You Must Tube | Musical Part 1

#via Pinterest, Music to Inspire!

A really long time ago in a Question-And-Answer post I featured on my blog some two years ago, I was asked to share some of my favourite youtube channels. I actually think it was Schuyler from My Lady Bibliophile who asked, so I am sorry about how long that took to actually respond to that question! Also I remember that Annie Hawthorne and Emily Chapman both asked me some other questions I did not get to at the time. I will try to get to them by and by with all my other blogpost plans.  

As it stands, and as is usual during a school year, my life runs a riot of busyness, crazy adventures and things that I have to do throughout - mostly a heavy load of schoolwork, music practice, family events and a sea of chores. You know, the usual stuff! By the end of a day I am usually quite fatigued and not exactly ready to do the most basic online things, like responding to emails and messages (unless they are highly important), or even to keep a promise to myself regarding my upcoming posts on Fullness of Joy (blushes in memory of the unfinished Through the Looking Glass Literary Tag Party). For example, instead of writing a review for Plenilune by Jennifer Freitag, or uploading those long overdue photos of our trip to the UK, I decide that it isn't as important as sharing about some exciting movie song-covers :).

So, today I am going to share with you some of my favourite youtubers and YouTube channels that I am subscribed to because when I am tired, a music video is quite cheering. 

Disclaimer:

I do not recommend or condone the entire content of these channels, nor necessarily aspire to the same convictions, worldviews or ideas as the youtubers/artists in the links below, etc. Also like with just about everything on the internet, I advice caution in checking out most YouTubes as not every video on the channels are wholesome, clean or worth watching. 

Since I am actually subscribed to several channels, I am going to start with my favourite YouTube artists in this post. In this case, I usually mean those who do any form of music videos. On another day I hope to share the more literary/film youtubers, but until then you can check out the other channels I am subscribed to here: Joy C. YouTube subscriptions 

Taylor Davis: https://www.youtube.com/user/ViolinTay 

Taylor Davis's channel is probably my favourite on YouTube - and for good reason! She's such a beautiful and talented violinist, and I just love so many of her music videos of movie and game-track covers; she's inspired me so much as a young violinist, especially with the way she's both graceful and composed yet so deeply passionate and emotive in her playing. She is not at all like Lindsey Stirling, who I personally am not such a big fan of; for one thing, I think Taylor is far more elegant and dignified in her playing in the videos, while still being totally into the music. I am no violin professional, but I feel Taylor is quite a mature musician, even as she puts in a lot of her own heart and emotions into it - I love her slightly Celtic style of musicality, especially with her shifts - they're fantastic ;). I first discovered Taylor back in 2012 around the time I first watched The Lord of the Rings films. It didn't take long for me to find her first music-cover of "May it Be" by Enya in a video and I fell totally in love with her playing. Back in those days, she played in her small studio room with a simple recorder, and without original backing-tracks. But she was still amazing! Now she has moved on to making really professional videos, with beautiful original backing-tracks and lovely landscapes - but you can still hear the beautiful tones of her violin, and I just find them so inspirational and inspiring! 

While there are a few music-cover videos I am not such a fan of (some of the games and films the scores come from are not ones I personally like very much), and I am still undecided about her recent original scores, I am usually very happy and excited whenever she uploads a new video. (And she is into the Lord of the Rings/Hobbit fandom, yay!)

Here are three of my favourite videos that she's recently uploaded. Check out her channel for more!

An absolutely beautiful violin cover for the end credit song for The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies by Billy Boyd. "The Last Goodbye".

(Brothers) Fullmetal Alchemist game soundtrack cover - I haven't played this game, but I really love this music! 

Concerning Hobbits from The Fellowship of the Ring soundtrack music-cover

The Gothard Sisters: https://www.youtube.com/user/TheGothardSisters

The Gothard Sisters, Greta, Willow, and Salona play music together and perform as sisters in shows all over America. They showcase energetic Celtic folk music, fiddle tunes and Irish tap-dancing! These girls. . .  they're amazing. And so sweet and fun. I love their music so much - the three of them play the fiddle beautifully, plus Greta plays the guitar, Willow can play the mandolin and Salona plays the drum, irish tin whistle and sings as well. They also tap-dance. I totally love listening to those sisters. Their music is charming, country and folk and they make me smile. They have some beautiful albums out, including Compass and Story Girl which you can listen to on Spotify or buy on iTunes. They're currently making a new album too, which is really exciting.

As a fun tidbit, the three of them were homeschooled growing up which allowed them to tap into their love of music! 

Their music-videos are so much fun to actually watch - so I love their YouTube channel heaps and heaps :). What do you think of these?

The Whistling Gypsy Rover (The Gothard Sisters)

Solid Ground by Dougie MacLean (The Gothard Sisters)

The Three Coins (The Gothard Sisters)

Scarborough Fair (The Gothard Sisters)

Rachel Hardy: https://www.youtube.com/user/Stingray301

Rachel Hardy is rather a recent discovery, but she has such a lovely voice and she made such a beautiful cover of The Hobbit's 'The Last Goodbye' song, that I instantly had to subscribe to her channel. She hasn't uploaded that much yet, just a few songs, and a review or two. But I am looking forward to more of what she may share. Also she is a massive fan of The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit. I know. . . is that all I ever think about? :P

"The Last Goodbye" cover by Rachel Hardy

"I See Fire" cover Ed Sheerin music cover by Rachel Hardy (one of the best covers of this song I've seen; I actually like hers better than the original). 

"O Come O Come Emmanuel" a cappella by Rachel Hardy

ThePianoGuys: https://www.youtube.com/user/ThePianoGuys

I guess I don't need much of an overview for ThePianoGuys as I think just about everyone knows about this music-group (or at least, I imagine so). They're a great music band. While I probably am not such a huge fan of all their videos, I really enjoy a lot of their work together. . . the main cellist plays so beautifully especially :). Here are three of my favourite of their videos: 

Slightly Musical: https://www.youtube.com/user/sleightlymusical

Slightly Musical as a youtube channel of another violin-player who makes covers for songs and film-scores. I have enjoyed several of his videos. . . :)

Like this one, an arrangement of "The Misty Mountains" from The Hobbit

And this very cute "Frozen" Disney movie- medley ^_^

Well, folks, that's all I have for today. This has been a slightly different type of post than the usual one around here, and I hope you enjoyed it despite its length and the amount of music-video overload!! Music is definitely such a big part of my life, and in that of my family. . . I love to play the violin very much, even though I would not say I am the most committed student on the planet ;), and listening to music is always such a blessing for me. Right now, I am working on preparing for one of my violin exams and just getting into everything is pretty exciting, especially when I get swept into the music which I'm playing. That's a thrilling thing. 

If this post inspired you with any youtube videos, or if you have a favourite channel/video please do share! Lord willing, I have a few exciting posts planned which I am very much looking forward to sharing with you soon. So stay tuned!