To start the day …. “Helping someone in need”!!

~~May 3, 2015~~ 

Tiny House Build Video 5

The Tiny House Movement and Merits of Downsizing

By Tom Howser

People are talking about the tiny house movement. What is it? Is it small houses that are being moved down the street to tiny lots? Is it a political movement? This movement is all about a segment of society that states that people are downsizing the space or spaces that they live in.

If you haven’t heard of it, the tiny house movement is a growing trend and not just a fad. It’s been featured on network television all over the world. What makes the tiny movement so big, and what determines what a small home is?

The average house in America is just less than 3,000 square feet in size. Tiny houses are built with the focus on smaller simplified living so they average around 400 to 500 square feet at the most. Some small houses are very tiny, at around 65 square feet.

But Why the Movement toward Downsizing Houses?

This movement is all about efficiency, saving natural resources, and saving the environment. People who have been concerned about these factors in society have been very concerned at the amount of natural resources (and accompanying waste) that’s generated every time a standard size home is built.

And if you include all the resources that go into maintaining older standard size houses, a good argument can be made that the old adage of “Bigger is better” is not better anymore.

For example: If a tiny home of about 200 square feet is built in remote areas away from sprawling cities, the house leaves virtually no impact or carbon footprint on the natural environment around it. And in many areas small houses are using solar panels for their energy source.

~~GALLERY~~

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A lot of people think that buying a tiny home means living in a cardboard box or something like that. Not so. Because the cost of a tiny house is so low, builders can focus on higher quality building materials that are more energy-efficient and last longer than materials used in traditional home building.

The small house movement is also providing an affordable means of home ownership to people whose homes were destroyed during hurricanes in the southeastern U.S. in the past ten years.

Some people whose houses were completely demolished could not afford to rebuild, or they did not have sufficient insurance coverage to rebuild the home they had before. So tiny homes provide a comfortable and safe life for them.

“As it appears in … full read/full credit”

http://bgipics.com/tiny-house-build-video5/

~~Tiny House Build Video 5~~

~~Published on Apr 23, 2015~~

Educate and Share Kindness. Start Being human.

#ToStartTheDay #HelpingSomeoneInNeed #TinyHouseBuild #Video5 #TinyHouseMovement #MeritsOfDownsizing #TomHowser #GrowingTrend #NotFad #Efficiency #SavingNaturalResources #SavingTheEnvironment #HigherQualityBuildingMaterials #EnergyEficient #LastLonger #TraditionalHomeBuilding #Educate #ShareKindness #StartBeingHuman #RandomActsKindness

#WeAllAreOne #ItIsWhatItIs #DrRex #hrexachwordpress

We ALL are ONE!!

At the end of the day …. The Piano Guys Series, second CD #14!!

~~May 9, 2014~~

This is the last song of The Piano Guys 2. Feels like saying goodbye to a good friend. I will be looking for more songs by these great, innovative musicians. I’m sure they have plenty others up their sleeve. 

Stay tuned to see what I find!

The Piano Guys are an American musical group consisting of Jon Schmidt, Steven Sharp Nelson, Paul Anderson, and Al van der Beek.

They gained popularity through YouTube, where they posted piano and cello renditions of popular songs and classical music. Schmidt and Nelson’s music is accompanied by professional-quality videos shot and edited by Paul Anderson. 

Paul Anderson owned a piano shop in St. George, Utah. He met musician Jon Schmidt as the latter walked in to ask if he could practice there for an upcoming concert. Months later, Paul Anderson and Tel Stewart (then just for fun) started making videos together with Jon Schmidt. It was not too long after that they did their first collaboration with Jon Schmidt, Steven Sharp Nelson, and Al Van Der Beek as the studio and music technician.

After the five of them started collaborating the group really started to take off, producing a music video each week and posting it to YouTube.

~~Success~~

Several of the group’s YouTube videos have over 20 million views, while all of them have over 750,000. As of February 2014, The Piano Guys’ YouTube channel has over 345 million total video views and about 2,500,000 subscribers.

“OUR VISION IS TO CREATE MUSIC AND VIDEOS THAT INSPIRE & UPLIFT.
WHATEVER WE DO, WE PUT OUR HEART AND SOULS INTO EVERY NOTE AND FRAME.”

The Piano Guys 2 is the third studio album by American musical group The Piano Guys. It was released on May 7, 2013, by Portrait (a division of Sony Masterworks). The album made its chart début at number 38 on the US Billboard 200.

The deluxe version of The Piano Guys 2 comes with a DVD featuring 11 music videos.

Today we are featuring “Begin Again … featuring Megan Nicole & Alex Goot” from their second CD with a major record label.

~~SOURCES~~

http://thepianoguys.com/

http://www.sacredcello.com/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Piano_Guys

https://www.facebook.com/PianoGuys

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/tag/the-piano-guys

http://floridatheatre.com/event/piano-guys/

~~Begin Again – Taylor Swift (cover)~~

Megan Nicole Alex Goot The Piano Guys   

~~Taylor Swift — Begin Again (Piano/Cello Cover)~~

ThePianoGuys

~~Published on Feb 13, 2013~~

~~The Story behind the song~~

Ironically this song for us was about beginning again and we filmed it in a café on a Wednesday (see Taylor Swift’s lyrics). No kidding. But what’s crazy is we didn’t plan it that way. Just like so many of our songs and videos, miracles made it happen.

