I agree it's very, very good. But with a video camera, a metronome and a decent editor, it makes it pretty easy to do as long as someone has the musical skill. I'm impressed, but not that impressed.

Meh.

Let's see him do both parts simultaneously.

FilmBELOH20: it makes it pretty easy to do as long as someone has the musical skill.

I believe that's the whole point, Chet. Dude was incredible.

Meh. Most Farkers have been playing with themselves for years.

FilmBELOH20: I agree it's very, very good. But with a video camera, a metronome and a decent editor, it makes it pretty easy to do as long as someone has the musical skill. I'm impressed, but not that impressed.

FAIL.

Basically what you just said was, "Well of course this guy can do it, he is good! Now if a person with no talent could pull it off, then I would be impressed!"

The logical disconnect that your statement employs actually makes my head hurt.

CtrlAltDelete: Meh.

Let's see him do both parts simultaneously.

That's what I came in here to say. I was expecting something brilliant. Instead I got mediocre brilliance.

/still fantastic
//wish I could play the cello

Beatle_Matt: That's what I came in here to say. I was expecting something brilliant. Instead I got mediocre brilliance.

This is like saying "I'd be more impressed if Tom Brady both threw and caught every touchdown instead of being all mediocre and throwing the ball to Randy Moss all the time."

In other words, it makes no sense.

It may sound really good, but he's holding that violin all wrong. So he probably should stop.

/knows more than a few classical teachers who would say that

Wow. He can play an instrument per track. I'm impressed.

Gideon Freudmann, an amazing cellist, used to back himself up on stage, thanks to a couple of repeats and some creative pedal use. That was a lot more impressive live, than watching a fella play two tracks and edit them together.

Very pleasant, and exhibiting a degree of skill far beyond the rest of us poor mortals.

However, Terry Riley can do this kind of stuff in real time. Amazing what you can do with a retuned piano and a couple of delay lines.

Awesome. I can't turn it off for some reason... must keep listening...

That is one of the best renditions of the Tucaloosa pargrinoissimoalito I have heard today.

//no, I have never heard that piece before.

You'd think that a classical music thread would have fewer idiots than other threads; *reads posts* ...nope.

This video, and that guy were both awesome.

Pretty damn impressive. If he could hold the violin the right way, it'd be even MORE impressive.

I am astounded at what I merely call "Sweeps" from guitar world and he's doing with a Bow, on a Fretless Instrument, and both instruments having different scale lengths, and he is doing it note for note perfect. *head asplode*

More impressive:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L0os7l1kFCY

I'm sorry. Cello players should not play the violin. That was horrible.

DynoFARKjr: I'm sorry. Cello players should not play the violin. That was horrible.

IT WAS AWFUL, MY EARS BLED.

Date Rape Administrator: The song itself is impressive and he's definitely a skilled musician, but the fact that he's playing two separate parts at two separate times is completely unremarkable.

...unless you factor in that he's also playing two very difficult parts on two different instruments; that makes it pretty damned impressive.

Thanks for all of the posts, buzzkills.

Gayest looking horn, besides the curved soprano sax (it looks like a toy!):

Link (slide trumpet solo)

He really takes the violin to its limits in the fourth minute. the harmonics came out a bit weak. Might be his playing style or time to invest in a better violin. otherwise a fantastic performance

/used to play

Anyone mention Charlie Hunter yet?

Okay so he played both parts seperately according to the timing laid down by the composer.

As a musician, I fail to see the awesomeness of this.

Although it was well played.

Keep playing one instrument to the other back and forth until you get the result you like. I wonder how many sides/takes he did.

sonder: Okay so he played both parts seperately according to the timing laid down by the composer.

As a musician, I fail to see the awesomeness of this.

Although it was well played.

As a musician, if you fail to at least appreciate what's going on in that video, you fail at life, music, and pretty much everything else.

You're really not impressed with someone who has such skill on two different instruments, and the creativity and ability to play such a difficult duet with himself?

If you've played with click-tracks, then you know it's much harder than it would intuitively seem.

/people making comments without the proper knowledge to back them up? Shocking!

Slamguy: Link (slide trumpet solo)

OH GOD I WANT ONE.

