A Thousand Years

And all along I believed I would find you

Time has brought your heart to me

I have loved you for a thousand years

I'll love you for a thousand more

–Christina Perri, A Thousand Years

Jon Schmidt and Steven Sharp Nelson are a couple of guys who know how to make beautiful music. The Piano Guys, as they are called, release a new video bi-weekly on YouTube. I love everything they produce and today's release is no exception. Not only is it an amazing piece of music, but has a really great Twilight connection (you can see someone even got cutesy with the Zephyr font on the album art). They've put together an arrangement of Christina Perri's A Thousand Years from the Breaking Dawn soundtrack and it is beautiful.


Available for purchase from The Piano Guys or on iTunes

Story behind the song:
Our kids give us great inspiration for our music. When Jon's 17 year-old daughter said how much she loved this song, Jon decided to try it. He experienced a flood of inspiration. "Never has a piano part come together this fast" Jon says. Steve experienced similar inspiration while composing the cello parts. Since the lyrics suggest a bride walking towards the groom in a ceremony we thought we would include a quote from the Bridal Chorus by Wagner in the climax of the song (it is carefully disguised).

As it seems to always go, Paul and Tel didn't find the spot until they spent 9 hours driving around southern Utah the day before the shoot looking. After getting a little discouraged by not finding anything that great, they just happened to check out a little hidden spot right near Baker Dam and thought it was perfect for the song. The next morning we all loaded up the piano and headed out there to film, but after getting the Truck and Trailer stuck and waiting for the sun to move, we didn't get started filming until that evening having about 3 hours of light. It was so fun to film and play in the middle of the trees!

Credits
A Thousand Years written by CHRISTINA PERRI, DAVID HODGES
Published by SUMMIT BASE CAMP FILM MUSIC, EMI BLACKWOOD MUSIC INC, CHRISTINA PERRI D/B/A MISS PERRI LANE PUBLISHING
Arrangement produced by Jon Schmidt
Arrangement written by Al van der Beek, Jon Schmidt, & Steven Sharp Nelson
Performed by
Jon Schmidt: piano
Steven Sharp Nelson: acoustic cello, & cello-percussion
Music recorded, mixed & mastered by Al van der Beek at TPG Studio
Video produced by Paul Anderson & Tel Stewart