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Download the MP3 for FREE here: http://thepianogu... (limited time only)...
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Download the MP3 for FREE here: http://thepianogu... (limited time only)
Support us by downloading this song at one of the following links:
Our site: http://thepianogu...
iTunes - http://itunes.app...
Amazon.com - http://www.amazon...
SUBSCRIBE to our YOUTUBE Channel here: http://www.youtub...
Follow ThePianoGuys here:
http://www.thepia...
Facebook:
http://www.facebo...
Twitter:
http://twitter.co...
Story behind the song:
Jon Schmidt and Steven Sharp Nelson were booked for a Piano Guys show in Hawaii. How could we resist filming our next video in the land of Aloha -- beautiful beaches, green mountains, and fresh pineapple?? We went to our Founders and Facebook fans to ask what song they wanted us to play there. "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" was the nearly-unanimous response. But you know how we are ... we couldn't "just" do this tune by itself...so in the studio we found a made-in-heaven matchup in the timeless melody from the Shaker Hymn "Simple Gifts" written in the 1800's (also used by Aaron Copland in his Ballet "Appalachian Spring"). We feel it's an especially appropriate mash-up because of our profound love and respect for the Hawaiian culture -- a people who are so good at finding happiness in simplicity. As you probably could hear we borrowed a lot of ideas from Iz's version which has become the stuff of legend. This arrangement is, in part, a tribute to him.
Getting a piano onto a sandy beach and then onto a big hill in a famous ranch within the SAME day (we only had 8 hours to film) was no small feat. The only thing harder would be to be predict Hawaiian weather, which ended up being our biggest challenge.
"We had a little extra help on this one. My mother, Lynne Sanders Nelson -- a main source of my inspiration for pursuing music -- passed away early in life from the effects of a brain tumor. She was an incredibly-gifted musician and me to play music passionately rather than just playing "notes" on a page. "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" was one of her favorite songs. We finished this arrangement on what would have been her 70th birthday. I know that somehow she helped. We could all feel that she was there with us as we filmed. I love you Mom!"
-Steven Sharp Nelson
Thank you so much to the Kualoa Ranch who bent over backwards last-minute for us and provided us such a beautiful place to shoot. Visit their site at http://www.kualoa... -- when you visit Hawaii be sure to stop by and take a tour -- its where dozens of huge blockbluster movies/tv shows have been filmed.
This song is dedicated to
Lynne Sanders Nelson, The Hill Family, J. Mueller, & the people of Hawaii
Filming locations:
Beach Scene:
Pounders Beach, North Shore, Oahu Hawaii
Finale:
Kualoa Ranch, North Shore, Oahu Hawaii (This is the place to go for sightseeing on Oahu!)
Toll Free: (800) 231-7321
Tour Desk: (808) 237-7321
http://www.kualoa...
Credits:
Over the Rainbow music written by Harold E. Arlen in 1939 for the movie "Wizard of Oz" -- originally performed by Judy Garland
Published by EMI Feist Catalog, Inc.
Inspired, in part, by Israel Kamakawiwo'ole's cover
Simple Gifts written by Joseph Brackett in 1848
Arrangement produced by Al van der Beek & Steven Sharp Nelson
Arrangement written by Jon Schmidt, Al van der Beek & Steven Sharp Nelson
Video produced by Paul Anderson and Tel Stewart
Piano: Jon Schmidt
Electric/Acoustic Cellos: Steven Sharp Nelson
Vocals: Al van der Beek
Percussion: Steven Sharp Nelson & Al van der Beek
Recorded, mixed & mastered by Al van der Beek at TPG Studio
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bladesforlife321 favorited a video
(1 day ago)
Become a Piano Guys Founder and get our Limited Edition Piano Guys Album...
more
Become a Piano Guys Founder and get our Limited Edition Piano Guys Album (YouTube Hits Vol. 1) here: http://www.thepia...
Support us by downloading this song at one of the following links:
Our site - http://thepianogu...
iTunes - http://itunes.app...
Amazon.com - http://www.amazon...
Follow ThePianoGuys here:
http://www.thepia...
Facebook:
http://www.facebo...
Twitter:
http://twitter.co...
A special thanks to one of our Founders 1LAW.com
http://www.facebo...
If you liked this video you'll LOVE our version of these tunes:
Adele Rolling in the Deep: http://www.youtub...
