Melissa (Fullmetal Alchemist OP1)-Porno Graffitti

The original Fullmetal Alchemist Anime from 2003 has many amazing OP and ED songs but the song which never gets old is the first OP Melissa by Porno Graffitti.

I've never realized it until closer inspection, but Melissa has many chord progressions which is very typical in classical music. Especially the chord progression in the chorus A-d-G-C-F-B(dim)-E-a (the so called "Circle of fifth") has a very irresistible character and it might be the main reason for the enduring popularity of this song.

One of the most distinctive feature of this song is probably the short bass guitar solo in the beginning of the original song. I created a small intro part at the beginning as a contrasting element to give the bass guitar solo in 00:26 more impact upon it's first appearance. Most of the classical music elements were added in the bridge part, starting with a counterpoint movement in the bass in 03:38, continuing with a baroque music inspired ornament in 03:50 and finally a short canon imitation in 04:00. The Circle of fifth chord progression is probably one of the most overused musical tropes in the world of classical music, and that's why the musical variations are almost limitless.

Since the piece is being introduced in a classical music style, I decided to finish the song in a similar fashion as well. Most of the time, the final chorus is representing the climax of the entire song and therefore is played with maximum intensity. But for Melissa, I decided to do the opposite as an element of change: the volume of the final chorus is gradually decreasing until it comes to a complete standstill in 04:20. And after a brief pause, the main melody is slowly being re-introduced again - this time as trills, to give it more suspense - and finally leading it to an exciting finale in 04:35.

In a way, this is one of the most classical music style arrangement I have done in a while, because the particular chord progression of Melissa was simply made for this style. I wonder what professional piano teachers think about this piece, because I'd love to hear their opinions about my classical music inspired arrangements.

Well then, that's the story behind my Melissa piano arrangement.

See you next week!

Animenz

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Piano arrangement by Animenz

Original Song: Melissa / メリッサ

Anime: Fullmetal Alchemist (2003) / 鋼の錬金術師

Published by: SME Records (2003)

Composed by: Akimitsu Homma / 本間 昭光

Performed by: Porno Graffitti