebook group. The song went straight to my heart to the point that it made me cry, I felt like I had heard it before but couldn't put a pin on it, and now I see how it resembles fur elise. That was a genius move!!

[@brasswoddens]

When i was a child i know that song what's sounds like i really like it then after a years i finally see a video of that song title then i listen to it. Then i become very nostalgia to this song. That inspires me to learn piano for the first time.

[@MsRodrigo989898]

It brings me nostalgic thoughts idk why

[@jerico-piano]

Clearly a masterpiece that got me to embark on a piano journey last summer, also thanks to Pianote, that tutorial was very well put together. Thank you so much !

[@somtonkenke]

how did you start your journey? i’ve been struggling so hard to start and get better

[@musicxankush]

I am your biggest fan pianote❤

[@jamescps8799]

Thanks for this great lesson to understand the chord progression of River Flows in You.

[@sarahsable707]

Great Explanation!

[@LucaIacono]

Fantastic content!

[@holzerland]

“River Flows In You” makes me instantly fall in love with the tone and addicting to play it because when I play it my emotions flow like a river. I thought it was a classical music in the beginning but as you have explained it, I noticed it contained a lot of pop song elements and I am not surprised to find out the composer Yiruma is actually Korean (or Japanese I mistaken before reading Wiki 😅) who can compose a beautiful piece like this, thanks for your explanation. This song definitely triggered my passion to play piano again after learning it since I was little. 😊

[@oNightDreamS]

Yes! Yes! I love learning theory with you :D

[@bluemoondragon]

Kevin is genius to provide this amazing analysis of this beautiful piece 👏🏻👏🏻

[@SparkyHelper]

Great video!

[@sw9wong]

I have found 6 pieces by Yiruma that I’m playing regularly now! Thanks to Pianonote for getting me started on a Yiruma journey!

[@PianoteOfficial]

That's awesome!

[@rasmusalmqvist5960]

@pianote I also think the song and the chord progression evoke some deeper collective memories that go beyond "familiarity".

[@aaronauta5898]

this pieces made me to start playing piano. it became the first pieces to learn. even though i dont know what minor key and what not 😂 back then.

[@aHighLiGhtStory]

Its about the arrangement and dynamics imo:) worth to talk about

[@romichjordan]

I need a whole series about full Yiruma discography😊

[@brunoantonio4593]

It doesn't matter whether it's a classical or pop music. Tags only excludes everything. It's a wonderfull music, just that :)

[@stupid4President]

I don't know if it's a classical piece but I'm sure it will become one!

[@eh9920]

I love Pianote. It’s THE best program on the net.

[@PianoteOfficial]

Thank you for the kind words!

[@debijohoffman1875]

As a recording pianist--I steal many different "notes" from many different classical songs, and make my own take on it. I do my own thing and twist it up a bit. It's a lot of fun to do this as I love ❤️ a good challenge.

[@MetalizedButt]

Yiruma vs Ryuichi Sakamoto, River Flows In You vs Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence. Who ya got?

[@damega621]

Id love to see an Analysis of Tifa's theme form you guys

[@YA-ok1mo]

This thing is probably the most beautifu melody know to human being.

[@stederian5863]

Idk if u are going yo read this but, can u Made a video tutorial showing how to play youseebegirl by Hiroyuki sawano Please??

[@047_ashutoshsirpure8]

Finally..!!!

[@davidbalan6571]

I think you rhythms Melody's Chords 🎹 Kevin liked a Skyfall .

[@Shuaebashraf2008]

Yeah, river flows in you is melodious at every instrument recently i have learned it in guitar

[@radvibes]

I downloaded a version from "music notes" of "A River Flows in You" with only 1 sharp (F sharp.) Can you explain this and why I can't find anyone on KZbin playing this version. Thank you

[@PeaceNinja007]

I really like it .. but it’s soo overplayed whenever I go to piano stores. So .. I made my own version 😎

[@ReaPiano]

I think it's a pop song because it's a 4 chord piece and a lot pedal. It was also written later, after the classical era ended, although it I agree that it may have had influences from Beethoven's Fur Elise since Yiruma is a classical pianist! ✌✌😊😊

[@melvinbrookins6313]

Do nuvole bianche next!

