Welcome! Guys, our camera— I mean, not our camera, what's it called? The microphone, it's in the way of the screen so I can't see it, but I'm saying hello. Hey everyone, this is Two...TwoSet windscreen wipers. When you have a bad day, we're here to wipe your screen. Wap, wipe. I just said "wap". Wipe the sadness off. Today we have a very... ...special video, uh, especially anyone that's learning an instrument, or thinking of learning a stringed instrument. I mean actually, I think some of these tips apply to all instruments, but particularly for violin, uh, this is five things we wish we knew, when we first started learning the violin. We're about to condense, 26... Wait, how long...not all 26... When did you start? - 24 for me.
- 22 for me. So let's average to 23. 23 years! - Actually no, combine...
- No, total! - 50 combined years experience, of violin.
- (Brett) 50...! Ohhh!!!! That's... - Still can't play, haha.
- (Eddy) Yeah. As... ...professional violinists that play in professional orchestras, but also, caveat, had…had our broken dreams about being soloists, so we're not soloists. - So we're not the perfect example, but,
- Yeah. we'll try our best. But hopefully if you watch this video, it will save you years, so you can become the next Ling Ling. You can shortcut our painful failures… 50 years of mistakes, shortcut it to you. So if you're 12, you'll instantly become… …Chloe Chua, yeah. - Mmm.
- Yes. So the first one that I really wish we knew. I mean it wasn't possible for us back in the day, - but it is possible now, it’s…
- Yeah. Subscribe to TwoSet Violin. Clearly, if you haven't done that, you should do it right now. - ‘Cause like Chloe Chua subscribed to TwoSet Violin,
- Yeah. and look how well she plays. Hilary Hahn subscribed to TwoSet Violin. Look how well she plays. Even though she played well before, but she’s… By subscribing, she still plays well. Exactly! So uh, we're just gonna wait five seconds for you to subscribe. Alright, did you subscribe? Let's go back. Now we came up with a list of five, there was actually a sixth one, which we wanted to touch on. But, we felt that we already talked about it extensively, which is take care of your mental health. I think that definitely matters if you want to be in it for the longevity. We talked about it, in that video. - Link here.
- Yes. - Go watch that after this if you haven't seen it.
- Yes. Now, the five tips we came up with, should we say them all now, or should we go one by one? - One by one! You’ll have to watch it! Okay.
- You’re forced to watch it, you can’t skip ahead! - First one! We're not telling the other four.
- (Eddy) Yeah. First one! It starts with a “R”. Okay, it's resonance. - Resonance.
- Yeah. This was something I realised only five years ago, and I had to just really work so hard to change. I’m still working on it now, but it's really changed how I play as a player. Once you get intonation, once you get rhythm, and once you can kind of play, you know, accurately up to speed, whatnot, there's usually two things left, that separate an average violinist from a great violinist. - One is musicality,
- Mm-hmm. but funnily enough I think musicality depends on the second one. - And the second one is the tone.
- Yeah. You'll notice the great players, - the sound they make is just more beautiful,
- Yep. and I never understood why, like how they made such beautiful sounds. You always think, oh, it's 'cause they're just better, - or like, the instrument, they play on a Strad...
- Yeah, or like they have a Stradivari… - they have a Tourte bow,
- Yeah. of course the sound is gonna be good. And you know, those things do make a difference, but really, this concept is that you want to be able to - let your instrument resonate as much as possible, right?
- Yeah. If you…if you listen to like, say, something like this, right? Versus… Why did you look at me?! You looked at me…I was like… “Well don’t stop, don’t look at…” - Okay, I…
- You guys hear the difference? - Yeah, you heard the difference, right? I’m just checking,
- Yeah, I heard. I want to make sure I did it right. No. - I'm just like, insecure.
- Dude, it’s so funny. I don’t know if you guys can hear through this um, microphone, but, first one, the sound, he was pressing, right? - You're pressing a lot more on purpose.
- Mm-hmm, yeah. Just sounds like, it was…sounds like you're choked. It’s like, you're talking like this. The second one, this violin sounded… We call it like… - …resonating more, singing more.
