Tuesday, March 20, 2007

Super Mario Trombones

This Sunday (March 19th) Oregon Pro Arte Chamber Orchestra performed at the Mt Angel Performing Arts Center.  The Trombone section took the opportunity to perform a Super Mario Theme music arrangement made by one of the members of the trombone section of our sister city's orchestra in Sapporo, Japan.  Sorry the camera moves around.  I wanted an unobstructed view so I stood but I didn't have anything to keep the camera steady.


34 comments:

Josh Bancroft said...

That was SO AWESOME! Thanks for sharing! :-)

Aaron said...

Weeeeee!

Tom said...

They sound horrible. How did this get linked by BoingBoing?

Unknown said...

AWESOME!!! Tom you don't know what you are talking about these guys are SWEET!! That is so cool! :)

Chad said...

Look what I could have become!!!!! I could have been in the middle of two tromboners with a goofy mustache swaying to the sounds of Mario. If I had only continued the craft. Dang!!!!

Shawn said...

It's a great piece and I enjoyed it, but I agree that these guys weren't very polished and clear at times.

Unknown said...

Awesome idea. The trio needed another few weeks of practice to get it down, though. It's rife with missed entries, incorrect notes, variable tempo, and sloppy cut offs.

Tuwa said...

Yeah, they hit some wrong notes and can't agree on a tempo. And the castle level is awfully short.

Unknown said...

Man, people are critical. This is someone's personal blog. It's not like they presented this to you as the greatest musical performance of all time. if you enjoyed it (I did), great. If not, just click on something else and forget about it.

Giddas said...

I thought it was cool... there are some whining dorks here - it took 3 minutes out of your miserable life what are you complaining about?

ValkRaider said...

That was AWESOME.

And to people complaining - frag off! These are just some guys having fun. It is not a professional presentation...

You are just pissed because you couldn't do it.

And these guys didn't make the arrangement, it was done by some people in Japan so if you have complaints about the length of the castle level - well that was just how it was arranged...

Again, this is way cool - thanks for sharing!

Tee/Tracy said...

Found you through Boing Boing. ROFL! This was great! ... I still have the Ninetendo I grew up with and now my little boys play it just as much as their more modern GameCube :) We love Mario :)

Anonymous said...

Bloody brilliant. I am disappointed in some of the comments though. The beauty of art is the imperfections and it is nice to see a few musicians not taking themselves so seriously. Thank you for sharing. Bravo!

Brian said...

Saw this on Boing Boing and couldn't belive who it was - you guys are rockstars!
-Brian Knopp

Aric Bright said...

Love it. Hooray trombone, Hooray Oregon. Anyone have an accordian version?

Paul said...

That is sweet, and the arrangement is actually really good!

Unknown said...

OK -- so what if they missed a few notes. I loved it.

The only thing that was driving me nuts the whole time is the fact that I was missing the other sound effects, particularly the coin "pings". :)

jwiltshire said...

Oh man I will never get tired of Super Mario Brothers music arranged in different manners.

2cupsjoe said...

That was fantastic. Thanks for blogging it.

Unknown said...

Unique, entertaining, heartfelt. It was clever and fun to watch/hear. Thanks for sharing.

Ranjani Sheshadri said...

Great work! As a trombone player, this is inspiration for me to continue to practice and play the instrument I love. There were a few errors, sure, but the over-all atmosphere was wonderful. I grew up with both Mario and trombones (both my older brothers played), so this is perfect for me. Thanks so much! It was a lot of fun :)

Kara Shallenberg said...

Wonderful, thanks for posting :)

Unknown said...

They play as if they're drunk or stoned, or haven't rehearsed it more than one or two times. There's a part they repeat about a dozen times, a really idiotic thing for the arranger to do, and they aren't even getting that part right! That's a fact. Why are there people ranting on about how you're not allowed to say that? What's going on in their minds? Is it, "let's be nice to the performers and tell them lies about how great they are"? Or is it, "I found it cool and you don't have the right to have a better ear for music than I"?

Come on, it's OK when everyone say his/her honest opinion.

Jaack said...

Did they even practice this? The sound horrible.

jen said...

that was absolutely fantastic! what the hell are you kill-joys on about?

Unknown said...

Performers of caliber would not have performed as under-rehearsed as this. It was slow and sloppy. The arrangement was cute, and the concept was fine, but for a musician who works hard to perform at a high level, and who expects the same level of polish from students, I don't think these guys did it justice. No offense to them as people, but I winced more than I smiled at this one.

Anonymous said...

The Play! Symphony does the Best Super Mario Brothers, Hands down. These guys are "alright" but if you want some high level stuff, check them out

http://www.play-symphony.com

Unknown said...

This is unbelievable. If there guys can't do an utterly perfect rendition, then they have no right even trying. Even thought this is just someones personal blog, and these guys were probably just fooling around before a performance, that is no excuse for not producing a perfect product. This is everything that is wrong with the world. I can't believe that other people aren't taking this seriously as well, this is a masterpiece destroyed. I will never listen to music again!

Unknown said...

Man, I remember back when I was in high school, we did the same thing. Me and about three other trombones would warm up by playing the Mario theme, then when we finished it was on to Zelda...once we even tried Metroid.

But seriously, if you aren't a trombone player you wouldn't notice it, but they're making beginner mistakes. These guys ARE supposed to be professionally trained, and I'm just not seeing it.

Unknown said...

The middle trombonist emailed me his comment:

You know, I'm an amateur and I'll admit it in a country second. It doesn't bother me at all when people think it sounded bad - I'll admit to some wrong notes, flaky tempos, etc. We only practiced it twice... The fun of this was in the presentation (did you hear the audience reaction at the end?).

On the other hand, I'd like to hear anything that Nex and Seth have produced - except for their vitriol. Nex and Seth, what have you created lately?

Christine Lemus said...

These musicians are MARVELOUS!!!!
Bravo!!!

ScooterScoop said...

w00t! Reminds me of when I used to play trombone back in Jr. High... except that was way before Mario.

Schlammin'!

I wanna see someone play it on the kalimba.

Gary Petersen said...

Tool cool! Thanks for posting the video.

Pablo said...

Super Mario is great!