Hey, how's it going?
Welcome back to another episode of TwoSet Violin!
Today's video is a continuation...
...from our Pictionary video with Hilary Hahn.
After that game, we actually ended up just chatting about
a wide array of musical and violin related topics.
I'm just making the intro for this,
because we realised it'd be a bit weird to
just kind of jump straight into it.
It was actually quite an...
I N T E R E S T I N G
...conversation,
we talked about new violins,
we talked about AI and how it might interact with music,
and we thought, "You know what?"
"Let's share this."
I definitely found the conversation very insightful,
and so, yeah.
We were planning to make an official video
announcing our new violins later,
because Brett just got his about one to two weeks ago,
and we wanted some time to play the violins in a bit,
because sometimes, a brand new violin,
it takes time before it can speak,
and before you can get to know it more intimately.
But of course, in this video with Hilary,
we talked about our new violins,
so I thought it wouldn't really make sense
unless we told you guys,
so here's the unofficial announcement.
[Unfortunately] Brett's not here with me right now,
he's actually resting,
because he's feeling a little bit under the weather.
I think we'll be doing an official video,
but for now I guess I can just show you guys my new violin.
It's Kurt Widenhouse, he's an American maker,
and uh, he was recommended to me from Ray, actually.
So thank you, Ray, for the recommendation,
I really like this violin.
Um, I've been needing a new violin for the longest time,
because I've been playing before then,
on the same violin that I had been playing on since I was...
...I think nine or ten years old.
I was long overdue for a new violin.
But yeah, it's beautiful, I love it.
Um...
It's amazing, because it's still being played in.
Every day, when I practice on it, it's still opening up more,
so I'm really excited to see kind of...
...where the sound develops for this violin.
Look, the varnish is so nice,
look at that varnish.
I think, on another day,
when Brett's violin's more played in as well,
we might do another video to talk about it.
But for now, let's shoot right into this discussion
that we had with Hilary.
It's...it's a weird year.
I mean, I had a lot of stuff lined up that was really cool,
but I'm also...
Since that stuff has sort of been cancelled,
some of it, um...
I've been looking into other ways to...
...create, and collaborate, and build projects,
and so, I've got some stuff coming up,
like a intersection of art and AI,
collaborated with some people for a dance project,
some recording stuff coming out,
so there's a lot coming up,
and I'm really excited to share it,
and it's gonna be sort of rolling out every month,
for the rest of the year.
So we'll just kind of have to all stay in touch,
and stay tuned.
Yeah, wow, that sounds super exciting.
But yeah, it'll be on my...on my social media,
I'm pretty active on Instagram and Twitter, but also YouTube,
we're trying to update the channel with some more performances,
so as soon as YouTube stops taking me down,
we can get my recordings to stay up,
- there will be more to watch, too. - What?!
YouTube's taking you down?!
Yeah!
Oh...!
Yeah, every time I post a video,
- it gets flagged as...infringement, - Flagged...oh, yeah...
- and so, we're trying to track down... - You...oh...
- That is so annoying. - ...all of the, like all of the things,
'cause you enter a complaint,
and it takes 30 days to get resolved, and you might post it,
and it gets taken down again.
So I've got a bunch of material that I'm ready to post,
so as soon as we can get that sorted out, YouTube.
- Oh... - Yes. - We'll have a lot more to look at.
Alright, YouTube, did you hear that?
This is Hilary Hahn's music, it's her playing.
Officially complaining here!
It's the OG music, everyone needs to hear.
Yeah, everyone should just enjoy music right now,
I think it's so connective, and so beautiful,
and it's expressive even for the listeners,
so if you just find something you love listening to,
just keep listening to it and really enjoy,
and just hang out with the music community as much as you can online,
that will get us through, I think.
It's hard to be like,
"Yeah! Everything's awesome!"
- But, there are awesome things in the world right now, - Yeah.
that are between people,
and I think that's the essence of art, right?
It's like art continues through whatever is happening in the world,
and it's a place for people to be, and feel, and...
...connect, and share the humanity of their experiences in the world.
