Vinland Saga - Utopia [Piano]

This is my piano arrangement for the soundtrack "Utopia" from Vinland Saga. Truly an amazing track that is used at least 4 times throughout the series (I found it in Ep1, Ep4, Ep10, Ep20). It's mostly used in scenes where characters show or explain their ambition and hope for the future. One of those scenes was in episode 10 where Askeladd talks with Thorfinn about history and the flow of things (Romans, Saxons, Danes) while they watch the sunrise. I really enjoyed these kind of scenes. It shows that there is more than fighting and intrigue to the show and also cements (at least for me) Askeladd as a kind of father figure for Thorfinn.
This piece took me a long time to arrange/transcribe. I had trouble with some of the passages which use very low notes, especially the one at the very end, because this piece is using a lot of pedal and is recorded with a lot of reverb which makes it quite hard to identify some of the notes. But overall I'm quite happy with how it turned out.
As always I hope you enjoy the music!
______________________________________________________________________________________________
Piece/曲:   Utopia / 理想郷
Anime/アニメ: Vinland Saga / ヴィンランド・サガ
Composer/作曲家: Yutaka Yamada / やまだ 豊
Arrangement/アレンジ:   Cali Melodies
Sheet Music/楽譜:   drive.google.c... ; sheet.host/she...
#VinlandSaga #piano #YutakaYamada
Thumbnail and background artwork taken from Ep10.
🐬 Follow me on Twitter: / calimelodies 🐬
📺 Find me on MAL: myanimelist.ne... 📺
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I made a Vinland Saga Piano playlist of my transcriptions: • Vinland Saga Piano
If you want to watch more of my videos: • Cali Piano Music

[@CaliMelodies]

SHEET MUSIC IS NOW AVAILABLE: (links in the description) Update 2023-Jun-04: I just uploaded the sheet music for the rest of my season 1 Vinland Saga covers, now all of these covers have (free) sheet music available! As I have mentioned before I hired someone more proficient in sheet music to transcribe these covers. And in my opnion hey did a really good job as the sheet music turned out great and is quite faithful to these covers! If you come across some difficult or unclear section in the sheet music you can refer to the video. If any of you decide to learn the pieces and cover it, please share the result with me through a comment or otherwise. I would really enjoy to see some covers! This has been a really fun and fullfilling project for me as I am really passionate about Vinland Saga and its music. I am already planning to cover the season 2 piano tracks in a similar manner. If you want to show your appreciation and support me further please consider to give me a tip (do not feel pressured though): ko-fi.com/calimelodies - Cali

[@BabuFrik118]

Love the sheet music! Already practicing!!!

[@NghiNguyen-kg3bs]

OMG thank you so much, this is the literally the surprise I never thought I needed

[@seadoggo1238]

Absolute legend! I loved your arrangement of the Vinland Saga soundtrack. I'm definitly checking out the sheet music.

[@thorfinnthegoatmc]

Vinland Saga's OST really is so underappreciated

[@lucardetepes9185]

OMFG I LOVE THIS SONG I WAS SEARCHING FOR MONTHS THIS MASTERPIECE, MAN SERIOUSLY YOU'RE THE BEST THANK YOU SO MUCH

[@CaliMelodies]

you're welcome! 😁 there are still more vinland saga videos coming.

[@memeftr1161]

ME TOO IT'S INSANE, I DON'T BELIEVE IT

[@guibaby2]

Me too ! 😁

[@AlphaHaze]

I'm surprised it didn't took me forever to find this sad beauty 😭 Tysm to whoever said the name of this piece 🙏

[@senko_gt]

Far away, across the great sea... There's a land called Vinland. Its a far away land, free of slave traders and the fires of war. What do you say? Come live with us there someday

[@GOATTachi999]

Arenheid deserve better life...🌅🚶💔

[@epsilonreview3628]

Man I'm crying

[@parthiv9710]

You are a blessing on this earth I don't even play piano, but I have been waiting so long for these I will be sending this to all my friends that play piano

[@tableaux302]

Wow this is perfect, I'm definitely going to try learning this piece thank you so much for arranging it!

[@uttkarshacharya6040]

I'll definately try to learn it!

[@CaliMelodies]

I hope you can do it!

[@PianoSoulAnimeCovers]

Your transcriptions are the best, seriously, even the piano sound is incredible. I'll be waiting for your next upload!

[@CaliMelodies]

Thanks man! I think I found pretty good settings for my VST that work well with the Vinland Saga OST.

[@MrWorld46]

such a wonderful show

[@Gabby-jv3ip]

You are actually goated for releasing these tracks that ive always wanted to play Thank you for your efforts !!

