Saturday, December 20, 2008

Trumpet Bloopers Spread Holiday Cheer

In case you need to add some holiday cheer to your life--and the Messiah on crack wasn't enough--here's a site devoted to trumpet bloopers. I'm not talking about the random cracked note or intonation issue. I'm talking about total flameouts--outrageous and spectacular disasters that were miraculously captured on tape. All are worth a listen, but there are a few that absolutely can't be missed:

The opening of the Hummel Trumpet Concerto. Ridiculous on so many levels. Hasn't quite mastered the Classical style.  

The end of the cadenza in the Haydn Trumpet Concerto. This poor guy actually sounded pretty decent for a while, but runs out of steam at a very inopportune moment.

A canon by Orlando Gibbons. As the original site observes, you can't fake a canon. One of these guys falls off the tracks and predictably can't recover. About three-quarters of the way through, there's a stunning series of parallel fourths that must have turned Bach over in his grave. Probably would have been better to just throw in the towel.  

2 comments:

Ellen said...

These are hilarious! - And I could certainly feel their pain, being a trumpet player myself.

As for the Canon -- he's right -- and it's even worse when four of you are derailed! The secret is to keep on playing and let the others find you!

PS: They are parallel fifths!

Jaems said...

I loved the Gibbons especially