Classical Music Performance FAILS 🍅 

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Ray I think u should react to our (your subscribers)playing and try to guess how long we've been playing our instruments and then rate our playing out of 10

I heard that he Sibelius fail was because the orchestra started playing in half time, so twice as slow. because they didn't rehearse enough. The conductor is mainly responsible

"it never gets old, maybe cuz its a viola", damn ray, fr.

Thank you for giving (and explaining) an example of a „musical“ fail. We‘ve seen broken strings, dropped instruments, slipped musicians a lot of time. But to hear the orchestra fall apart is special! ❤

Strangest thing I have ever seen at a small concert was a piano going through the floor trapping the pianist. Luckily I had forced my then boyfriend (now husband) and his football buddies to come and watch the concert. The boys picked up the piano and moved it off of her to the other side of the room. She was not hurt and she finished her performance.

Hello. My name is Oiara, I'm 77 years old and I'm your fan, because of the violin you play and your charisma, excellent and you certainly don't have time to be reading messages from everyone who admires you. Peci. May. God protect you always.

6:55 "Which is standard protocol" here, you can hear Ray's Aussie peeking through

Why am I again in the "fail" category? 🤔 But it's satisfying to hear Ray saying "Wow! Wow!" to my VIOLA playing! 😎

I've seen this video several times elsewhere (Tchaikovsky one I mean) and it still amazes me how easily you can pick up the tune after the interruption... Hours of practice must be made to be able to master this. It's just wonderful.

As a preforming classical musician. Be prepared for anything to happen. Once while preforming harp outside the sheet music flew off the stand and ended up in a stream near by. Luckily knew most or the piece so needed to improvise areas some parts of piece that weren’t familiar. Improvising can also save you if you have a memory loss.

Ray singing the violin parts with such focus is very nerdy and sweet 😆

If all the 'fails' are like yours, bRay...., it's going to be a really fun video 😁

The part with Sibelius, it was lovely to hear You singing!

Let’s go Ray Chen! I love all of your videos and this one I’m sure will be great. Have tonic and love it too!

I love how he’s just playing the Mendelssohn violin concerto in the background 👍🙂

2:23 I used to have this weird twine-ish (?) loop connecting my tailpiece, and it snapped once while it was in my case. Super fun as a beginner to just open your case and see strings and my bridge and my tail piece just everywhere 💀

"It never gets old...probably because it's a viola."

I was playing my violin at a open mic and my fingers started cramping up and so did my right hand

In the Chopin etude 25.6, his right hand started skipping ahead already before the upwards run, making the two hands go out of sync. He did the same thing in his second attempt. Nerves…

A joy to watch and to hear. Thank you, Ray Chen!

It's a pleasure to listen to you!....whatever the topic of discussion, I'm always impressed!❤️🙂

I’ve froze up during an audition this semester. It happens, practice in front of people and practice recovering in front of people are great tips.

We were at Ray’s concert in La Jolla, CA about 3 weeks ago. His string broke. I wouldn’t call it a fail because he dealt with it perfectly, just calmly changing the string since he was playing solo.

As a non-musician (is that a word?😂), I love this so much. It's so entertaining to see Ray react to concert mishaps, including his own.

THANKS A MILLION for TONIC !!!

Another great work Ray!

I was at an Itzhak Perlmann (sp, sorry!) concert at Stanford in 1996 (?) and ... this is a hazy memory so bear with me ... he was just starting I can't even remember the concerto, in his chair, with a local chamber orchestra (name?) -- you see this is tough to remember -- and his A string snapped -- back then we used aluminum-wound gut. He did a big arm-wave and stopped the orchestra, then said "One moment please" to the audience. As a recall, this is a dim recollection, he attempted some humor with the audience while he waited for the new string to be brought on-stage from backstage, because we (in the audience) had a few good laughs (but his jokes? Can't remember). The whole operation took about 2 minutes, and then they started the movement from the start because he hadn't got very far in. Recounting this is what I imagine hypnotism to be like.... I'm guessing that the A-string was pre-stretched?? Someone else who was at that concert can chime in? Unfortunately there's no video of that particular event....

LOVE THIS. Requesting for interpretations: What would a Bach or Vivaldi interpretation of modern music sound like? Or...how would a Ray-Chen-ified / Paginini-fied version of Mozart or Bach sound like?

I have been to a concert where the world class violin soloist lost synch with the orchestra but they saved it in a second. Don't think most people even noticed. It was very close to disaster. The concert aired on radio and was possible to hear up to a month later, so I saved the recording...

