Hal Leonard Presents Piano Guys' Music in Easy Piano/Cello Format

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Last Year's Piano Solo/Cello Editions Super Sellers

MILWAUKEE - Last August Hal Leonard released its first Piano Guys folio, and followed it up with another for the Christmas season. Both piano solo/cello books have been bestsellers. Now the company makes this fun music available to a wider audience via its new songbook The Piano Guys Simplified Favorites Vol. 1 for Easy Piano/Cello. A bona fide internet sensation, The Piano Guys have racked up many million YouTube views of their ambitious, jaw-dropping, sometimes death-defying videos. This Utah quartet is known for its mash-ups - of pop and classical tunes, as well as instrumentation. Only one guy actually plays the piano (in the traditional sense), another plays cello, and the other two provide unique percussive embellishments. Their tunes include a 10-handed version of One Direction's "What Makes You Beautiful," and hybrid hits ranging from Michael Jackson to Mozart. The Piano Guys have been highly involved with all of their books, working hand-in-hand with the Hal Leonard staff. Piano Publications Editor Sharon Stosur comments, "What makes this new book so special is that the arrangements stay true to the originals, but are simplified for intermediate pianists and cellists. They are easy to read and perform, which makes the music accessible to many more players. We still have a piano/cello score, like the original books, so the music is playable by a pianist alone, and a pull-out cello part for the cellist." The Easy Piano/Cello book includes some of The Piano Guys' most requested songs, including: Over the Rainbow/Simple Gifts, Peponi (Paradise), Rolling in the Deep, and Kung Fu Piano: Cello Ascends, the video for which was filmed on the Great Wall of China. There are 11 songs in all.