So this time is really hard,
and it's also got so many
really beautiful moments of connection in it,
and it's interesting to be an artist in this time,
and it's also interesting to be making things
that connect with people.
It's a very layered...thought process,
as uh...as anyone working in music right now.
Yeah, definitely.
I mean, I couldn't imagine going through
2020 without music, right?
That would just be...so depressing.
Yeah, I had two weeks where I was in the same room
as live music, in all of 2020,
because I had my sabbatical, and then stuff got cancelled,
or I couldn't get there,
and then I had two weeks, and it was amazing.
I played in Dallas and in Houston,
it was great to be back on stage, it was so vibrant,
we were all wearing masks, and everyone was on a single stand,
like...no one had a stand partner,
everyone was turning their own pages,
and there was space between everyone,
- but yet it felt so...familiar, it felt so vibrant, and so real. - Yeah.
Wait, did you say everyone had masks on?
Yeah, yeah, everyone was masked.
What about the wind players?
Except for the wind players.
They...they have to space...
I've seen different performances,
like some wind players playing under shields.
- Brett and Eddy: Ooh! - Hilary: I've seen that.
That's cool.
In these cases, there was just a lot of space,
so everyone around me had a mask on.
It's a new thing, to play with the mask,
and it changes your sight lines,
- and... - Yeah!
For pianists, like they...
- Their peripheral vision, towards their hands, - Oh, yeah!
the mask...gets in the way.
And I found also with the mask on playing,
it changed my perception of my sound,
because I used to play with a cloth on the chin rest,
and so that was familiar,
having something between my chin and the chin rest.
But the mask, next to my face,
changed how the sound traveled to my ear,
- from the violin. - Yeah.
I didn't even realise that my face was a sound transmitter,
but with a sort of acoustic absorber on my cheek, I guess,
I don't know, like somehow it changed the sound.
- It was so bizarre. - Yeah, that would be so weird.
Very subtle, though, very subtle.
But like, it's easy to force then,
so you have to just play by feel,
otherwise you would push too hard,
'cause you can't hear it as well,
you're like "I gotta play louder!"
I mean, it's definitely better to have sound travel
than to have corona travel, right?
Oh, no, I'm not complaining about wearing a mask at all,
it enabled us to perform,
and if that's all it takes, I'm in.
It was just really nice to be able to do that,
and know that everyone was safe at the same time,
including the audience.
And now we go into a time when things...
...in my calendar have changed a bit for the next few months,
but it's like, it's there.
It's waiting, and everything's just gonna spring back into action
when it's...when it's time.
Hopefully for us as well, um,
I miss going on tour,
- it's been so long since we've had our last proper tour. - I know.
And we should try our violins as well, Eddy.
In concert halls, we've never done that.
Oh yeah, we got new violins!
You did? Where are they?
They're here with us.
But Eddy got a Widenhouse...the maker.
Where is he based out of?
It's an American violin maker.
Wait Eddy, where is he based again?
North Carolina?
Yeah, Ray recommended him to us.
Modern violin, but for the value,
the sound it makes is...
I'm quite happy with it.
It's about the match, it's not about the maker.
i think it's about the match with [the] performer.
That's true, that's true.
- 100 percent. - Yeah.
For me, it wasn't also just the match thing, it was [that]
I was so in desperate need of an upgrade of a violin, so...
'Cause my old violin just wouldn't project anymore, in the halls.
It's a different set of needs.
When you have a violin that needs to project,
versus a violin that you can play in an ensemble,
it's...it's just a totally different beast.
And you need something with more power or more...polish,
or something.
Not literally polish, like finesse, maybe.
If someone watching this just starts
- getting out the nail polish and polishes the violin... - Someone's like, "I just need more polish on my violin!"
Maybe you can do that for Wieniawski,
'cause he's Polish, get it?
- *groans* - That's a horrible joke.
Dad joke.
So bad.
I'm sorry.
That's what Brett has to put up with every day.
It's alright, he composes "Poland-naise".
Poland?
No, that's not funny.
Alright, that's enough.
Is Brett also playing a new instrument?
Oh yeah.
So Eddy got his,
I was like, "Oh, I want one too."
So I just got mine.
Is it the same maker?
Same maker as well.
