Hey guys, how's it going?
Today, we have a very very interesting episode.
Where we will be seeing as classical musicians,
what do our eyes actually do while we play?
And so we got an eye tracker device and...
This eye tracker will allow us to see
exactly where our eyes are looking at.
Oh my god.
What we're going to do is
we're going to try a few different things.
First, we're going to be sightreading music.
Some easier music and some harder music to see
what do our eyes actually do while sightreading.
I think that will be very interesting, right?
Theoretically, you're meant to always look ahead.
- But I wonder what we actually do. - Yeah.
- I mean we try to. - Yeah.
And then, after that, we're going to be reading
orchestral music while also having
a video of a conductor conducting
to see when playing in orchestra...
How much are we looking at the music
and how much are we look at the conductor.
So first, let's do some sightreading.
Should we start with an easy one?
Yes.
Bro, this doesn't look easy.
Aha! Let's see what happens.
Piano.
B flat.
Allegro.
Point.
It's a little bit off, actually. It's a bit higher.
Brett: Haha.
Repeat.
Oh...
Woah...
I thought what's interesting is like
I would look about one bar ahead, but then,
- if I knew...it, - You look...
Rather than going more ahead, I would kind of just stop,
and wait until it catches up,
- and look one bar ahead. - Yeah, you don't like, keep moving to the next line.
- Cause I can't remember that much, right? - Yeah, yeah, yeah.
- Do you want to try it? Or... Okay, okay. - I want to try. I want to try.
Is this too fast?
- Nah. - Okay. I'm fine.
Oh!
Woah...
- Dude... - It's weird.
Looking at you sightread is stressful.
Because you're like only one quaver ahead, bro.
- I'm like... - All right, I'm gonna try looking ahead.
What are you doing?
I do notice when you're looking ahead though,
I feel like your sightreading was a bit more fluid.
- Dude, that's so weird. - My turn. My turn.
And it's like, when it moves, you're like,
am I actually looking there?
Yeah.
Difficult one, now.
Oh my god.
I couldn't tell, I wasn't paying attention.
What was my eyes doing?
It was clear when it's easy, you can move ahead.
But when it was the...
It just stopped.
- Yeah. - It's like, the easier it is,
- you can kind of just... - Read ahead.
Read ahead. At least, maybe one bar ahead.
Oh, let me try.
- I wanna see. No matter what happens? - You have to look a bar ahead.
You have to look a bar ahead.
Ohh!!
So, intonation, none of that matters.
- Nah. - The only rule is to look ahead.
- Yeah. None of that matters. - Yeah?
Just disclaimer, cause I'm gonna play really out of tune.
Dude, it's hard.
It's definitely more fluid if you look ahead,
but I'm just playing like...
But, it's also,
sometimes we have to look at our instruments.
- Yeah, occasionally. - Sometimes.
It's like...
Yeah.
Well, maybe you just need to practice more. Lol.
- Ooo. - Allegro Brillant.
- William - - William Ten Have.
William Ten Have you practiced?
Ohh, how many hours have you practiced?
William Ten.
Hahaha.
Bro, why are you looking down there?
I was trying to troll.
Hahahahaha and I played the wrong note.
Oooh!
What the hell is that?
Nice.
Oooh!
Key change.
That key change.
*Gasp*
- Woo! - Bro...
That got so intense.
It's funny, cause you tend to do the quick notes,
and then, when you hit a tied note you look ahead.
Look ahead.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
- Look ahead! - Yeah, yeah.
It's so true, because it buys you time.
Yeah.
I wanna do it again. I want to try look a bar ahead.
I'm not sure about a whole bar ahead.
- Maybe half a bar. - Maybe at least half a bar in this one.
Oh, not bad.
Nice.
No!
Dude...
You went like a whole half a bar ahead.
Now, we try orchestra.
For those of you that don't know,
when you're playing solo stuff,
obviously, you're meant to learn the piece,
and so you memorize,
so you don't even need to look at the music.
But then in orchestral playing,
ideally, you want to know the music,
so you're not sightreading, but you're not going to
memorize all these symphonies necessarily.
But, you also have to look at the...
Conductor.
To kind of keep in time and stuff, right?
So, here's Stravinsky conducting his Firebird.
Dude, this is a hard piece.
- Why do we pick this? - Goodbye.
Are you ready?
No, but whatever.
Oh, man.
Oh my god.
Actually, you know what's interesting?
I realized, with the conductor,
I was able to get away not looking
because you can see in the peripherals.
- Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, you had to look. - But when the conductor left, I had to look.
I feel like, if...
The music was easier or I knew it,
I was more familiar...
Then, I'd be able to look at the screen more.
I wanna try.
Du -
Dude, there's no conductor going on.
It's interesting, you're still mainly looking at the music.
But, I guess we're like, kind of half sightreading.
I guess that's what I used to do,
sightread music.
I'm just joking.
We look at the conductor a lot less...
- Like, actually look at... Yeah. - Deliberately.
But it's there in the peripheral.
Yes.
We only look up when there's something we think
or we feel there's something going to change.
All right, last one. I wanna try Beethoven five.
Because I used to play these heaps for busking.
- Yes. - It'll be interesting to see a piece where...
I know the music better.
See what my eyes do then.
Ahh!
Oh, he retakes.
Ah.
Woo!
Oh, wow...
Dude, that was so stressful.
I can't hear.
- The laptop is not loud enough. Yeah. - It's actually stressful if you can't hear.
You know, I found something interesting.
What?
You tend to try and get the cue from the concertmaster.
Yes. Yes.
Even though the concertmaster is out of the shot,
your eyes kept going back to where he was before.
I noticed that too because matching bowings.
Yes.
- Articulation. - That's such a - When you're in the string section,
you always want to do the same bowings,
otherwise, you look...
You know, a bit stupid.
The conductor has to give the gesture for everyone.
- Yes. - Whereas your concertmaster gives the gesture for you.
- Yeah. - And your section as well.
I finally understand it now.
- Wow. - Yeah, the concertmaster, right?
- After like 20 years. - No wonder they get paid more.
Dude, imagine you didn't have a concertmaster,
you'd be so screwed.
Actually, there's times when concertmasters screw up,
everyone's screwed up together
- Yeah, yeah, yeah. - with the concertmaster.
I guess it's cause as violins we're meant to be one unit.
Otherwise, there's a risk that
we all interpret the conductor's gestures
- slightly differently. - And that's dangerous.
Doesn't sound like one string section.
It sounds like multiple instruments playing at the wrong time.
Yeah, there's time, but there's also like...
There's so many, um...
- Nuances. - Yes.
Sorry, maestro Dudamel, but...
I'm paying attention to the concertmaster, not you.
Yeah.
All right, guys, hope you enjoyed our shred.
If you like these episodes.
Maybe we can do more of these.
- Yeah. - It's kind of fun.
If we get, I don't know, 50,000 likes.
Yeah.
We'll do another episode.
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Bye.