David's Guetta's Without You: http://www.youtub...
The story behind the song:
Each time we write/arrange a tune we take a journey. We have to admit—this journey took us a lot further than we expected. Retracing our steps reveals several factors that made this a reality. As we started arranging it we had serious writer's block. Perhaps some of the worst we've ever had. In fact, one day instead of writing we went around the entire studio with a can of WD-40 and coated every piece of metal to ensure that we were a squeak-free studio. Then on a whim we decided to back away and take an entirely new approach to the song—an African approach. It may seem random in retrospect, but at the time it was an exciting way to restart the arrangement. It was working, but our journey still was on foot until we called in Alex Boye, one of the most talented people we've ever met. Alex has this contagious energy that gave new life to the song and to us. He sings the tune in 4 different languages: Swahili, English, Yoruba (his mother's native language), and Alex's own African "scat" (we'll call it...Scafrican) =) Most of the words you hear are translated from the lyrics in the original Coldplay Tune. We're huge fans of Alex -- We bet you are now too!
Follow Alex on Facebook here: http://www.facebo...
When we had finished the arrangement we all agreed that listening to it was like taking a journey to somewhere remote and ruggedly beautiful. How were we to depict this with a cello, African percussion and, most difficult of all, a grand piano? We took a risky, but oh-so-valuable turn when we called in helicopters to air-lift us and our instruments where none had gone before! (Please excuse the Trek reference). Since no one had ever done this before where were we to go for advice? Well, we can tell you that Home Depot didn't have a lot of answers (how disappointing) but we did clean them out of their strongest cable they had. We don't mind telling you that when that helicopter began lifting our brand new-never-before-played grand piano into the air we couldn't help close our eyes and cross our fingers. We consider a blessing of Heaven that it worked. I guess we figured that if it didn't, maybe it could still be a viral video -- "PIANO MOVE FAIL" =)
We'd like to thank from the bottom of our hearts, Duane Fielding who offered the helicopters and SkyHawk http://www.skyhaw... for not dropping the piano...:-) Half-way through the first day of shooting we discovered that, as typical guys, we had forgotten to bring ANY food or water to this remote location. We had two options: one, wrestle a mountain rodent and harvest cacti or two, starve. Duane, our head pilot, took pity on us. He took off (literally) and moments later landed in a Wendy's parking lot, ordered 5 of everything (sadly, he couldn't use the drive through)...took off again and brought us chicken sandwiches and hamburgers via airmail. Thank you Duane! Flying in your helicopter was a dream come true for us despite the lack of doors. =)
Filming location:
http://g.co/maps/... (Southern Utah)
All the instruments you hear are REAL instruments. We wanted to be authentic about this. The following percussion instruments were used:
Djembe (drum)
Agogo bell (like a cow bell)
Udu (the porcelain vase-looking drum)
Guiro (gourd scraper)
Djabarra (shaker)
Rain stick
Pangi seed shaker ("goat toenails" or Unas)
Credits:
Paradise (Mylo Xyloto) by Coldplay written by Guy Berryman, Jonny Buckland, Will Champion, And Chris Martin; Copyright Universal Music Mgb Songs And Upala Music, Inc.
Arrangement written and produced by Al van der Beek & Steven Sharp Nelson
Lead vocals: Alex Boye
Cello: Steven Sharp Nelson
Piano: Jon Schmidt
Percussion and backup vocals: Al van der Beek & Steven Sharp Nelson
Recorded, mixed & mastered by Al van der Beek at TPG Studio
Video filmed, edited, & produced by Paul Anderson & Tel Stewart
less
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bladesforlife321 liked a video
(1 day ago)
Become a Piano Guys Founder and get our Limited Edition Piano Guys Album...
more
Become a Piano Guys Founder and get our Limited Edition Piano Guys Album (YouTube Hits Vol. 1) here: http://www.thepia...
Support us by downloading this song at one of the following links:
Our site - http://thepianogu...
iTunes - http://itunes.app...
Amazon.com - http://www.amazon...
Follow ThePianoGuys here:
http://www.thepia...
Facebook:
http://www.facebo...
Twitter:
http://twitter.co...
A special thanks to one of our Founders 1LAW.com
http://www.facebo...
If you liked this video you'll LOVE our version of these tunes:
Adele Rolling in the Deep: http://www.youtub...
