Obscure Yann Tiersen Songs

[Cindy J]

Hi All,

Wow, such an active online community! This is my first post, although I have been a subscriber for quite awhile now. I finally got over my shyness of playing for/with others when I recently got to play with Ronan in real life at the Powell River Accordion Festival. That was so much fun! I sure do enjoy his Sunday livecasts and reading all of your comments there too.

One of the things that inspired me to finally take up and learn accordion, was watching the Liberty Bellows videos of Kim (I wish I knew her last name) demonstrating various accordions.

There is one song in particular that has haunted me. It is the second one (starts 2:26) on this video linked below. After guessing that it might be a more obscure Yann Tiersen song, I checked through his recordings, and sure enough, the song is “The Man with Hanging Arms” from his album “The Lighthouse”. But I really love the way Kim plays this, and really want to figure it out, your help appreciated! Any other takers out there? The key is A minor and I just have the very first bit figured out, but get lost with all the fancy variation fingerings later on!



Btw, I saw Jann Tiersen in concert recently, as he is currently touring. However, he is doing experimental electronic “music” these days. Not a single instrument did he play (apart from what he was doing on his laptop). So, be forewarned, if you are thinking of seeing him!

[Jan v]

Hello Cindy, I like your accordion, but when you started playing I could not find the pause button anymore. So wonderful.

Regards Jan.

[Coral_M]

Wow, what a performance! The accordion is lovely to be sure but you made it really sing. Thank you for brightening my day with your playing.

[Ivo v]

You play your new instrument very very well.
Amazing.
I am jealous on your musicality.
Wow
And yes liberty bellows is a great resource to learn from
Atm i am running through all the beginners lessons I.e. My wild irish rose' is teaching you a nice base pattern

[Connie B]

Beautiful accordion and beautiful music.

[Cindy J]

Hi All,

I apologise for not being more clear— the above is of Kim from Liberty Bellows (not me!), and I am trying to recreate the song she plays here. I enjoy her playing, but it seems she hasn’t produced anything very recently. Hopefully she is still making music somewhere! So anyhow, just sharing a song I would like to learn...

[NC Poole]

So anyhow, just sharing a song I would like to learn...

Hi Cindy,

Not sure if you’ll read this because the post is a few months old, but I have some suggestions for learning Yann Tiersen songs on accordion. The key is always the chords: Master the series of chords (there’s usually only about 4 that repeat in a very predictable pattern) and let that guide you.

For example, in the Valse d’Amelie (the first song Kim plays), the chord progression is Dm Am Fmaj Cmaj. The right hand begins with a simple melody based on those chords and grows progressively more complex while always being based on the chords. Tiersen favors broken arpeggios, either ascending or descending, which are just the notes of the base chord played individually in rhythm.

I find that instead of learning Tiersen’s complicated fingerings exactly, you can capture the spirit of the song by playing arpeggios over the chords and it sounds very pleasing. Once you’re comfortable with the notes that make up the chord in the right hand, you can begin to play around and see which notes from the chord Tiersen is using and in what order.

Another alternative is to play a simplified version of the melody. To do this, I usually pay attention to the highest notes being played in the right hand. Many of the lower notes are “supporting notes” which embellish the main melody, which remains the same throughout.

Clearly I have a lot of thoughts on Yann Tiersen I hope some of these are helpful! As Ronen always says, the right way to play a song is whatever way you CAN play it and whatever way makes you ENJOY playing it!

Nora

[Cindy J]

Oh, thank you for that explanation, I will give that a try! I have the chords, but it’s the arpeggio variations I am having trouble with. It’s making me realize it might be useful to go back and practise piano arpeggios (I recall a Bach book in my distant past being helpful for that).

[udeleng]

I uploaded the music sheet for this piece: L'Homme Aux Bras Ballants

https://musescore.com/user/12369086/scores/9652573