The Wall - Kansas (Piano Cover)

My piano take on The Wall by the band Kansas - the same artists behind Dust in the Wind and Carry On My Wayward Son. In fact, The Wall comes right after the latter on their album Leftoverture (1976). A rich and grandiose progressive rock ballad, it appeals to me both as a listener and as an arranger - the lyrics are heartfelt, instrumentation grand, and chord progressions full of twists to unpack from a musical perspective. I've used the full span of the keyboard in trying to create a piano cover of similar magnitude. A couple months in the making, it's turned out to be my most complex and difficult arrangement by far. I thought I'd do justice to the extra effort I put into the project by upping the production quality with several new camera angles - this, of course, resulted in yet even more work. So far, each installment in my series of original arrangements has been pushing the bar higher and higher; that's definitely not continuing, as I don't have the energy or time to outdo what I've done here!
The arrangement borrows a lot of decorative lines from the instruments in the original song, but also contains a lot of my own ideas. Both are present from the beginning - the strong syncopation of the accompaniment is my idea, but I've also taken secondary lines from the backing instruments in the song to mix with the melody. This the case whenever the right hand is playing two lines at once - a common occurrence in the intro, most iconically at 0:24 where I overlay the melody as the top voice over a 16th note run. This passage begins the key change to the verse - this contains elements of both the first and second verse of the original song, which I've merged together to avoid repetition as per usual. The first three chords above the melody at 0:36, for instance, are copied straight from the second verse of the original; meanwhile, I use the original first verse's legato sixteenth-note feel in the prechorus (0:56) and first half of the chorus (1:01). The second half is more active, with the heavier "marching" style of the original's second chorus. I had the happy idea of incorporating bell tones - high Bb's which were featured in a song I covered in my first (now unlisted) upload: • 「少女の夢」Perrine Monogata... This time, I was adding them to the material as an arrangement device, rather than transcribing its usage of them.
Following the chorus is another instance of my reusing material - the bridge in the original song (1:23) is an instrumental so beautiful that I couldn't resist covering last year for a KZbin short: • The Wall (Piano) #kans... I kept the notes 99% the same, but, as it turns out, played them a lot quicker this time! The bridge leads into an abbreviated mirroring of the intro which I approached in much the same way - identically to the intro for the left hand, but in a more heavy and straightforward manner in the right. I tackled the transition into the final verse (1:48) with the exact oscillating bass pattern as the original song, but deviated upon the verse itself (1:56), using a faster cyclical pattern in the left hand that gives the feeling of rushing forward (perhaps my performance inadvertently followed suit) to build up to the climactic final prechorus. Though led into by an undulating multi octave arpeggio (2:14), this final prechorus isn't half as busy, with a quarter note pulse in the left hand contrasting what's before and is to come. The sixteenth note pulse kicks in again with the final chorus (2:22), which contains a whole lot of chord spams and arpeggios. If any part of the arrangement is gratuitous, it's definitely this - I threw just about everything I currently have at it.
Most songs would end at 2:45, but Kerry Livgren and Steve Walsh of Kansas continued The Wall with a majestic coda that's not so easy to do justice on piano. I elected for a simple approach (much needed after the hyper-dense final chorus) using the common "heartbeat pattern" in the bass and largely transcribing what I heard. I brought back the left hand arpeggios at 3:30 as the coda transitions to E major, increasing energy in anticipation of the ending. When the tension is triumphantly released at 3:41, I emulate a marching snare in the left hand with pickup triplets for a few bars, and finally return to the arpeggios - now in both hands - which (hopefully) sell the grandeur of the majestic finale.
My original covers ▸ • My Original Arrangements
(70's-90's western classics)
The Caretaker covers ▸ • The Caretaker on Piano...
(Leyland Kirby's music - Everywhere at the end of time, An empty bliss beyond this world, etc)
Music:
- Played by ‪@boredPianoAdv‬
- Arranged by ‪@boredPianoAdv‬
- Original song ▸ "The Wall" by Kansas
Equipment:
- Keyboard: Casio PX-S3000
- Audio: Pianoteq 8.0 - C. Bechstein DG
- Video: Nikon D3400
#piano #pianocover #rockpiano #pianosolo #kansas #progressiverock

[@b1to]

YEAH BABY

[@boredPianoAdv]

WOOOOOOOOOOOO

[@markypg]

THE GOAT STRIKES AGAIN WITH ANOTHER BANGER

[@boredPianoAdv]

💪💪

[@aidswidjaja]

Omg love those harmonies at the end~ great lyrical but grand piece and whilst those two attributes can almost feel counterintuitive you've made it work delightfully in this case. Great arrangement!