Je trouve ce vidéo professionnel et amusant de voir que tout ne coule pas de source même pour les meilleurs de ce monde. Votre réaction est adorable et m'a beaucoup fait rire. Si j'avais été à votre olace j'aurais été désamparé et stoique.Vous êtes naturel et j'adore votre humanité, et lorsque vous jouez divinement. ❤❤❤❤

That was interesting :) (btw congrats for 500k)

Thanks for the great concert in Seattle a couple of weeks ago. Wished you had played longer. But no broken string this time. 😂 When you came onto the stage a young woman, probably in her 20’s, gasped and screamed . She was so excited to see you. I was too, but I didn’t scream. ❤

Nice coffee setup! Love the Niche 😊

I was so sorry for the pianist. I might be completely wrong but he seemed so low energy in this piece so i would be afraid he was sick or just before getting sick. Poor guy....

10:00 I need a full version of this

Great video!

uff... the last Clip, just in such a meditative quiet Piece😅

Fight/flight/freeze happens at a concert *because you recognize the situation as danger* Obvious but also kind of mind blowing. I can use this to soothe my nerves

I love this intro video - so cool

So when a bow breaks and they switch with the concert master does he now sit there not playing, or does he then take someone else's bow? How does that work?

The viola guy's face when the phone went off tho-

Just want to say I love Ray's over shirt.

That Sibelius fail I bet not many noticed it.

Please make Tonic for PC, laptop, and/or Desktop users too!!

When I was about 12, I put down my violin at an orchestra practice, left it there for two seconds and walked off. Then, behind me, I heard this sickening crunch. I looked back to see that my scroll had completely snapped off. No idea how it happened, to this day (maybe I didn’t set it down directly on the floor? I have so many theories) but it was super broken. I went though a ton of bad violins after that ( because the rental place that we bought it from didn’t believe me, despite the fact that I had 3 adults who saw it unfold). Long story short, I’m still afraid to put down my nice violin anywhere.

That light bulb bursting is definitely what we call a "Brown out" type moment 😜

I’ve had a tailpiece gut string snap. The tailpiece whacked me on the chin, I saw stars. It was a miracle that the sound post didn’t fall.

Well we all thought that Ray was a violinist but he surprises us by showing us his opera skills

For the first clip, the auction record for the maker ($93,548) is for a viola bow. TwoSet folks may need life support if they see that 😅

Every concertmaster must have a really good violin and bow😂

How can a bow be worth $30000? Was it made from hair from a prized race horse?

Nice Rancilio Silvia!

Hi Ray! Great video. Why do you say that Kevlar doesn't sound as good on the tail piece gut?

As a concert pianist ... I'm sort of shocked the pianist actually stopped. That is actually pretty rare that some one just is not prepared. If some one forgets most pianist can fake until they are back on track or just do a chordal cadence. But stopping and starting is painful to watch. A big fail I had was I was performing the Khatchaturian piano concerto and the technician didn't secure the rollers on the piano. I hit the first chord and piano rolled away LOL. I burst out laughing it was like a Victor Borge routine. Luckily we are only about 15 bars in. So we stopped. The conductor and I left the stage. The Conductor was pissed I was like... yes needless careless error but people will remember. So the technician idiot who didn't do his job came out fixed it. About 15 minutes later we came out of the concerto. I was actually more relaxed after the incident because I was only 16, and scared with the demands of that concerto. I also when I was with the Young Artist Series played Rhapsody in Blue in a 2 piano version with my sister Anne. The second piano needed voicing and was if I remember 1/4 tone flat from my piano. It was like listening to the worst banal saloon pianos play it. Sounded more like Schoenberg. I think my mom still has that concert on cassette and we take it out for a good laugh. Another favorite was my High School alma mater after I graduated. The choir director was not very precise in teaching the choir German diction for a Bach cantata . and instead of singing the German word for hell. it sounded like the German word for "whore. So they were singing something like The devil in the whore .. instead of the Devil from hell. LOL> My German friend's mother nearly passed out LOL. Oh and I remember when I accompanied my Mom a soubrette coloratura for a Senior Center opera soiree. and the announcer painfully said every title wrong and couldn't even pronounce Vissi d'arte .. he said something like Visis Dart by Pu kee nee LOL. Oh and get this. He said Milhaud as Mill-howd and Henry Purcell as pur-SELL . The stupidity burns LOL

Ray, could you please tell me why violinists constantly give violists a hard time? Julie Gill, Glasgow, Scotland.

Thank you! Nervously! 😄I'm watching this video at the wrong time for me, it seems to me. I have an exam tomorrow. 😬

I was lucky enough to manage to hear the full Tchaikovsky performance of yours that you mention. in the video. Take what you will coming from someone who is loosing their hearing that hasn't played in 30 years but oh man I know you may not be as proud of how smooth the recovery was but it was not a distraction and the performance is one of my favourite performances ever. I tried to listen really hard cause of my hearing problems. It's almost like you were testing the violin out, maybe figuring out how far you could push it without over blowing the instrument and then it's almost like you got a little mad and then you just unleashed the tone out of the beast, It was such an unfortunate moment to break. You had created this fairy land but it was right back to business. You must be setting some record for how many times this happen to you. I think another two times in seaatle once in rehearsal from your posts?

