My Favorite Things – Chris Botti and Yo-Yo Ma

Chris Botti has become a pop sensation in recent years. Sometimes as educated musicians we have a tendency to shun what is popular. But Chris Botti is actually a top notch player. If you ever have a chance to hear Botti live, do it! One of my students couldn’t make it to a concert after he bought tickets. So he gave them to us and it was a wonderful concert. Anyway, here’s a beautiful rendition of My Favorite Things with Chris Botti and Yo-Yo Ma.

Listening Questions:

Mic Placement
When we record, we play two instruments at the same time, the trumpet and the microphone. How would you describe Chris Botti’s position relative to the microphone?
Up stream or down stream?
Is Chris Botti and upstream or downstream player?
Out of sync?
There is at least one place where the video is out of sync, Chris Botti’s fingers don’t match the notes he is playing. Can you spot that section?

Eddie Lewis posts these videos as listening assignments to his students. He often tells the students that “listening is more important than practicing”. To that end, he shares the videos so the students have something to inspire them to listen more often to professional trumpet players.

That said, if you are not one of Mr. Lewis’ students, we welcome you, too. The more the merrier! Welcome to EddieLewis.com. Feel free to post your comments and questions below.