An cello cover of the hit song "How Deep Is Your Love" by Calvin Harris and Disciples. Every sound is produced by cello!

How Deep Is Your Love

The song "The Legend of Korra" comes from the eponymous animated TV series (it is also the sequel to Avatar: The Last Airbender) and is composed by the wonderful Jeremy Zuckerman. This is the very last track of the entire series, and it is an exquisite love letter to the fans and the protagonists of the show alike. In this arrangement for 8 celli, I employed a couple of techniques to emulate the Chinese instrument erhu, with generous glissandi and some audio effects. Overall, I wanted to capture the sense of peace and love that is ever prevalent in the finale of the series.

On a personal level, I have always adored the A:TLA and LOK series. These two TV shows are a rarity in that after watching them it can make you a better and more compassionate person. I vividly remember watching the finale of The Last Airbender when it premiered when I was 10. The Legend of Korra as a teenager and adult has always held a special place in my heart, and for years I had always been very passionate about the music. 

Thank you so much for listening, I hope you enjoyed my arrangement and performance as much as I enjoyed making it. I have more music from LOK and A:TLA planned along with a couple of special longer term projects, so please follow me if you want more.

The Legend Of Korra cello cover

The piece "Service and Sacrifice" comes from the finale of the third season of 
"The Legend of Korra". Composed by Jeremy Zuckerman, this music has a really special place in my heart. I have arranged it for 8 celli in order to bring out the lush harmonies. Right before the climax, I had to add the main "Avatar: The Last Airbender theme", and the very climax at 2:08 is just so full of joy that playing it almost makes me want to cry. 

**MINOR SPOILERS FOR THE SHOW AHEAD**







Although Korra (with the help of Jinora's spiritual powers) had managed to save the new airbenders from the Red Lotus, it came at a huge personal and spiritual cost for Korra. During the final scene of the season, Jinora is being anointed as an airbending master with the famous airbending arrow tattoos by her father Tenzin along with the rest of the new airbenders. It is such a touching scene, with Tenzin being so incredibly proud of his daughter for surpassing him. The entire ceremony is a celebration of the new Air Nation which had once been nearly eradicated by the 100 Years War before "Avatar: The Last Airbender". Although Korra is happy for the new nation, she has suffered lasting trauma physically and mentally. The very last frame of the show shows a broken Avatar, and it will take a long while before Korra can overcome her post-traumatic stress disorder.

Service And Sacrifice from "The Legend of Korra"

This is my cello cover of the songs "Physical" by Dua Lipa and "Physical" by Olivia Newton-John. While arranging the Dua Lipa song, I had noticed that it itself was a tribute to the older 1980s "Physical", so I figured why not combine the two for the ultimate Physical tribute? You can hear the 1980s "Physical" pop in between the chorus and the second verse, and once again at the last section. I also improvised an original "guitar" solo at the very end. This cover has definitely been very fun to produce!

Physical x Physical cello mashup

This arrangement of John Wineglass's "Death of A Princess"  is my tribute to Princess Diana, who died on this day twenty-three years ago on August 31st, 1997. Princess Diana was a wonderful human being with so much compassion for the ostracized and the poor. Her remarkable charitable work spans many years and covered many areas such as animal protection, cleaning up landmines, helping the homeless, poor, elderly, and drug addicts among many others. In particular, the work that she did to help destigmatize HIV/AIDS was truly groundbreaking. It was a time when the entire world was afraid to even interact with those afflicted with AIDS, and when Princess Diana publicly held hands with a patient it singlehandedly causes a culture shift regarding the disease.

The original piano trio was composed by my friend and colleague John Wineglass. Here are his notes on the last movement of the piece: "This final movement in an ‘ABA’ structure and very tonal in nature, is a deliberately slow Poco adagio – a ‘funeral’ procession as she is finally laid to rest in my mind. This quasi passacaglia explores the theme in different variations eventually shared amongst each instrument." For my arrangement, I kept the cello and violin parts the same (with the violin part sometimes played in different octaves). In the first half the piano part was split between only 2 to 4 cello parts. It is only until the climactic second half where all 8 parts (one cello, one violin, and 6 piano parts) finally join together.

"Death Of A Princess" piano trio  (arr. for cello ensemble) - III. Diana's Lament

The piece "Tonari no Totoro", composed by the one and only Joe Hisaishi, is a mashup of the major themes in the movie "My Neighbor Totoro". I was inspired by Joe Hisaishi's concert with 9 cellists and drew much of the arrangement from that particular performance. The introduction is taken from another live performance, this time an orchestral arrangement. Fun fact: I had originally arranged this piece 6 years ago for the Kompeito cello quartet, but it was mostly forgotten. Recently I brushed the cobwebs from the file and heavily edited the arrangement, adding another cello part in the process. 

Usually when I make cello covers I play all the parts but for this video I got the quintet of cellists back together! You may remember them from my previous live performance of the Game of Thrones theme. 

Cellists in this video:
Jeremy Tai
Peter Eom
Haddon Kay
Sihao He
Luiz Fernando Moita Venturelli de Souza

Tonari no Totoro 5 cello cover

This is my most ambitious project yet, with hundreds of hours put into it! My cover of Moon River is based off of Jacob Collier's Grammy Winning extreme jazz reharmonized a capella version of Moon River, from the album "Djesse Vol. 2".

