Showing posts with label The Piano Guys. Show all posts
Showing posts with label The Piano Guys. Show all posts

Monday, August 13, 2012

"SOMEWHERE OVER THE RAINBOW" - THE PIANO GUYS



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.
The Piano Guys at YouTube.

These guys play amazing music using the instruments in surprising ways.  And to think I'd never heard of them until Blue Eyed Ennis sent me the link.  Thanks BEE.  (What a nice acronym.)