Added: 5 years ago
From: Maestrojosh87
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  • I have been watching this over & over since I found it. Thanks so much for posting!

  • Beautiful. This is really a nice performance of a piece of music I've always adored. Thanks for posting this.

  • Goodness, all the good mysteries finally getting solved - first the Sesame Street "toys, robots and satellites" song being named, now these! Fantastic transcription and playing!

  • Wow, you have some real talent. And i loved this piece of music on Sesame Street when i was a kid. So good memories!!!! Thanks for posting!

  • Nifty digits the original KPM LP is finally out on itunes.... the tracks used here are "Water course" and "Exchange".....

  • Josh, you have been recognised. Richard Harvey, who composed this amazing music, is playing in Kingston on 20 July 2009, with John Williams. Please attend if you can and make yourself known to Richard. They're at the Rose Theatre, as part of an extended world tour. JW plays guitar like no-one else on earth, while RH plays recorders, mandolin, pan pipes, ocarina, percussion, flutes, psaltery and many other instruments, most of them more or less at the same time. Tickets from Rose Theatre Kingston

  • Great stuff, Josh. You should come to Kingston on 20 July, to the John Williams / Richard Harvey World Tour concert at the Rose Theatre and make yourself known to Richard. Concert will be great. JW plays guitar like no-one else on earth, while RH plays recorders, mandolin, pan pipes, ocarina, percussion, flutes, psaltery and many other instruments, most of them more or less at the same time. Tickets available now online from Rose Theatre Kingston

  • Kudos! Awesome rendition of those memorable songs.

  • I'm confused - I thought the second song was "Dragonfly Dance". Where did "exchange" come from?

  • Exchange is another name for Dragonfly dance (different mix) on the KPM 1251 release......

  • Hi there! All of "Nifty digits" will be released on i-tunes within a couple of weeks. Please enjoy responsibly!!

  • I searched. It's not on there yet...

  • Another month. Still not on iTunes.

  • ALERT- It's now on iTunes!

  • THIS VIDEO IS PURE GOLD!!!!!

    I wonder if anyone could do a guitar cover of that song.....lol

  • That's amazing! And it was one of my favourite real-life segments on SS.

  • This is very good work. Congratulations!

    Actually there are three tracks combined to make this score...the first is indeed "Water course" by RH. After 20" or so there is a crossfade into "Dragonfly dance" also by RH which takes you through to about 25" from the end of the video. From there I can't help...sorry.

  • Richard Harvey's Nifty Digits is a library album released through KPM Music intended as licensed background music in commercials or television. All three tracks used in this How Crayons are Made segment. The first is Water Course, then Exchange, then the seventh track on this album. As presented on SS, all three tracks were sped up by a few per cent.

  • Hi captainsquare, You are correct in every detail.

    Track seven on the the KPM album was never on the multitrack tapes as is was recorded during the mixing sessions...

  • Any chance Nifty Digits will be re-released at some point? Have you spoken to Richard about this?

  • nice dude!

  • Very good job....well done. The slow opening section is "Water course" and it crossfades into "Dragonfly dance" at 20". Both tracks by Richard Harvey. I can confirm that the last 20" or so of the whole thing is not by Mr Harvey but have no idea what it is. I hope that answers a few questions!

  • Like Simon Cowell, I'm brutally honest with people... and I've got to say.. Fantastic!

  • fantastic! I Love it. Nice job!

  • This is superb.. especially 1:08. Millions of awesome. I know this was like 3 years ago. But I must point out two things, and to me, big things.

    1. the chord @ 0:54 should drop to D/A instead of Em/A. It only hits Em/A the second time through, which is one of my favorite moments in the song.

    2. 1:07 should be B/F#, not B/A. Second inverstion there! Another integral moment in the song.

    Otherwise, we as a nation couldn't ask for a better reproduction. Did you pick up the arrangement by ear?

  • Well done!

  • haha my uncle Richard Harvey wrote this music. possible one of the best pieces ever.

  • Whats the name of the song?

  • Love this....your Uncle is a very talented guy...my children loved this segment and the music on Sesame Street ..wow...28 years ago!

  • What proof do we have that your uncle wrote this song?

  • Amazing.  I can officially stop considering myself unique for almost obsessing over the music from that Sesame Street clip. I even sequenced the tune (more or less) in Basic on a Vic 20 back in the day. Now I have to say it's mighty strange that we don't have any solid clue who put the original together.

  • First off, well done. I think this is better than the original. You know the name and artist of the original piece?

