Hello guys! Welcome to another episode of TwoSet Violin!
This video is actually quite special to us.
Might be very embarrassing to us as well.
N o t p r o d i g y a l e r t !
Yeah, that's right.
We're gonna be reviewing our videos of us...
when we were small playing the violin.
It's gonna be like one of those prodigy progress videos,
except it will just prove that we were never prodigies.
Life is great.
We had to dig out from the archives, you know.
- We had to like call our parents and be like… - Yeah.
- Unleash the safe, the vault of like the ancient VC- - "Hey..." Yeah!
- It’s like the big… - Like whatever those recording things were, right?
In case you guys are born like… from 2000 onwards.
I don't even know what it's called anymore.
- It's like a big recording camera. - Yeah.
- Yeah. - And it's just... It's this big.
Yeah.
Fortunately…
or unfortunately,
- our parents have kept recordings of it since we were young. - Yeah.
So…
we're gonna look at it.
Oh, by the way,
we're planning to do the Sibelius Concerto on...
So…
Put it in your calendars!
Get a notification going.
And we'll see you guys there.
All right, guys! The very first one!
…in my pajamas, I think.
- Yeah…! - Oh my god!
- Dude… You are like- - In my pajamas!
How old are you?
I don't know.
- This was like beyond back, yeah. - New Zealand.
Far far from sheep land.
- Yo… you look like a sheep. - Alright, guys.
Yeah, let's go.
(Off-screen) Here, you do the filming.
(Off-screen) Come and film.
(Off-screen) Film him.
(Off-screen) Focus on him.
I mean, you're using quite a lot of bow.
It’s a very solid sound, close to the bridge.
And I’m moving a lot!
Bro, so confident.
What happened?
That was where the Yang swag was.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
The Yang swag.
…when I once had it.
Yeah.
Then I got bullied at school and lost everything.
Oh! The trill! Oh!
Dude, what piece was that?
- Uh… I remember. - Do you remember that?
*sings the melody*
I remember I played it a lot.
In fact, I have one more here
where I think I played it in concert.
Sounds better.
Much better.
But you lost your swag.
- Yeah, I know! I was too nervous probably. - Yeah.
No, it's 'cause I dressed up like that.
Yeah.
But the tone and phrasing are a lot more even.
All right. Time skip.
Once upon a time, I did play piano.
Let's just listen. I don't wanna say too much.
- Oh, dynamics! Oh! - Whoa! Whoa!
Eddy: Ha ha ha ha ha…!
Ha ha ha! Just walked offstage!
- That was impressive. - Wow…
I forget I could play piano like that.
Yeah.
Like, you wouldn’t be able to do that now.
No way!
Okay, here's another one.
Can I just say…
Dude, you're rocking the vest!
- Yeah! - That was your thing, right?
You were always wearing a vest, dude.
I always wore a vest!
Bro, can you bring that look back?
Next concert I do, I'm gonna wear a vest.
Whoa, upbow spiccatos.
You had the…
- That thing. - Yeah.
I forgot my bow hold was like that!
- Your bow hold looked more like Heifetz back then. - Yeah, Russian, and kinda like just…
Yeah…
Damn!
Dude!
Oh my god! Double stops?
Dude…
How old was that?
I think I was like…
9 or 10.
Editor-san, just…
for people's context, right?
You were 10, right?
I think so, yeah.
Can you now insert Chloe Chua at 10?
- Yeah! - Eddy: Like Paganiniana!
Just so the world knows…
- Yeah, it's... - when we meet these people,
we’re... like, yeah.
- It's just- Oh my god. - It’s a legitimate difference.
Holy moly.
All right, let's go with when I'm a bit older.
Ugh!
HELP!
I screwed up!
That's so relatable though, like…
every violinist has screwed that first chord up before.
Oh, so painful!
Ooh…
Third position!
Oh!
Vibrato!
Ugh, man…
But your tone’s improved a lot.
- Yeah, I know. But still- - But it's just Bach is…
Bach is a lot harder.
The chords and the tone control required is not quite there.
Yeah, yeah.
I think I was like 13, 14?
Yeah.
I mean, to be honest,
- my Bach at that age probably sounded equally dodgy. - Bro... Put Chloe Chua’s Paganiniana...
- Actually, just put that difference. - Yeah!
I was one year older than Chole Chua then.