For the introduction, just like how Jacob got 138 musicians and celebrities to sing the word "moon", I also got 138 cellists from all over the world to send me a single note! The rest of the cover is written for (roughly) 10 cellos. The first third of the piece is sans vibrato except for the melody, because Jacob originally hummed the first third of the piece. The second third introduces the vibrato back for all parts. The final third features a modulation to D half sharp major and more advanced microtones (yes, I did really play in the half sharp keys, I didn't just pitch adjust it after the fact). This section to me is the most emotionally powerful moment of the entire piece, and I think the timbral change by modulation to a half sharp key only adds to that impact. The coda has this incredibly difficult slow rise in tuning which brightens up the timbre of the 10 cellos. 

Cello mooooon contributers: Abigail Leong, Alex Hersh, Allison Liu, Andre Plackis, Annamarie Wellems, Annie Hyung, Arthur Daems, Becky Yang, Ben Solomonow, Benjamin Jiang, Brendan Koh, Calum Cook, Camden Shaw, Cameron Chiu, Caroline Paulsen, Catherine Choi, Chris Gao, Christine Lee, Claire Druffner, Claire Park, Clive Greensmith, Connor Kim, Cornelia Watkins, Dale Jeong, Daniel Huang, Daniel Kaler, David Cunliffe, David Geber, David Liam Roberts, Davis You, Dawn Song, Denielle Wilson, Derek Louie, Dominic Trindade, Dotori Kim, Drake Driscoll, Elena Ariza, Elliott Kim, Erin Kim, Esther Chae, Ethan Brown, Gabriel Martins, Geirþrúður Anna Guðmundsdóttir, Grace Ho, Grant Riew, Haddon Kay, Hana Cohon, Hana Takemoto, Hans Jensen, Hechen Sun, Hotin Chan, Iam Kim, Ian Maloney, Isaiah Kim, Ismael Bombut, Jackie Yang, Jacob Barker, Jacqueline Rogers, Jaime An, James Baik, James Cooper, Jasmine Pai, Jeanna Qiu, Jennifer Lee, Jeremy Tai, Jeremy Zuckerman, Ji-Hee Kim, John-Henry Crawford, Jonathan Koh, Joshua McClendon, Julia Lichten, Julian Hersh, Juneho Josh Kim, Kanon Shibata, Kei Otake, Kimberly Jeong, Kristy Park, Kuan-yu Huang, Laura Navasardian, Leah Koh, Lucas Buterbaugh, Lucie Ticho, Luiz Fernando Moita Venturelli de Souza, Luka Coetzee, Luke Wejman, Lydia Rhea, Mairead Flory, Mark Kosower, Mark Serkin, Matthew Huang, Max Dyer, Max Lou, Meghan Leong, Michael Chung, Miles Link, Mitchell Klein, Nagyeom Jang, Naomi Aires, Natasha Brofsky, Nathan Chan, Nathan Le, Nathan Lo, Nathan Mo, Nicholas Yee, Nick Koo, Noah Lee, Oliver Bennett Schlaffer, Olivia Cho, Peter Eom, Phillip Suwandi, Priscalla Kim, Richard Narroway, Robert Hurley, Robyn Neidhold, Rori Huang, Russell Houston, Sam DiCaprio, Samuel Sykes, Sarah Chong, Sarah Miller, Seoyoen Min, Sihao He, Stephanie March, Stephen Leou, Sua Kwoun, Sydney Lee, Thomas Lim, Thomas Mesa, Tyler Koh, Victor Huls, Wei Yu, William Suh, William Tan, Yihang Li, Zachary Keum, Zhihao Wu, Zlatomir Fung, and Zoe Lin

Jacob Collier: Moon River cello cover (ft. 138 cellists)

This piece, composed by the amazing Jeremy Zuckerman, is famously played during the episode "The Tales of Ba Sing Se" from Avatar: The Last Airbender. I made this arrangement of this simple tune with a markedly different vision. While the original is full of regret and sorrow, I wanted my arrangement to be lush and beautiful, at peace with itself as a tribute to the late Mako Iwamatsu, who voiced Uncle Iroh for the first two season of A:TLA. However, I did want to capture a hint of regret and sorrow at the end with the coda.

Leaves From The Vine/Little Soldier Boy cello cover by Jeremy Tai

The free-to-play game Genshin Impact made a huge splash in late September, becoming the highest grossing mobile game in the world. I absolutely LOVED the game and particularly the soundtrack performed by the London Philharmonic and Shanghai Symphony, so I wanted to make a cover that can capture the symphonic scale of the main theme. Composed by Yu-Peng Chen, the piece invites the listener to a grand and majestic open world.

My arrangement starts off with 4 celli, then expands to 8 and then 16. It was definitely a challenge to balance the entire track and make sure that certain countermelodies can be heard, but I am quite proud of what I have accomplished.

Genshin Impact Main Theme for 16 celli

Composed by Ludwig Göransson, the main theme of the TV show "The Mandalorian" gave me a bunch of opportunities to use extended techniques. For the introduction, I used sul ponticello to create that ethereal effect. I also used non-traditional tuning to reach those extremely low bass notes. Also, I used the extended technique of the Logic Pro distort plugin to get an electric cello effect the second time the melody comes back. There were plenty of surprisingly difficult passages in both the melody and the supporting track, especially the extremely fast high "violin" sections.

The Mandalorian Main Theme cello cover

The magical Zlatomir Fung and eight Jeremy's team up to perform for you one of the world's most beloved Christmas songs.

This cover is based on Jacob Collier's rendition which featured Tori Kelly. For this project I had the honor to collaborate with Zlatomir Fung, the winner of the 2019 Tchaikovsky Competition. I absolutely love everything about his interpretation of the melody, from the subtle timings to the shaping.

Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas cello cover ft. Zlatomir Fung

B.M. in Cello Performance from Northwestern University
I make cello covers! Check out my YouTube channel for music videos.

Jeremy Tai

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