Not Lip-Synching, but Not Quite Live
EmailThe bone-chilling temperatures that tested hundreds of thousands of inaugural revelers apparently also took its toll on the music they heard that day.
Carole Florman, a spokeswoman for the Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies, said Thursday that cellist Yo-Yo Ma, violinist Itzhak Perlman, pianist Gabriella Montero and clarinetist Anthony McGill played along to a previously recorded audio tape for the inaugural ceremony.
“Truly, weather just made it impossible,” Florman told The New York Times.
They recorded their performance of John Williams’ “Air and Simple Gifts” at the Marine Barracks Sunday and decided to use it for the broadcast after an outdoor sound check didn’t quite pass muster.
But before you start with the Milli Vanilli comparisons, consider what professional violin makers have to say.
“We’re talking about wood here,” Charles Woolf, director and owner of the Violin Making School of America in Salt Lake City, told ABCNews.com. “The difference is going to be having instruments play in tune and stay in tune.”
Although classical instruments, such as violins and cellos, can be made from other materials, most are made of wood, which expands and contracts along with changes in temperature and humidity.
Freezing cold temperatures, like those recorded on Inauguration Day, could cause the instruments to go out of tune very quickly, he explained.
They can also do some pretty serious damage to the wood and the varnish.
Strings on the violin, cello or piano could have popped. The extreme cold could have even caused an instrument to crack.
Although outdoor symphony concerts and quartet recitals are frequent during the balmy months of summer, they are quite rare in the dead of winter.
“What’s comfortable for a person is typically what works best for instruments,” Woolf said. Most of us like normal humidity and temperatures that hover around 70 degrees, and, said Woolf, wooden instruments do too.
Woolf said that when Yo-Yo Ma performed at the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, he likely performed to a recording as well.
It’s also likely that he didn’t bring along his million-dollar Stradivari cello.
Perlman also owns a Stradivari instrument, and classical music insiders assume it didn’t play for the new president Tuesday.
“My suspicion is they weren’t playing on their best-quality instruments,” Woolf said.
The musicians, who wanted to deliver a performance befitting the moment, said the recording was a last resort.
“It would have been a disaster if we had done it any other way,” Perlman told The New York Times Thursday. “This occasion’s got to be perfect. You can’t have any slip-ups.”
– Ki Mae Heussner
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I’m not a professional musician, but I have played the cello before and enjoy classical music. As I was watching the Inauguration, I was wondering how they were sounding so nice in that cold weather. I also assumed that there was NO way they were using their best instruments. Article makes sense and it was the right call.
Posted by: al | January 23, 2009, 1:28 pm 1:28 pm
I had wondered about the possible effect of the cold on the instruments, and it was made clear on Tuesday morning that Ma wasn’t going to use his valuable cello. If, for good reason, performances like this cannot be live, then perhaps they shouldn’t be scheduled for the Inauguration at all.
On the other hand, I thought Williams did a nice job with his air on Copeland, and I enjoyed listening to the excellent musicians, live or not.
Posted by: Eleonora27 | January 23, 2009, 1:35 pm 1:35 pm
I have played saxophone in freezing temps and it is certainly not fun. Tuning is near impossible, fingers don’t want to work, and your embouchure on a cold mouthpiece in 20 degree weather, whew! Given that the piano was not digital, it would have been out too. So, I thoroughly understand the use of a recording. It was a beautiful performance, live or not!!
Posted by: Sax4ever | January 23, 2009, 1:37 pm 1:37 pm
Absolutely the right call. Critics comparing it to Milli Vanilli forget that MV mimed to OTHERS’ voices. These are all respected and world-renowned musicians who were playing their own recording in extreme conditions.
Posted by: XmasJones | January 23, 2009, 1:42 pm 1:42 pm
Who really cares, it was beautiful music and that is what count, why did we have to know that it was prerecorded?
Is that news?
Posted by: ken | January 23, 2009, 1:43 pm 1:43 pm
“When it just has to be RIGHT…”
Posted by: Jordan | January 23, 2009, 2:04 pm 2:04 pm
I am a band director/music teacher and we talk at length about the tuning of instruments and how outside elements may affect the intonation. This was a great example for me to use in my classroom. As I watched the performance I was doubtful they were playing on their good instruments, but it surprised me how well they played considering the cold. Anyone who has anything negative to say about the recording is just plain ignorant. Besides, if you’re critical about something like that, then you just need to get a life.
