Welcome to another episode of TwoSet Violin.
Today we have a-
I N T E R E S T I N G
episode.
Yeah, definitely a very I N T E R E S T I N G episode.
'Cause it's a different type of instrument.
The voice.
*gasps*
And in particular, opera.
- ♪ Ah... ♪ - OPERA!!
So we've invited our friend, Sanna.
If you haven't seen Sanna,
she was in our...
She was the pro.
I remember making that video. It was very hard.
And so Sanna has spent time
to pick out some of her favourite pieces,
iconic opera pieces that we thought we'd share with you guys.
We're no experts,
so we have Sanna here to-
Educate us.
...to educate us with some
I N T E R E S T I N G pieces.
Songs? Pieces?
- I don't know anymore. - Songs.
I don't know. I'm gonna get roasted.
You will. Okay.
So, should we start?
- Yes, let's start. - Yes.
♪ Fühlt nicht durch dich Sarastro Todesschmerzen ♪ (If Sarastro does not through you feel The pain of death,)
♪ Sarastro Todesschmerzen ♪
♪ So bist du meine Tochter nimmermehr ♪ (then you will be my daughter nevermore.)
Eddy: Oh, it's so good!
♪ meine Tochter nimmermehr ♪ (be my daughter nevermore.)
As a violinist, we all know this.
I think most people know this opera.
Queen of the Night, right? Yeah.
Well, I had to double check. In case I got it wrong.
No, it's the Magic Flute.
You did get it wrong.
Queen of the Night is the aria.
But yeah, she's the character.
Yeah, okay. Anyway!
We're no experts.
So, why did you pick this piece?
Of course, she's amazing singer.
Like, she gets all the notes,
but it's not only about the high notes.
She also has like a meaning in those.
Like, why she is singing so high.
As you can see the character,
she's really telling her daughter to make a murder.
Oh really? Is that what's happening?
How she does this character reminds me of
like a Disney character, like a super villain.
She's dressed up like Maleficent.
Yeah, Maleficent!
Mm, Maleficent copied The Queen of the Night.
(both) Ooh...
What makes the scene here so great as well? Like-
Is it difficult?
It is extremely difficult, of course.
(both) Ha ha ha...!
We're no experts.
She has to hit the high F four times.
So if you managed to do it like three times,
and then you still have the last one.
It's so much pressure on that.
I've always had this question actually,
this is like the most basic-
I N T E R E S T I N G question.
For us plebeians that don't know anything about voice.
How do you sing so high and low?
Like, are you born with it,
- or do you have like these... - Yeah.
like, gym routines for your throat?
It's the practice actually.
Gym routine is the practice.
We're actually like athletes.
You can train your voice.
But some voices are more typical to sing high.
It's about the larynx and your physics.
If you're like a really tall person,
you're usually like a bass.
That's why little dogs bark so high!
Brett: Little dogs are like "OW-OW-OW-OW!!"
You just called all sopranos little dogs.
I'm just joking!
No...!
Of course, there are always exceptions,
but that's like, in general.
Are you a soprano? Just checking.
- Yeah, I'm a soprano. - Or alto?
- I'm like a lyrical soprano. - Okay.
- Wow... That's amazing. - Ooh.
Eddy: I think it's higher, right?
That's an octave higher.
You need your body with the voice actually.
You need the support.
Why are you standing up?
Almost there.
Ling Ling can sing 40 octaves range.
So high that you can't even hear it,
and so low you feel it.
- Okay, are you ready... - (Okay, okay, next one.)
for the most epic singer? My favourite.
♪ Agli astri, al ciel ♪ (to the stars, to heaven,)
♪ che ne ridean più belli ♪ (which smiled with more beauty.)
♪ Nell ora del dolo ♪ (In the hour of grief.)
♪ Perchè, perchè, Signor ♪ (Why, why, oh Lord!)
Whoa!
I wanna applause for that one.
Do people clap between arias?
Or is it like no clapping?
Actually, it's funny.
Usually, there would be like standing ovations and everything.