[@19powpow91]

I will be learning this song when I am emotionally able to. My dog is very sick with cancer. His time is soon. I plan to play this song when he passes. I plan to learn this before he passes. But it's going to be so hard. But the thought of my boy passing to his own Utopia is fitting. It's beautiful. And I knew the moment I heard it I wanted to play it for him. This is beautiful. And I will be using your tutorial on how to learn. Thank you. ❤❤

[@CaliMelodies]

This is heart-wrenching 😭 I wish all the best to you and your dog.

[@dishwasher9851]

So beautiful 😭

[@patchakii7519]

MAN YOU'RE THE BEST I WAS SEARCHING FOR THIS AND "DAGGER" SINCE THE ANIME CAME I LOVE YOU MAN

[@pharozen]

sounds awesome man, im gonna watch this anime sometime soon

[@CaliMelodies]

glad you liked it. Vinland Saga is definitely worth it if you don't mind a lot of fighting.

[@guibaby2]

Thank you for this masterpiece 🙏🏼

[@hanieh3133]

that was so beautiful thank you so much I've been looking for this song for so long!

[@harune6594]

I just wanted to update you... I bought a keyboard and this is the very first piece I'm practising ❤ thank you eternally brother

[@CaliMelodies]

Good luck practicing, you can do it!

[@harune6594]

@@CaliMelodies thank you

[@deanamer7382]

1:42 you’ll thank me later🙃

[@llaytonshuemaker3830]

Lmao this is exactly the part I was waiting for, so ridiculously beautiful

[@mishroom8097]

makes my heart ache it’s so stunningly beautiful

[@pavolsobota7233]

Thanks a lot, been looking for it, or trying to decompose by myself for long time. Killer track !

[@retro6296]

So good man🔥

[@Nika-ro7nc]

THANK YOU so much!!!

[@HellnahLrizz]

You the goat for this

[@julianr8544]

Yoooo I never thought someone would make a tutorial for this!!! I gave up a year ago searching for a tutorial or sheet music and now I randomly stumble upon this video, I’m so freaking happy!!!! Thank you🙏🏽

[@pg2356]

absolutely beautiful!

[@irokanabs405]

Great job dude, thank u ❤

[@varunc]

Thanks a ton for this !! :)

[@harune6594]

thank you very much

[@x2kyle]

beautiful i love piano music

[@JasperTeo]

Ayy another one, hoping to see some live performance covers from u tho. Gj btw

[@CaliMelodies]

there will be more live covers for sure. i'm staying at my parents place during the current lockdown in germany (for the past month) where i have no access to my digital piano. so that's the best i can do for now.

[@TheFassor]

piano live stream on twitch we need it !

[@u-tIvajLhOq]

Hey, I know this is a pretty old video, but if you ever find the time to transcribe this to sheet music please please please drop a link!! It's the most beautiful arrangement I've seen so far. Actually, the only arrangement I've seen so far. This show is so underrated that I'm having a lot of trouble finding piano sheets for some of its best tracks, which is a real oddity considering the soundtrack is about 90% piano music. I briefly skimmed the comments and saw you said you were a little too unconfident to make sheet music, but honestly if you found the time to even just throw down the notes and the key I'd be willing to figure out the rest myself and I would just about die from gratefulness. Anyway, great transcription! Have a wonderful day :^D

[@CaliMelodies]

Thanks, had a great day so far! don't you worry. I still plan to try transcribing this piece to sheet music (said somewhere I would start with Utopia). I also mentioned under one of my Vinland Saga videos, that it would most likely be before the end of the year. I'm in the middle of writing my Master's thesis and will graduate in November, so I'm going to have more time and energy for piano again soon. I still stand to everything I have commented regarding this. Also it's a little misconception that Vinland Saga OST is 90% piano music. If you check out the full OST you will find that most pieces are orchestral (with and without piano). From the orchestral pieces the ones that stand out to me the most include: Hero, Glory, Ahead of the Road, End of the Prologue, Awaken. From just now watching this video again I would say Utopia is in the key of c#min/Emaj for the most part.

[@u-tIvajLhOq]

@@CaliMelodies Oh, awesome!! Sorry for the bother, I’m sure you get a lot of messages like this. Yes, the other Vinland tracks aside from the piano ones are really really great! It’s a little counterintuitive to the moral of the story but damn are the battle themes so good..! Anyway, I hope graduation goes well! Thank you, and good luck!

[@LittleVidds]

@@CaliMelodies all I want to say is good luck, and great job on your piano cover. Really looking forward for the sheets!

[@funnytimes2152]

@@u-tIvajLhOq just poking you to let you know there are sheets now :)

[@u-tIvajLhOq]

@@funnytimes2152 OH MY GOSH AA Thank you so much for remembering!!! I will definitely give it a try now! Thank you thank you!! 💙💙 (Hope school and everything went well! :^DDD)

[@him69624]

bro these are so good. you should do one for 火種 or flashpoint or whatever it’s called.