Um, I just got it, so I'm still deciding.
First initial thoughts,
- it's already much better than my previous violin. - Mm-hmm.
But compared to Eddy's, I think it's a little bit more closed.
But it's a lot sweeter, so I'm hoping...
I'm playing it, I don't know how long it normally takes,
for it to kind of start opening up.
Do you know how to play in a violin?
Oh, there's a way?
- Yeah, I did not know that, I was... - Yeah, my way! - Wait what?
- I have a way. - Oh!
So sometimes I'll go to violin shops and just play instruments
that haven't been played a lot,
just as like a favor to a friend or whatever,
if they have a new violin that they just made,
or if it's a shop where I'm just trying instruments for fun,
I'll like, pay it forward by then playing on something
that hasn't had enough hours to really show itself yet.
The way I do it is I take—
I give it like an hour,
and just in the course of the hour, I play as loud as possible,
- Oh, right. - for about a minute or so at a time,
and then I play close to the bridge,
and I really try to make it like ugly, edgy, loud.
I just find the edge of the sound, and then I play really quietly,
and I find the edge of where the tone is.
It's like a rubber band, like you keep stretching it,
and letting it relax.
Stretch it, let it relax.
And then whatever it's not comfortable doing,
you just do that magnified, for like five, ten minutes.
So like if it doesn't wanna...
...speak with harmonics,
it could be that the wood is like, tight in that area,
or maybe it could be that...
...you're not comfortable with the way
you need to draw out the sound,
or maybe the resonance patterns
haven't established themselves yet,
so you have a chance to really shape the new instruments,
and shape how they vibrate.
That's why when I...when I'm playing a new instrument,
and I'm thinking,
"There's something that's not happening right here,"
I really try to dig...into it, and find that, and draw it out.
And remarkably it actually does happen,
like in the course of an hour, a violin...
A new violin will change significantly with
being pushed to its limits.
And notes-wise, you just play any note?
On all the strings?
Yeah, like you can just...
I mean, you can play a piece,
but, it's good to stay,
like to exercise the violin evenly on all the strings, so...
...you can kind of play the same thing,
but transcribe it up a fifth, and transcribe it up a fifth,
- and transcribe it up a fifth. - Yeah, okay.
So that you use the whole violin,
But you can just do like long slow bows,
or fast, like...
And you can play repertoire,
you can do like the opening of the Brahms concerto,
but you don't go quiet.
It's like a full workout, for the violin.
Yeah, or you can play something that's normally quiet
but it's the right range.
But I do like to spend a good 10 minutes
playing it as quietly as possible,
sort of across the instrument.
In the end of that,
- you kind of have a picture of what the violin is capable of, - Mmm. - Okay.
and then you can see, maybe it's an adjustment thing,
if you have a chance to get an adjustment for the violin,
that can help, but you don't want to go in and get it adjusted
if you haven't really exercised it and drawn it out.
Play it out, play it out for a couple of weeks,
and then you see if it's settling into patterns.
Okay, I know what I'm doing for the next two weeks.
I just got it, a few days ago, so...
- Well Eddy, you're gonna hear a lot of crunchy noises, - Good luck.
for the next two weeks.
It's interesting you said that,
'cause I think I have been subconsciously...
...doing that,
not so much belt it as loud as possible,
or playing close to the bridge, but I did notice...
Sometimes when I would play really loud passages
by the end of a practice session,
the violin would be more resonant, or could take more.
Are we still recording, by the way?
I've just been leaving my camera on.
Yeah, same!
Yeah!
- Alright! - I've...
Are we uploading this whole discussion?
Yeah, I don't know.
For viewers at home!
If your instrument's been sitting around without practicing...
Take it out! For a little bit of exercise.
If you get tired sitting in front of Zoom for eight hours a day,
violin gets tired being in the case.
I feel like I need to exercise my body,
or I'm gonna end up becoming that violin that just...
...hasn't been exercised.
Stuck.
(Brett and Eddy) Yeah.
Alright guys, thank you so much for watching.
Thank you!
Please like and subscribe,
and we will see you guys next time.
Bye-bye.
- Bye! - Bye.