But I think this is somehow...
like, some recording without audience or something.
Because they don't clap here.
But usually, they clap after arias.
Yeah, sometimes they actually-
the applaud can last so long that they have to
cut and have a break for the orchestra.
And people go outside, and wait for the applaud to...
- Really...? - stop.
I actually saw one... recording.
It was from Tosca as well, from the same opera.
The tenor got so long applaud that the soprano-
She was taking a break,
and she didn't come in when it was her entrance.
She missed it.
Why do you th-
Why is she your favourite singer?
She is a singing actress.
You can feel, like, all the human emotions through her voice.
You can hear the cry in her voice.
How desperate she is there.
Her method was to analyse the character she's performing,
and make it sound different every time.
And she's singing a diva, like here.
Or a young girl, or anything.
You can listen to her recordings,
and you can actually hear that
she has different voices for every character.
I couldn't help but listen to it also as if a violinist...
And her vibrato was like...
- controlled, but wide and just juicy and- - Yeah.
And you can only imagine how it sounds in the hall.
How it resonates.
- And no microphone I'm assuming, right? - Yeah! No microphones.
Ah... the OG projection!
Mariah Carey?
More like Maria Callas!
(both) OHH...!!
You need a microphone?
I got my own right here.
It's called the vocal cords.
Thanks for sharing that one. That was cool!
Next one is Pavarotti.
Damn...
The OG.
♪ ...io vo ♪ (...I look for?)
♪ M'ama ♪ (She love me!)
♪ Sì, m'ama, lo vedo ♪ (Yes, she loves me, I see it.)
♪ lo vedo ♪ (I see it.)
Brett: That was nice. ♪ lo vedo ♪ (I see it.)
♪ lo vedo ♪ (I see it.)
That was- that was...
Mwah!
You can hear all the control
and this golden and metallic voice resonating in the hall,
even though this is a recording.
- Gold and metallic, I love that description. - Yeah.
How much water does an opera singer drink?
Do you have- Do you need just lots of water?
We should drink actually quite a lot...
to keep you hydrated.
And seriously, if you're hydrated,
you don't get sick so easily.
I N T E R E S T I N G !
Mm, mm!
Cheers!
Oh, this is-
They're ready.
Eddy's gonna- Eddy is not ready.
Eddy unready.
Actually, I wanna show you one more place in this video.
♪ ...non chiedo ♪ (I can ask for no more.)
♪ Si può morir ♪ (One could die!)
♪ Si può morir ♪ (One could die of...)
♪ d'amor ♪ (of love.)
A, there's no auto-tune.
Just keep in mind.
Projection is there, the colours are there.
It's just pure human voice.
What do you think, Sanna?
What I think?
I think this is probably one of the greatest
performances ever in the opera history.
Like the control, the stage presence.
You can see all the emotions through his eyes,
and hear it in his voice.
How does he do that?!
The control. And it looks so easy.
It's so beautiful, bel canto singing.
I can't even hold my breath that long.
Yeah, I can't even hold my breath- yeah!
What- You said "bel canto." What is that?
It's Italian, and it means beautiful singing.
Is there an Italian word for ugly singing?
Bel brett-o!
Oh wait, "bel" means beautiful.
I don't know.
Do you have to learn every language?
Yeah, it's easier if you know the language.
But of course, you don't-
You don't need to speak the language fluently.
But what's very important is that
you have to know what you're singing about.
You have to know every word you're singing.
Because then the whole thing has a meaning,
otherwise it's just words without a meaning.
- That makes sense. - Yeah.
Have you ever done opera singing before?
No, I did High School Musical in high school.
And I also forgot to go on stage.
Because I was backstage.
Some- One of my friends was like
"Eddy, you're meant to be on stage right now!"
And I was like "Oh no!"
So I ran on just as the scene ended,
and everyone was walking off.
And I just walked on and walked off.
Oh no...
Okay...
Next one.
♪ ...che desiar ♪ (...to desire.)
Brett: What was that? Yeah. Eddy: It's like a horse!