[@Ahmad-cu9hp]

2:45

[@Folkmoot]

Not all heroes wear capes

[@Mpianov]

amazing Cali! so beauty! do you have the sheets ?

[@berkanisophia1632]

Wooows amazinggg mannn i m in lovveee!!! Plsss share the sheets, THIS IS SO BEAUTIFUL 😭

[@CaliMelodies]

Thanks! As of now I don't have any sheet music for this. I might try doing them in the future, but can't promise anything cuz I'm not too experienced with sheet music.

[@SquareD-JB]

Great work! Is this suitable to learn for a beginner?

[@CaliMelodies]

Thanks! Some sections are managable at a beginner level I would say. Some other sections are more advanced though, so if you consider the entire piece I would say it is not suitable for a beginner. I think from the covers I've done "Rusty Sword" and "Dead End" are the easiest to play.

[@SquareD-JB]

Thank you for your detailed reply and your recommendation!@@CaliMelodies

[@simon-7594]

nós manos meio thorfinn na vida

[@amohamud5585]

Bro thank you so much for this! if you can do rusty sword too that wold be perfect! edit: i see u did it already loool!! thanks man u the goat

[@CaliMelodies]

You're welcome. Glad to see more people appreciating the rusty sword soundtrack.

[@amohamud5585]

@@CaliMelodies I'd love it if you do dagger too than my life will be complete:)

[@CaliMelodies]

@@amohamud5585 I'm planning on it. Will take some time though!

[@Offwego]

Welp. This is fantastic, sadly I'm far from good enough to play this past around 1m30s, I'd need a newbie version for the rest

[@CaliMelodies]

Thank you! I'd recommend to practice difficult parts really slowly at first. Alternatively you could also try to simplify it by yourself or revisit the piece once you've become more proficient. In my opinion you shouldn't feel pressured to play it 100% as is; music is freedom. 🙂

[@minmaxshorts]

This is crazy good. I tried to play it by ear when the show was airing but got confused with the tempo and measure. Sometimes it felt like it was slowing down and then speeding up. I didn't unnderstand how to play it with the metronome. If it's okay for me to ask: Is the tempo solid throught the whole track? Are there any measure changes or is it simply 4/4? Just curious to see where I screwed up and how you transcribed what to me looks like a super complex piece.

[@CaliMelodies]

First of all, thank you! Secondly, this is an excellent question. This is actually something I struggle with as well and part of the reason why it's difficult to transcribe a piece from midi to sheet music. The way I transcribed these Vinland Saga pieces is just simply _by ear_ . I figured out the notes (their volume, length, dynamics) and recreated the piece in my DAW. While doing this I did not pay any heed to an underlying time signature or bpm or the like. I literally just played _the notes I heard_ and _how_ I heard them. When you want to transcribe it to sheet music, all of a sudden you have to make sense of rhythm and time signature and you have to consider changes in bpm (slower and faster passages), as well as things like fermatas, ritardando etc. This is a lot to take care of and requires quite a bit of understanding of sheet music (how notes you hear translate into written sheet music that makes sense) and probably a bit of music theory. For simple pieces I can do it (I have created sheet music for a couple of my more recent covers), but for the more complex pieces like the Vinland Saga pieces it's going to be a challenge and an experiment for me. I'm actually excited to see if I can do it (will hopefully get around to it soon). So to answer your original question: I don't know if the tempo is uniform throughout the track. It most likely varies. Can't say anything sure about the time signature either, sorry. Hope this answer still gave some more insight in the transcription process.

[@minmaxshorts]

@@CaliMelodies Dayum speaking from experience I know how time consuming that method is so again incredible job on this. And thank you, that actually helps a lot. I'm glad to confirm that this is as tricky as I thought and not something simple that just went past me. Sometimes it feels like Yutaka Yamada just likes to improvise over the scenes without a click track. Speeds up and slows down whenever he wants and plays some abstract things without thinking about the mathematical sense behind it. Now that I think about it I remember having the same mindfuk with his tokyo ghoul re pìano tracks. Anyways if you manage to transcribe this to sheet music that would be a total feat. Most people might not understand the real work that went to it but I will just stand up and clap infront of the screen lol

[@CaliMelodies]

​@@minmaxshorts I have not yet ventured much into the Tokyo Ghoul soundtrack yet (couldn't really get into the series), but from a musical standpoint this could become interesting. I agree, some sections in the Vinland Saga tracks really feel like Yutaka Yamada just improvises and goes wild on the piano, playing crazy runs while holding down the pedal for the most part. In these sections I really think he goes for that very specific "cluster" sound and it doesn't really matter too much what exact notes and how long they are played as long as they belong in the right chords. But I may interpret/speculate too much here. Ever since I started learning piano by myself I always preferred this approach - playing how you feel, playing by ear, arranging in a way that comes natural to you and not being restricted by sheet music. (That doesn't mean I don't like playing by sheet music, as I like to play other people's arrangements from time to time and sheet music is the best way for that). Anyway, thanks again for your answer and encouragement. I hope I can transcribe some of these pieces to sheet music, will most likely start with Utopia, since this one seems quite manageable.

