Up is one of Pixar’s most beloved movies from the last 20 years. And one of its highlights is the Academy Award-winning music. “Married Life,” the theme from Up, is an absolutely beautiful piece of film music that features the piano. In this tutorial, Kevin Castro will teach you how to play the theme from Up on piano with step-by-step instructions. Get ready to cry, because this piece is a tearjerker!
Looking for the sheet music for the Up theme? Pianote Members can download the full piano sheet music in our Members Area, complete with chord symbols and fingering. If you’re not a Member yet, don’t worry! Here’s a free trial just for you.
Quick reminder: we’re in the key of F Major, which means that by default, all Bs are played with flats. Do pay attention to accidentals, however, as this piece has quite a few.
It may be helpful to learn the left-hand part first because it will anchor us to the beat. The left hand accompaniment pattern is a standard waltz rhythm, 1-2-3 1-2-3. Practice these chords and comping rhythm a few times to get the hang of it.
The right hand melody (main theme) starts on a few pick-up notes, which means we don’t begin on the on-beat. If it helps, break down the counting into eighth notes (1 + 2 + 3 + ) and write this down on the sheet music. You can even draw lines on the sheet music to match up the left and right hand parts.
Quite a lot happens in the middle section of the song. So take things slow if you need to.
You’ll notice an “8va” symbol with some dotted lines. This means to play the right hand notes under the lines an octave higher.
There’s a little run at measure 41 that looks complicated because there are so many accidentals. But this is just a chromatic scale. Think of it as hitting all the white and black keys between the beginning and end notes.
The first scene that I did in the movie was ‘Married Life’ and it was a very complicated theme. You need to follow this very emotional story. The thing about it is, as we were recording it everyone’s crying each time we did it! You look at a scene like that and you see that this is something that we’re all gonna go through in our lives. It really gets you thinking beyond just the fact that you’re watching a Pixar movie. That emotion naturally went into the scoring of it, for me, anyway.
Michael Giacchino (Empire)
As the song progresses, things slow down. The 1-2-3 waltz rhythm turns into 1-2, then dotted half notes, and then tied dotted half notes. This part of the song is all about expression. If you’ve seen Up, this is the part of the montage when everyone cries! So pay attention to dynamics, play your pianissimos as softly as possible, and be delicate with those high notes.
We hope you enjoyed this tutorial on “Married Life”! If you’d like more lessons like this, be sure to check out our Song Tutorials section for free tutorials and resources. Members can also access a wide variety of downloadable sheet music in our Members Area song library, and play along with our Practice-Along feature.
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Kevin Castro is a graduate of the prestigious MacEwan University with a degree in Jazz and Contemporary Popular Music, and is the Musical Director and touring pianist for JUNO-winning Canadian pop star, JESSIA. As your instructor at Pianote, Kevin is able to break down seemingly complex and intimidating musical concepts into understandable and approachable skills that you can not only learn, but start applying in your own playing. Learn more about Kevin here.
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