***this is not my original copy.***

Follow THE PIANO GUYS ^_^

Story behind the song: 

Have you ever awakened with a melody in your head and you don't know how it got there? That was the beginning of our PianoGuys' version of David Guetta's "Titanium (feat. Sia)." Paul especially loved this tune -- he lobbied us to arrange the song, but after we could not find a way to begin the arrangement. Every time we tried it just didn't flow. We also were concerned that the hook of the tune was nothing but the beat :-) and lacked a lead melody, which would make it more difficult to convey with piano and cello. Steve woke one morning and couldn't get a melody out of his head. It was Gabriel Faure's "Pavane" -- a hauntingly beautiful melody that weaves in and out of richly sequenced harmonies and fluid counter-melodies. It had been a favorite of his as a child, but he hadn't heard it for years. In the studio that same morning we tried the melody over the top of the chorus of David' Guetta's Titanium and it was like witnessing a reunion of two childhood friends. The main melody of the Pavane and its supporting chords, transposed and changed stylistically to mimic Guetta, also fit nicely as the intro we had been searching for. And we thought since Guetta and Faure are both French it must have been meant to be! :-)

If you're not familiar with "Pavane" Listen to a version of Bobby McFerrin singing it with La Scala Philharmonic Orchestra:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IN-cY-... (As a boy Steve heard this very version live in concert and it evidently had an indelible impression on him!)

Classical music is such a big part of who we, ThePianoGuys, are. You can hear it in everything we write. We love pairing it with the music of today.

This was the most difficult music video to set the "stage" for thus far. We considered so many locations -- a copper mine, a steel mill, an industry factory, a mountaintop ski resort, a wildflower meadow, a desert bluff, and many others. As you know we love putting pianos and cellos in crazy places (a common comment is 'how the heck did they get the piano up there??') -- places that show off breathtakingly beautiful landscapes. When Mark Wade with Garfield County's Department of Tourism called and offered full creative access to its national parks we abandoned all of our tabled ideas and focused on showcasing Bryce Canyon National Park -- an incredible place of raw beauty and geological history written in rock. It is a place like no other. We feel so blessed to have been able to film there.

This video features a NEW STEEL cello made by Dawson Swan: Thor II -- with significant improvements over Thor I. It's lighter, easier to play and it looks awesome! Dawson is an incredible artist! Check his website out here: http://dawesome.net. Thank you again, Dawson!

Credits
Titanium (feat. Sia) written by SIA FURLER, DAVID GUETTA, GIORGIO TUINFORT, NICK WALL ; VAN DE 
Published by SHAPIRO BERNSTEIN & CO INC OBO WHAT A PUBLISHING LTD, SONY/ATV SONGS LLC, EMI BLACKWOOD MUSIC INC OBO EMI MUSIC PUBLISHING LTD, THE ROYALTY NETWORK OBO TALPA MUSIC BV, THE ROYALTY NETWORK OBO TENYOR MUSIC
Pavane written by Gabriel Fauré (1845-1924)
Arrangement produced by Al van der Beek & Steven Sharp Nelson
Arrangement written by Al van der Beek, Jon Schmidt & Steven Sharp Nelson
Jon Schmidt: Piano
Steven Sharp Nelson: Electric, Acoustic, Carbon Fiber, Steel Cellos, Cello-percussion, percussion
Al van der Beek: Vocal textures, percussion
Recorded, mixed and mastered by Al van der Beek at TPG Studios in Utah
Video Filmed, produced and edited by Paul Anderson & Tel Stewart

Christina Perri - A Thousand Years (Piano/Cello Cover) - ThePianoGuys

One Direction - What Makes You Beautiful (5 Piano Guys, 1 piano) - ThePi...

***This is not my original notes. This is just copyrighted. ^_^***

by THE PIANO GUYS
STORY BEHIND THE SONG
The idea: A couple months ago the 5 of us were gathered round a piano prepping for a video shoot scheduled for that day. We were brainstorming ideas when one of us (can't remember who!) got off task and starting flicking a piano string. Since all of us are poster children for ADHD, it wasn't long before ALL of us had joined in -- banging out a beat, plucking a string, or hitting keys. The brainstorming meeting had been sabotaged beyond repair, but another music video idea was born!

The song: We went through several song possibilities before landing on "What Makes You Beautiful" by One Direction. We like this song because its catchy and the music, lyrics, and video passed our "sesame street" test (meaning family friendly). We thought about the ramifications of taking on a teenybopper boy band tune as five middle-aged married guys who are desperately holding on to their hairlines. One of us even has a son older than the guys in One Direction (we won't say who) :-) BUT you know us -- we love a good challenge! This one was so fun to write that the "challenge" part of it never was felt. We just acted like kids playing a piano and it totally worked! :-) After we figured out the main "techniques" of playing the piano unconventionally we loved experimenting with swapping out chords and throwing the structure of the song around until it clicked.

