Friends In High Places (Like the Balcony)
When I woke up yesterday morning I had thought my day would be pretty chill, involving some food, some dorm clean up, working on Marina and Emily's Christmas presents, maybe watch some Netflix and do a little studying and then go to work at 10pm like every Saturday. When I went to bed, however, I had had one of the most memorable days of perhaps my life.
My Bible study group had plans at 5pm to have a movie/pizza night, and I was pretty excited for it since we'd been talking about it for a while. Emily was leaving around 1pm to go to a Piano Guys concert with her parents as her Christmas gift to her mom. I love the Piano Guys and listen to them when I study sometimes, so I was excited to hear all about it. Then, at the very last minute before she had to leave, Emily's mom called and said her dad was really sick and wouldn't be able to go to the concert with them. She very kindly offered me the extra ticket, and thus commenced the moral dilemma. I really really wanted to go to the concert, because The Piano Guys are amazing, plus I know Emily spent good money on those tickets and there was nobody else she could take because Marina was in New York for the weekend, and Rachel has to complete a ton of art assignments for Finals week. On the other hand, everyone was so excited for the Bible study movie night, plus I had already agreed to go to that like a week in advance, so ditching those plans at the last minute felt really mean. In the end, I went to the concert and the movie night was rescheduled. I still feel pretty bad that they had to move their plans just because of me, but I'm also really really glad I went to the concert because it was definitely the best concert I've ever been to.
The concert was in Hershey at this huge, beautiful concert hall that reminded me a bit of the Maryland Theater, but bigger and cleaner, and with less creepy cherub babies on the ceiling. The tickets Emily bought were for the highest balcony, which wasn't ideal because her mom has an oxygen tank, and we had to walk up like four flights of stairs. By the time we got to the top, I was huffing and puffing, so I can't even imagine how Emily's mom felt. I think once we got settled into our seats and our heart rates slowed down everything was okay. There was a surprisingly large amount of plain Mennonite people there, which I thought was interesting. There was also a woman in the row behind us who saw my Messiah College sweatshirt and said that she had graduated from Messiah years ago. I felt a little under-dressed since I was in jeans, a sweatshirt, and moccasins, but I hadn't had any time to change clothes because it was such a last minute decision, so oh well.
The concert was the perfect mixture of elements--classical, modern, and Christmas music, lights and smoke and videos, and some entertaining talking from the performers. It was also a pretty emotional experience because the main piano player, John Schmidt, had just lost a daughter less than a month ago. His daughter, Annie, went missing after going on a hike near her college. She was found dead about a week later, having fallen off the edge of some rocks. This was The Piano Guys first show since her untimely death. It was incredible to watch John playing so beautifully knowing what he must be dealing with inside his head. I'll admit I got a little teary eyed.
Quite possibly one of my favorite parts of the concert was near the end when they publicly thanked God for everything He'd done for them in regards to their success and the difficult times of the past few month. When they did that, the whole crowd went wild. It was just amazing to see these insanely talented and wildly successful people be so open and unapologetic about their faith. They were also some of the most down to earth guys you will ever meet (well, not that we exactly met them...but that's almost what it felt like too, because they were just so gregarious and cared so much about everyone in the audience.) Like you could tell they were just grateful to be up there doing what they loved for us.
As far as the music, I've included videos of my favorite pieces that they performed. Honestly though, even these YouTube videos don't do it the same justice as actually being there and seeing them perform in person. The way the music filled the entire, humongous concert hall and everyone was frozen in their seats just taking it in. It was beautiful. It was truly an experience that will never be replicated and is hard to adequately describe to anyone who wasn't there. It's one of those things that transcends writing, which is the thing I use to describe the things that mean the most to me! I think that's a very powerful thing.
For this song, they brought out four bagpipe players in full regalia to play along! It was so coolllll. During this song, Emily's mom started crying, because Amazing Grace is like their special family song. It made me a little emotional too.