- Should I tell them? - What?
…that I got Chole Chua’s autograph?
- Oh yeah. - Did I get one as well?
No!
I want one!
When we made that video,
I actually secretly asked Chloe Chua to give me an autograph.
Yeah, now I want one as well!
That's right.
Actually, I'm gonna get it.
“To TwoSet Violin,”
“Continue to make more I N T E R E S T I N G videos.”
Her handwriting is neater than mine.
Her autograph's better than ours.
It's like the difference between
her violin playing and our violin playing, so it’s…
It's like a prodigy autograph.
Yeah, yeah.
All right!
Couple more!
Oh bro…!
Oh, concertmaster!
Why does your deskie look so much older than you?
I don't know.
Is that your brother!?
I think so.
- Ha ha ha! - OHH!!
Ha ha ha ha ha!
Yo…!
The Yang duo!
All right, that’s- nah, nah.
Okay, last one.
- That’s sick! - That was a big glimpse of my orchestra career starting.
Oh!
Paganini!
Even bow.
Well, pretty even.
How old were you here? Like 19?
I reckon 15, to be honest.
Oh, I’m rushing.
Whoa, calm down, bro!
Nice!
Oh no, here we go.
UGH!!
Ugh…!
No!
That was impressive!
That bit there was pretty impressive.
So that's it.
Paganini 16 when I was 15, 16 years old!
- Noice! - Ah!
Okay, to be honest, I'm quite impressed with myself.
- That's enough of my youth. - All right, my turn.
Aw!
Look at you tuning!
Bro, I was so chubby back then!
And that, like, fashion sense is like my dad’s.
- Yeah! - ...dressed like that.
That's my sister, too.
Free accompanist.
Oh yeah, ha ha ha…!
- Dude, I’ve got like vibrato and stuff. - Damn!
- Man, that's a solid start! - And my bow is smooth!
Yeah!
And you kept the bow in the beginning the whole time like…
“Here we go. BANG!”
Damn… I think I was like 9 here?
That's impressive.
- Dude! - Solid sound as well!
Yeah!
I mean the recording is a bit dodgy.
I'm impressed that
I had like some interesting musical ideas already.
- Yeah. - Damn.
I feel like I was more like, musically ballsy back then.
- Yeah. - You know what I mean?
Yup.
Oh! What's this!?
Oh, this is another one!
Oh, I remember this! Wieniawski Légende!
Yeah!
I was in grade 7 when I played this. 6 or 7.
Nice!
That was 11 or 12.
I was really proud of this piece.
Dude, the audio quality is so bad.
I remember I played this,
and my primary school asked me to record it
to put it on the school album.
- Oh, that’s so good! - Just me by mys-
- me and the pianist. - Wow…!
- That's epic! - Yeah.
Is this Kabalevsky?
Yeah!
Dude, I look so nervous!
Look at my face.
So tense!
- It’s the same violin I had the whole time. - I know.
You had it the whole-
Two tuning pegs.
Yeah.
Damn...
My pinkie is so tense.
- Your left hand. - My left hand. Yeah.
Oh!
HA HA HA!
WHOA!!
- You can tell- - WHOA!
You can tell you're like…
“Here we go!”
“GO! GO!”
The panic and like "Go go!"
But you held it.
Bro…
- That was in tune! - Yeah.
I mean, I used to play with so much more tension.
I think my technique is a lot better now,
but there's a certain like…
Confidence.
- res- Yeah, like a respect for my past self. - You just kinda go for it.
Yeah.
Damn.
- This kid used to practice. - Yeah.
Oh!
Faked that! That was so fake!
The drrrrr!
Eddy: Yeah!
Can I hear that again?
HA HA HA HA HA HA!
15 notes per second!
I already know, back then I was thinking…
“No amount of slow practice is gonna make me learn this,”
“so let's just fake it.”
“Save the time.”
“Keep going.”
Nice!
Bro, I sounded better then.
Nice bow! Look at the full bows.
- I peaked, bro. - Peaked.
I peaked!
Yeah, we both peaked.
How old was I? Like 15? 16?
15, 16.
Oh wait, this bit was really hard.
(both) OH!
It’s Saint-Saëns 3rd movement, right?
- Yeah. - I think so, yeah.
And this was me in orchestra.
And I got sitting number two.
I never made it to the concertmaster.
Ha ha ha ha!
