The Piano Guys in Ottawa: this is why they have 1 billion YouTube views

The Piano Guys are four fathers from Utah who make beautiful music together using several different musical instruments, only one of which is actually a piano. Last week they did just that in front of a packed house at TD Place in Ottawa.

Beginning with pianist extraordinaire John Schmidt and cellist Steven Sharp Nelson, the duo delivered one instrumental mashup after another, including a modernized Vivaldi Concerto, and pop hits from movies such as Frozen and Kung Fu Panda. It was immediately evident that there is a reason they have over a billion YouTube views of their music videos which combine classical, contemporary, and rock roots with stunning videography in unimaginable settings. If you want to treat your eyes and ears, check out their YouTube channel for yourself. 6 million subscribers can’t all be wrong. My personal include the Mission Impossible theme and a perfect piano rendition of Ed Sheeran’s “Perfect”, but be sure to check out Christina Perri’s “A Thousand Years” which is their most viewed video having logged 133 million views.

Instead of relying on visually appealing special effects, the set remained quite simple and the melodies did most of the talking. From time to time the duo would banter with the crowd, explaining how the quartet came to be, and why they are called the Piano Guys and not the Piano and Cello guys. The group originated as a social media strategy fora small piano store called The Piano Guys in St. George, Utah. Schmidt often came in to practice on the pianos when he was in town and the owner of the store saw a music video that Schmidt had uploaded to YouTube, which Schmidt performed with Nelson on cello. That video logged more than one million hits. The owner, Paul Anderson, then asked the musicians to do more videos that he would professionally film and upload to his Facebook and YouTube pages to promote the store. Nelson then brought his neighbor, Al Van der Beek, a songwriter and music arranger, onto the team.

The Piano guys have since signed with Sony and have toured extensively including sold out shows in England, Germany, Hungary, Japan, and Russia. Today they tour a bit less in order to devote more time to their sixteen kids, joking that they are Mormons from Utah after all. This lighthearted approach to music and to life seems to be one of their keys to success as the audience in Ottawa seemed to be delighted by them. Their jokes, Schmidt’s acrobatics on the piano bench where he played with his elbow, feet, and nose, as well as the quartet’s musical instrument relay race were greeted with much applause and appreciation. It was obvious that they love their craft and sharing it with an audience is a bonus.

The Piano Guys are currently making loyal fans in New York State happy before continuing on to a few other gigs in the Northeast before heading to Singapore in late September.