We were writing another cover tune and it was flowing like molasses uphill in January. After beating our heads against the wall for too long trying to make it work we stepped back and reset … and decided to begin again. But like so many things in life the struggle had a great payoff. While we were writing the cover-tune-fail we found inspiration from a classical piece, as we often do — J.S. Bach’s “Sheep May Safely Graze” (Cantata No. 208).

As we were listening to this piece it called to memory a tune from Taylor Swift’s album, “Red.” Her “Begin Again” melody and Bach’s Cantata seemed so well matched it was a mash-up made in Heaven. We switched to Swift’s tune immediately and our arrangement finally started flowing like the Fountains of Versailles. There were even moments (especially the Bridge melody of “Begin Again” and the primary melody of the Cantata) when the two seemed to play off and echo each other naturally. We wanted this arrangement to be a mix of the two styles — a pastoral, classical feel paired with a pop-country vibe … polished off by a bit of Valentine romance.

Then it was on to find a location! We just did what we always do … find a bunch of locations that have potential only to find, at the last minute, that they don’t fit, can’t work, or won’t allow us to film…then, after all we can do, we’re gifted a location by a miracle! The day before we were scheduled to film, one of us woke up with an image in his head — a vision of a green European garden café. Where could we find any living plant, let alone a quaint outdoor Euro-café, in the middle of winter in Utah?

A GREENHOUSE!

As this blessing would have it, we found a perfect indoor garden setting in a greenhouse with a café vibe that was just what we had envisioned. And it was 4.3 miles away from where we were meeting! On top of that, an employee there said she was a “big fan” and went straight to the owner for us … who turned out to be a high school friend of Steve’s parents! And what day could they fit us in? A Wednesday. We don’t believe in coincidences.

Life’s too meaningful to believe in meaninglessness.

We ALL are connected through MUSIC!! 

We ALL are ONE!! 

At the end of the day …. The Piano Guys Series, second CD #12!!

~~May 7, 2014~~

The Piano Guys are an American musical group consisting of Jon Schmidt, Steven Sharp Nelson, Paul Anderson, and Al van der Beek.

They gained popularity through YouTube, where they posted piano and cello renditions of popular songs and classical music. Schmidt and Nelson’s music is accompanied by professional-quality videos shot and edited by Paul Anderson. 

Paul Anderson owned a piano shop in St. George, Utah. He met musician Jon Schmidt as the latter walked in to ask if he could practice there for an upcoming concert. Months later, Paul Anderson and Tel Stewart (then just for fun) started making videos together with Jon Schmidt. It was not too long after that they did their first collaboration with Jon Schmidt, Steven Sharp Nelson, and Al Van Der Beek as the studio and music technician. After the five of them started collaborating the group really started to take off, producing a music video each week and posting it to YouTube.

They gained popularity through YouTube, where they posted piano and cello renditions of popular songs and classical music. Schmidt and Nelson’s music is accompanied by professional-quality videos shot and edited by Paul Anderson. 

Paul Anderson owned a piano shop in St. George, Utah. He met musician Jon Schmidt as the latter walked in to ask if he could practice there for an upcoming concert. Months later, Paul Anderson and Tel Stewart (then just for fun) started making videos together with Jon Schmidt. It was not too long after that they did their first collaboration with Jon Schmidt, Steven Sharp Nelson, and Al Van Der Beek as the studio and music technician.

After the five of them started collaborating the group really started to take off, producing a music video each week and posting it to YouTube.

~~Success~~

Several of the group’s YouTube videos have over 20 million views, while all of them have over 750,000. As of February 2014, The Piano Guys’ YouTube channel has over 345 million total video views and about 2,500,000 subscribers.

“OUR VISION IS TO CREATE MUSIC AND VIDEOS THAT INSPIRE & UPLIFT.
WHATEVER WE DO, WE PUT OUR HEART AND SOULS INTO EVERY NOTE AND FRAME.”

The Piano Guys 2 is the third studio album by American musical group The Piano Guys. It was released on May 7, 2013, by Portrait (a division of Sony Masterworks). The album made its chart début at number 38 on the US Billboard 200.

The deluxe version of The Piano Guys 2 comes with a DVD featuring 11 music videos.

Today we are featuring “More Than Words” from their second CD with a major record label.

~~SOURCES~~

http://thepianoguys.com/

http://www.sacredcello.com/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Piano_Guys

https://www.facebook.com/PianoGuys

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/tag/the-piano-guys

http://floridatheatre.com/event/piano-guys/

~~More Than Words – Extreme – Featuring Guest Artist, J Rice~~

The Piano Guys

~~Uploaded on Nov 4, 2011~~

~~Story behind the song~~

For this week we randomly selected a suggestion from our subscribers and challenged ourselves to write an arrangement in less than 24 hours. Thanks to J Rice (The Vocalist) for the collaboration. We’ve been wanting to collaborate with J Rice for awhile now and it finally worked out! He has an incredible voice and a great YouTube channel. 

