To be honest, when a subscriber on my YouTube channel asked me to arrange “I’m Not Okay (I Promise)” by My Chemical Romance for piano, I hesitated. When I looked up the original song (which I hadn’t heard before) the abrasive punk sound was a bit much for my taste. But under all the noise, I could detect a melancholy and beautiful melody.
On top of that, it was the nature of the request that compelled me: “I really like the way you arrange songs. Could I kindly ask for a piano tutorial of “I’m Not Okay” by My Chemical Romance? It’s my sister’s favorite song, and her birthday is coming up soon. We haven’t seen each other in years, so I’d love to learn it and record it for her as a gift ❤”
Just thinking about a piano song sweetening the reunion of siblings motivated me to oblige. What better way to express one’s feelings and show love for another than through the gift of music?
I sat at the piano, and played the sweet tune with a simple left hand harmony at a slow tempo, and found the underlying beauty. The syncopated, meandering melody swirls around a simple four-chord harmony of D Major, B minor, E minor, and A Major.
In my beginner to early intermediate level arrangement, the familiar pop-rock progression of the I-vi-ii-V chords is simplified with mostly tonic and dominant note harmonies as well as broken chords.
You can find the sheet music to my piano arrangement here: https://www.mymusicfive.com/marisasmusicstudio/346410
I hope you find the beauty in this piece too.