Hilarious key change

Filed in Thoughts on December 18, 2008



When I first heard this last night, I laughed my head off.  The timing is impeccable.  If you want to mistakenly switch keys in a song, perhaps try to do it some place other than the ending.

Take a moment and listen here.

Part of the reason I laughed so much is because it reminded me of something similar I did a few years ago.  I was accompanying a group, and toward the end of the song, they did a long acapella section.  I was reading music, but somehow convinced myself during that section that I was transposing.  It seems strange, but I could not remember the key I was playing in.  So I came in at the end of that section in a key a half step above what they were singing.  You can imagine how that sounded.

It is one thing to mess up because you play poorly.  It is a little scarier when you mess up just because your mind plays a trick on you.  Every performer knows how those things happen.  Be kind to your mind because it can really do a number on you.

I have found that many mistakes have nothing to do with playing itself.  Often, they are stupid mind tricks or the A/C blowing music off the piano or any number of other unexpected things.  Once while in college on a tour, I was playing on the stage when the bench worked itself too close to the edge.  All of a sudden, I felt the bench start to collapse on me.  I stood up quickly and listened to it crash down a set of stairs.  You can imagine how that broke up the church.  We laughed for five minutes or so and then started up again.



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Sherrie Cook
12/19/2008 12:57:13 PM

That is too funny. The only thing to do is laugh at yourself.

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Leeanne Graf
12/19/2008 7:17:36 PM

Wow!!! Our church does the Hallelujah Chorus every year as part of our Christmas program and I think if I made such an obvious mistake like that I'd just crawl under the piano and hide! It is truly funny but I feel for the accompianist.

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Greg Howlett
12/20/2008 12:39:34 AM

I should say I have no idea where this was performed and who the performers were. I certainly did not mean to make fun. It was mostly funny to me because it reminded me of things that have happened to me.

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