Arrangement produced and written by Steven Sharp Nelson, Jon Schmidt & Al van der Beek
Piano: Jon Schmidt
Cello & cello-percussion: Steven Sharp Nelson
Vocals: J Rice
Recorded, mixed & mastered by Al van der Beek at TPG Studios

Instrumental video produced by Paul Anderson, Tel Stewart, & Shaye Scott

~~More Than Words – Extreme~~

~~Uploaded on Nov 22, 2009~~

Music video by Extreme performing More Than Words. (C) 2004 A&M Records

We ALL are connected through MUSIC!!

We ALL are ONE!!

At the end of the day …. The Piano Guys Series, second CD #9!!

~~May 3, 2014~~

The Piano Guys are an American musical group consisting of Jon Schmidt, Steven Sharp Nelson, Paul Anderson, and Al van der Beek.

They gained popularity through YouTube, where they posted piano and cello renditions of popular songs and classical music. Schmidt and Nelson’s music is accompanied by professional-quality videos shot and edited by Paul Anderson. 

Paul Anderson owned a piano shop in St. George, Utah. He met musician Jon Schmidt as the latter walked in to ask if he could practice there for an upcoming concert. Months later, Paul Anderson and Tel Stewart (then just for fun) started making videos together with Jon Schmidt. It was not too long after that they did their first collaboration with Jon Schmidt, Steven Sharp Nelson, and Al Van Der Beek as the studio and music technician. After the five of them started collaborating the group really started to take off, producing a music video each week and posting it to YouTube.

~~Success~~

Several of the group’s YouTube videos have over 20 million views, while all of them have over 750,000. As of February 2014, The Piano Guys’ YouTube channel has over 345 million total video views and about 2,500,000 subscribers.

“OUR VISION IS TO CREATE MUSIC AND VIDEOS THAT INSPIRE & UPLIFT.
WHATEVER WE DO, WE PUT OUR HEART AND SOULS INTO EVERY NOTE AND FRAME.”

The Piano Guys 2 is the third studio album by American musical group The Piano Guys. It was released on May 7, 2013, by Portrait (a division of Sony Masterworks). The album made its chart début at number 38 on the US Billboard 200.

The deluxe version of The Piano Guys 2 comes with a DVD featuring 11 music videos.

Today we are featuring “Charlie Brown Medley” from their second CD with a major record label.

~~SOURCES~~

http://thepianoguys.com/

http://www.sacredcello.com/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Piano_Guys

https://www.facebook.com/PianoGuys

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/tag/the-piano-guys

http://floridatheatre.com/event/piano-guys/

Jon Schmidt (born 1966) is an American pianist currently residing in Bountiful, Utah. He describes his style as “New Age Classical.” He was born to German immigrants who acquainted him with the works of such composers as Beethoven, Mozart, and Chopin. He began songwriting at age 11. To date, he has released eight albums and seven piano books containing transcriptions of original arrangements.

His work is often described as New Age music with pop elements of hook and melody. His works were also featured on sample discs for the Iomega Hipzip Digital Audio Player with the pieces “Sacred Ground”, “All of Me”, and “Waterfall”. 

His influences include Mannheim Steamroller, Billy Joel, and Beethoven.

Steven Sharp Nelson (born 1977) is a pioneer in “cello-percussion”—an alternative performance method that combines traditional, lyrical cello techniques with unconventional pizzicato and percussive technique. He was born and still resides in Salt Lake City, Utah. He began studying cello at age 8, percussion at age 12 and guitar at age 17. He has invented a new method of playing the cello that combines elements learned from each of these instruments.

Nelson’s true cello career began when he was 15. He was recruited by Peter Breinholt to arrange string parts and perform with Breinholt’s band, Big Parade. Since then he has recorded on over 100 different albums ranging from folk & bluegrass to hip hop.

He has also made his way as a solo artist. His first album Sacred Cello (2006) was atop the Billboard Charts. He has since two more solo albums that have also received significant acclaim (Tender Mercies, 2008 and Christmas Cello, 2010).

~~Charlie Brown Medley~~

ThePianoGuys

~~Uploaded on Aug 31, 2011~~

We thought it would be fun to do an impromto concert for our favorite audience, and it was a blast. We hope you enjoy it in the spirit in which it is given. We met some incredible people at Stirling Court in St. George, Utah.

~Credits~
Original songs by Vince Guaraldi
Music produced by Jon Schmidt
Arrangement written by Jon Schmidt, Steven Sharp Nelson & Al van der Beek
Piano: Jon Schmidt
Cello & cello-percussion: Steven Sharp Nelson
Recorded, mixed & mastered by Al van der Beek at TPG Studios

~Video produced by~
Paul Anderson
Tel Stewart
Shaye Scott

We ALL are connected through MUSIC!! 

We ALL are ONE!! 

At the end of the day …. The Piano Guys Series, second CD #8!!

~~May 3, 2014~~

The Piano Guys are an American musical group consisting of Jon Schmidt, Steven Sharp Nelson, Paul Anderson, and Al van der Beek.

They gained popularity through YouTube, where they posted piano and cello renditions of popular songs and classical music. Schmidt and Nelson’s music is accompanied by professional-quality videos shot and edited by Paul Anderson. 

