Rhett Price vs. the Trinidad & Tobago music thief!

Hi folks!

Once again, it has been quite a while since my last post on this blog site. I usually post most of my articles on music, music criticism, and the like on Facebook these days. This particular article was a bit too long for that forum! Here's the semi-short explanation on what you're about to read below:

A few weeks ago, friend/colleague/awesome musician David France contacted me about a friend of his, Rhett Price. Rhett performs violin arrangements of popular tunes, and they are *fantastic*- creative, stylish, and with lots of groove. He's built up quite a following over the last few years, and his YouTube vids have hundreds of thousands of views.

Well, it turns out that a hack in Trinidad and Tobago has been "performing" (at events, clubs, weddings, and more) by playing Rhett's tracks through a sound system, and then bowing along Milli Vanilli Style! This dude from T&T has also built up his own following (using Rhett's work) and even performed for his president last year. He charges $300 for a 15-minute appearance, and $1000 for weddings, so he's earning real bread of off someone else's work.

The T&T guy is almost comical- he's a mediocre violinist, and his fingers/bowings/etc are often not in sync with the track he is doing the Milli Vanilli under. In some videos, you can hear his own ambient sound, and it's not good.

So, Rhett needed some folks to qualify and quantify, in detail, that this guy from T&T was definitively using Rhett's music, and I'm the guy for that job :) In typical Vince fashion, I crafted a detailed, lengthy, specific, and brutal article, which you'll see below in just a moment.

A reporter from the Boston Globe set up an interview with both Rhett and the T&T guy, and the T&T guy sorta fessed up to it, but even his fessing up had some qualifiers.

Anyways, the article is on the front page of today's Boston Globe! Alas, the quote they use from a musicologist says that the T&T guy is using Rhett's work "with 95% certainty," and then they say that I agree, and use a quote from early in my article which basically explains that I am going to break down my analysis so that laypeople know what to look and listen for. As you'll read below, that's a pretty limp statement compared to the substance of my article, which states the T&T guy is 100% plagiarizing Rhett's work.

For reference, as well as for your enjoyment, here's a link to Rhett's version of "Sorry":
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qVC0ry89uxs

...and Rhett's rendition of Adele's "Hello":
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P2NjEGPTisM

...and Rhett's "Lean On":
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X6BUu9JEg1w

I am not going to give the music thief from T&T any additional attention or views, so I won't post any links here.

Here's the full article: enjoy!
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I was recently asked to take a listen to several videos of two separate violinists, and was asked to note any similarities. Not only have I been in the world of orchestral conducting for many years, but I have also been equally active in the popular music world as well; in addition, I'm also known in the industry for my ears. In the case of these videos, however, my expertise is really not necessary, as the violin player from Trinidad and Tobago (referred to now as T&T) is clearly, obviously, and incontrovertibly using the YouTube recordings of Rhett Price in his performances.

The video where this is easiest for laypeople to see features Adele's "Hello." There are dozens of problems and inconsistencies in the short, 30-second video from T&T, but I will focus on the most obvious:

1) Two violins. At various points throughout this (and other) videos, it's clear that there is a louder, pre-recorded track, and that T&T is playing underneath the track at a softer volume. Rhett's violin sound at 0:03 of the T&T video is loud, full, and with reverb (echo.) There are several moments where the T&T violinist makes errors, adds riffs, or otherwise gets confused, in which case we hear a very different, softer, weaker sound with no echo.

a) 0:11-0:12 seconds of Rhett's Clip correspond to the words "it's me." Notice that the final note (a Bb) is long, without any riffs. Compare this with 0:08 of the T&T video. You see the T&T violinist move his fingers quickly, and we hear additional notes beyond the long Bb mentioned above. The sound the T&T violinist makes here is completely different.

b) at 0:20-0:21 of Rhett's video corresponds to the words "to go over." On the word "Over," he sustains the note C, followed by a quick falloff (Bb to Ab.) At the same place in the T&T video, 0:16-0:17, the violin player flutters his fingers after Rhett's initial falloff, and we hear a 2nd, much-fainter Bb to Ab- again highlighting that we are hearing two different violins in this clip.

