At the end of the day …. The Piano Guys – “Story of my Life”!!

~~May 23, 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.

~~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/

~~Story of My Life~~

(One Direction — Piano/Cello Cover)

~~ThePianoGuys~~

~~Published on May 22, 2014~~

~~Story behind “Story of My Life”~~

As we began our arrangement of One Direction’s “Story of My Life” we wanted it to feel like each note of the music was a word in a vivid story being told. When writing a song sometimes you just need a little spark. That catalyst came from a piece of classical music — one that had such a “storybook feel” to it that we gleaned inspiration from it: Saint-Saëns’ “Aquarium” from his Suite “Carnival of the Animals.”

It’s an incredibly beautiful and transportive piece. 

When we were finished we all stepped back and listened as objectively as we could, imagining what sort of story was being told in order to identify the best places to film. What happened surprised us all. The story itself took over.

It was like film score — but in reverse … more here:

http://smarturl.it/TPGStoryOfMyLife

~~Credits~~
“Story of My Life” – One Direction – written by Jamie Scott, Julian C. Bunetta, John Henry Ryan, Harry Styles, Liam Payne, Niall Horan, Zayn Malik James Horan
Published by BMG Platinum Songs, Universal, EMI Blackwood, & Downtown DMP
Arrangement produced by Steven Sharp Nelson
Arrangement written by Al van der Beek & Steven Sharp Nelson
Mixed & mastered by Al van der Beek at TPG Studios in Utah
Performed by
Jon Schmidt: Piano
Steven Sharp Nelson: Electric & acoustic cellos, cello-percussion, percussion
Al van der Beek: Vocals, percussion

~~One Direction – Story of My Life~~

~~Published on Nov 3, 2013~~

The new album Midnight Memories featuring Story of My Life! 

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 #4!

~~April 12 ,2014~~

By now we should know that 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. 

“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.”

~~SOURCES~~

http://thepianoguys.com/

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

https://www.facebook.com/PianoGuys

The Piano Guys have recently put out their self entitled album “The Piano Guys” and are getting tremendous support from both the online community especially YouTube where they made their names. Their videos are highly popular with millions of views per piece.

The wider media is starting to take notice of the group that includes Jon Schmidt, Steven Sharp Nelson, Tel Stewart, Paul Anderson and Al van der Beek. The team has been on the “Jay Leno Show,” Fox News, “Katie Couric” and “The Today Show”.

Currently the group sits at No. 3 on the Billboard charts trailing the likes of Placido Domingo and wonder kid Jackie Evancho.

~~Beethoven’s 5 Secrets – OneRepublic (Cello/Orchestral Cover)~~

ThePianoGuys

~~Uploaded on Feb 9, 2012~~

~~Story behind the song~~

The American Heritage Lyceum Philharmonic (Youth Orchestra) and its director, Kayson Brown, approached us with this idea. We loved it. It combined two of the things we are working to accomplish — inviting people to classical music and inspiring young musicians.

Steven Sharp Nelson had soloed with the orchestra the previous year and loved the spirit and the talent that the orchestra showed at such young ages (ages 13-18!).

Together we developed the concept of “Beethoven’s 5 Secrets,” combining OneRepublic‘s tune “Secrets” with melodies and moments from all four movements of Beethoven’s 5th Symphony.

We used 5 different melodies from the 4 movements of Beethoven’s 5th Symphony (not including the “bridge” the orchestra plays in the middle).

Try to guess where they are and where they come from!

What are Beethoven’s secrets?

He had many. His most prominent secret that he desperately tried to keep from the public and that caused him to be considered extremely eccentric, irritable, and hermit-like was his “weakness.” He was deaf during most of his life. Imagine that … one of the greatest composers that ever lived could hardly hear. And yet, he wrote his life’s greatest works after becoming deaf.

He believed that art itself had “secrets” that had to be “forced into” in order to obtain art’s highest level.

There is no doubt Beethoven discovered many of the “secrets” of art — people all over the world enjoy them every day. He was a true master of music, blessed by God.

This piece and video are dedicated to him.

Filming locations
The Mountains of St. George Utah
American Heritage School
TPG Studios
MetCom Studio (Behind the Scenes footage)

Dedicated to Ludwig van Beethoven

(1770-1827)

We ALL are connected through MUSIC!! 

We ALL are ONE!! 

~~Secrets – One Republic Lyrics~~