  • Not only are you talented, you're cute, too!

  • fucking awesome

  • very nice job! This is my favorite of all time. Brings back memories of a simpler time, and younger days.

  • Wow, that was incredible! I am very impressed! I think you had it pretty much dead on. Keep up the good work!!!

  • best. video. ever.

  • That was awesome! 100 stars!

  • I'd pay you $10 if you'd sequence this in MIDI format and send it to me so that I can generate sheet music for it.

  • Any chance you have the sheet music for this? I would trade my left kidney for it...

  • By the way, it seems that only the slow music at the start and end are "Water Course". The middle section is supposedly by Stuart Horn (who passed away only a few months ago), but we won't find out for sure until Sesame Street Workshop responds to our e-mails.

  • "This is my favorite part right here"

    I agree. That part is just epic.

  • This is freaking amazing. I wish we had more information regarding the song. Until SSW responds, I guess it'll be a mystery.

  • THANK YOU SO MUCH. oh, the memories.

  • Unbelievably awesome. You are very talented! 5 stars.

  • I've read that Stuart Horn did the middle section.

  • That is, without a doubt, one of the most amazing videos on here I have ever seen.

    Well done!!

  • Any possibility of getting aforementioned transcribed chords you were playing? My "play by ear" system is not as good as yours is. Amazing playing, by the way.

  • Where did you get the sheet music from or did you work it out yourself?

  • I'll upload it to rapidshare in the next day or so and post the links on here.

  • link? :p

  • That's cool that you were able to bring that music back to life. That crayons segment is a vivid memory for me, too.

  • amazing!  <3

  • I agree with LordToon!! this brought back so many memories!!

    ~d

  • You should share (or sell) the high-quality audio version of this song. I want it!

  • Yes, the beginning and end of the video are from a piece called "Water Course," while the middle, industrial part is called "Exchange."

  • Water Course shows up as to parts (a and b) on Richard Harvey's Nifty Digits, KPM 1251. I own this LP, but I can't recall it's exact contents. My aunt in Austria is shipping it to me, and perhaps once it arrives I might be able to do some digitization.

  • So just the intro is called "Water Course", and the rest is from a different song?

  • HMMMM..... i THINK THE THE CRAYON SORTING PART SHOULD BE THE SAME MUSIC AT THE MIXING AND MOLING PART JUST TO MAKE IT SOUND CHILD-LIKE

  • This is what YouTube was MADE for! Truly Amazing...The song brought lots of great childhood memorys. (I Cried a little cause it was truly beautiful...) Bravo!//

  • ITA with you LordToon.. that just made my day!!!  I am 33 and this brings back so many memories!!!!

    ~d

  • wow. you must really like crayons. or SS. Or both. cool either way.

  • I might have asked this before, but if you drew up the sheet music, can you copy and mail it to me? I'll cover any expenses.

  • A fitting tribute. Bravo.

  • Well done.

  • what an amazing performance (and transcription); thanks so much!

  • I like your song

    where can I get the lyrics for this? I always synch this tune on MY piano. 5 stars!

  • 0:43-1:05 seemed perfect.

  • What is this song called - it is pretty much the coolest song ever.

  • Outstanding work...and I love that you play with excitement. What a cool song to learn. =)

  • Freakin' awesome!!!!

  • excellent job!! you make it seem so easy to do...the gifted people always are able to achieve that sort of effortlessness. Thanks for sharing!

  • Yes! Really good. Amazing job on the "crayon sorting" part in the middle.

  • You are my favourite pserson in the WORLD right now! Oh my freaking God...pretty much made my entire week.

  • You are a great piano player! Not only did you play an awesome song but you played it very well.

  • awesome rendition, thanks.

  • I love the camera angle. Good job! We have a series of photographs of my brother playing the piano at that angle.

  • Amazing. I will never be this good.

  • DAMN I WISH I COULD DO THAT !!!

  • makes me visualize the crayons over and over again

  • That was amazing. I am going to go learn this song now.

  • Wow, just when I thought I was the only one who remembered the brilliance of this song.........

  • It literally fit perfectly with the video.

  • So fricking amazing!

  • an absolutely grand effort. Well done!

    I'd like to hear a modern remix of hat music :)

  • that was cool man. Do it again with the camera facing the keys and the light source from behind the camera so it doesn't wash you out. Great job tho. I recorded the pinball song so hard to work out with the dated film/audio worked out ok tho

  • very talented!

  • Oh man. I friggin love you. Amazing!!!

