"O Come, Emmanuel" - arr. ThePianoGuys & Marshall McDonald

Yep, it's another post about ThePianoGuys, but I think they deserve it!  Here they are performing "O Come, O Come, Emmanuel."

This video is the same arrangement, but with images from the life of Jesus Christ.

Merry Christmas!

ThePianoGuys are making it BIG!!

ThePianoGuys were an early addition to this blog, and I am so delighted to see them hitting the big time!  You can (and should ;) pre-order their album here:

Support GUM!!

Also, you can (and should ;) watch them on Leno!
Congrats, Guys!

"What Makes You Beautiful" by One Direction - ThePianoGuys

Yay for ThePianoGuys!!  This one has over 6 MILLION views!

"Leaving Port" from Titanic - James Horner

[And we're back!  Sorry for the lack of postage!]

James Horner has written some excellent music for movies, including Titanic.  Here is one of my favorites from that film score.  Enjoy!

"Buckbeak's Flight" from Harry Potter 3 - John Williams

The Harry Potter establishment scored big when they got John Williams to compose the soundtrack!  I love this piece - I think it really captures the feeling of freedom and exploration that Harry experiences during his ride on Buckbeak.

"Homeland" and "Here I Am" from Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron - Hans Zimmer

One of the things I enjoy about animated films these days is that a lot of them have really good-quality music, good enough to be played by professional classical orchestras!  The movie Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron is one of these.  You may remember this movie as being "the animated film about animals who don't talk."  I knew the soundtrack by heart long before I saw the film.  But the movie was pretty good, too - even my dad enjoyed it :)

Here's the "original," soundtrack version, which continues to include the piece "Here I Am":

"Linus and Lucy" - Vince Guaraldi

This happy jazz tune has to bring a smile to anyone's face :)  It always makes me think of the Peanuts gang, of course, which I love.  Below is also a fun ThePianoGuys video for the song.  Enjoy!

Recommendations, Week 7: "Concerning Hobbits" from The Lord of the Rings - Howard Shore

We just finished reading the entire Lord of the Rings trilogy (after reading The Hobbit), so it seemed especially appropriate to post this song on the blog this week.  I guess it is a "solicited" recommendation, since I asked which piece to include.  This is the cheerful theme from the Shire, "Concerning Hobbits."  Enjoy!

"Finlandia" - Jean Sibelius (four versions!)

"Finlandia" is one of my favorite melodies - I didn't realize it was written by Sibelius, and I also didn't realize he was Finnish until I looked up this song.  Below are four (count them, four!) versions of this beautiful music.  First is the song in Finnish - although it is not the national anthem, it is one of the most important national songs of Finland (I also found a cool flashmob of this).  Second is Sibelius' symphony.  Third is an English, a capella version of the anthem.  And last is the tune as the hymn "Be Still My Soul."  Enjoy!

"It's a Life" from The Truman Show - Burkhard Dallwitz and Philip Glass

The Truman Show is a thought-provoking, entertaining movie about a man whose entire life is broadcast to the world - without his knowledge.  This piece is from the beginning of the movie and, although it is short, it is one of my favorite instrumentals from a soundtrack.  Enjoy!

ThePianoGuys (esp. Steven Sharp Nelson): "Beethoven's 5 Secrets" and "The Cello Song"

Okay, so I am an unabashed fan of ThePianoGuys, but I think I may have come across them in an unusual way....  I recently started a research study on back pain in cellists.  While I was preparing, I thought, "I should look at some videos to see how different cellists move the bow when they play."  I did a YouTube search for "cello," and the video below came up in the list.  The thumbnail image showed eight cellists, and I thought, "Perfect!  I can watch eight cellists at once."  Of course, it wasn't long before I realized what was happening....

Also when I was preparing for the study, I realized that the song "Secrets" by OneRepublic had a great cello part (I thought I could learn to play it ;), and I hoped that one day ThePianoGuys would do a cover of that song.  Well, today that became reality!

"Appalachian Spring" - Aaron Copland

This is my favorite movement from Aaron Copland's famous "Appalachian Spring."  I love the burst of excitement that opens the scene, and the descending line that follows.

