Piano Cover: Day and Night (Shiki)

Another month, another piano cover. I can hardly believe that it's already November, and in another few weeks' time we'll be bidding farewell to another year. Time really does fly.

The music this time is from an anime called Shiki, a 2010 horror/mystery piece centered around a village with a mysterious epidemic. I first watched Shiki this past summer, coming shortly off the tail of Higurashi no Naku Koro ni. I wasn't completely sure how I felt about it at first; despite the fact that both anime series were horror, the cutesy, moe feel of Higurashi biased my expectations somewhat. The much more serious tone of Shiki was a little off-putting at first, but I was quickly drawn into its tragic tale of death, helplessness, and betrayal. Shiki is not a happy story by any means, but that only made its impact more powerful -- the bittersweet final episode made me want to cry.

As you probably expect by now, I really enjoyed the music in Shiki, and I'm convinced that the music is a huge part of this anime's dramatic impact. The soundtrack contains some of the most expressive, emotional tracks I've encountered so far, mixed with a healthy dose of creepy and upbeat as well. In particular, the main, recurring melody of the Shiki soundtrack is one of the most hauntingly beautiful themes I've ever heard, typically presented via expressive instruments such as strings or female voice. I really do love a good vocalist.

The track that I decided to tackle, "Day and Night," is one that contains this beautiful theme. Here's my cover; you can check out the original here.

Day and Night (Shiki): Piano Cover



Composer: Yasuharu Takanashi
Date Completed: 2011-11-09
Software: Audacity, Movie Maker, metronome :P
Number of Takes: a lot >.<
Instrumentation: Piano

This piano cover turned out to be somewhat liberal, with some slower versions of the melody surrounding the more conservative interpretation. The ostinato accompaniment line was fairly challenging for me, in large part because my left hand is really t3h sux0rz. Since I made this arrangement by ear, I don't have sheet music this time around. I'm certain sheet music for this track exists somewhere, but if you'd like my particular arrangement, let me know and I'll try to put something together.

That's all for now! Go check out Shiki; you won't regret it.

Best wishes,

xds