The climax starts at 3:13
December 14, 2011 10:43 PM Subscribe
Matt Mulholland performing "My Heart Will Go On" on the recorder. That is all. (SLYT)
Woah. Here he is doing an all all-a cappella, note-for-note version of Bohemian Rhapsody. Dude's an amazing musician!
posted by the_bone at 10:51 PM on December 14, 2011 [3 favorites]
posted by the_bone at 10:51 PM on December 14, 2011 [3 favorites]
Wellington represent!
posted by Samuel Farrow at 11:03 PM on December 14, 2011
posted by Samuel Farrow at 11:03 PM on December 14, 2011
These videos would be funnier if I didn't know how good a recorder could sound.
But I do.
TIME FOR MY RECORDER STORY, CHUMPS.
Back when I lived in Japan, I formed a doofy littled "jazz trio" with a couple of expat pals of mine, G. and J.
J. was from Jamaica, and was a total perfect fucking absurdity of a human being. He was basically a model in terms of all around rugged handsomeness, possessed a sensual baritone voice, and played piano so well that with him around, G.'s and my relative amateur status on our instruments (G: Bongos, me: drumset) could be sufficiently covered up for by his significant improvisational facility on the keys that the term "jazz trio" was only mildly overstating our collective ability.
So we're gearing up for a Christmas concert, and working up a jazzy version of Greensleeves, and J. is all, "Hey, maybe I should do an intro. Like, on the recorder or something." And the motherfucker rummages around in his bag, pulls out a plastic recorder, and improvises this incredibly moving little variation on Greensleeves; his breath control is perfect, the recorder tone is lovely and sweet and musical, and there stand G. and I like chumps, generally holding our manhoods cheap.
I ask J. how he learned to play the recorder so well, and he tells me a story. Back when he was a kid in Jamaica, he was forced to learn piano but what he really wanted was to play the saxophone. His mother would hear none of it, but J. talked her into agreeing to the following conditions: if he could win the an upcoming All-Jamaica youth music competition on the recorder she would get him a saxophone. So J. practiced like crazy and entered the competition, against kids playing violins and pianos. And the crazy guy did win. On the goddamn recorder.
"So did your mom let you get a sax, finally?" I asked.
J: "Nope. But I learned how to play the recorder."
posted by pts at 11:08 PM on December 14, 2011 [18 favorites]
But I do.
TIME FOR MY RECORDER STORY, CHUMPS.
Back when I lived in Japan, I formed a doofy littled "jazz trio" with a couple of expat pals of mine, G. and J.
J. was from Jamaica, and was a total perfect fucking absurdity of a human being. He was basically a model in terms of all around rugged handsomeness, possessed a sensual baritone voice, and played piano so well that with him around, G.'s and my relative amateur status on our instruments (G: Bongos, me: drumset) could be sufficiently covered up for by his significant improvisational facility on the keys that the term "jazz trio" was only mildly overstating our collective ability.
So we're gearing up for a Christmas concert, and working up a jazzy version of Greensleeves, and J. is all, "Hey, maybe I should do an intro. Like, on the recorder or something." And the motherfucker rummages around in his bag, pulls out a plastic recorder, and improvises this incredibly moving little variation on Greensleeves; his breath control is perfect, the recorder tone is lovely and sweet and musical, and there stand G. and I like chumps, generally holding our manhoods cheap.
I ask J. how he learned to play the recorder so well, and he tells me a story. Back when he was a kid in Jamaica, he was forced to learn piano but what he really wanted was to play the saxophone. His mother would hear none of it, but J. talked her into agreeing to the following conditions: if he could win the an upcoming All-Jamaica youth music competition on the recorder she would get him a saxophone. So J. practiced like crazy and entered the competition, against kids playing violins and pianos. And the crazy guy did win. On the goddamn recorder.
"So did your mom let you get a sax, finally?" I asked.
J: "Nope. But I learned how to play the recorder."
posted by pts at 11:08 PM on December 14, 2011 [18 favorites]
He's actually capable of playing the recorder, and does so in his Circle of Life video at around 2:30. But the FPP video brought back fond memories of childhood and elementary school music classes. He does great music but "My Heart Will Go On" is something special.
posted by Rory Marinich at 11:10 PM on December 14, 2011
posted by Rory Marinich at 11:10 PM on December 14, 2011
BONUS RECORDER STORY ADDENDUM PUNCHLINE
After J. finished his recorder solo during our little rehearsal and G. and I recovered from feeling like total assholes for even pretending to be this guy's musical peer, I had to say something.
"Damn, J.," I said, sitting glumly on the seat behind my drum set. "Is there anything you can't play?"
And J—that magnificent, magnanimous, caring human being, a finer man that I can ever reasonably hope to be—looked me in the eye, flashed a brilliant and friendly smile, and said...
"...Well, Paul... I can't play the drums."
posted by pts at 11:11 PM on December 14, 2011 [3 favorites]
After J. finished his recorder solo during our little rehearsal and G. and I recovered from feeling like total assholes for even pretending to be this guy's musical peer, I had to say something.
"Damn, J.," I said, sitting glumly on the seat behind my drum set. "Is there anything you can't play?"