♪ se poi salvo giunge in porto ♪ (if it at least arrives safely in port,)
♪ non sa più che desiar ♪ (has nothing left to desire.)
What is that!?
♪ non sa più che desiar ♪ (has nothing left to desire.)
Dude, that was like some ricochet-y stuff going on.
♪ A-ha-ha-ha! ♪
I can't do it.
That was like Paganini on the voice or something.
Yeah, she is 21 in there, in that recording.
But I'm not applauding her only for that.
As you can hear, she is like...
one with the music when she's singing.
She's like an instrument, like a bird.
It's so natural, everything she's doing there.
First time when I heard this, I was like
"Okay, how is this possible?"
Then I started studying singing,
and I still don't know how she really does that.
It's so effortless.
On the violin as well.
You can tell when it's a hard passage.
Great players make it sound light and resonant.
Whereas people that are struggling,
- it's the same notes, but it sounds heavy or tense. - Yeah.
- And drags on. Yeah. - Yeah.
amAzInG!
If you can make it sound hard, you can make it sound easy!
Actually, one teacher told me that...
"When it sounds difficult, you make it difficult."
"Good singing is actually easy."
But I don't know what she meant with that.
- It's not always like... - Yeah, I know right?
- One more? Yeah. - Last one?
It's like America's Got Talent.
*sings intro*
I was just joking.
Imagine you showed America's Got Talent.
WHOA...!
We'll listen to this Birgit Nilsson.
♪ Süß in Düften mich verhauchen ♪ (Sweetly melt away in the fragrances?)
♪ In dem wogenden Schwall ♪ (In the billowing torrent,)
♪ in dem tönenden Schall ♪ (in the resonating sound,)
♪ in des Welt-Atems wehendem- ♪ (in the wafting universe of the World-Breath-)
The orchestra is making a massive sound during that moment.
It's like, the whole orchestral sound.
- So for the voice to come out on top... - Oh my god...
I can't even imagine like-
That's one person.
- ...against like 90, 100 musician belting it. - 90, 100 musician.
Yeah, it's insane.
And imagine that this opera has been going already
even more than 4 hours before this big scene.
Yeah, this is the last 10 minutes of the whole opera.
Oh my god!
I feel tired hearing that.
Like your voice- how do you-
How does an opera singer keep the voice going?
Like, how do you train that?
It's like a marathon.
Yeah, it's like a marathon.
Well, you're an athlete.
You just practice enough!
PRACTICE, GUYS!
Do you like do athlete type of stuff,
like massage your throat?
There is this voice massage for the singers.
They massage all the tongue
and the cheeks, and everything.
You massage your tongue?
Yeah.
How?!
Like they put their fingers in your mouth?
Yeah. Yeah.
OHHOHOH!!
Have you tried it?
I've tried a few times.
It's quite painful.
- Painful! - Painful?
Yeah, it hurts.
Especially here, when they put their finger into your mouth,
and then they press here.
Next time see an opera singer,
realise how much pain and effort went through.
Oh my god! Thanks for sharing all those music.
Which one out of these ones do you think-
Actually no, that's a bit mean.
- That's too hard. - That's too hard to pick.
- It's not. - So good.
- It's very clear. - They're all pretty good.
I love Puccini most, and I love Maria Callas.
So it's... yeah.
- I don't know. They're all good. - They're all good.
- I can't choose. Yeah. - I feel like I'm not good enough as well.
- They all sound like "Okay, they're good." - Yeah.
Do you wanna say anything to everyone about-
like where can people find you?
I'm singing in the Finnish National Opera next season.
And then I try to upload some videos
to my YouTube channel as well.
So if you want, you can go and listen to them there.
Awesome! So we will link her YouTube channel...
- Yeah, definitely. - in the description below.
Alright, guys.
Thank you so much for watching.
And thank you, Sanna, for joining us.
How do you say "practice" in Finnish?
Harjoittele.
(both) Harjoittele!
...tele...tele...
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And we'll see you guys next time.