- Yeah. I can hear the sound filling up the room. And actually, this is the secret to how… …soloists can project in a huge big hall, while still playing soft. They're playing soft, but the sound is resonating more. Okay, now, what does this really mean? A few ways that help me think about this question, is… The first thing is to be able to hear it. You have to be able to hear what a resonant sound is, and then the second is to understand the technical principles, - that help…produce resonance, right?
- Make it. So the first thing about hearing, something that I find helps a lot, is you gotta start listening for the overtones. What's an overtone? Oh my… We’re gotta stick with step one. - You guys can look this up in your own time.
- Yeah, Google overtones, harmonics series, - but, if you understand like physics,
- Yeah. I’m playing a D, but it's not just the D that's sounding. There's these harmonics coming, right? So… - These…these harmonics…
- They’re all actually in there. Yeah, they kind of build up as a spectrum, but this one is just the principal. It's loudest. Now, if you listen really carefully, and if you're playing with resonance… You should be able to hear… Can I just add, it's almost like you don't hear it, you feel it. It’s just, ooh, like the mini waves… We told our cellist friend this actually, recently. Just when he…it clicked for him, and when he heard it, - within 30 minutes his playing transformed completely.
- Yep, and within a few weeks, the sound has improved a lot. - Yeah, so my…
- (Brett) Yeah. My advice is try to learn to…hear, not just open strings, every note. This one for the fifth. Once you can hear that overtone, I challenge you to try and get this… …most of the overtone out, without overly pressing the fundamental notes. Yes, so if you're playing on a D on a violin, get more of the A, don't press the D so hard. - And try and listen for the A, not for the D.
- Exactly. - 'Cause the D is so obvious, it’s just there in your face.
- Yes. It's already there. It's hard to explain. Once someone gets it… - Once you hear it, you’ll hear it.
- Once—yeah. Once you hear it, you’ll hear it. But, I mean, just for those, you know, beginners, again, just to speed up the learning process, just understand that the main factors that affect this are bow speed, how much you're pressing on the string, the weight, the contact point, and the uh… - The amount of hair…
- The amount of… - The angle of the bow.
- Yeah. - They all are related,
- They are, like changing one means - the other has to change and all that,
- yes. and again, just before we move on. - The reason that ties in to musicality, is…
- Oh yes. …you can't have a true legato, - unless the overtones themselves are connected.
- That's true, ‘cause then the sound just goes “klup”. - (Brett) Because of…
- Because... - The… the bass, the principal note is connected, in your phrasing,
- Yes. but your harmonics aren’t. That I wish I knew! You know who I lis—think of? James Ehnes playing his Bach encore. Ohh. - Was it Allegro? Presto.
- No, it was the…yeah, yep, Presto. Yeah, like… The notes were not hard, but the fact that he made the whole page sound like one phrase, his overtones were just… …just kept spinning, kept going to the back of the concert hall. Anyway, great players can do that, - don't ask me how, I can't do it.
- (Eddy) Yeah. Yeah…! Alright, next one, number two! Good teachers for good foundations. Oh my god, this will like, change your life. - Good foundations are everything.
- It’s everything, it’s everything. - Like bow hold, bow stroke, everything.
- Yeah. For example, no teacher told me about resonance. There's a balance, right? 'Cause you want to learn pieces and play music, if you're just learning foundations, it can get really boring. At the same time, if you're…too focused on learning concertos, or like even learning your scales and etudes, but you don't understand what foundation - you're trying to build with those scales and etudes,
- (Brett) It’s meaningless. It's like, there's a debt, and you're gonna pay for it in the future - by having bad habits that can only get you up to here,
- Ohh!!! but it won't let you sound like Janine Jansen. - Yeah, I have so many stories of just bad foundations.
- (Eddy) Yeah. Like one example was like… Oh my god, there's so many. There’s so many, right? I just held my violin and I was like, “There's so many!” Okay, the first obvious one that came to my mind, was the way I placed my left hand. I used to play like this. So every time I have to move my fingers, one two three four, - you guys see this?