And J—that magnificent, magnanimous, caring human being, a finer man that I can ever reasonably hope to be—looked me in the eye, flashed a brilliant and friendly smile, and said...
"...Well, Paul... I can't play the drums."
posted by pts at 11:11 PM on December 14, 2011 [3 favorites]
Laughed till I cried. As one of the Youtube comments states "Fucking nailed it!"
posted by greenhornet at 12:30 AM on December 15, 2011
posted by greenhornet at 12:30 AM on December 15, 2011
Matt Mullholland is all about The Darker Side Of Friday.
posted by benzo8 at 1:17 AM on December 15, 2011
posted by benzo8 at 1:17 AM on December 15, 2011
What is it about Wellingtonians and videos full of mock cheese?
posted by AndrewStephens at 2:08 AM on December 15, 2011
posted by AndrewStephens at 2:08 AM on December 15, 2011
God. That was... I wept.
posted by From Bklyn at 6:04 AM on December 15, 2011
posted by From Bklyn at 6:04 AM on December 15, 2011
I swear it was a link here on Metafilter that brought me to 'like' Matt's Facebook page and thus receive updates, but I can't find that link at the moment. He posts new videos/songs pretty regularly, and recently he posted that he has a Cover album coming out tomorrow on iTunes.
posted by mysterpigg at 7:59 AM on December 15, 2011
posted by mysterpigg at 7:59 AM on December 15, 2011
Even after reading the comments, when I clicked on that link I expected to hear an awesome-sounding, perhaps multi-tracked recorder rendition of My Heart Will Go On; something that I could legitimately thumb my nose at and say: "He auto-tuned the shit out of that."
I should have known otherwise. In fact, I dimly remember hearing this exact rendition of the song at least once before.
Part of the "joke" of the awful rendition, if you could call it that, is that he's playing the song in its original key of E Major, which requires a low B at the bottom at the vocal part, and you're not going to get that note out of a standard Soprano/Tenor recorder. I've played some ocarinas where you could get away with it by blowing a *really soft* low C, but the only way you could possibly get anything close to a B out of a C-tuned recorder is to "trombone" it by temporarily pulling the rear segment(s) partially away from the mouthpiece... and that would be horrendously difficult to get right on a regular basis.
You could play it legitimately on an F-tuned recorder (I just did), but it would take some skill to make it sound smooth and pleasant, as you'll be fingering the equivalent of the key of B major on a C-tuned recorder, and frequently jumping between the recorder's first two registers.
...or you could take the easy way out and transpose the song up a half-step to the key of F, or a step further to the key of G.
If I ever want real inspiration in my own sorry attempts to play recorder, I watch this rendition of the Overworld Theme from The Legend of Zelda. I can do nearly as well with it on a Sopranino (F-tuned) recorder, but he's playing it on a C-tuned recorder and reaching effortlessly into the instrument's third register. It's just far enough beyond my reach to make me practice a little bit harder, but not so far that it depresses me, like this kid's rendition of Flight of the Bumblebee.
posted by The Confessor at 8:12 AM on December 15, 2011 [1 favorite]
I should have known otherwise. In fact, I dimly remember hearing this exact rendition of the song at least once before.
Part of the "joke" of the awful rendition, if you could call it that, is that he's playing the song in its original key of E Major, which requires a low B at the bottom at the vocal part, and you're not going to get that note out of a standard Soprano/Tenor recorder. I've played some ocarinas where you could get away with it by blowing a *really soft* low C, but the only way you could possibly get anything close to a B out of a C-tuned recorder is to "trombone" it by temporarily pulling the rear segment(s) partially away from the mouthpiece... and that would be horrendously difficult to get right on a regular basis.
You could play it legitimately on an F-tuned recorder (I just did), but it would take some skill to make it sound smooth and pleasant, as you'll be fingering the equivalent of the key of B major on a C-tuned recorder, and frequently jumping between the recorder's first two registers.
...or you could take the easy way out and transpose the song up a half-step to the key of F, or a step further to the key of G.
If I ever want real inspiration in my own sorry attempts to play recorder, I watch this rendition of the Overworld Theme from The Legend of Zelda. I can do nearly as well with it on a Sopranino (F-tuned) recorder, but he's playing it on a C-tuned recorder and reaching effortlessly into the instrument's third register. It's just far enough beyond my reach to make me practice a little bit harder, but not so far that it depresses me, like this kid's rendition of Flight of the Bumblebee.
posted by The Confessor at 8:12 AM on December 15, 2011 [1 favorite]
I'm embarrassed to admit how many times i've watched his O Holy Night.
posted by Lutoslawski at 12:07 PM on December 15, 2011
posted by Lutoslawski at 12:07 PM on December 15, 2011
That was so momentous that Carl Wilson's going to have to revise his book "Celine Dion's Let's Talk About Love: Journey to the End of Taste."
posted by umbú at 9:11 PM on December 16, 2011
posted by umbú at 9:11 PM on December 16, 2011
« Older The paintings of Don Van Vliet | What Women Want: Porn and the Frontier of Female... Newer »
This thread has been archived and is closed to new comments
posted by Rory Marinich at 10:43 PM on December 14, 2011