David's Guetta's Without You: http://www.youtub...
The story behind the song:
Each time we write/arrange a tune we take a journey. We have to admit—this journey took us a lot further than we expected. Retracing our steps reveals several factors that made this a reality. As we started arranging it we had serious writer's block. Perhaps some of the worst we've ever had. In fact, one day instead of writing we went around the entire studio with a can of WD-40 and coated every piece of metal to ensure that we were a squeak-free studio. Then on a whim we decided to back away and take an entirely new approach to the song—an African approach. It may seem random in retrospect, but at the time it was an exciting way to restart the arrangement. It was working, but our journey still was on foot until we called in Alex Boye, one of the most talented people we've ever met. Alex has this contagious energy that gave new life to the song and to us. He sings the tune in 4 different languages: Swahili, English, Yoruba (his mother's native language), and Alex's own African "scat" (we'll call it...Scafrican) =) Most of the words you hear are translated from the lyrics in the original Coldplay Tune. We're huge fans of Alex -- We bet you are now too!
Follow Alex on Facebook here: http://www.facebo...
When we had finished the arrangement we all agreed that listening to it was like taking a journey to somewhere remote and ruggedly beautiful. How were we to depict this with a cello, African percussion and, most difficult of all, a grand piano? We took a risky, but oh-so-valuable turn when we called in helicopters to air-lift us and our instruments where none had gone before! (Please excuse the Trek reference). Since no one had ever done this before where were we to go for advice? Well, we can tell you that Home Depot didn't have a lot of answers (how disappointing) but we did clean them out of their strongest cable they had. We don't mind telling you that when that helicopter began lifting our brand new-never-before-played grand piano into the air we couldn't help close our eyes and cross our fingers. We consider a blessing of Heaven that it worked. I guess we figured that if it didn't, maybe it could still be a viral video -- "PIANO MOVE FAIL" =)
We'd like to thank from the bottom of our hearts, Duane Fielding who offered the helicopters and SkyHawk http://www.skyhaw... for not dropping the piano...:-) Half-way through the first day of shooting we discovered that, as typical guys, we had forgotten to bring ANY food or water to this remote location. We had two options: one, wrestle a mountain rodent and harvest cacti or two, starve. Duane, our head pilot, took pity on us. He took off (literally) and moments later landed in a Wendy's parking lot, ordered 5 of everything (sadly, he couldn't use the drive through)...took off again and brought us chicken sandwiches and hamburgers via airmail. Thank you Duane! Flying in your helicopter was a dream come true for us despite the lack of doors. =)
Filming location:
http://g.co/maps/... (Southern Utah)
All the instruments you hear are REAL instruments. We wanted to be authentic about this. The following percussion instruments were used:
Djembe (drum)
Agogo bell (like a cow bell)
Udu (the porcelain vase-looking drum)
Guiro (gourd scraper)
Djabarra (shaker)
Rain stick
Pangi seed shaker ("goat toenails" or Unas)
Credits:
Paradise (Mylo Xyloto) by Coldplay written by Guy Berryman, Jonny Buckland, Will Champion, And Chris Martin; Copyright Universal Music Mgb Songs And Upala Music, Inc.
Arrangement written and produced by Al van der Beek & Steven Sharp Nelson
Lead vocals: Alex Boye
Cello: Steven Sharp Nelson
Piano: Jon Schmidt
Percussion and backup vocals: Al van der Beek & Steven Sharp Nelson
Recorded, mixed & mastered by Al van der Beek at TPG Studio
Video filmed, edited, & produced by Paul Anderson & Tel Stewart
less
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bladesforlife321 favorited a video
(1 day ago)
Pretty much everything that captured during 2011.
The whole year was pret...
more
Pretty much everything that captured during 2011.
The whole year was pretty good and managed to capture some great moments.
Special Thanks to Kristian Pearce for capturing everything i missed out on.
Hope you Enjoy this video, Happy trainings.
less
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bladesforlife321 liked a video
(1 day ago)
Pretty much everything that captured during 2011.
The whole year was pret...
more
Pretty much everything that captured during 2011.
The whole year was pretty good and managed to capture some great moments.
Special Thanks to Kristian Pearce for capturing everything i missed out on.
Hope you Enjoy this video, Happy trainings.
less
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Daniel Ilabaca Parkour Tour
Justin "Rabbit" Oakes