- Dude… - Damn…
Back in the days!
Oh…
How would you rate your own playing?
I think I had a lot of potential.
I don't know what happened.
Yup, same.
I feel like…
Honestly speaking,
I had a very intuitive sense of musicality.
- For me, at least. - Yeah.
During uni though,
I hit a technical roadblock…
Mm…
…where I couldn't get past it.
Ironically, now I think I've gotten past [it],
but…
we're making YouTube videos.
I know! It’s like…
This is what happens when you lose potential.
You come onto YouTube.
Welcome guys [to] another episode of the Two…
failures.
Man, I don't know how I feel like. It's like-
For me, it's kinda like…
I'm more impressed with my playing.
Yeah.
Some parts. And some I'm a little...
But then it's just like…
You know, I'm just...
"See yourself with Chloe Chua."
But!
We played pretty well.
Good tone, interesting technique…
There's a certain…
- innocence/confidence that you have - Yeah.
- when you're younger. - It's kinda like-
- You don't over think playing the instrument. - It's a bit more just like “Just do it.”
You don't really…
- like you said, think too much about all the details. - Yeah.
I kinda miss that actually.
Do you remember the Mendelssohn that we did? The quartet?
Oh yeah!
- Should we listen to that? Or that's too much? - Yeah, okay.
We can listen to a bit of it.
All right, are you ready?
- OH…! - OH…! Remember this?!!
OW…!
- This is like 20, 21? 22? - Yeah.
Shaky bow. He he!
So scary.
- You can tell I've lost that confidence in my playing. - Mm.
- You can tell, right? There’s hesitation. - There's a bit more-
There's a lot of hesitation just…
It's a bit more like… It's rather than…
- just going for it. - Yeah.
Something happened in uni, I think, honestly.
Because my technique's better,
but my phrasing is less confident.
Yes.
I was most impressed by my Saint-Saëns.
- I wish I had the recording of my Prokofiev Violin Concerto. - That’s true.
I couldn't find it.
- That’s true. - I'm still trying to find it.
There's a DVD of me playing the whole concerto.
I won this competition with it.
And I got into finals of another big competition.
Let me see if I can find my Barber.
I think I played well for my Barber.
Oh, someone on Reddit is like…
Oh, I had a Tchaikovsky recording?
No, that- I'm not proud of that recording!
I'm not proud of my Corda Spiritus.
- Oh, it’s when you played on a Degani. - Degani!
That's why you can tell.
- It sounds better. - I can tell straight away.
I was borrowing a better violin.
This sounds better.
Dude, this is me?
Yeah.
A bit slow. I’m dragging.
Come on, come on, come on. Faster.
- Too slow, bro. Too slow. - Really slow.
Nah, I’m not proud of my that… Tchaikovsky.
- But I think my Barber was good. - Let's see it.
Except I remember I screwed up the first note.
I remember I screwed up the first note!
‘Cause I was so nervous, I was like…
Okay, okay, but...
The rest is pretty good.
It's nice!
It's not bad, no?
Nah, I gotta skip to the…
Nice!
- Not bad! - Dude!
And then- Are you ready...?
I remember your thing dropped, your shoulder rest dropped.
Oh, let's find it inside!
- Dude! - Oh, the orchestra messed up!
HA HA HA!
Oh that…
- Everyone just came late. - Yeah!
It was a student orchestra. It was back in uni.
Oh wow!
The story was…
It was a competition to get the solo chance.
You did it the year before me.
Yeah, I… yeah.
Actually I was meant to do it with Sibelius,
but I got sick that year.
So they saved me a spot the next year
- where I got to perform with an orchestra. - Yeah.
- I remember I practiced my ass off for this performance. - Yeah.
And there's an infamous shoulder drop.
It's from this performance.
Let me see if I can find it.
Yeah, it’s during this opening oboe solo.
*laugh*
OH, THERE YOU GO!
WOO!
You destroyed the solo!
I remember I lost my sh**!
Oh man!
- Now I'm getting hyped for my Sibelius. - Yeah.
Guys…
- On that note, don't forget Sibelius livestream. - Mhm.
- That's a Saturday for us. - Yes.
All right. I’m so excited!
- Here we go! - Woo!
Yay! Sibelius 3 Mil Drop is coming!
Get ready and we'll see you guys then.
All right, see you guys.
Bye!