Ryan Ryan Musikahan Intro Cover

This was such a fun piece!

Any filipino who grew up in the Philippines in the late 80s to the early 90s would know the TV concert show Ryan Ryan Musikahan with Ryan Cayabyab. It went on air in 1988 every Thursday from 10pm to 11pm and it was probably what sparked my love for playing keys. I remember watching this show as a kid from the top of the stairs of our old apartment outside my bedroom, trying to finish the show before I’m sent to my bedroom.

I love doing covers of TV show intros and this has been on my list ever since. And because now I can watch the whole intro on YouTube and slow it down, I tried to be as accurate as I can while being realistic with my skill level, being more of an ear player than a classical player. I had to play this much slower than the original, especially at the start with the repeated notes (from 132 bpm to about 100 bpm), and there was a major tenth reach (D2 to F#3) on the left hand that I simplified to an octave. I think there was also an octave in the middle part, before the buildup, that I simplified to a single note.

On a side note, watching this intro again, I find it interesting that this is a piano duet but they weren’t showing both parts at the same time, but instead were switching from one part to the other (sometimes with a mirrored or flipped image of the same part). This may be the videographer’s artistic choice, but that didn’t help me decipher what notes were being played and how they were played. So I just combined what I could see with what I could hear and tried to fill in the gaps the best that I could. At least they gave me enough clues to distinguish between piano 1 and piano 2.

It took me a little over two months to transcribe and practice this one-minute (turned into a minute and a half) piano duet. I recorded this in one sitting, using LogicPro to record, and I recorded piano 1 first, then piano 2 on top of it. I recorded in midi but I didn’t alter or correct my notes, even if it took me a few tries for each part and the whole recording session took about 15 minutes. I wanted this video to be as real and authentic as if it were live—what you see is what you hear.

Anyway, I hope all that work was worth it and I hope you enjoy watching this video as much as I did making it. :)