Posted by: Jen | January 23, 2009, 2:10 pm 2:10 pm
Much ado about nothing. Everytime someone tries to elevate the taste levels of this country, there’s always someone trying to bring it down. Good for Obama for not trying to appeal to the lowest common denominator and getting Beyonce to sing. Save those popsters for the balls where they belong. This was perfect.
Posted by: Christian | January 23, 2009, 2:11 pm 2:11 pm
No different than the Obama Administration… it’s all about appearances, not reality. It was PERFECT for the occassion.
Posted by: Fiercely_Independent | January 23, 2009, 2:26 pm 2:26 pm
Fiercely_Indepedent– this was not about appearances. It was about a practical problem beyond their control, namely, the temperature. It was not from lack of skill or preparation, as with Miley Cyrus. If they had played live, it would have been horrendously out of tune, and then I’m sure we’d be reading posts by you about couldn’t they find decent musicians, how unprofessional, etc. I have some advice for your blood pressure: accept that Obama is your president for the next 4 years and try to make this country better.
Posted by: regina | January 23, 2009, 2:51 pm 2:51 pm
Give them a break. They would get much more criticism and they would be embarrassed if they really had to play in that weather. It was too cold to get a good sound.
Posted by: George | January 23, 2009, 2:52 pm 2:52 pm
I guess no one on Obama’s team figured that it would be cold in January, huh? Maybe a DIFFERENT form of entertainment that was temperature INDEPENDENT might have been more appropriate?
Posted by: Fiercely_Independent | January 23, 2009, 3:18 pm 3:18 pm
“This occasion’s got to be perfect. You can’t have any slip-ups.”
Yeah…minus the Presidential Oath!
Posted by: margaret | January 23, 2009, 3:26 pm 3:26 pm
Some people are obsessed with finding every conceivable reason to criticize Obama. This was not his call, he had nothing to do with it.
Please, get a life.
Posted by: Eleonora27 | January 23, 2009, 3:36 pm 3:36 pm
Eleonora27 – You said “Some people are obsessed with finding every conceivable reason to criticize Obama. This was not his call, he had nothing to do with it.”
Funny, I’ve been hearing the same thing about YOUR side from the OTHER side for the past 7-8 years… and all went unheeded. Would it surprise you if your pleas went unheeded as well?
As an Independent, I’m tired of hearing BOTH sides, and would LOVE it if both sides went belly up.
Posted by: Fiercely_Independent | January 23, 2009, 3:39 pm 3:39 pm
Who cares. It sounded beautiful and if they had not done it this way, we’d have to listen to everyone b!7*& about how horrible it sounded. Get over yourselves.
Posted by: Amanda | January 23, 2009, 3:40 pm 3:40 pm
1.9 million people and only 6 had to miss a day at work.
Posted by: LongT | January 23, 2009, 3:41 pm 3:41 pm
LongT – Don’t you know how easy it is to find 1.7 million deadbeats in Washington DC? There’re 500+ deadbeats sitting in the Congress alone… if you advertise free money available at one end of the Mall, you’ll easily pack the place!!!
Posted by: Fiercely_Independent | January 23, 2009, 3:47 pm 3:47 pm
Personally, I’m more than just a little surprised to see the press reporting this… they be feeling the pressure of the public dissing them for biased reporting… and shamelessly campaigning for their choice as President…
Posted by: Fiercely_Independent | January 23, 2009, 3:49 pm 3:49 pm
This article was about music. Please take the partisan bickering to Fox News or MSNBC. Whether is was Obama or McCain in the inauguration, the fact remains its January and it get cold here in the mid-Atlantic and northeast and even if they did it live on their frozen ,out of tune instruments, it still would have been a million times better any of you clowns could have done. There is nothing more annoying on these forums than to see these asinine opinions and ridiculous judgements.
Posted by: Terrell | January 23, 2009, 3:58 pm 3:58 pm
If they annoy you so much why do you read the comments section? After all that’s what it’s for, opinions and judgements.
Posted by: Go Away | January 23, 2009, 4:18 pm 4:18 pm
Obama is taking cues from the Chinese on this one. Remember the fake coordinated fireworks at the Olympics? Just the first of many tricks Obama administration can steal from the Red China playbook. More to come…
Posted by: Obamanation | January 23, 2009, 4:32 pm 4:32 pm
Yes, Regina, but this is the administration lauding transparency. So why not just make an announcement before the performance. I wondered about how they were playing so nicely (although I thought the song was dreary, and sounded out of tune, even when it wasn’t).