  • That sounded very good...well done, bro!

  • You were great

  • where can you actually find this on cd or for download??......I wuold LOVE to listen to tjis whenver I wanted....good times

  • Dude, you flippin' rock.

  • THATS SOME BAD ASS SHIT !!!

  • go boy!

  • whoa, you are great!

  • hes really good i wish i could do that but i can't

  • You're the man now dog!!

  • I don't get it... is he a man or a dog... or did you mean "dawg", you nice little ghetto dweller?

  • That was freakin' amazing!

  • You are amazing! Thank you for this. :)

  • No words can describe how amazing this is...I was totally looking all over for this song on YouTube and here it is....yay!

  • I have to say. I'm kind of in love with you for this. This music has been imprinted on my brain since I was about five. Really awesome. I'm telling my whole family.

  • That....

    Without knowing anything else about you, this makes me wanna be friends with you for life.

    Well, WELL done!

    (..and now for some reason I'm imagining this song arranged for electric guitar and bass. Is that even possible? *shrug*)

  • very nice wow bravo great talent and wonderful right on the nose, perfect pitch and was in the right key as well.

  • Great job! Nice to have another bits of nostalgia dancing in my ears.

  • Holy Crap! That's what I'm talking about!

  • Holy FECES i envy your talent! That is utterly badass!

  • WOW!!!!

    This has made my day! I love that piece of music, who was it written by?

  • I'm pretty sure it was composed by Joe Raposo, but I could be wrong.

  • I don't think it's a Raposo composition; it doesn't sound like one (too complex and modern). Besides, I've heard it used once outside of Sesame Street - I just forget where...

  • great; great to infinity!|

  • This is positively the most amazing thing I have seen today.

  • You're good!

  • But Christian I don't know how to play the piano

  • I want to learn to play that song

  • Great job! And what a great song to do! You have talent, and good taste!

  • This is seriously my favorite childhood memory. It is so cool that you brought it to life!

  • Can you (or anybody else that may have this) send me a midi version or transcription of some sort. I am just curious at looking at it written out. Thanks

    davihaun@ gmail. com

  • oh that music!! it gives me chills to hear it i love it so much..great job. that music is what has inspired my music taste from the young age of 5 on..

  • I think my life would be complete if I could play this song.

  • Absolutely wonderful!!

  • i have to say pgl!

  • Absolutely awesome. Thank you for this.

  • Holy crap! You rule! Thanks for bringing a smile to my face... I've had that song stuck in my head for over 25 years and you brought it to life. Seriously man, I can't thank you enough. Gotta rip the audio from this one!

  • Unbelievable. Probably my favorite SS clip of all time, and you totally nailed it.

  • lol LOVE IT!

  • Wow dude. You are really talented, and you couldn't have picked a better piece of music. How many instruments were you actually playing at one time?

  • right on!

  • This video was brought to you by the Letter B...

    Bizarre...

    But BRILLIANT!!!!

    I can't believe I didn't catch this video until now. You are one talented dude. Now you have to post a video teaching us how to do it too!

    P.S. Your parents must have thought your were nuts! But aren't the crazies also usually the geniuses? ;)

    ASTONISHING! WELL DONE!

  • youtube . com/watch?v=HMU-wXsgyR8 < the original video

  • Awesome. :)

  • The original clip is on MySpace video if anyone was wondering.

  • where? please link?

  • incredible! you are really talented

  • maaaaaaan!! that shit totally rocks!! youre great!

  • very impressive!

  • Incredible!

  • NO WAY!

  • Wow, that was great! You are very talented!

  • Wow this was WAY awesome...

    I can remember that they still played this when I was little and I was born in the 80s...that just shows how popular this was...

    But anyways...I WISH I COULD PLAY THIS!

  • AMAZING I REMEMBERED THIS

  • Hey Maestrojosh - Terrific job on a really challenging piece of music. Do you happen to know the proper title for this song and/or the composer/original artist? I'm told that it was used in other media besides this Sesame Street film and my first inclination would be that it's by some 70's prog rock group???

  • True it was used in other outlets besides Sesame Street, but Joe Raposo (who was Sesame Street's composer) wrote it.

  • Are you certain (dickclarkfan) that Joe Raposo wrote this? It seems a bit too complex for his usual style. It's true that he was Sesame Street's main composer, but he didn't write *everything* on the show.