My Bible study group had plans at 5pm to have a movie/pizza night, and I was pretty excited for it since we'd been talking about it for a while. Emily was leaving around 1pm to go to a Piano Guys concert with her parents as her Christmas gift to her mom. I love the Piano Guys and listen to them when I study sometimes, so I was excited to hear all about it. Then, at the very last minute before she had to leave, Emily's mom called and said her dad was really sick and wouldn't be able to go to the concert with them. She very kindly offered me the extra ticket, and thus commenced the moral dilemma. I really really wanted to go to the concert, because The Piano Guys are amazing, plus I know Emily spent good money on those tickets and there was nobody else she could take because Marina was in New York for the weekend, and Rachel has to complete a ton of art assignments for Finals week. On the other hand, everyone was so excited for the Bible study movie night, plus I had already agreed to go to that like a week in advance, so ditching those plans at the last minute felt really mean. In the end, I went to the concert and the movie night was rescheduled. I still feel pretty bad that they had to move their plans just because of me, but I'm also really really glad I went to the concert because it was definitely the best concert I've ever been to.
The concert was in Hershey at this huge, beautiful concert hall that reminded me a bit of the Maryland Theater, but bigger and cleaner, and with less creepy cherub babies on the ceiling. The tickets Emily bought were for the highest balcony, which wasn't ideal because her mom has an oxygen tank, and we had to walk up like four flights of stairs. By the time we got to the top, I was huffing and puffing, so I can't even imagine how Emily's mom felt. I think once we got settled into our seats and our heart rates slowed down everything was okay. There was a surprisingly large amount of plain Mennonite people there, which I thought was interesting. There was also a woman in the row behind us who saw my Messiah College sweatshirt and said that she had graduated from Messiah years ago. I felt a little under-dressed since I was in jeans, a sweatshirt, and moccasins, but I hadn't had any time to change clothes because it was such a last minute decision, so oh well.
The concert was the perfect mixture of elements--classical, modern, and Christmas music, lights and smoke and videos, and some entertaining talking from the performers. It was also a pretty emotional experience because the main piano player, John Schmidt, had just lost a daughter less than a month ago. His daughter, Annie, went missing after going on a hike near her college. She was found dead about a week later, having fallen off the edge of some rocks. This was The Piano Guys first show since her untimely death. It was incredible to watch John playing so beautifully knowing what he must be dealing with inside his head. I'll admit I got a little teary eyed.
Quite possibly one of my favorite parts of the concert was near the end when they publicly thanked God for everything He'd done for them in regards to their success and the difficult times of the past few month. When they did that, the whole crowd went wild. It was just amazing to see these insanely talented and wildly successful people be so open and unapologetic about their faith. They were also some of the most down to earth guys you will ever meet (well, not that we exactly met them...but that's almost what it felt like too, because they were just so gregarious and cared so much about everyone in the audience.) Like you could tell they were just grateful to be up there doing what they loved for us.
As far as the music, I've included videos of my favorite pieces that they performed. Honestly though, even these YouTube videos don't do it the same justice as actually being there and seeing them perform in person. The way the music filled the entire, humongous concert hall and everyone was frozen in their seats just taking it in. It was beautiful. It was truly an experience that will never be replicated and is hard to adequately describe to anyone who wasn't there. It's one of those things that transcends writing, which is the thing I use to describe the things that mean the most to me! I think that's a very powerful thing.
For this song, they brought out four bagpipe players in full regalia to play along! It was so coolllll. During this song, Emily's mom started crying, because Amazing Grace is like their special family song. It made me a little emotional too.
I loved this one because Vivaldi is my favorite composer, and also because Frozen!
This is one of my absolute favorite Christmas songs, and quite possibly one of the most beautiful melodies that exists, in my opinion.
This is the first song I ever heard by The Piano Guys, so it holds a special place in my heart. It's just so cool too!
For this song, they brought out members of the Hershey Youth Symphony to play along which was so awesome to watch.
Ugh, I could go on and on and just post videos from all of their songs because they are so talented and inspiring, but I'll stop there. If you ever get the chance to see them live in concert, do not let the opportunity slip by. You'll remember it for the rest of your life, I guarantee it. Also, if you're still in need of Christmas gifts for your loved ones and know someone who likes music/piano/orchestra, they have a Christmas album! They even have it on vinyl record which of course makes my little soul happy. :)
-VaughnDL
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