- (Eddy) This wrist, right, yeah. I have to go… (Eddy) Yeah. Whereas if you just have a good position, that's a lot easier. So these are basic things that can be taught, as a beginner. Yeah, I remember um… - ...I had a lesson with this…great teacher,
- Great teacher. she told me that my third finger vibrato sucked, because instead of that, I should just do that. There’s so personalised feedback in a lesson, - just made such a difference to my sound.
- Yes. It can also [go] the other way. Sometimes a bad teacher will say you have a problem but you don't actually have a problem. Ooh-la-la. It's happened to me before. - I’ll tell you one case example.
- (Eddy) Yes. - I remember…
- Oh no, oh no! I thought of so many just then! Yeah, I remember I thought I had problems with my vibrato. This is my vibrato, right? I always thought, “Oh, I need to be wider and better, blah blah blah.” To be honest, vibrato was never really taught to me, I just kind of figured it out myself. The good teacher was like, “That's fine.” “Actually, it's not your vibrato that's making it sound like this, it's actually something else.” And, problem solved! You go, “Whoa!” It was actually my bow making that problem, I keep thinking the problem was my…vibrato is not resonant, not wide enough to make it resonant enough, - so actually, it's your bow.
- (Eddy) Yeah. - So a good teacher will tell you the right things, to look out for.
- Yes. Yeah, and not to say that the bad teachers are, - you know like, out to teach you the wrong thing.
- (Brett) Yeah. - No, I think most teachers do care, like they want the best.
- Oh, most people do… They do try their best. Yeah, it's just… It’s like finding the soloist equivalent of a teacher, right? - Like a teacher that's so good at giving personalised feedback,
- That’s very hard. ‘cause also it's like, - the right feedback at the right time also makes a huge difference.
- Mm-hmm, yep. - It’s like…yeah.
- And it's not…it's not easy to teach. It's definitely not what we're doing now. What we're doing now is just giving information. But to be able to see someone, hear them, and immediately pinpoint the one to two things that they must work on, - and how they should work on it,
- That's true. - and how they explain it to them so they get it...
- Yeah. Yeah. - And to do that for different people...
- Yeah. And when it clicks, - the change happens on the spot.
- Yeah. You're like, "That's it!" You're like... "Huh??" - "What have I done my whole life?!"
- Yeah. "Noo, I practiced wrong!" "All those 40 hours!" "That's why I never became Ling Ling." So, yeah. Finding a great teacher does make a big difference. - So, I would say take your time finding one.
- Yeah. And change teachers if you need to, you know. Yeah. Third one! Oooh... Your favorite. No such thing as a correct posture for everyone. Now, disclaimer. We don't mean like... Eddy: Yeah...! - Or like this. Yeah.
- Don't do a stock photo. Just like, look, the violin still needs to somewhat look like this. But! - No such thing as a correct posture for everyone.
- Yes. I mean, if you look at... I can never pronounce his name. Is it... - Kavakos or "Ka-VA-kos"?
- Kavakos. Sorry, Kavakos, if you're watching this. Confession, I was too scared to ask you when we met. - Yeah! Now I want to clarify.
- Yeah. - If you look, he has an unconventional bow hold.
- He's like this. - But he plays so well.
- Yep. Now, I think that doesn't mean just play however you want. *gasping* What it means is, it's more important to understand what you're trying to achieve. So, what is good music? - And why that happens, right?
- Yes. Once you can understand the principles of what will get you the sound you want, then it's just about figuring out the most... - Efficient.
- ...efficient way to do it, so you can play concertos without injuring yourself. Rather than trying, going, "Hey, my teacher said press less, so just press less," understand how to hear resonance, understand what are the different things you can change - that affect resonance.
- Yeah. And then figure out for yourself how to do it. And a lot of the things are very subtle. When I'm doing a downbow, for example, I'm already thinking about the amount of weight in each of my right fingers, - Yeah.
- as I go down the bow. So right now the weight's on my pinky. And I feel it as I go down the bow towards my first finger. Eddy: Yeah. And you have to play around with it. - Yeah.
- You almost can't see - it physically move, but you can feel...
- Mmhm. - ...the pressure.