/tromboner trombonist

Read the damn YouTube notes. What makes this amazing is that his headset is playing Monday Night Football.

Will someone please explain what's so special about this?

I mean, more special than any other skilled concert cellist (of which there are many) with access to a camera and some editing software?

I'm not being a jackass. I really want to know, because no one has explained it thus far.

I get wet for Handel.

/classical music lover

Assuming this doesn't get greenlit, I see your guy with a camera recording himself doing two parts of a song and raise you Stanley Jordan actually playing two guitars at the same time: Linkies (new window)

CtrlAltDelete: Meh.

Let's see him do both parts simultaneously.

yeah i was expecting something Rodrigo y Gabriela-esque . . . like playing rhythm and lead on the same instrument . . .

//yes, he's still very good

Philogogus: FilmBELOH20: I agree it's very, very good. But with a video camera, a metronome and a decent editor, it makes it pretty easy to do as long as someone has the musical skill. I'm impressed, but not that impressed.

FAIL.

Basically what you just said was, "Well of course this guy can do it, he is good! Now if a person with no talent could pull it off, then I would be impressed!"

The logical disconnect that your statement employs actually makes my head hurt.

No, basically what I said was: He's a good musician. He also had a good editor doing the video. If I had the time, I could take recordings of myself doing something like "Take 5" since I play percussion, piano and sax. I'm also a damn good video editor and sound guy, so I could put it all together along with footage of me scuba diving. Does that mean the I'm the most awesome musician in the world because I can play 3 different instruments underwater? No. It means I can record songs in sequence and edit them together, which is basically how every farking music video on the planet is made.

As I said - I'm impressed with his skills as a musician. Am I amazed by the video? No. See the Stanley Jordan video above. That's impressive.

i expected this from farkers. nothing but hate over a phenomenal performance from a guy playing not only 2 instruments but displaying mastery of BOTH. OH and one of those instruments he literally plays backwards. But go ahead and post your unimpressive thoughts on the smoke n mirrors of it all, "duh, all it takes is a good editor, a metronome, some duct tape and a paper clip."

reminds me of that joke, "how many guitarists farkers does it take to screw in a lightbulb?"

A: 10. One to do it and 9 to stand around and say, "meh, i could do that."

FeBolas: ...unless you factor in that he's also playing two very difficult parts on two different instruments; that makes it pretty damned impressive.

They're essentially the same instrument. If that was a trio and he also played the piano, then I'd be impressed. If he picked up a french horn after playing the cello, I'd be impressed.

How many times have you seen a good jazz/swing saxophonist pick-up a clarinet (or even the occasional flute) for a solo or two?

Hell, between high-school and college I played basically every piston-valved brass instrument there is, from the tuba to the soprano trumpet. With exception to said tuba (which I just never got accustomed to embrochure-wise), I played each almost equally well.

Mind you, I'm not nearly as good a musician as the man in the film, but a cellist playing violin is nothing new, especially when he plays it like a miniature cello.

Although if he played the cello as an overgrown violin, I would be quite impressed....

The Loaf: How many times have you seen a good jazz/swing saxophonist pick-up a clarinet (or even the occasional flute) for a solo or two?

Link^ (new window)

LOAF said, "Mind you, I'm not nearly as good a musician as the man in the film, but a cellist playing violin is nothing new, especially when he plays it like a miniature cello."

cello and violin have different strings. Reading the music is different. Violin is the piano equivalent to the right hand. Viola, Cello and Bass are the piano's left hand.

The bottom line of all this squabbling is that what that guy did was amazing. Saying it wasn't is your own existential crisis. have fun with that.

To all the bowed-strings players: Just wondering--- is there any reason to hold the violin like that?

/thought it was good playing, but has never seen a violin held like that
//just wondering, though...

wilclarx:

reminds me of that joke, "how many guitarists farkers does it take to screw in a lightbulb?"

A: 10. One to do it and 9 to stand around and say, "meh, i could do that."

I logged in to this web site and followed the hypertext links to this thread to help reiterate the above sentiment.

I won't say, "put up or shut up," but maybe it's in order. I have a hard time imagining the skill it would take to play any part of that piece, it sounds incredibly difficult. Then to master it on two instruments...that's the skill, not the schmancy video.