Paul Anderson owned a piano shop in St. George, Utah. He met musician Jon Schmidt as the latter walked in to ask if he could practice there for an upcoming concert. Months later, Paul Anderson and Tel Stewart (then just for fun) started making videos together with Jon Schmidt. It was not too long after that they did their first collaboration with Jon Schmidt, Steven Sharp Nelson, and Al Van Der Beek as the studio and music technician. After the five of them started collaborating the group really started to take off, producing a music video each week and posting it to YouTube.

~~Success~~

Several of the group’s YouTube videos have over 20 million views, while all of them have over 750,000. As of February 2014, The Piano Guys’ YouTube channel has over 345 million total video views and about 2,500,000 subscribers.

“OUR VISION IS TO CREATE MUSIC AND VIDEOS THAT INSPIRE & UPLIFT.
WHATEVER WE DO, WE PUT OUR HEART AND SOULS INTO EVERY NOTE AND FRAME.”

The Piano Guys 2 is the third studio album by American musical group The Piano Guys. It was released on May 7, 2013, by Portrait (a division of Sony Masterworks). The album made its chart début at number 38 on the US Billboard 200.

The deluxe version of The Piano Guys 2 comes with a DVD featuring 11 music videos.

Today we are featuring “Waterfall” from their second CD with a major record label.

~~SOURCES~~

http://thepianoguys.com/

http://www.sacredcello.com/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Piano_Guys

https://www.facebook.com/PianoGuys

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/tag/the-piano-guys

http://floridatheatre.com/event/piano-guys/

Jon Schmidt (born 1966) is an American pianist currently residing in Bountiful, Utah. He describes his style as “New Age Classical.” He was born to German immigrants who acquainted him with the works of such composers as Beethoven, Mozart, and Chopin. He began songwriting at age 11. To date, he has released eight albums and seven piano books containing transcriptions of original arrangements.

His work is often described as New Age music with pop elements of hook and melody. His works were also featured on sample discs for the Iomega Hipzip Digital Audio Player with the pieces “Sacred Ground”, “All of Me”, and “Waterfall”. 

His influences include Mannheim Steamroller, Billy Joel, and Beethoven.

Steven Sharp Nelson (born 1977) is a pioneer in “cello-percussion”—an alternative performance method that combines traditional, lyrical cello techniques with unconventional pizzicato and percussive technique. He was born and still resides in Salt Lake City, Utah. He began studying cello at age 8, percussion at age 12 and guitar at age 17. He has invented a new method of playing the cello that combines elements learned from each of these instruments.

Nelson’s true cello career began when he was 15. He was recruited by Peter Breinholt to arrange string parts and perform with Breinholt’s band, Big Parade. Since then he has recorded on over 100 different albums ranging from folk & bluegrass to hip hop.

He has also made his way as a solo artist. His first album Sacred Cello (2006) was atop the Billboard Charts. He has since two more solo albums that have also received significant acclaim (Tender Mercies, 2008 and Christmas Cello, 2010).

~~Waterfall (Jon Schmidt Original)~~

~~ThePianoGuys~~

~~Published on Jun 13, 2012~~

Written when he was 17, “Waterfall” is like an old friend to Jon. It
got him the cutest girl in his high school, made him the life of many
parties, and has been a big hit with pianists and piano teachers
alike. Jon says that in high school it was proof that chics dig even
ugly guys with skills.
This tune has significant
meaning to Jon and all of us at ThePianoGuys because It played a
pivotal role in convincing Jon to commit to a full-time career as a
pianist. An earlier video of Waterfall was done as a pre-TPG
experiment. This version is ThePianoGuys’ official video release.

Filming location:
Thanksgiving Point Gardens – http://www.thanksgivingpoint.org/visi…

We ALL are connected through MUSIC!! 

We ALL are ONE!! 

 

At the end of the day …. The Piano Guys Series, second CD #7!!

~~May 2, 2014~~

The Piano Guys are an American musical group consisting of Jon Schmidt, Steven Sharp Nelson, Paul Anderson, and Al van der Beek.

They gained popularity through YouTube, where they posted piano and cello renditions of popular songs and classical music. Schmidt and Nelson’s music is accompanied by professional-quality videos shot and edited by Paul Anderson. 

Paul Anderson owned a piano shop in St. George, Utah. He met musician Jon Schmidt as the latter walked in to ask if he could practice there for an upcoming concert. Months later, Paul Anderson and Tel Stewart (then just for fun) started making videos together with Jon Schmidt. It was not too long after that they did their first collaboration with Jon Schmidt, Steven Sharp Nelson, and Al Van Der Beek as the studio and music technician. After the five of them started collaborating the group really started to take off, producing a music video each week and posting it to YouTube.

~~Success~~

Several of the group’s YouTube videos have over 20 million views, while all of them have over 750,000. As of February 2014, The Piano Guys’ YouTube channel has over 345 million total video views and about 2,500,000 subscribers.

“OUR VISION IS TO CREATE MUSIC AND VIDEOS THAT INSPIRE & UPLIFT.
WHATEVER WE DO, WE PUT OUR HEART AND SOULS INTO EVERY NOTE AND FRAME.”

