I just read “Musician has world’s fastest fingers” and I wonder what it really means.
I could play really fast on oboe and still be rotten on the thing. It’s not all about speed. But he’ll be in the Guinness Book of World Records. Still, as I tell my students, oboe and French horn were in the Guinness Book I read once, saying we were the most difficult instruments, so there.
The violinist, David Garrett, is one of those who I guess is supposed to appeal to everyone; he plays classical, he plays metal, he plays … well, I guess he plays everything. Except not oboe.
CNN: If you could choose one word to describe yourself, what would it be?
Garrett: Diplomatic. Because I’m always try to get people together. You always have to be diplomatic with music, with classical, with whatever you do.
So he doesn’t use the word “fastest” to describe himself. Whew!
Here are a few videos of him playing. I’ll let you decide what you think after you watch and listen:
Go in to about 5:40 and you can hear him break the speed record:
Bach:
& finally, I expect this is more of what he is about (?), from his PBS special:
And of course I’ll bet he can’t make an oboe reed. So there. Again.