[@levijm890]

This is absolutely fucking amazing. Would you by chance have the sheet music? I would really love to play your transcription of this... Amazing work man!

[@CaliMelodies]

As of now I don't have them. I am not that experienced with making sheet music yet. But I plan on trying to create some for at least a couple of my Vinland Saga transcriptions. I will probably start with Utopia, since this piece seems quite manageable in terms of sheet music + it's one of the more popular Vinland Saga pieces. I will most likely get around to it within the next couple of months.

[@levijm890]

@@CaliMelodies Thanks so much man, really happy to hear that!!!

[@xoshnawm8615]

2:39 🥀 23/11/2024

[@josemanuelpaz480]

Muy lejos hacia el oeste, a través del mar, hay un lugar llamado Vinland. Es cálido y rico, lejos de la maldad de la guerra y del mercado de esclavos, ahí nadie puede perseguirte. ¿Qué piensas? Ven a vivir con nosotros un día.

[@CaliMelodies]

Google translate from Spanish: "Far to the west, across the sea, there is a place called Vinland. It's warm and rich, away from the evil of war and the slave market, no one can chase you there. What do you think? Come live with us one day."

[@freshfire9426]

Man.. You are the best, I watched the video, and subed already Please do more vinland videos Upload somewhere else full ver. In ep21 first 1-2 minutes please

[@CaliMelodies]

Thanks! the piece from ep21 in the beginning is "the hero". I have been thinking of starting orchestral covers, might make a try with some of the Vinland Saga soundtracks. Thanks for the recommendation.

[@freshfire9426]

@@CaliMelodies my bad.. Sorry, I mean first scene of ep22... But no problem with the hero too😁 Thanks for your effort!

[@CaravaggiodeMachaut]

Hey dude, this is really cool could I use for a video as background noise. Would love to credit you

[@CaliMelodies]

Thanks! Yes, you can go ahead. Could you notify me once your video is up?

[@mrpk646]

How do you learn these pieces, any advice on learning them by ear? I made it about 20 secs into the song then gave up a while back lmao, good to see someone's done it now XD

[@CaliMelodies]

I guess the best advice I can give is ear practice. When I started training my ear I used an app for practicing to distinguish intervals (melodic and harmonic). After a while I completely dropped the app and only practiced with easy songs on youtube (like pop songs etc) with synthesia covers to compare.

[@nagnot6718]

0:57

[@AniMuffinPiano]

This is beautiful :) I'm wondering what VST are you using?

[@CaliMelodies]

Thanks! I'm not too knowledgable about VSTs. I use Galaxy Vintage D. I like the sound of it and it's not too expensive.

[@sybandit1584]

two goats at the background

[@GOATTachi999]

Only Thorfinn the Goat and character development

[@suudhxux7x7s9]

yo i need to kknow what piano vst u where using sounds incredible

[@CaliMelodies]

I used Galaxy Vintage D

[@suudhxux7x7s9]

btw do u got the midis for those remakes i dont really understand sheet music @@CaliMelodies

[@3ddl2l50]

FCKING AMAZING PIECE OF WORK! ik im asking a little too much but you have sheet music or know anythwere i can find? THANK YOU!!!1

[@magyver7890]

Do flashpoint

[@underratedoak]

How do I pedal this piece? The original version has a lot of half-pedaling I think? You can hear the pedal if you listen closely. I am not sure how to go about it

[@CaliMelodies]

Pedalling can be quite tricky for this piece (and the other Vinland Saga pieces too). I am no expert, but when I covered this piece I noticed the pedal being held down for a long time often, like multiple measures. I can not recreate half-pedalling in the software I used, so I only used fully pressed pedal.

[@AbdurrahmanSertcan]

Thors

[@Hodor.123]

It reminds me of Secunda from Skyrim

[@19powpow91]

What a strange comment... I randomly had secunda pop in my head when I was listening to this earlier. Weird... Lol

[@nomansland5545]

Someone make this an hour and they will get biews

[@srinivasaraghus1311]

1:23 thank me later

[@hazint2684]

Do you make sheets?

[@CaliMelodies]

I made a few before, but not (yet) for the Vinland Saga pieces. But as I commented before I plan on trying to make them for at least some of the VS pieces, will most likely start with Utopia.

[@hazint2684]

@@CaliMelodies dude I would so appreciate that this sounds beautiful!!

[@cqiro]

0:25

[@djayden7085]

1:12

[@insky3183]

0:37