The Piano Guys 2 is the third studio album by American musical group The Piano Guys. It was released on May 7, 2013, by Portrait (a division of Sony Masterworks). The album made its chart début at number 38 on the US Billboard 200.

The deluxe version of The Piano Guys 2 comes with a DVD featuring 11 music videos.

Today we are featuring “Just the Way You Are” from their second CD with a major record label.

~~SOURCES~~

http://thepianoguys.com/

http://www.sacredcello.com/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Piano_Guys

https://www.facebook.com/PianoGuys

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/tag/the-piano-guys

http://floridatheatre.com/event/piano-guys/

Jon Schmidt (born 1966) is an American pianist currently residing in Bountiful, Utah. He describes his style as “New Age Classical.” He was born to German immigrants who acquainted him with the works of such composers as Beethoven, Mozart, and Chopin. He began songwriting at age 11. To date, he has released eight albums and seven piano books containing transcriptions of original arrangements.

His work is often described as New Age music with pop elements of hook and melody. His works were also featured on sample discs for the Iomega Hipzip Digital Audio Player with the pieces “Sacred Ground”, “All of Me”, and “Waterfall”. 

His influences include Mannheim Steamroller, Billy Joel, and Beethoven.

Steven Sharp Nelson (born 1977) is a pioneer in “cello-percussion”—an alternative performance method that combines traditional, lyrical cello techniques with unconventional pizzicato and percussive technique. He was born and still resides in Salt Lake City, Utah. He began studying cello at age 8, percussion at age 12 and guitar at age 17. He has invented a new method of playing the cello that combines elements learned from each of these instruments.

He has studied the cello (still his primary instrument) under Ryan Selberg, Stephen Emerson, and John Eckstein. He obtained a degree in music from the University of Utah School of Music, graduating in 2002.

Nelson’s true cello career began when he was 15. He was recruited by Peter Breinholt to arrange string parts and perform with Breinholt’s band, Big Parade. Since then he has recorded on over 100 different albums ranging from folk & bluegrass to hip hop. He has also made his way as a solo artist. His first album Sacred Cello (2006) was atop the Billboard Charts. He has since two more solo albums that have also received significant acclaim (Tender Mercies, 2008 and Christmas Cello, 2010).

~~Just the Way You Are – Bruno Mars (Piano/Cello Cover)~~

ThePianoGuys   

~~Uploaded on Jan 27, 2012~~

~~Story behind the song~~
As always our subscribers give us the best song suggestions.

We think “Just the Way You Are” is one of those melodies that only comes along every once in a while. The word ‘love’ is tossed around a lot today. This arrangement goes out to anyone that feels something so deeply for someone that words can’t even begin to describe. Jon says, “I tried to represent the song lyrics which match how I feel about my wife to a tee. The way I feel about her affected the musical arrangement big time. It shows that ‘amazing’ girl how I feel about her (after 20 plus years of marriage.)”

We hope everyone can relate. We hope everyone hears the very deepest side of what they feel for someone when they listen to this song.

Funny moments to look for:
Jon’s death bed, pause at 04:00

Arrangement produced by Jon Schmidt
Arrangement written by Jon Schmidt, Steven Sharp Nelson & Al van der Beek

~~Bruno Mars – Just The Way You Are~~

[OFFICIAL VIDEO]   

~~Uploaded on Sep 8, 2010~~

“When I see your face, there’s not a thing that I would change
Cause you’re amazing, just the way you are
And when you smile, the whole world stops and stares for a while
Because girl you’re amazing, just the way you are
The way you are, the way you are
Girl you’re amazing, just the way you are”

We ALL are ONE!! 

At the end of the day …. The Piano Guys Series, second CD #6!!

~~May 1, 2014~~

The Piano Guys are an American musical group consisting of Jon Schmidt, Steven Sharp Nelson, Paul Anderson, and Al van der Beek.

They gained popularity through YouTube, where they posted piano and cello renditions of popular songs and classical music. Schmidt and Nelson’s music is accompanied by professional-quality videos shot and edited by Paul Anderson. 

Paul Anderson owned a piano shop in St. George, Utah. He met musician Jon Schmidt as the latter walked in to ask if he could practice there for an upcoming concert. Months later, Paul Anderson and Tel Stewart (then just for fun) started making videos together with Jon Schmidt. It was not too long after that they did their first collaboration with Jon Schmidt, Steven Sharp Nelson, and Al Van Der Beek as the studio and music technician. After the five of them started collaborating the group really started to take off, producing a music video each week and posting it to YouTube.

~~Success~~

Several of the group’s YouTube videos have over 20 million views, while all of them have over 750,000. As of February 2014, The Piano Guys’ YouTube channel has over 345 million total video views and about 2,500,000 subscribers.

“OUR VISION IS TO CREATE MUSIC AND VIDEOS THAT INSPIRE & UPLIFT.
WHATEVER WE DO, WE PUT OUR HEART AND SOULS INTO EVERY NOTE AND FRAME.”

The Piano Guys 2 is the third studio album by American musical group The Piano Guys. It was released on May 7, 2013, by Portrait (a division of Sony Masterworks). The album made its chart début at number 38 on the US Billboard 200.

The deluxe version of The Piano Guys 2 comes with a DVD featuring 11 music videos.

