They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old;
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning
We will remember them.

They mingle not with laughing comrades again;
They sit no more at familiar tables of home;
They have no lot in our labour of the day-time;
They sleep beyond England’s foam.

From “For the Fallen” by Laurence Robert Binyon, 1869-1943

Nothing to do with Second Life, but for a while now I’ve been raving about Stephen Sharp Nelson and Jon Schmidt, who together form  the core element of “The Piano Guys” – and their work is just amazing. While I’ve linked to them a couple of times in blog pieces here, I’ve not really mentioned them in detail.

They release a piece almost weekly on YouTube, and each one is a musical treasure, stunningly arranged and beautifully filmed.

Some are original compositions, such as Desert Symphony:

Others are cover versions of popular songs:

While some are simply great fun:

For me their best pieces are wonderful fusions, such as last week’s Bourne Vivaldi, bringing together the fast-paced refrain from the Bourne films and (as the name suggests) Vivaldi in a wonderful piece:

Although overall, this stunning combination of One Republic’s Secrets with Beethoven still remains my personal favourite, and one I play daily. The piece is layered emotions and the segue from Secrets to Beethoven’s 5th is inspired:

You can find The Piano Guys on their own channel on YouTube, or at ThePianoGuys.com.

Listen, enjoy – become a Founder!

Related Links

• The Piano Guys (YouTube)
• ThePianoGuys website
• Steven Sharp Nelson website and on Facebook
• Jon Schmidt (composer of the awesome All of Me) and on Facebook
• ThePianoGuys on Twitter
• Piano Guy’s friend Jarrod Radnich’s stunning rendition of Pirates of the Caribbean

They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old;
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning
We will remember them.

They mingle not with laughing comrades again;
They sit no more at familiar tables of home;
They have no lot in our labour of the day-time;
They sleep beyond England’s foam.

From “For the Fallen” by Laurence Robert Binyon, 1869-1943

Today, the world over, people of the Commonwealth and other nations  – veterans especially – will mark Armistice Day, and remember the fallen of World War One (1914-1918), and all major conflicts that have occurred since, up to and including those still on-going in Afghanistan.

As the daughter of a former officer in the RAF, I have, every year of my adult life, always joined my father for services on Remembrance Sunday, and since it was formally reinstated here in the UK, I have always observed the two minute silence that commences at 11:00am on the eleventh day of the eleventh month as a mark of personal respect for all those who gave their lives in the defence of freedom and democracy – two things that in this day and age we all too easily take for granted, or vociferously proclaim to be ours without really understanding what they truly represent and mean.

Today will be no different. At eleven o’clock I will bow my head in silence for all those who gave their lives – and I hope each of you reading this will as well. For we cannot even begin to imagine the horrors they faced, in whatever conflict they were caught up in; nor can we really understand the sacrifice they made in giving up their lives. But we can, at the very least, remember them and give thanks; and hope that one day we will outgrow the need to bring down war upon one another.

They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old:
Age shall not weary them, nor the years contemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning
We will remember them.

(For the Fallen, 1914, by Laurence Binyon)

I love music. I was taught classical piano (and still play) & I also play the guitar. From my parents and grandparents I developed an eclectic taste in musicw which includes, among other things…. a love of motion picture music….

Yes, I know the last one is a bit geeky, being able to listen to the score of a film and (usually) identify the composer before their name appears on the credits (obviously, with some blockbusters, it is a no-brainer) – so call me a geekess; although that’s not the half of it.

When at the cinema, I like to play a little game: it’s called “guessing the ghost”. Film trailers generally come out well before the score for them has actually been recorded. Because of this, studios often “ghost” music from their previous notable hits to the trailer. I like like to watch trailers and see if I can guess the music’s composer and originating film.

Recently, a slew of trailers have come out that have been somewhat different. Rather than being ghosted, they appear to have scores that have *almost* been written for them; scores that are original, but which also contain thematic devices and motifs that have been spotted from other soundtracks and cleverly re-interpreted. “Sweeney Todd”, “Stardust”, “Star Trek”, “Pirates of the Carribean”, “Angels and Demons” and other all have soundtracks that somehow sound familiar but are in fact quite unique and distinctive in their own right.

The music for these trailer has been composed and orchestrated by an incredibly talented team calling themselves Two Steps from Hell. And their music, even when listened to sans film trailers is simply brilliant; so brilliant, it forms a soundtrack in its own right.

If you are a fan of big, dynamic, orchestral pieces, or if you love movie soundtrack, I’m certain you’re going to really enjoy listening to work by these guys. And if you an into Machinima within Second Life – and allowing for copyright issues – it’s entirely possible you’re going to find *precisely* the piece of music you’re looking for among their works, to enhance your current work or a scene within your movie.

Here’s a sample of their work I found by searching for them on YouTube and elsewhere:

Music from the Star Trek Trailer
Dark Ages (spot the Lord of the Rings motifs!)
Cavaliere
and the incredibly emotive Undying Love – who couldn’t use / love this piece?