- Yeah. Again, I think a great teacher would do big on this, but I think this is such a big one because I know every conservatory student relates to this. I remember like, I had a cello friend, she's like, "I always play like this." "But then my teacher said it was bad so I changed to this." "But today I got a lesson, and the person says actually, you should do this." After music uni, I spent a lot of money, and self-funded a trip to Europe to learn from a lot of great teachers. And they were very expensive teachers, right? And they were like, prestigious teachers, I remember like... And it cost like, $400 an hour. Like, insane, right? And so I'll always remember, I went to a lesson... I thought you were gonna say the name. Alright, no names here. - No names, no names.
- But this teacher was like... ****. Alright, anyway. I'm so pissed. But he told me, "You know, Heifetz always looked at his contact point." "So, look here. Alright?" "Always look." So then my next lesson, I went to Germany, took a train. I was like, "Okay, look here." And the teacher's like, "Why are you looking??" I'm like, "Oh, because you look at the contact point." And he said like, "What, so blind people can't play the violin now?" "It's bad because you're getting tension in your neck." "Don't look at the violin." And I'm just like... But, I mean... - You get it, though, like, it's not necessarily bad advice
- Yeah, it's not... in the sense that, I mean... Some... Like, Heifetz does look at it. - Yeah, Heifetz does. Yeah.
- Right? As a beginner, you need some framework. Tell this to a beginner, they don't know. So just tell a beginner, - "Oh, if you could hear..." Yeah.
- Or like, keep the bow straight. Things... - ...that has to happen. Yeah.
- Just get it started, right? But at a certain point you gotta realize, it's more important to know why, - than what.
- Yeah. So, in Eddy's case, looking at it was probably because you want to make sure you have a contact point there, and the contact point is to make a consistent resonant sound. And then you can decide whether you want to achieve that contact by looking at it, - or through not looking at it. Right?
- Yes, exactly! Likewise, why didn't she want me to look at it? Because there's tension in my neck. Well, why do I need to get rid of the tension in my neck? Is there a way I can look at it without having tension in my neck? And actually, one of the best advices that this good teacher gave us, in specific regards of that, right, is she said... Rather than that there's one fixed... ...posture that is always correct, usually, a better rule of thumb is to make sure that - you are able to move.
- Yes! Because if you're locked, no posture is good the moment you're locked. Yes. A good teacher will be able to... - They will be able to teach you the principles,
- Yeah. - that guide the technique.
- You to find a posture. - And you'll find your own thing.
- Yeah. All right. Fourth one... Center of gravity in left hand. Oho... This is a huge one! Yeah. Eddy learned this recently as well. I had known about it, but I forgot about it. - It's always like, yeah yeah yeah...
- Because I feel like a lot of things, - you have to be reminded, like...
- I know. Same, like, I learned about this. - I remember learning about it when I was 15, exactly.
- Yeah. With quite a good teacher who kinda got my... - going to the second point, a good foundation.
- Yes. And the one thing they talked about is the center of gravity in left hand. And Eddy and I had this epiphany again recently. Yeah, while Hilary was giving me a lesson on my Sibelius... And she was like, "You're struggling with intonation, hey?" "Well, is your center of gravity on your second or third finger?" I'm like... - Of course! Yeah.
- Of course! So basically, center of gravity is where the weight is gonna be on your left hand. At any given time. Any position. If my center of gravity is in my first finger, - it would be more like this.
- Yeah. I have to really reach out just to get to the fourth pinky. Fourth, fourth finger. Now, if I suddenly shift my gravity from here to second finger... Can you guys see the difference? To the third finger, even more. To the fourth finger. And that is super important in order to be able to play in tune. Fourth finger would be like, - here, and you reach back for the one.
- And you reach back. Pure one would be here, and you reach forward with the fourth. Tenths, for example. This is tenths, it's like... It's important for me to be more on the third and fourth finger, And stretch back on the first finger. 'Cause if it's the other way around... It's really not powerful. If you're playing out of tune, if you find your shifts are heavy, if you find trouble with double stops... Anything with left hand... Check two things. Check that you're not tense somewhere - in your joints.