Today we are featuring “All of Me” from their second CD with a major record label.

Jon Schmidt (born 1966) is an American pianist currently residing in Bountiful, Utah. He describes his style as “New Age Classical.” He was born to German immigrants who acquainted him with the works of such composers as Beethoven, Mozart, and Chopin. He began songwriting at age 11. To date, he has released eight albums and seven piano books containing transcriptions of original arrangements.

He currently works with Steven Sharp Nelson on a project called The Piano Guys, which has proved quite popular.

His work is often described as New Age music with pop elements of hook and melody. His works were also featured on sample discs for the Iomega Hipzip Digital Audio Player with the pieces “Sacred Ground”, “All of Me”, and “Waterfall”. His influences include Mannheim Steamroller, Billy Joel, and Beethoven.

~~SOURCES~~

http://thepianoguys.com/

http://www.sacredcello.com/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Piano_Guys

https://www.facebook.com/PianoGuys

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/tag/the-piano-guys

http://floridatheatre.com/event/piano-guys/

~~All of Me (Jon Schmidt)~~

ThePianoGuys

~~Uploaded on Oct 3, 2011~~

Written when Jon was about 21, “All of Me” is one of his most popular original tunes.

~~Credits~~

Written by Jon Schmidt
Piano recorded by Chuck Myers & Jake Bowen at Big Idea Studio
Video produced by Paul Anderson & Tel Stewart

~~All Of Me – John Legend & Lindsey Stirling~~

~~Published on Oct 28, 2013~~

Thank you to John Legend!

His new album Love In The Future featuring the original version of “All Of Me”.

We ALL are connected through MUSIC!! 

We ALL are ONE!! 

At the end of the day …. The Piano Guys Series, second CD #5!!

~~April 30, 2014~~

The Piano Guys are an American musical group consisting of Jon Schmidt, Steven Sharp Nelson, Paul Anderson, and Al van der Beek.

They gained popularity through YouTube, where they posted piano and cello renditions of popular songs and classical music. Schmidt and Nelson’s music is accompanied by professional-quality videos shot and edited by Paul Anderson. 

Paul Anderson owned a piano shop in St. George, Utah. He met musician Jon Schmidt as the latter walked in to ask if he could practice there for an upcoming concert. Months later, Paul Anderson and Tel Stewart (then just for fun) started making videos together with Jon Schmidt. It was not too long after that they did their first collaboration with Jon Schmidt, Steven Sharp Nelson, and Al Van Der Beek as the studio and music technician. After the five of them started collaborating the group really started to take off, producing a music video each week and posting it to YouTube.

~~Success~~

Several of the group’s YouTube videos have over 20 million views, while all of them have over 750,000. As of February 2014, The Piano Guys’ YouTube channel has over 345 million total video views and about 2,500,000 subscribers.

“OUR VISION IS TO CREATE MUSIC AND VIDEOS THAT INSPIRE & UPLIFT.
WHATEVER WE DO, WE PUT OUR HEART AND SOULS INTO EVERY NOTE AND FRAME.”

The Piano Guys 2 is the third studio album by American musical group The Piano Guys. It was released on May 7, 2013, by Portrait (a division of Sony Masterworks). The album made its chart début at number 38 on the US Billboard 200.

The deluxe version of The Piano Guys 2 comes with a DVD featuring 11 music videos.

Today we are featuring “Berlin” from their second CD with a major record label.

~~SOURCES~~

http://thepianoguys.com/

http://www.sacredcello.com/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Piano_Guys

https://www.facebook.com/PianoGuys

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/tag/the-piano-guys

http://floridatheatre.com/event/piano-guys/

~~Berlin – Original song for 12 cellos (and a kick drum)~~

ThePianoGuys

~~Published on Apr 10, 2013~~

ALL THE SOUNDS YOU HEAR WERE CREATED BY 105 CELLO TRACKS

~(and a kick drum)~

Filmed all on location in Berlin, Germany

~~Story behind the music and the video~~

What do Bach, Beethoven, Strauss, Brahms, Schumann and many more of the world’s greatest classical composers have in common?

They are all from Germany!

While we were on tour there we wanted to drink in Germany’s musical genius. It was an amazing experience. We had a chance to tour Europe twice in the same month. Prior to our first trip we had been brewing an original tune.

We wanted to write a cello “hook” that could grab people and that could be looped throughout the tune. We then started building more cello loops and moments with unprecedented sounds from the acoustic (wood) cello, carbon fiber, steel, and electric cellos. When the dust settled we had four minutes of layered, edgy, sort-of dubstep-with-a-U2-influenced goody-bag — on the electric cello loops we used some of the same cool delay effects and chord style of legend guitarists such as The Edge, Ewan Dobson, Buckethead and Yngwie Malmsteen.

We were excited but a little unsettled and we couldn’t figure out why. It was incomplete. We then left to Germany. We had some incredible adventures while we traveled and performed there. Upon return we had a week between our two Europe trips and we were determined to finish the song. Al and Steve were a little discouraged after having put so much work into a song and feeling good about it, and yet not knowing exactly what it needed.