  • Yes i'm sure. You wouldn't know it, but Joe was a very talented pianist, composer, and singer. The man singing most of the original Sesame songs "Somebody Come And Play", "I Believe In Little Things", "A Little Bit In The Beginning", and "Everybody Sleeps/Eats" are all written and performed by Joe. He also wrote a majority of the music used on The Electric Company, and Shining Time Station, the latter before his death.

  • Oh, I'm well aware of Raposo's talents and his work. I'm just saying that he didn't write *everything* on Sesame Street; they used a few other composers for individual segments. (For instance, some fans have speculated that Raposo wrote the ragtime piano music for the "Mad Painter" sketches, but those were actually written and played by a composer named Robert Dennis.) I'm just wondering if this piece is another case of a contribution by a separate composer.

  • This is not true....sorry about that. British composer Richard Harvey wrote it......

  • I loved this segment so much on sesame street when I was a kid and remember the original so vividly. Twenty years later, I now work at PBS and your rendition is simply incredible! Bravo. Would love to have it on my Ipod one day. Keep being creative. You will go far!

  • AMAZING...

  • absolutely amazing.

  • Do you have the sheet music for this (or can you transcribe it)? Let me know and I'll give you my mailing address.

  • I can not imagine how much work you put into this. Wow!

  • That makes my heart happy! :o) I want to buy that on cd.

  • this is way to awsome i hope its available in mp3 format

  • That was WICKED! I could picture the crayons going through the machines, lol

  • WE'RE NOT WORTHY! WE'RE NOT WORTHY! OMG that is so awesome man! you totally nailed that! Do you have that backing music available?

  • holy crap, thats the best i ever heard, you must consider making a cd track or famous music from sesame street

  • Awesome! Did you transcribe that yourself? I've tried figuring this piece out myself, but I could never figure out some parts, like the staccato section at 1:08 or the fancy flourishes at the end.

    I've also been trying to figure out the music for the "Wooden Horse" film.

  • Don't forget "Lowercase N"! Or "Let's Sing a Song about J" - rockin tunes.

  • ummm, you've seen a million crayons, and you rocked them all. that was WICKED cool! Peresonally I'm working on a cover of the Telephone Rock.

  • I can't wait to hear that. Because of what you're doing, I'm making a cover of "(I Can't Get No) Co-Operation" and "Hip To Be A Square".

  • FUCK YEAH!!!

  • well done, well done indeed. Looks like you created a new search topic. "Covers of Classic Sesame street songs"

  • Congradulations. You've just won the Youtube Grammy Award for best rendition of a classic Sesame Street song!! Seriously though, that owned. The guy whom did this is very talented. So what if there were a few off keys here and there. That's better than I could ever hope to do.

    Now is someone could just do a remix of the "Meet Me At the Bus Stop" song I'd be in hog heaven.

  • Thank you. I would just like to thank the Youtube Grammy committee for giving this to me. I am flattered.

  • RIGHT ON!!!

  • LOL you know i didnt even notice the f sharp mistake i thought it was great absolutly fantastic job please tell me if you have this as an mp3 and send it to me to my email i sent a message would appreciate it cause its so damn close to the original and its amzing

  • great!

  • Beautiful.

  • I don't know how you got the notes and the melody figured out, but more power to you. That was just awesome!

  • that is INCREDlBLE! both the choice and the musicianship! I'm guessing you transcribed the music yourself? Ugh, how can i get the sheet music so I can try my hand at playing it maybe half as well as you??

  • *APPLAUSE*

    Well done that is great.

  • Move over Beethoven, it's Maestrojosh.

    This is the most incredible thing I've seen anyone do, that wasn't a magic trick.

  • That was BEAUTIFUL! I can't describe how HAPPY this bit of music makes me feel and you just played it so WONDERFULLY! Thanks for posting this, it made my day!

  • Amazing, I never guessed it could all be played by one person!

    Want to play this at my wedding? :D

  • I can get this music for you...did you get married yet??!

  • i REALLY like your interpretation of the song, i remember the crayon segment, i liked it alot since i was always using up ALOT of paper, drawing with, what else, CRAYONS

  • Very good! I did my MIDI version by piano-roll editing, so major kudos for doing it realtime!

  • Josh, it was not only amazing to hear music played from a tv program so perfectly, but the fact that it happened to be my absolute favorite musical piece from sesame street was MIND-BLOWING!! You're my hero. I thought I was the only one who remembered that piece.

  • Awesome!!

  • josh, you're amazing!

  • Amazing! Great job, buddy. Makes me wish I had kept up the piano lessons 20-some years ago!

  • That was very good!