c) 0:24 of the T&T video is the clearest moment that we are hearing two different violins. As Rhett's track is playing, the T&T violin player is bowing and fingering several different notes, which we clearly hear underneath Rhett's track.
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2) Exact duplication. In comparing the audio between several of Rhett's videos and the T&T violin player, it was immediately clear that Rhett's work was being used in both cases. *Every* nuance that Rhett demonstrates in his videos- rhythm, riffs, volume, vibrato, bowing/articulation, and even intonation mistakes, are 100% exactly duplicated in the T&T videos. This is humanly impossible with most music lasting longer than 10 seconds, much less over minutes of several videos. In fact, given the technical deficiencies shown by the T&T violinist, he would not be able to play any phrase twice in a row without several distinct discrepancies between them. Here are a few specific things to listen for in the Adele videos:

a) Going back to 0:10 of Rhett's video, on the word "it's," the main note is Bb, but he slips in a subtle, fast C right before. Over the entire "it's me," he plays C-Bb C-Bb-Ab Bb (with dashes linking fast notes together.) At 0:06 of the T&T video, we hear the exact same notes, with the exact same timing, with the exact same tone and intonation (along with the different intonation of the T&T violinist underneath. The T&T's fingerings and bowings also don't match the sound- that will be discussed later.)

b) 0:24 of Rhett's video corresponds to the word "everything." On the last syllable of this word, he sustains a Bb, riffing up to a C at the last moment. At 0:19 of the T&T video, we hear the exact same rhythm, timing, and styling (the moments before 0:19 are harder to hear, as the T&T violinist is bowing and fingering different things, obscuring the sound. The final 'syllable' is very distinct.)

c) The instrumental backup track. Even the accompanying piano is exactly the same in both tracks, including tone and chord discrepancies. If you listen to the original Adele song, you'll notice the piano sound is very different from Rhett's video, but that the piano sound of the T&T video is exactly the same as Rhett's version. There are not only thousands of different synthesized piano patches to choose from, but there are exponentially more possibilities in mixing, mastering, and more.

Further, the specific inconsistencies from Adele's original are also exactly the same. Most noticeably, the first two piano chords in both violin videos are f minor and Ab major. However, the 2nd chord in Adele's original is actually Ab major *with an Eb in the bass* or an Ab major 6/4 chord in classical terminology. Also, the exact voicing of all of the piano chords is exactly the same in both violin videos, even when markedly different from Adele's original. For the sharp ears out there, you can even hear that the top notes of the 3rd and 4th chords (a G and F respectively) are louder and stick out a bit; this is the case in both videos. The piano backing is exactly the same, so thus the T&T violinist should be able to state where he got his backing track from, or how he recorded it, as it is not from Adele's original, and (after scouring dozens of videos on YouTube) it's not available on YouTube, either!

3) Bowings, fingerings, and vibrato that don't match the music. Bad lip syncers are easy for laypeople to spot, as we all deal with spoken language our entire lives. It's much harder for non-musicians to spot 'finger syncers', as the specific, nuanced motions of an instrumentalist are not part of their everyday life. To musicians (especially violinists) the hundreds of discrepancies are embarrassing and laughable, but I'll only point out a handful of the most obvious.

a) at 0:04-0:05 of the T&T video, and the end of the word "Hello," you see the violinist 'change' his bow (to a downbow) during the end of the last note, and then keeps bowing after the note has stopped sounding. (For layfolk, when the right hand moves towards the violin, that's an upbow; away is a downbow.) Anytime a solo string player changes a bow like this, you will hear the note repeat. Also, if the note is no longer sounding, but the player is still moving the bow, it's clear the sound is not them- it's the same as when lip-syncers are moving their mouth when the sound has stopped.

b) Referring back to 2a above, when Rhett plays C-Bb on the word "it's": at 0:06 of the video, we hear the two different notes, *but the violinist does not move his fingers*. It is impossible to play those two notes on the violin without moving your left hand- this example is particularly embarrassing.

c) Vibrato. At 0:19 of Rhett's video, he plays a long Ab on the word "meet." For layfolk: you'll notice here (and on many long notes throughout his video) he 'wobbles' his hand while keeping his fingers in the same place- this creates the vibrato sound that we are all accustomed to hearing in both voices and instrument alike. If you listen carefully to that note, you'll hear a fast wobbling of the pitch, which is vibrato caused directly by the motion of his hand. At 0:14 of the T&T video, we hear the exact same speed/tone/intonation of vibrato on that note (which fits into category 2 above) but the T&T violinist's hand *is not moving at all.* It is impossible to produce the sound heard at 0:14 without moving the hand- another embarrassing example of bad finger-syncing. (Throughout all of the T&T videos I watched, there are dozens of examples where we hear vibrato, but the T&T violinist's hand is not moving...this is probably the easiest way to demonstrate that he is playing underneath a pre-recorded violin track.)