This is a good moment to say again how grateful we are for our supportive families. They are the true “Behind the Scenes” of ThePianoGuys that make everything possible and give us the happiness we draw our inspiration from. If it weren’t for Rachel (Al’s wife) and Julie (Steve’s wife) this song would have failed. They gave us the encouragement and the ideas we needed to sprint the last mile.

We had one day to finish it up.

That morning inspiration struck Al and Steve at the same time in different places — we still have the iPhone voice memo recordings (recorded at less than an hour apart) that we used to sing the capstone melodies that came to us. When we met at the studio we simultaneously announced we had the melody the song needed — only to find out that the song needed BOTH melodies — separately in different places and then together as a duet at the end of the song.

As we listened to the final product we couldn’t help but feel the picturesque classical vibe mixed with a pop/dubstep vibe was an abstract depiction of what we felt as traveled through and performed in Berlin.

We decided just days before we were to board the plane again that the song would be called “Berlin” and that we should film it while we were in the city — a place so richly steeped in classical heritage, history, and vitality. Filming in front of its incredible landmarks was such an unforgettable experience.

(Read rest of the story herehttp://thepianoguys.com/portfolio/ber… )

We ALL are connected through MUSIC!! 

We ALL are ONE!! 

At the end of the day …. The Piano Guys Series, second CD #4!!

~~April 29, 2014~~

The Piano Guys are an American musical group consisting of Jon Schmidt, Steven Sharp Nelson, Paul Anderson, and Al van der Beek.

They gained popularity through YouTube, where they posted piano and cello renditions of popular songs and classical music. Schmidt and Nelson’s music is accompanied by professional-quality videos shot and edited by Paul Anderson. 

Paul Anderson owned a piano shop in St. George, Utah. He met musician Jon Schmidt as the latter walked in to ask if he could practice there for an upcoming concert. Months later, Paul Anderson and Tel Stewart (then just for fun) started making videos together with Jon Schmidt. It was not too long after that they did their first collaboration with Jon Schmidt, Steven Sharp Nelson, and Al Van Der Beek as the studio and music technician. After the five of them started collaborating the group really started to take off, producing a music video each week and posting it to YouTube.

~~Success~~

Several of the group’s YouTube videos have over 20 million views, while all of them have over 750,000. As of February 2014, The Piano Guys’ YouTube channel has over 345 million total video views and about 2,500,000 subscribers.

“OUR VISION IS TO CREATE MUSIC AND VIDEOS THAT INSPIRE & UPLIFT.
WHATEVER WE DO, WE PUT OUR HEART AND SOULS INTO EVERY NOTE AND FRAME.”

The Piano Guys 2 is the third studio album by American musical group The Piano Guys. It was released on May 7, 2013, by Portrait (a division of Sony Masterworks). The album made its chart début at number 38 on the US Billboard 200.

The deluxe version of The Piano Guys 2 comes with a DVD featuring 11 music videos.

Today we are featuring “Lord of the Rings” from their second CD with a major record label.

~~SOURCES~~

http://thepianoguys.com/

http://www.sacredcello.com/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Piano_Guys

https://www.facebook.com/PianoGuys

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/tag/the-piano-guys

http://floridatheatre.com/event/piano-guys/

~~Lord of The Rings – The Hobbit (Piano/Cello Cover)~~

ThePianoGuys

~~Published on Nov 20, 2012~~

~~Story behind the song~~

Since the beginning of The Piano Guys, “Lord of the Rings” has been our most requested work. As we reach one million subscribers we wanted to dedicate this arrangement to our “subs.” This was an intimidating project — encompassing the power and the beauty of the many musical themes throughout the movies; capturing the emotion and the “epic” nature of the story; and all with a few cellos, a piano, and a couple Canon 5D Mark IIs.

We normally write our tunes during intense compositional binges — the bulk of our songs have been written within the period of a few days. This one was different. It was a drawn-out process during which we studied the music of The Lord of Rings, contemplated what themes to incorporate, how they could tell the story by flowing from one to the other. We also spent a lot of time finding new ways to imitate instruments from various sections of the orchestra using Steve’s cellos — from the brass section through the woodwind section to the percussion section.

We love the story of The Lord of the Rings. It is a tale that has spiritual meaning for us. We love its messages — that “even the smallest person can change the course of the future,” that “there’s good in this world and it’s worth fighting for,” “All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us” … and that everyone should have a “second breakfast.” We love the poignant depiction of loyalty between the Fellowship of the Ring (we even included the “Fellowship” theme three times – at 0:18, 3:58 and at the end of the arrangement – to feel like a common thread in the music as it is in the story.)

We wanted to paint these messages musically as vividly as possible. Like so many things in the creative realm, and to paraphrase Mr. Bilbo Baggins, the hardest part was the first step. After a brief introduction of the Hobbit Theme and Fellowship Theme (arguably the most relevant musical moments) we felt strongly that we needed to begin with the deeply touching melody that serves as the soundtrack to Arwen’s vision of her future son (in the extended version of Return of the King).

That gave way to a Divinely-led journey from the Shire and Rivendell through Isengard and Rohan to Gondor’s victory over Mordor. We endeavored to represent each of the major allies and opposing forces in the story:

The Elves 0:44
The Ents 1:48
Rohan 2:08
Mordor and Isengard 2:32
Hobbits 3:08
Gondor 4:11

We ALL are connected through MUSIC!! 

