Stephen Ridley - WOULD YOU MIND ? (Olivier Kawadry-Einarson piano cover and arrangements)

This is my first time ever playing a song on a piano. I've adapted Stephen Ridley's original song "Would you mind" to what I could play at my level and in a way that helps me play his song as I like it. It's a song in Dminor The four chords are Dm Bb F C The lyrics are both in the subtitles (activate them) and at the bottom of this description. This song was created by Stephen Ridley for his best friend when they where both 24 and 25 years old. Stephen's best friend learned he had a cancer, and Stephen decided then to go on a 24 hours challenge : playing piano non stop for his friend, outside on a bridge in London in the middle of the winter ! And out of this challenge after playing 23 hours and 55 minutes he came up with this song : "WOULD YOU MIND ?". The happy ending is that years later Stephen has created an academy and his friend is still alive. Thanks once again to Stephen Ridley for guiding us through your song. ‪@StephenRidleyTV‬ ‪@RidleyAcademy‬ #piano #pianocover #coversong I adapted the song this way : I've built an intro illustrating the sentence "I come down to see you" : starting in the high notes. Then I loved making the song start at a moment where both hands are one over the other as one going to help the other, even if one keeps on going all the way down. But there is this grabbing your hand effect when I play "and here I am" by going two octaves down but not all the way down, and then back again into some brightness. The part "they wrap me in chains but I'm not my mistakes, Yes I'm a man" I found that emphasizing on "I'm a man" by kind of "slamming" the C chord sounded very well. Then I had to be very concentrated to go without any delay into the following sentence "When life gives you problem..." It happened by itself when I was looking for the best effect. And finally, I took the outro into the blue sky by going high again in the high notes, but with some lightness and I've added some new text by my own : "You come back to see me, you tell me the world don't beat you down, don't beat you down" as Stephen had revealed in one of his sessions that his friend was still alive ! Technically, in order to avoid a saturation of the microphone with the high notes sounding a bit to high, I had to use the "mute" pedal. Again that was a new drill/skill that I had to manage. But having learned how to drill, I could do that easily. As a conclusion I can say that I loved doing this challenge : 1) Because it is related to a true story that a living artist has shared in person with us ! 2) Because we were really very free to make our own interpretation. Which by the way requires a lot of work !!! 3) Because many drills we've been patiently taught are in that piece (especially the arpeggios in the outro) 4) Because recording the piece obliged my to be very accurate on every detail of the piece 5) And finally, because going through the whole process built something unfadingly eternal inside me and I am so grateful to the academy for that. Stephen Ridley : "Would you mind" in Dminor The four chords are Dm Bb F C Here are the lyrics : You come down to see me, you tell me the world beat you down Here I am I stand there serene, 'cause I know I got peace in my hand And I always care If I rescue you from the darkness, Would you mind ? Would you mind ? I could stay with you forever, Would you mind ? Would you mind ? They wrap me in chains, but I'm not my mistakes, I'm a man Yes I am When life gives you problems, I'll help you solve them again And I'll always care If I rescue you from the darkness, Would you mind ? Would you mind ? I could stay with you forever, Would you mind ? Would you mind ? Yes I need you so. And I always do... I need you so. Need you so.