- Yeah. Oh, generally it's like the first finger and the thumb. And if it's not tension, then it's probably your center of gravity. It's so true! When you go shift... It's like, is it... If I'm still on the first... (Eddy) Yeah. - Usually, you want to be around two and three, right?
- Yeah, yeah. - Just to clarify.
- Yeah. Everyone's gonna go, "oH, it'S tHe fOuRth fiNgEr!" I said one, four because it's the extremes, but, - usually, where it should be around is second and third.
- Yeah. - I think it shows with your wrist.
- Mmhm. And also shows with your thumb position. Yeah, yeah yeah yeah. Next one, last one! - I wish I learned this earlier.
- Oh, yeah. Like, I think Eddy would've really benefited from, uh... - From this one.
- Yeah. - Yeah. Last one is find a good instrument.
- Find a good instrument. Now, we're not saying go spend hundreds of thousands, tens of thousands. But... Or find a good instrument and also don't be scammed. - Because...
- Yeah, okay. A lot of expensive instruments aren't good instruments. - Yes! Don't just think expensive is good.
- That's the other thing. Check out our video, where we talk about the dark side of the industry, - if you wanna learn more about buying instruments.
- Yeah yeah yeah. Now, I think it goes both ways, right? Like... Your development isn't limited to your violin, on some level, because you don't want... ...not having the best instrument to be an excuse. There are a lot of things you can improve as a player, right? Like, Heifetz could still sound really good on a crappy violin. Oh, he... The reality, though, is at a certain point, if your growth and the sounds that you need to make is being capped by a violin that just can't make good sounds... - Case in hand.
- Yeah, my old violin, it was one where it couldn't make enough resonance, so it got crushed too easily. And I was actually developing bad technique. - I remember! Yeah, 'cause your technique changed.
- I was forced to... ...lighten my bow, unnaturally so. So the violin can actually (both) not sound over-pressed. It's not even to have that much resonance, - just not sound over-pressed.
- Yeah. Again, it's not an excuse to not practice, but... Going back, if I had the choice to buy a better instrument earlier, I would have done so. - Yeah, you would have done it in uni. Straight up.
- Straight up. It's just, it's... ...frustrating, 'cause it's hard to find a valuable instrument, you know, that's worth it, - because there's so many expensive ones, right?
- Yep. From what you were looking for back then, like, it was like a big change. - Like, a big commitment.
- Yeah. Like, buying a violin as a uni student is a huge commitment. I stuck with my old one for like, 14 years. You don't have the luxury of always changing your instruments, 'cause you also get used to the instrument. And also like Eddy said, I mean, it's hard to find a balance. But a good instrument... ...will give you better awareness of the sound. So if you have a bad instrument and it can't even resonate... - You don't even know resonance might sound like!
- You don't what resonan... - Yeah, you can't even hear what resonance is!
- Yeah... And therefore, you can't even develop... - ...good technique, or good foundations.
- Yeah. A bad violinist can play on a good instrument, and we can tell the instrument sounds nice, but the player doesn't sound nice. - Oh, a hundred percent!
- Like, we can tell. But I think just like, if you can get a better instrument when it makes sense for your development, do it. That's it, guys. Oh, there's one more! Of course. Sixth one, we'll give you a bonus one - 'cause we're feeling really generous today.
- Yeah. Super duper generous. And because you subscribed, right? Yeah, because you subscribed. If you haven't subscribed... I'm gonna wait another 5 seconds. All right, subscribed now. The sixth and bonus advice is... Practice. Practice a lot more. Practice like your life depended on it. - Yes. 40 hours a day.
- Yes. - Like, actually. Like, practice.
- Yeah. And practice intelligently. - But practice a lot as well.
- Yeah. Yes. Because you won't even know how to practice intelligently, unless you practice stupidly - and realize how stupid that prac...
- Exactly. - And then you learn to practice intelligently.
- Exactly. So practice! Practice practicing! - Yeah, practice practicing!
- Ohh!! - Practice practice practicing!
- That's meta! Yeah. All right guys, that's it. You've already subscribed, so I'm not gonna say that. - But like the button.
- Yes. And comment! Best of luck. Remember... P r a c t i c e .