~~FUTURE PLANS~~

The Piano Guys have the intention of playing their music at the seven wonders of the world. At the time of this writing, they have played at the Great Wall of China and. add to that, Christ the Redeemer in Brazil – Large Statue. 

~~Full Read/Posts~~

https://hrexach.wordpress.com/2014/04/09/at-the-end-of-the-day-another-musical-note/

https://hrexach.wordpress.com/2014/04/08/at-the-end-of-the-day-on-a-musical-note/

We ALL are ONE!! 

At the end of the day …. The Piano Guys Series, second CD #2!!

~~April 27, 2014~~

The Piano Guys are an American musical group consisting of Jon Schmidt, Steven Sharp Nelson, Paul Anderson, and Al van der Beek.

They gained popularity through YouTube, where they posted piano and cello renditions of popular songs and classical music. Schmidt and Nelson’s music is accompanied by professional-quality videos shot and edited by Paul Anderson. 

Paul Anderson owned a piano shop in St. George, Utah. He met musician Jon Schmidt as the latter walked in to ask if he could practice there for an upcoming concert. Months later, Paul Anderson and Tel Stewart (then just for fun) started making videos together with Jon Schmidt. It was not too long after that they did their first collaboration with Jon Schmidt, Steven Sharp Nelson, and Al Van Der Beek as the studio and music technician. After the five of them started collaborating the group really started to take off, producing a music video each week and posting it to YouTube.

~~Success~~

Several of the group’s YouTube videos have over 20 million views, while all of them have over 750,000. As of February 2014, The Piano Guys’ YouTube channel has over 345 million total video views and about 2,500,000 subscribers.

“OUR VISION IS TO CREATE MUSIC AND VIDEOS THAT INSPIRE & UPLIFT.
WHATEVER WE DO, WE PUT OUR HEART AND SOULS INTO EVERY NOTE AND FRAME.”

The Piano Guys 2 is the third studio album by American musical group The Piano Guys. It was released on May 7, 2013, by Portrait (a division of Sony Masterworks). The album made its chart début at number 38 on the US Billboard 200.

The deluxe version of The Piano Guys 2 comes with a DVD featuring 11 music videos.

Today we are featuring “Rockelbel Canon – Pachelbel Canon in D” from their second CD with a major record label.

~~SOURCES~~

http://thepianoguys.com/

http://www.sacredcello.com/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Piano_Guys

https://www.facebook.com/PianoGuys

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/tag/the-piano-guys

http://floridatheatre.com/event/piano-guys/

~~Rockelbel’s Canon (Pachelbel’s Canon in D) – 4 Cellos~~

ThePianoGuys

(Doesn’t he look like Mr. Bean?)

~Story behind the song~

Ask any cellist. They’ll tell you about what’s it’s like to play the cello part of Pachebel’s Canon in D. It’s the same 8 notes over and over and over again. The good news is, it’s easy to memorize. The bad news is you don’t know when to stop. There’s a rumor floating around that says Pachelbel either died while writing it, never finishing the cello part, or that he dated a cellist and it did NOT go well.

This arrangement is dedicated to all the cellists that have fallen asleep while playing this song … or at least wanted to fall asleep. Steven Sharp Nelson actually began writing this arrangement while bored at a wedding.

Ahem … all the bitter cello-malice aside, Pachelbel’s Canon in D (written in the 1600’s) has stood the test of time — celebrated as the most recognizable piece of classical music. We like to call it the “one-hit wonder of the 1600’s.” It really is an amazingly-catchy piece of music. It demonstrates the musical form of the “canon,” when a melody is played and then repeated in a round by other voices. (watch how the melodies are passed from one cello to the next – right to left)

~ALL THE SOUNDS YOU HEAR WERE CREATED BY THE CELLO~

bowing, plucking, strumming, and beating the cello any way possible

This arrangement was written before ThePianoGuys posted our first video, “Michael Meets Mozart” – but we hesitated filming it because of how involved the idea was. We’ve never used “extras” before! And the thought of staging a wedding, directing extras, and cloning Steve 4 times all in one video-shoot made us justifiably anxious.

So we put it off. And put it off. And then put if off some more. One day Al van der Beek was skimming through our thousands of messages on Facebook and happened to see one with the title “wedding” in the subject line.

A woman emailed us about an opportunity to film at a big magazine-spread wedding photo shoot. It was perfect — they would have the location, flowers, actors, and even a cake. Everything we’d need.

To make a long story short, we excitedly scheduled our video shoot for the same day as their photo shoot, but a few days prior to the day it fell apart. After much discussion we determined to move forward on faith that we could still work it out.

Paul Anderson marshaled all sorts of connections and called on whomever he could and by nothing short of a miracle in a matter of days the wedding was all planned — complete with a beautiful location, stunning decor, sharp tuxedos, fancy flowers, a photogenic bride and groom, 60 energetic guests, and an iced cake!

The piece at the beginning that is just ending is Steven Sharp Nelson’s 4-cello arrangement of “Thanks Be To Thee” (att. to Handel). 

We ALL are ONE!!