Lil' credit.

So, "The Devil Went Down To Georgia" was about this guy?

wilclarx: LOAF said, "Mind you, I'm not nearly as good a musician as the man in the film, but a cellist playing violin is nothing new, especially when he plays it like a miniature cello."

cello and violin have different strings. Reading the music is different. Violin is the piano equivalent to the right hand. Viola, Cello and Bass are the piano's left hand.

The bottom line of all this squabbling is that what that guy did was amazing. Saying it wasn't is your own existential crisis. have fun with that.

The strings are still intervaled in fifths. So even if he played the violin exactly like he would a 1/8th cello the result would sound okay, just in a different key--transpose the written music by a fifth and it'll sound perfectly fine.

Its the brass equivalent of switching from a trumpet (generally a Bb instrument) to a French horn or mellophone (generally F instruments). Its not that difficult of a transition, and people (myself included) do it all the time.

Even swapping clefs isn't that hard. The two instruments I enjoy the most are trumpet (treble clef) and euphonium (bass clef). I swap between them with no difficulties.

niangelo: Will someone please explain what's so special about this?

I mean, more special than any other skilled concert cellist (of which there are many) with access to a camera and some editing software?

I'm not being a jackass. I really want to know, because no one has explained it thus far.

So much fail in this thread, but at least you wish to be enlightened, as opposed to the other jackasses that say "meh".

The reason this is so impressive is because he's playing a *duet* with himself. That means that both parts are playing off each other, obviously melodically and harmonically as the composer intended, but more importantly in this case, dynamically and rhythmically. The beauty of orchestrated music is the cooperation and synergy of multiple instruments playing together. This is NOT an easy thing to achieve, as any bass/drummer combination can tell you. It typically requires a lot of practice between the individual musicians to be able to 'lock in' with each other, and relies on lots of sensory cues other than auditory. In essence, trying to play "with" another musician that simply isn't there, is damn near impossible.

To all you dumbasses saying "yeah whatever, it's no harder than playing with a click", you're retarded, have never played music in a group in your life, or if you did, your band was farking terrible. Have you ever heard of a 'ritardando'? Do you know how hard it is to keep that tight, even with a conductor in front of an orchestra, or a drummer using his arms to cue the hits? Now take away all that extra-sensory input, and see how easy it is. Do you really think an entire orchestra can play that tightly without a conductor?

How do you think he follows his crescendos, decrescendos, and ritardandos so well? It's not because he's listening to the other track. If that were the case, he'd be too late by the time he was compensating for the other part. This is badass because he's so intimately familiar not only with both parts, but more importantly, exactly how he plays both parts.

Is this the most un-be-farking-lievable thing to ever happen in the history of music? Of course not, it's more of a musical parlor trick than anything - but if you're not impressed, you don't know what the fark you're talking about.

CtrlAltDelete: Meh.

Let's see him do both parts simultaneously.

This.

I think he's holdin' them there fiddles wrong.

1) I still don't get why he's got the cans on for both shots. For the one he recorded first, why would he need 'em?

2) Do we absolutely know that both parts are being recorded as we see them, and that none of this is miming to tracks already recorded (and perhaps edited) by himself and/or another? The fact that it cuts from two-shots to closeups is already suspicious....

3) Seemingly any kind of room-tone can be added digitally, but the violin doesn't sound like something originating fairly close to floor level, with the knees wrapped around (I'd expect this to dampen the "ring" and presence of the vln in a way that it doesn't for the cello). Imagine a full orchestra with dozens of violinists playing this way--would the tone and projection not be substantially different?

All that said, have him sit down for me in real time and play the violin (like a genuine orchestra audition), and then we can gauge what we've really got here.

That said, playing the valved brass family top to bottom is no big deal. Throw in the trombone, and it's a bit of a plus. A truly excellent WW doubler--quite an accomplishment. A high-level player of cello and a smaller orchestral string instrument--a rarity in my long experience. But, I can't really evaluate this guy's playing of the violin from this video.... (would it hold up in court as demonstrable "evidence" of anything?).

///Longtime cellist, among other things