I was accompanying a violinist at an eistedfod some years back .( Full audience .) The music was inserted into a flip file beforehand , and in a rush enabling me to turn pages easily (15 pages in all .A rather tricky sonata .) UNFORTUNATELY ,page 1 went off with a bang BUT ; The rest was the WRONG music . I improvised (atonaly ) !! If only the earth had opened and swallowed me up .😮😮😮

Hi Ray, My personal fails pale in comparison. One time I started a solo in a wrong key (turned into atonal), another time I was playing for a room full of Hells Angels and heard them all clapping in time, then I looked up and totally crashed and burned. Oh well, I lived.

One could call the piece that begins at 7:47 "Fantasia on a Theme by Tarrega" :)

Can someone remind me the piece played in the back of the intro, it slipped from my mind 😂😂😂

I was in the concert locally where the conductor and the vocalist is from abroad but all of the musician is local. At one particular song the band plays the tune very slow while the conductor desperately try to speed the tempo up. It was a sight to be be seen It's a ballad tune from a well known video game series, so I think the band was practicing at the slow tempo before the show. They probably didn't have much to reherse with the said conductor. Also I think this conductor prefer faster tempo, even comparing to the original recording.

Ray, how often do you change your violin's string?

A lightbulb actually also exploded in my first solo recital! It was even in a more sentimental section as well haha. It's for some reason comforting to know that it has happened to other people even way above my skill level. I'm honestly proud that it basically didnt affect my playing, but it probably helped that it was on beat. 😅

I know it's hard to believe, but I've seen a viola bow fly into the lap of a woman in the audience. The woman stood up and gently handed the bow back to the musician. It was a professional orchestra and the musician was an excellent musician. I can't give any more details because everyone who was present looked as if nothing had happened.

I saw one recently where the orchestra started the wrong piano concerto.. the pianist jumps in on the first note .. looks panicked then continues.. luckily it was in his repertoire..

You are too funny! 🤣

Uma pena já tive dois feiks.ahora sempre a dúvida.mas como artista exlente.

Honestly, the adjudicator cutting off that pianist was a mercy. Most likely he would have kept fumbling.

"Because it's a viola" had me dying

Okay nice I am expecting emotional trauma today from this video

Not me wiggling my mouse to remove the thumbnail when Ray is conducting and singing the Sibelius

Can someone tell me the exact name of which sibelius concerto that is?

Can someone say witch piece of Vivaldi was the last one?

During the last fail even I got scared in 1 headphone 😅 I saw that fear in Kristina’s eyes as well)

Question: In the Sibelius - why couldn't the conductor pull the soloist and the winds back together. If they had all looked at the conductor, could it have been saved?

Tail “loop” = tail “gut” Ray 😄

My tail piece loop broke while my violin was just sitting. It was old and made of gut and it just gave up. At first I was afraid something more major had broken.

Why was the Mendelssohn concerto playing in the background when you mentioned the Tchaikovsky violin concerto? 🧐 Ray Chen secretly giving us a quiz to see if we know our stuff 😂

I was wondering; is there a danger for your eyes when a string breaks or does it usually snap away from you?

I just want to know who's changing Ray's string, and did he walk over there to give them his extra E string?

I was ready for the piano strings to snap

Hey didn’t some violin guy lose an eye when his e string busted? That would be a tough one to continue on with.

Is it me, or is Ray's bridge leaning back a lot? (I am referencing the scene where Ray is talking after the video where the tail piece broke). If it is leaning back, would that be intentional???

Are there recorded instances where the concert masters instrument is a really different setup, significant enough to cause problems. Or is it a requirement for being concert master that they have to play on a full size fairly standard instrument, for this reason? What if the soloist normally plays something out of the ordinary?

The fourth one was deliberate. It was planned beforehand.

Memory slip, skip AHEAD. Don’t go back.

Sádico e insensível!

"It never gets old though, probably because it's a viola!" Dat buuurn 🙈🔥

I wanna watch a video of you making coffee in that machine

I wonder how the poor guy you switch violin or bow with feels... They save your day, and they, well... go home? 🤣

Mon plus concert...❤❤❤❤❤

Até as falhas são divertidas. Um espetáculo diferente e divertido. Sem perder a beleza que o evento precisa ter.

4:31 stage fright mechanism every violinist should understand

I think the Viola fail was probably due to too many fine tuners on big strings. LOL

I find it interesting that the violist had four fine tuners on his tailpiece. I thought only violin beginners like me used four fine tuners.

what name this violinist? playing sibelius...

No luck to have twice a concert accident!

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