d) At 0:19 to the end of the T&T video, we see numerous examples of finger movement and bow movement that do not match up at all with the track we are hearing. This reaches its worst point around 0:24, where the T&T violin player is completely lost versus the audio track.
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I was also sent videos of Major Lazer's "Lean On" and Justin Bieber's "Sorry," again by Rhett Price and the T&T violinist. At 3:26 in length, there are hundreds upon hundreds of items from the three categories I used above; enough to fill a tome. As this is a laughably open-and-shut case, I will only point out a few items.

1) Exact duplication. Again, every nuance, every articulation, every rhythm, every riff, and every intonation choice from is *exactly* duplicated in the T&T video.

Start by listening to the opening of Rhett's "Lean On," which is filled with slides, cool attacks, and many nuances. The T&T video duplicates them with 100% perfection, even when the T&T violinist's fingers aren't moving in a way to make those sounds (which will be discussed below.)

Getting a bit more specific (but starting simply) if you listen to the Major Lazer original, on the word "ago" (from "do you recall not long ago") she sings 3 notes: G-Bb-G. Rhett, however, just plays two: G-Bb. It's a unique choice, and a departure from the original- why would the T&T violinist make the same choice?

But, as we already know, it's not the T&T violin at all. We'll get more specific. On the following line, "we would walk on the sidewalk," Rhett does a long, slow slide into the word "we," a fast slide on the word "on," and (most interestingly) makes the first 'syllable' of "side-walk" super short. The 2nd and 3rd of these choices are very different from the Major Lazer original, but not only duplicated in the T&T video, but duplicated *exactly*; an audio mirror-image. As mentioned above, given the deficiencies in the technique of the T&T violin player, he will be physically incapable of exactly duplicating *just this first, 5-second phrase* of music exactly and successfully.

I'll even go one level further in specificity: In the opening line, on the word "recall," Rhett descends from a Bb to a G at the end of the word. On the word "we," he does the long, slow slide up to a G as mentioned above. This one is for the ear sharks out there, but his intonation on that first G is *lower* (by microtones) than the G he slides up to. This tiny intonation flaw is *exactly* duplicated in the T&T video, as is *every* other sound made by Rhett in his YouTube video. Every element throughout the T&T video can be broken down with this specificity; the previous paragraphs only deal with 5 seconds of music.

2) Bowings, fingerings, and vibrato that don't match the music. As mentioned above, there are hundreds of problems and discrepancies with what the T&T violinist is playing versus what we actually hear. I'll point out a few glaring examples:

a) 0:04-0:06 of the T&T video coincide with the slides referenced above. You'll notice that anytime Rhett does a stylish slide (which you can see executed in Rhett's YouTube videos) the T&T violinist does a finger flip (like in 1a from the Adele example above.) This produces a distinctly different sound, and not the full slide that we hear in the audio. You'll see dozens of examples like this throughout.

b) There are hundreds of bowing discrepancies throughout the T&T video (where the violinist's bow strokes do not match the music at all, or don't match the sound we hear.) I'll point out a few obvious ones:

0:41 at the beginning of the chorus, on the 3rd note (G) the violin starts the upbow *before* we hear the note change.

0:41 more subtle: When Rhett plays the first four, 3-note cells of this chorus (ending on the pitches G, D, G, and D respectively) he finishes the first two with an upbow, and the last two with a downbow. There is a subtle, but distinct difference in the tone of an upbow note versus a downbow note. Not only does the T&T violinist get his bowings crossed up on the third cell, he finishes the 4th cell with an upbow; the sound we hear does *not* match the bowing he just did.

0:50 throughout the chorus, the T&T violinist adds extra bows that we do not hear in the sound.

1:58 Hilariously, the T&T violinist takes a bow stroke before the Bieber track begins, somehow making no sound.