You may be surprised to learn this about the title of the work:
"Originally, Copland did not have a title for the work, referring to it simply as Ballet for Martha. Shortly before the premiere, Graham suggested Appalachian Spring, a phrase from a Hart Crane poem, "The Dance" from a collection of poems in his book "The Bridge."...Because he composed the music without the benefit of knowing what the title was going to be, Copland was often amused when people told him he captured the beauty of the Appalachians in his music, a fact he alluded to in an interview with NPR's Fred Calland.

Theme from "Chariots of Fire"

You have probably heard this music in some parody or another, but here is the actual scene from the movie for which it was written....  This movie is an inspiring story about two British runners who competed in the 1924 Olympics.  I recommend it!  (Wikipedia: Chariots of Fire)

"Julie-O" by Mark Summer/Kevin Olusola

Hip-hop + cello!  What a fun combination : )  I guess this is what happens when good cellists get bored....

(Arrangement by Kevin Olusola, who is a member of the "Sing-Off"-winning a cappella group, the Pentatonix.)

Here is the original....

(this video makes me dizzy....)

After a week of cello... ("Roman Carnival" and "Cello Wars")

It's been a busy week with a lot of cello!  Here are two light-hearted pieces, one that I've heard a lot of this week, and another, just for fun!  Enjoy!

Berlioz: Roman Carnival Overture - Stokowski/Philadelphia

Cello Wars (Star Wars Parody) Lightsaber Duel - Steven Sharp Nelson

"From Western Woods To Beaversdam" from Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe - Harry Gregson-Williams

A beautiful subdued piece that paints a picture of a new world opening up to the travelers.

"Forbidden Friendship" from "How to Train Your Dragon" - John Powell

I've listened to this piece about a hundred times or more.  It is the music that plays in the movie "How to Train Your Dragon" when the boy, Hiccup, is taming the dragon.  I love the way the piece slowly builds, beginning by dancing around the melody and then finally reaching the full realization of the theme.  If you haven't seen the movie, "How to Train Your Dragon," I highly recommend it!  That scene is just one of many highlights.

"The Isle of the Dead" Opus 29 - Sergei Rachmaninoff

Don't be put off by the name of this piece - it is gorgeous!  I heard this performed at the Houston Symphony Orchestra last week, and it was this piece that inspired me to finally create this blog.  This was one of few Rachmaninoff works that was "more than just music," as Maestro Graf put it on Friday - it was inspired by a version of Arnold Bocklin's painting, shown in the YouTube videos below.  One of my favorite elements of the piece is the 5-beat rhythm - suggesting the movement of the oars in the water - that begins and ends the piece.

Part 1 (as divided by the YouTube poster):   It starts quiet - turn your volume up :)

Part 2:

This Collection

After lamenting how challenging it is to find Good, Uplifting Music (GUM, we'll call it), I decided to begin this blog to gather the GUM that is out there, wherever it may be.

So, welcome to this new blog, a venue to share music that is both uplifting and good-quality!

By "uplifting," I mean that you feel better because you listened to it.  You feel happier, the world seems like a better place, or you are simply left in awe of the beauty of the music.  This also means that there will be no offensive or suggestive lyrics, and only family-friendly videos will be embedded here.

By "good-quality," I mean that the music is moving, interesting, well-composed, and/or otherwise better than the average music that you might pull off the shelf or Pandora might pull out of the box.

There will be lots of variety, and when I say variety, I don't mean what radio stations mean ("We play everything from this-kind-of-pop to that-kind-of-pop!").  I believe that there can be good music in every genre, so this is really, truly, a variety station!  ...Though I confess I do have favorite kinds :)

There will be music from country

("This" - Darius Rucker)

to hip hop

("Miss Independent" - Ne-Yo)

[The official video is quite fun, but there is enough immodesty that I didn't embed it here.]

to a'capella

("Club Can't Even Handle Me Right Now" by Flo Rida - Dartmouth Aires)

to orchestral

("The Lark Ascending" - Ralph Vaughan Williams)

To the extent possible, the title and artist will always be listed, along with a recording of the music (from YouTube, upon which I will depend for legality of the recording!).

Enjoy, and I look forward to your comments!