[@abominablearex6487]

Is it a coincidence that Yiruma and Beethoven are the reasons why I got into piano?

[@redvli8746]

I love classical music so I’m trying to understand why my blood boils when I hear this piece and I think you hit the mark! It’s a pop song in disguise 😂

[@tlmbro1495]

Hi 😊

[@ekin743]

3:27 What's the song called?

[@PianoteOfficial]

Africa by Toto!

[@ekin743]

​​@@PianoteOfficialThank you so much!

[@zammerman9424]

My favorite piece ever. Lindsey Stirling arrangement is best.

[@marciahorton2203]

Modern Classical!

[@musicxankush]

First comment

[@mirandahanson9978]

I do not think there is stealing, borrowing, or even influence involved. We see it constantly now, it has progressed more and more through time, that creators step forward claiming their work has been copied. Not only in music, but in art, makeup, books. Facts: our brains are similar, it is so identical and scientists have discovered we all react similarly to certain things. Like rhythm. We also like symmetry and lines and most of all: balance. We like notes that goes well together, try playing Yiruma totally out of tune and it’s worse than nails on the chalkboard. Very few of us are neuroscientists and know all this, so how come some can create perfect music or paintings anyway, and so many end up with almost the same music? First of all, our brains are not very advanced and the things that go into a piece of music is really rhythm, placing the notes in a pattern, creating a balance but also a story, and then have an ending. With so many people creating music and with so few ingredients, you are bound to get two or more that sounds similar. (Same with a painting: lines, symmetry, balance, a story, light/dark and colors.) I have simplified it, as the most important factor that goes in to creating a masterpiece is also the knowledge of how to manipulate the different ingredients, or as I like to fall it: know when to break the rules. There are only a limited amount of notes we have to play with, because our brains are not advanced enough, and our hearing is below par. With these notes, only a few can successfully be played together to create a note that feels pleasurable, and although weird unlikeable note combinations is a must to avoid making a bore of a composition, there are also a limit on those. And that is why we get so many pieces of music sounding similar. There are also another explanation and that is the big virtual “library in the sky”. It’s a library containing all our knowledge. Every idea we have, everything we know, everything we have experienced and heard and seen is uploaded to this library. Anyone can access it, it’s free, and there are no name tags or copyright issues with any of this information. So let’s say I have composed the most brilliant first part of a new composition. It’s already uploaded to the library in the sky, either I wanted it or not, so when a guy in Tanzania sits by his piano looking for inspiration, he unknowingly taps into the library, hears my composition in his head. And writes it down. As his. Now I could probably sue him, but how do you ever prove that you wrote it first? I believe in that library. I have lived for so long, experienced so much weird things, that I have come to the conclusion: there is a connection between humans, that we can’t see or touch. A connection that allows to people on two opposite ends of the world to write the same book, or two artists to make the same picture. I have myself painted a picture, posted it online on a forum on the exact same time another lady in Norway posted the same picture on the same forum. Who copied who? How is it even possible? If you are interested in music, the chances of listening to it every single day is large. Plus you’ll hear music on the ice cream van, on advertisements, through the headphones of the guy standing next to you, in the elevator etc. All of them gets stored in your brain, and while you can remember certain pieces of music, most are forgotten. But still in there. So when you sit by your piano, trying to compose something, how do you know it’s you creating it? Maybe it’s the song from the radio of the car that passed you 17 years ago, plus the melody of that jingle your grandpa always hummed on? Is it even possible today to create something totally new? Yiruma probably wasn’t even aware of that he was dangerously close to Für Elise when he composed the River flies in you. Or was he? Was it deliberate?

[@unvergebeneid]

Given that this piece is inescapable, I'm really glad I don't find it _nearly_ as annoying as Für Elise!

[@karayuschij]

Yiruma is just a great plagiarizer...

[@sSpectralls]

dislike it so much because its overplayed

[@missjoblue7992]

I must be the minority that find this song boring and cheesy.

[@profd65]

If the guy had stolen more from Beethoven his song would have been better. "River Flows In You" is pretty schmaltzy and uninspired. It's obvious which buttons he's pushing, and he's pushing them not very originally. "Promise"(reprise) from Silent Hill 2 is a better song, humble though it is.

[@PianoteOfficial]

We'll have to check that song out!