2:07 Here, we hear a new violin articulation. If you watch Rhett's "Sorry" video from 0:09, you'll hear how short and edgy most of the fast notes are here. If you look at his technique, you'll see two things: first, his bow is bouncing off of the strings- that gives the notes the short, staccato sound that you hear. Second, you'll see that his right hand is very close to the violin, and he is using the very bottom of the bow to play these notes, and that the bow itself is closer to the bridge (the light-colored, thin piece of wood on the left side of his bow) and further away from the fingerboard (the long black piece of wood, underneath the strings, where his left hand plays)- that gives the slight edginess/scratchiness to the sound that you hear. In contrast, the T&T violinist saws away at the middle of the bow, using longer bow strokes, and NO bounce. It is *impossible* to make the sound you hear with the bow strokes that the T&T violinist is using (and, as we already know, the sound is a perfect carbon copy of Rhett's version.)

2:27 The T&T violinist gets his bowing mixed up, and is completely out of sync with the audio here.

2:35 We hear extra notes and riffs in the audio that the T&T player does not even finger here.

2:47 This is a more sophisticated one, but one that is easy for layfolk to see and hear once they know what to look and listen for. First, start by watching and listening to Rhett's "Sorry" video, from 0:48 to 0:53. This is the beginning of the chorus, "Is it too late now to say sorry." If you listen closely, you'll hear that the two notes of the words "to say (C and Eb) and the two notes of the last syllable of "Sorry" (G and F) are smoothly connected, with no gap or break in between. For the layfolk, we call this a slur, just as you'd slur words or syllables together. From a singing standpoint, it happens when you sing two different notes without changing the syllable; in Bieber's case, he slurs the last syllable of "Sorry" (G to F again.) For string players, you slur by moving your fingers without changing the bow; in Rhett's case, you see him do a big upbow on both examples mentioned above, connecting both pairs of notes together, though the slur on "sorry" is far more noticable than on "to say."

Now go back to 2:47 of the T&T video. In both cases, he changes bows on each of those notes. It's highly improbable to make the sound you hear on "to say" while changing bows (and frankly impossible with the technique the T&T violinist displays) and *completely* impossible to make the sound you hear on "sorry." String players will notice numerous sound/bowing discrepancies like this, but even layfolk can catch the ones as obvious as this.
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Lastly, there is an 8-second video of the T&T violinist that I found on my own, which he posted on Facebook on March 5th, 2017. The excerpt we hear features the notes Gb, Ab, Bb, D, and F...however, not only are his fingers in the wrong place several times, but his hand does absolutely no vibrato, even though we hear lots of it in the audio.
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In summary, there is absolutely zero doubt that the violinist from T&T is using the recorded tracks of Rhett Price in his own performances. While the above examples are a lengthy, detailed explanation of why this is the case, they barely scratch the surface of the evidence found in the various videos. The descriptions above are also, in my mind, largely unnecessary- just the fact that the audio from the T&T videos is a perfect duplication (flaws and all) of Rhett's work is evidence enough. Further, the technique demonstrated by the T&T violinist shows that he is technically incapable of producing the vast array of sounds, colors, and expressions we hear in the videos. Any individual who claims that the T&T violinist is not using Rhett's audio tracks is clearly, knowingly, and blatantly lying.

To anyone who still might claim otherwise, two short and simple challenges would suffice:

1) Where did the T&T violinist get his instrumental backing track for Adele's "Hello"?

2) Ask the violinist to play just the first 5 seconds of Major Lazer's "Lean On," and play it exactly as he does in his facebook video. Again, if he claims that it is him playing, and that he was able to exactly duplicate more than 3 minutes of Rhett's work, 5 seconds should be no problem. In short, even if given time to prepare, there is no way he could play just those 5 seconds, on demand, *exactly* as Rhett does in his videos...he simply does not have the technique to do so.

For a separate (though frankly a cruel and unnecessary) challenge, ask him just to successfully play the chorus of "Lean On" (starting with "blow a kiss, fire a gun") complete with all of the double-stops. I find it highly improbable that the T&T violinist could get through it without 1) dropping most of the double-stops, or 2) playing wildly out of tune.

Again- anyone with just light training in music, or any layperson with a small amount of attention to detail, will know that the T&T violinist is using Rhett's recordings. There simply is no serious debating of this matter. That said, I wish both musicians the best of luck! I'm very happy to have learned of Rhett's artistry, look forward to hearing more of his work in the future, and hope that he is fairly compensated by those that use his work. I also wish the violinist from Trinidad and Tobago luck in his violin endeavors, and I am glad that he is bringing the joy of music to people in his community, but it is imperative and non-negotiable that he does his own work in the future, fairly compensates those whose work he uses, and that he immediately ceases finger-syncing behind someone else's recordings.