The sound...
It's more in tune than auto-tune.
Oh my god...
Prodigies!
The people that, uh, both inspire us,
but also destroy our self-esteems.
That's right.
Today, we are going to share the love and...
self-esteem damage to all musicians,
not just violinists. That's right.
We're going to be checking out
the Ling Lings of all the instruments.
"I'm a prodigy, too!"
- Mendelssohn. - Can you guys see Mendelssohn's face?
He's a composition prodigy.
Alright, let's check them out.
- All right, guys... - Dude.
I played in a professional symphony orchestra,
so I know what a professional
adult harpist sounds like.
And then I hear this.
- I'm like... oh, damn. - Ohhh...
- Dude, it was... it was accurate. - Oh, damn.
It was musical.
The tone!
Tone was just... there.
It's, like,
butter to the ears,
like angels coming down from heaven.
She could get a job in an orchestra like that.
Color changes, rubato!
I didn't even know color change until I was, like, 14!
- And then in my— - Yeah, I didn't even know the concept of it.
Yeah, yeah, yeah!
Oh my god...
That, that adult in the back is just us.
Every pluck is, like,
one bit of self-esteem plucked away, like—
- She looks so chill, too. - Yeah.
She's so in control.
The voicing of the melodic line versus the arpeggio—
So good!
Like, the arpeggio's not distracting you from the melodic line.
And there's phrasing!
Dude, that's messed up.
...accompanied on the piano by another prodigy
- that's 14 years old! - 14-year-old! Haha!
Bro, prodigy duet!
Oh, here we go.
What the f***, man...
Do... do you guys know how hard it is
to play the clarinet? Just FYI, like...
This is just a 12 year old,
nailing all these notes.
There's still musicality.
Yeah! Well, the thing that really, like,
impresses me is, like,
usually, you don't really hear this level of
musical phrasing and colors and understanding
until like... I mean, if they're really good, like, 16.
- Yeah. - But like, usually,
a lot of uni students don't even get there.
- No! OK, the way we describe prodigies is, like... - Yeah.
they don't just play the notes fast.
Musicality is not developed in normal people
until they're in uni.
How do you tell a 12-year-old,
"Hey! Colors, musicality..."
Eddy: Yeah.
- It's like they just understand the music. - They just understand the music.
- And they can also do everything... - And they can also—!
Like, technique is so easy to them.
Can I say, even that accompanist.
...just set it up for him to get the phrase.
And there's a phrase going:
It's like done so well!
Next. Can't, can't watch too long
for each of the...
'Cause, 'cause we won't be here anymore.
We just played the flute recently.
Where do you get oxygen?
I wasn't breathing properly. And she's like...
- Dude, yeah! - ...ten, bro!
How's her lungs so developed at ten?
Ohh my god!
I've heard a lot of flautists in my life.
I can hear a few things here and there,
that, like... bit out of tune here or there.
- But still, the general tone projection for flute - Yeah.
is really important.
And she does have the articulation and phrasing.
I was gonna say the breath work here is incredible.
And she's ten!
And she's TEN!!!
She just hit double digits
for the first time in her life!
- and she's like, "Look at me!" - Ten, bro!
Oboe?
- There's two of them. - Two people. OK, Wong Sa and Wong Si.
It's more in tune than everyone...
Eddy: Hahaha! Yeah, dude,
why is it so in tune?!
Chamber music is very difficult to play,
because it's not just you playing by yourself, right?
Eddy: Mhm.
We're gonna fact-drop a nuance bomb.
Actually, there's no such thing as, like,
one way to tune.
In pop music,
they use something called equal temperament.
And equal temperament is not actually
perfectly in tune.
- It's like a compromise. - Yes.
Now, when you play classical music ensemble,
you have the ability to adjust to fit better
intervals per key,
and you have to do a lot of adjusting
real-time and listening.
And... they're nailing every interval!
It's, like, ringing, it's like...
Bam! BAM!
It's more in tune than auto-tune.
Let's hear a bit more.
I like the articulation.
It's very light. It's very tasteful.
So, it's Baroque music,
it's not your typical Romantic,
where you can just pour your heart—
It's intellectual and expressive, like elegant.
