Bohemian Rhapsody percussion cover - Queen Freddie Mercury - Denton HS

-----Disclaimer. Please READ!!!!!-----
First you might want to turn your Bass down a bit on your speakers, it got boomy in the auditorium. Second, I know I'm not Freddie Mercury (nobody is or ever will be) so please refrain from flaming this vid with "that singer SUX!!! What a n00b! I bET fredde Mercury is roling in his grave! Epic Phail!!!!1!!1!!1!" I was the one who could hit his high notes in a chest voice without going into falsetto (because I am a tiny man) so that's the part I sang. I did my best, and tried not to overdo it because I wanted the focus to be on the instrumental parts and the kids as much as possible. Thank you for your time.
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This piece was recorded March 2008 at Denton High School in Denton, TX, while I was the percussion instructor there.

When I asked my students what's the one piece they would love to play, they all shouted "Bohemian Rhapsody!". At first I resisted, because I had heard so many instrumental arrangements before, and even though some were very good, like when Carolina Crown did it, they just never had the magic of the original.

Freddie Mercury's overdubbed amazing voice is what that song is all about, so I thought about how I could recreate that. I had also heard some full choir versions, but the harmonies are so dense and complex, that having that many people on each part just made it impossible to keep in tune it seemed. I finally decided on 5 voices (6 in the middle) each on a microphone, and nobody singing in unison except for the jam in the middle.

Even with this, it was incredibly hard to transcribe the vocals perfectly, let alone try to sing them in tune. The more I delved into it, the more I started to think Freddie must have written this stuff out to have it orchestrated so well, but who knows. I'm sure a professional barbershop group could have done better, but we did alright in the end I think, after some long and difficult rehearsals.

The rest of the piece transferred perfectly to mallet instruments, and I had one of my percussion students play the guitar part as well. I don't know of anyone else in the world who's actually tried to recreate the "studio" version of this song, with all of the vocal overdubs and the band parts along with it, so I was excited to do something unique like this, and everyone had a complete blast playing it.

Brady Beavers -(percussion)
Christina Burtch -(marimba)
Joanna Ceja -(marimba & vocals in the middle)
Charles Crouch -(marimba)
Bailey Gardner -(bass marimba)
Cody Goble -(vibes)
Will Huslig -(electric guitar)
Bobby Jacobs -(drumset)
Ryan Klinck -(marimba)
Manuel Ortiz -(vibes)
C.J. Porras -(xylo and crotales)
Will Reedy -(vibes)
Holly Robinson -(chimes)
David Ross -(vibes)
Charlie Tucker -(bass marimba)
Zachary Winrow -(bells)
Brandon Arthur -(electric bass)
Hee-Jun Kim -(electric piano)

Jesse Woolery -(Asst. Band Director - vocals)
Boomer West -(DHS choir - vocals)
Michael Pricer -(Asst. Choir Director - vocals)
Sid Arlikatti -(DHS Choir - vocals)
Sean Redman -(vocals)

Category:

Music

Tags:

• Bohemian
• Rhapsody
• Queen
• Freddie
• Mercury
• Percussion
• Denton
• High
• School
• DHS
• Cover
• Arrangement
• Marimba
• Texas
• Rock
• Vocal
• Choir
• Choral
• Ensemble
• Guitar
• Drumset
• Sean
• Redman

[lxSPOONERxl]

it was pretty sweet, but the singer that felt the need to conduct and cue the ensemble...i bet hes one cocky SOB

[SeanUNT]

@lxSPOONERxl I was that singer, but I was actually the percussion director at the time as well. I arranged the piece and taught it to them, and had to direct the tempo changes. I can see how you might think that if you thought I was just a part of the ensemble though.

[TheRealSefron]

@konguawesome lol look in the description i wasn't being serious. These guys are beast.

[SeanUNT]

@TheRealSefron Haha, yeah I checked him already. I just know how trollers and idiots type these days when I typed that, so I exaggerated it just a bit and knew somebody would use it for fun. My favorite part is of course the exclamations turning into 1s back and forth. You can even spot a covert dummy when that happens.

Oh, and thanks for the compliment! Glad you liked it.

[Ambermatthews1824]

SPECTACULAR! No one is Freddie, no one could be, I think you did a wonderful job!

[chrisnoberto]

=D mto loko perfeito KKK ri muito com o bata cabeça 4:00

[girlybubbleable]

AMAZING!!!!! -3

[Bchew1227]

would any of the marimba players mind sending the music to me?? doesnt matter high or low but preferable lower marimba.

this is great btw =]

[mariokris22]

i am always looking forward to performin' this song with a group of choir and combining it with band. you did a great job in arranging it!

[ah524603]

Good Video !

[emtem059968]

LOVE IT! The guy playing marimba got really into the song, and I had a Wayne's World flashbook. That's a real ensamble!

[Fatalyze666]

more great work from you guys :) i enjoyed how you told everyone to not flame the vid because "youre not Freddie Mercury" but you still did an amazing job with your vocals! XD

[StarZapZee]

That's so cool! You guys did a great job!!! Sure you aren't Freddie but you did a pretty good job! Well done!

[evhead116]

omg 5 octave marimba

[QueensJack]

You all did Great!!! You did the song and the late singer of Queen Justice as well.