I enjoy the Mahler symphonies, but Beethoven so much more well-rounded.

I can't listen to a Mahler piano sonata.

Mahler didn't write piano sonatas.

Mahler didn't write piano sonatas.

Exactly.

So do you have any hot takes about classical music?

Hmm.

Uhhm.

Beethoven is overrated.

That's not.

No, I can't say that, though.

Viola is great.

Violin’s the hardest, like, I think all the instruments are hard, but I'd say, like, it's easier to get notes from them than a violin.

String quartets are overrated.

String quartets are overrated.

That is spicy.

There’s just, like, so much written for them.

And I get it if it’s like a couple pieces, but like, Beethoven wrote 30-something.

Do I sense some jealousy?

Ph yeah.

You don't see, like, brass quintets until way later on.

We rolling on audio?

Did it get cold?

Oh, it was cold while we were gone.

It was out of tune.

So we've got some rapid fire questions now.

Okay.

Vinyl or digital?

Digital.

Oh, digital, I’d say.

Digital.

I’ve never owned a vinyl.

What about clapping between movements?

No.

Not a fan.

If it's just an accident, I think it's okay.

If, like, I'm watching a concert and people are doing it, I'm going to do it too, because then it doesn't make me look like I'm rude.

Tenor clef or bass clef?

Bass clef.

I've never had to.

I've heard many trombonists complain about that, though.

Do you have any strange clefs you have to play?

Well, alto is strange.

Clef.

If you could redesign the instrument, what is one thing that you would want to change about the violin?

Ummm.

This is a hard question.

I don't know, it's hard question.

What my teacher always says it's, like, designed for humans to play.

I don't mind it the way it is.

It's really hard to carry around, like I'm five-one and everybody, whenever I'm, like, carrying my cello around, somebody is asking me, do I have a dead body in my instrument?

I'm like, no, like it's my cello.

Universal spit valve.

I have to look through all of these slides to find where my spit is at.

I wish we just had a spit valve like those trumpets do.

Just one button?

One button that I could push and it would all come out.

One can dream.

So now we're going to do Composer March Madness.

I'll give you two names, and then we'll put the winner up against the next name.

And we’ll see who's the champion.

So first is a tough one.

Mozart or Beethoven?

Beethoven.

Okay.

Beethoven or Bruckner?

Beethoven.

Beethoven or Handel?

Beethoven.

Strauss?

Beethoven.

Haydn?

Beethoven.

I still... Beethoven.

Mozart or Beethoven?

Mozart.

Okay.

Mozart or Bruckner?

Mozart.

Mozart or Strauss?

Mozart.

Haydn?

Mozart.

Debussy?

Mozart.

I really like Mozart.

I recently played a lot of Mozart.

Oh, okay.

Handel or Strauss?

Handel.

Handel or Haydn?

Haydn.

Haydn or Bach?

That's really hard.

I'm sorry Bach.

Haydn.

Elgar?

Beethoven.

Saint-Sëns?

Beethoven.

Vivaldi?

Beethoven.

Shostakovich or John Williams?

What?!

Shostakovich.

So our grand champion is Dvo ák.

So we have a grand champion of Camille Saint-Sëns.

Mendelssohn is the ultimate champion?

I guess so.

So Dvo ák is your grand champion?

Yeah, but if you said Dvo ák or Beethoven I think I would have said Beethoven.

Beethoven, Beethoven, Beethoven, Beethoven, Beethoven, Beethoven, Beethoven.

Okay.

You heard it here folks.

Yay, I did it!

Thank you.