The idea of having classical music was a good one though, I’m sick of seeing those rappers and others jumping around the stage.
Posted by: Barbara | January 23, 2009, 4:46 pm 4:46 pm
Funny, the United States Marine Corps Band did not have ANY problems with getting tuned up and sounding really good in the cold and they played a lot more music than these poor studio pros! Every clime and place… Semper Fi!
Posted by: Liberal Jihad | January 23, 2009, 4:48 pm 4:48 pm
Why do we have to know about this? Couldn’t we have just listened and be left the thought that they were playing live? Who would that have hurt?
I say the music was fine. It doesn’t matter if it was recorded or not.
Posted by: Linda | January 23, 2009, 5:02 pm 5:02 pm
I was frankly disappointed at this news. If you’re going to have a stringed instrument, then do it live. Otherwise, just play the recording. Lip-syncing is just an emblem of the hypocrisy that we see in most of politics. I’m very disappointed in these ‘famous’ musicians and that they are now tainted by this. Really, a disgrace.
Posted by: disgusted at the hypocrisy | January 23, 2009, 5:04 pm 5:04 pm
Agree
Posted by: Fiercely_Independent | January 23, 2009, 5:16 pm 5:16 pm
they do it for taps at military funerals, so not a big deal
Posted by: alan | January 23, 2009, 5:25 pm 5:25 pm
Who cares?
Posted by: Joe Barone | January 23, 2009, 5:32 pm 5:32 pm
Yep, another stagged event by the Dems. Those performers know, up front, many weeks in advance that this would not be a live show… What if it rained? I was at 2002 Olympics in Salt Lake City; went to metal ceremonies at night–cold 15 to 20 degrees. Rock bands played live for 45 mins each night & with ‘real’ fireworks! I’m sure there was some type of heat up there on the podium. If you can’t do it live, then do something else. Marine band played well & great–no fakes there.
Posted by: Another_trick | January 23, 2009, 5:35 pm 5:35 pm
Regina-
You are apparently not a musician.
The Marine Band had…several ‘oops’ moments, certainly caused by the cold. They made me cringe. The solution to the cold problem was a good one.
Posted by: marching.on | January 23, 2009, 5:35 pm 5:35 pm
I for one was glad it was cold outside. It forced Aretha to wear a coat and cover those giant Aretha boobs.
Posted by: Angie | January 23, 2009, 5:40 pm 5:40 pm
It’s too bad Chief Justice Roberts wasn’t aware of this, he could have saved himself some embarrassment by lip-syncing to a recording instead of botching the oath.
Posted by: Skipmeister | January 23, 2009, 5:57 pm 5:57 pm
Fiercely Independent, my dear, I don’t recall complaining about Bush on any but substantive issues of national import in which he was closely involved. I never cared about what he wore, what he ate, what his children did, what his wife did. Indeed, in my view, any Democrats or anyone else who wasted their time on non-policy issues that didn’t affect Americans in general were cranks who didn’t have enough to do.
However, you ARE wasting your time on such an issue, one that doesn’t involve policy or any decision-making on the part of the President. So, I repeat: please, get a life.
Posted by: Eleonora27 | January 23, 2009, 6:35 pm 6:35 pm
Oh, the scandal!
Posted by: genhrules | January 23, 2009, 6:56 pm 6:56 pm
Where can I download/buy a copy of that piece? Live or synch’ed, it was stunningly beautiful. It’s the same Shaker melody used in the hymn “The Lord of the Dance”. Anyone read the words to that hymn?
Posted by: John | January 23, 2009, 7:12 pm 7:12 pm
I have played the viola for a while now and I did notice that they sounded very good. At first, they had me fooled for about 3 minutes and I enjoyed their performance. Then I remembered that string instruments don’t preform as well in the cold. They would either be an industrial sized heater in front or underneath them (which would be impractical and visible) or they were playing to a prerecording. I have to say though, they did an excellent job at syncing their movements to the music and many people were fooled.
skipmeister made an excellent comment about John Roberts saving the embarrassment and lip sync to a prerecording of the oath.
Update: I just looked at the video again and the bow strokes did not quite match up to the notes.
Posted by: Andrew | January 23, 2009, 7:28 pm 7:28 pm
It does make one think that instrument designers in this day and age might try to build with temperature variances in mind? One sees opportunity in such a challenging environment as this cold venue ;>)
Posted by: Jon | January 24, 2009, 7:46 am 7:46 am