What Was I Made For (By Billie Eilish)

Solo Piano Arrangement by Thomas Gunther

About the arrangement

 Billie Eilish wrote WHAT I WAS MADE FOR for the 2023 Motion-picture Barbie . Here you find Thomas Gunther's beautiful and highly accurate solo piano arrangement of the song. It includes every note Billie is singing, even her quiet humming passages.

In my performance video of the arrangement I demonstrate that my solo piano arrangement is very accurate by adding Billie's original vocal softly in the background.

 "The most challenging task when writing a solo piano version of a song like "What I Was Made For" is that we want to preserve the original accompaniment as much as possible while incorporating the melody in a smooth and organic fashion. This is especially challenging when the melody notes have to be placed in the same register the original accompaniment is being played, which is the case here.

How difficult is it to play?

The song looks simple, but to play it well there is a lot of things the pianist has to take care of. The most challenging aspect is perhaps to sustain some notes by using a combination of smart fingering choices and the sustain pedal.

Fingering

I included fingering numbers to give the pianist a starting point. But fingering is a highly subjective affaire. Every pianist should feel free to adapt her/his own fingering as see fit.

Sustain pedal

The sustain pedal usage is very important in this arrangement. For one, it helps sustaining some notes that can't be held otherwise, and of course to make the sound fuller (more cinematic). It is important to use the pedal to create a sense of space (distance). After all, the original recording uses a lot of reverb to achieve that.