[@boredPianoAdv]

Many thanks! That's what something I love about the original song, so credit to it - but of course I'm happy to have done it justice :)

[@MotifMusicStudios]

This is epic and loved your description of all the different aspects and hard work that goes into creating a cover and arrangement like this! Congratulations on a FIRE upload!

[@boredPianoAdv]

I'm so happy you read the description - most people don't! On a whim, I went really long and in-depth with it this time, so it's great that wasn't for naught. Thanks for listening, and I think "hard work" is a quality on strong display throughout your channel, with your unwavering diligence uploading resources both in the long-form and short-form

[@ladycampion]

What a beautiful arrangement!! Gorgeous playing as well... Love it! The whole video looks lovely, too! 🎹🍃🎶😊

[@boredPianoAdv]

Much appreciated, Lady C! This is definitely an accomplishment for me. Looks like quite a few are happening on your end, with your performances! As for my video quality here, I'm trying my best with winter stripping away my blue skies and lush greens :)

[@chrisdurhammusicchannel]

Very cool song and performance!!!! I should buy Leftoverture!!! Always loved the title and if this is any indication of the rest of the album, I will love it!!! Yep! Excellent performance!!!! 👍👍👍👍👍👍

[@boredPianoAdv]

Thank you very much! Glad this was up your alley. Some Kansas tracks really do it for me - such as this one - others not so much - take a preview and see for yourself! The album art is gorgeous, too

[@PopHorizonScanner]

Brilliant! Splendid arrangement! The '70s era of prog-rock was a period of great musical richness. Well done indeed.

[@boredPianoAdv]

Thank you! It was an honor to cover this wonderful song. I'm so glad you found my cover - might I ask how you came across it? Its watch traffic has all but dried up at this point, unfortunately

[@PopHorizonScanner]

@@boredPianoAdv I'm very glad that you found your "second wind" at the piano a few years back; you have considerable and impressive musical talent. It is an amazing song; I was happy to see you do this one because it was not a radio hit, but more of an "album track." I'm fairly certain that the KZbin algorithm noticed that I recently watched the Kansas topic's own video of "The Wall" and, because of that, placed your video a couple days later among my suggested videos.

[@PopHorizonScanner]

@@boredPianoAdv I should also mention that it was your SHORT of "The Wall" that first appeared in my suggested videos, and since I enjoyed the short, I then navigated to your channel and found the full video.

[@boredPianoAdv]

@@PopHorizonScanner You're too kind! I love to discover and embrace "album tracks" because 1) there's always some magic that people overlook, or that is too daring for mainstream tastes; 2) they haven't been overdone on KZbin, so I feel like I'm covering new ground. The downside you see is that my covers of them get less attention. Thanks for the info - it helps me to know how I get my channel out there

[@OtmarBinder]

Wow! Congratulations on your excellent playing!

[@boredPianoAdv]

Thanks a lot Otmar! Look forward to your next production

[@mami_Piano7974]

Great playing! Sounds beautiful🎶

[@boredPianoAdv]

Appreciate it! Thanks for listening as always

[@MusicalArtsSchool]

Nice! I love it! ❤

[@boredPianoAdv]

Means a lot from you!

[@pianothingsmusic]

You’ve got a nice channel as well 😁 I like it! Beautifully played 👏🏻 And subbed 👍🏻🎶

[@boredPianoAdv]

Too kind, too kind! Thanks for the visit & follow; I hope not to disappoint :)

[@Mrazuma-tp5se]

sounds like animenz

[@boredPianoAdv]

I would never 🤫