The location: Where to film? Fitting in video shoots between touring, writing, recording, editing, and spending time with family has always been a challenge. Let's be honest, even getting all 5 of us in the same place at the same time has been a challenge! We had a big sold-out show at the Sandy, Utah Amphitheater. We all determined to be at the show and film the video right on stage sometime between sound check and the performance. Sounds like a good idea right? Well...because of a lot of factors, including weather (we had a huge storm sweep in and knock everything down on stage during sound check) the only time we had to film was between the hours of 2AM - 7AM the morning of the concert. In the video at 2:30 you can see the morning light start breaking -- we literally played into the sunrise! :-) 

Many thanks to the awesome guys at Annex Recording and Giles Reaves (engineer) for letting us record at their studio. Check them out at http://www.annexrecording.com 

Thanks to Sandy Amphitheater http://www.sandyarts.com/sandy-amphit... for letting us film this video on their stage. They were so great to work with and we've performed so many times there the staff are all old friends (especially you, Mearle!)

And thanks to Cole Adams, the lighting genius - who hung out all night allowing us to pull an all-nighter to film this.

CREDITS
"What Makes You Beautiful" written by Rami Yacoubm Carl Falk, and Savan Kotecha
Published by KOBALT MUSIC PUB AMERICA OBO RAMI PRODUCTIONS, AIR CHRYSALIS SCANDINAVIA AB, EMI APRIL MUSIC INC OBO MR KANANI SONGS, EMI APRIL MUSIC INC 
Arrangement written and produced by Al van der Beek, Jon Schmidt, Steven Sharp Nelson, and Giles Reaves
Performed by ThePianoGuys: Paul Anderson (videographer/video producer), Tel Stewart (videographer/editor), Al van der Beek (music producer), Jon Schmidt (pianist), Steven Sharp Nelson (cellist)
Vocals: Al van der Beek, Steven Sharp Nelson, Jon Schmidt
Piano recorded by Giles Reaves at Annex Recording Studios
Additional Piano and vocals recorded by Al van der Beek at TPG Studios
Mixed and Mastered by Al van der Beek at TPG Studios
Video filmed on the stage of Sandy Amphitheatre in Sandy, Utah USA
Lighting by Cole Adams
Video produced by Paul Anderson and Tel Stewart

(It could all be so simple, simple)

Don't need high heels
For a good feel
You can keep the fancy clothes
I'll take walkin in the rain
Over things material
I'll trade Melrose and the big names
Give me faces that I know
Just play a melody that everybody knows

Take it down, down, down
And strip it to the core
I don't really need much less is more, more, more

[CHORUS:]
True to life, true to me
The way it's got to be
So simple, so simple, so simple
Live to love, love to be
Absolutely free
(so simple, so simple, simple)

Give me wisdom, plain and truthful
Teach me somethin I don't know
Plain as education, inspiration I suppose (yeah yeah)
Give me family, on a Sunday
And I'll be just fine
There's nothing in the world
That's worth more of my time

Take it down, down, down
And strip it to the core
I don't really need much less is more, more, more

[CHORUS x2]

Livin my dream, is my song to the world
(let 'em hear it)
Sharin' my soul and spirit
I'm hopin that you hear it
Got one (one) life (life) to live (live)
It's only what you make it (make it)
Every new day's a chance worth takin

Sanctus Real - Whatever You're Doing (Something Heavenly)

“Whatever You’re Doing” (Something Heavenly) lyrics

It’s time for healing time to move on
It’s time to fix what’s been broken too long
Time make right what has been wrong
It’s time to find my way to where I belong
There’s a wave that’s crashing over me
All I can do is surrender

Chorus:

Whatever you’re doing inside of me
It feels like chaos somehow there’s peace
It’s hard to surrender to what I can’t see
but I’m giving in to something heavenly

Time for a milestone
Time to begin again
Revaluate who I really am
Am I doing everything to follow your will
or just climbing aimlessly over these hills
So show me what it is you want from me
I give everything I surrender…

to…

(Repeat Chorus)

Time to face up
Clean this old house
Time to breathe in and let everything out
That I’ve wanted to say for so many years
Time to to release all my held back tears

Whatever you’re doing inside of me
It feels like chaos but I believe
You’re up to something bigger than me
Larger than life something heavenly

Whatever you’re doing inside of me
It feels like chaos but now I can see
This something bigger than me
Larger than life something heavenly
Something heavenly

It’s time to face up
Clean this old house
Time breathe in and let everything out

Stacie Orrico - Everything

I said a prayer
That someday I would find a boy
And together we'll find joy
Maybe someday
And he would care
About the color of the sky
About the things that make me cry
Maybe someday

And if it happens this is what I'd say:
Baby yeah
And I will give you my life
Together we'll make it right
And I will say to you
What is for sure
Let me tell you
That I'll give you my world
And baby I'll be your girl
And I will say to you
Everything I have is yours

I wonder if
If maybe God has shown him
He is the one who's gonna marry me
Maybe someday
So, I'm gonna wait
Cause I'm worth waiting for
And what I'm worth is so much more
For that someday

And if it happens this is what I'd say

Stacie Orrico - Restore My Soul (lyrics)

So stressed-no hope
Where do I go now
Seems like all of life's tests
Take me further from you
It amazes me- how you rescue me
From a world that moves so fast
So completely -You receive me
Into your arms at last

With a single prayer
You restore my soul
When life's not fair
I know where to go
To renew my stength
To keep goin on
No I'll never be alone
With a single prayer
You restore my soul

Lord you give me strength
To know when I'm weak
And to see your guiding hand
When I get down on my knees
Piece by piece
You make me whole again