You have to have this kind of stylistic taste.
And it's there!
Oh, my god...
Can I just say, oboe,
being a double-reed instrument, is also so hard
to make a good sound.
Why? How? Please.
Speaking of double-reed instruments,
probably one of the hardest instruments
- to make a good sound: the bassoon. - Ohh...
- I could already tell that's, like, prodigy, like... - Yeah.
The sound!
- This guy's— - Oh, look, look!
Even the real bassoonist in the back, she's just like,
- "I am f***ed!" - Yeah! She looks...!
"That's 13?!"
Her face saying it all right now. She's like,
- "What am I doing with my life?" - And the other wind player's like...
Dude, the musicality...
Guys, you just gotta watch
the bassoonist's face in the back,
it's speaking volumes of how good this guy is!
- That whole thing felt like one big phrase. - Mm!
How does he have the breath?
When he was like...
Dude, these people are, like...
out of an anime or something.
Air breath strike!
It's... "Total concentration breathing!"
Dude, it's so hype.
I love it.
All right, trumpet. Age 13.
I feel like the recording is messing the sound...
It is pretty annoying.
It's distorting the tone.
I can only imagine how good it sounds in real life,
but I can definitely tell.
The, the phrase that gave it away for me was that:
- That is... - She's just like, "It's... nah, it's pretty easy."
Yeah!
Again, I'm not a trumpeter.
From our understanding...
It's pretty good. It's pretty damn good.
- Pretty damn good. - Yeah.
Wait!
Is that— *flying staccato*
Did she actually just...?
Nah, nah, nah, nah, nah, nah, nah, nah, nah, nah, nah!
And it's on a cello.
Up bow...
It's, like, flying staccato up bow. Ba-ba-bam!
She didn't go...
She went...
Ha-ha!
It's like Ziyu He going, "It's easy!"
Also, as string players,
violin players, we all know how annoying it is
to have music where it's like, low, high, low, high.
Yes.
- It's like two different lines. - Bec— and!
Yeah, and you gotta keep changing gears.
She's nine, bro...
She didn't even hit two digits!
- Bro... - Please.
That was a pretty solid octave.
And the build-up to it, the sound...
Yeah! Oh my god. I wanna hear it again...
Dude, look at that bowing!
Did she go down down up up down down...?
What the f—
...part's like the Prelude, in the...
Except she's nine. I played Prelude when I was...15?
Yeah. It's the awkwardness.
- The string crossing. - The string crossing is not,
doesn't come naturally.
How does it feel to live... my dream?!
- All right, last one. - All right. Last one, everyone.
She's projecting over an orchestra.
Articulation, musical...
Every note is so clean.
Mendel— oh, she's playing Mendelssohn, by the way, so...
Mendelssohn, how does it feel
to have another prodigy play a prodigy's music?
"Mmyeah, it's all right, I mean, I was just a prodigy.
She's all right. You guys all just suck."
Oh, speaking of Mendelssohn!
Brett! You'll be playing Mendelssohn concerto,
- she's playing Mendelssohn concerto, too! - Yeh...
It's like, it sounds like the third movement
of the violin concerto.
Dude, look at her, she's like...
It's like—
Yeah, yeah, yeah!
- It's the same style of music, right? - Oh, no!
How is she so good?
Holy s***!
The right, and then the left hand comes in.
I find, personally, Mendelssohn, this type of music,
is really easy to sound very boring.
- It just sounds like... arpeggios. - It sounds like a study.
But to make it sound exciting,
and full of energy, and, like...
Dude, back to our first point,
what a prodigy is.
This is the package, do you guys...?
There you go, the package.
The package is here. Like, it's not just notes.
It's interesting.
Our camera...
just had its self-esteem destroyed
- and it decided to stop recording, so... - Yeah. I know.
I think that means it's time for us to end this video.
At least we can just do our best
- and all do our part and practice. - Exactly.
One thing for sure is
all these prodigies did practice very hard.
Even Mendelssohn practiced, right Mendelssohn?
"40 hours a day!"
Mwah! Like and subscribe, and see you guys next time!
Bye bye.