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| “ | Ling Ling 40 Hours! | ” |
―TwoSetViolin | ||
Brett Yang (born: March 3, 1992) and Eddy Chen (born: March 23, 1993), better known online as TwoSetViolin, are a Taiwanese-Australian violinist duo known for making comedic YouTube reaction and challenge videos relating to classical, orchestral, and violin music.
They also serve as commentators for numerous videos, movie scenes, and TV series that depict people playing instruments (usually violins).
Backgrounds[]
Brett Yang[]
Brett Yang was born in Taipei, Taiwan and raised in New Zealand and Australia and is of Chinese descent. He made his debut performing Tchaikovsky's violin concerto in 2012 with the Queensland Conservatorium Orchestra. Later, he would go on to perform Mozart's Concerto No. 4 with Corda Spiritus. He is also known for being awarded the Brisbane Club Scholarship at the Queensland Conservatorium. He performed at the 2014 G20 Summit in the presence of Barack Obama, Angela Merkel, and Dilma Rousseff. As revealed by himself, he has a younger brother who became a doctor.
Eddy Chen[]
Eddy Chen was born in Kaohsiung City, Taiwan and moved to Brisbane, Queensland via New Zealand at a young age. In 2010, he won the top prize at the Queensland Young Instrumentalist Competition. He later earned his Bachelor of Music from Queensland Conservatorium in 2014 and that same year he was a finalist for the National Young Virtuoso Award. Eddy has served as a soloist with the Queensland Symphony Orchestra and was previously the concertmaster at Queensland Conservatorium Opera Orchestra. As revealed by himself in videos and speeches during their tours, he has an older sister who is a pianist; his parents, particularly his mother, wanted him to become a doctor, but he chose music instead. He actually passed the exam for the medical school.
Videos[]
Skits[]
Some of TwoSetViolin's videos revolve around them acting out skits related to the violin or music in general. Some of these skits involve portraying the life of an Asian musician, usually with Brett acting as the musician and Eddy infamously portraying the strict and brutal Asian mother. Eddy usually portrays the Asian mother by wrapping a towel around his hair and speaking in a high-pitched voice with a stereotypical Chinese accent. Other skits involve teaching things that musicians should and should not do as musicians or what composers would be like if they were still alive.
Ling Ling 40 Hours[]
TwoSetViolin has a subreddit where fans can submit musical memes or any other related music content. Brett and Eddy will review the memes that are sent to them. It is a parody of PewDiePie's LWIAY. Their intro also used to be a parody of LWIAY but has since been changed to a parody of the Marvel logo opening seen in most MCU films, with Brett and Eddy screaming "LING LING 40 HOURS" in the background. But the series is discontinued as the ownership of the subreddit is no longer Brett and Eddy
Child Prodigy[]
Brett and Eddy react to children playing difficult violin pieces who express musical talent seemingly better than theirs. Most of the prodigies they watch are young Asian girls. While watching they then try to play the piece themselves.
Chinese Dramas[]
The duo reacts to Chinese dramas that feature the violin and points out flaws in the violinist characters' acting, such as fake playing and posture.
You Laugh You Lose[]
Brett and Eddy watch compilations of instrument fail and funny videos and try not to laugh at them. They also have subcategories in these videos such as You Cringe You Lose and You Flinch You Lose. In the latter, they watch painful music accidents and try not to flinch, laugh, or cringe at the sight of them. If they do, they lose a life, and losing all three lives result in a loss.
Violin Charades[]
The duo tries to use different musical excerpts to portray a topic in a charades-like game.
Professional Vs. Beginner[]
Either Brett or Eddy (the Beginner) is joined by a guest player of various instruments (the Professional). The guest first plays excerpts of various pieces, and Brett/Eddy has to mimic what they played.
Ling Ling Workout[]
Brett and Eddy try to practice with challenges like avoiding using a certain string on their violin, using a blindfold, etc. Sometimes, they challenge the guest, or on one video they challenge one whole orchestra to do the Ling Ling Workout.
Ling Ling[]
Ling Ling is a fictional character in Brett and Eddy's life. They have mentioned that Ling Ling practices forty hours a day and can multitask in anything while playing the violin. Ling Ling is never actually seen because Ling Ling is too busy practicing. In some of TwoSetViolin's videos, they have special guests perform the "Ling Ling workout," where the guest must do something ridiculous (such as hula-hooping, swapping hands, or dancing à la Lindsey Stirling) while playing a piece.
Subscriber Milestone Livestreams[]
Brett and Eddy did a livestream to celebrate 1 million subscribers, but neither Brett nor Eddy played any violin concertos. In celebration of 2 Million Subscribers, they livestreamed Brett playing a 40-minute rendition of the Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto. Initially, the livestream would just consist of Brett having a recording of the piece and dropping it on the floor, but due to the large amount of anticipation for the piece, they decided to do it for real. For the livestream, Eddy arranged the orchestral accompaniment to the concerto so that it could be performed on one violin, and played it as an accompaniment to Brett. Brett and Eddy did not want playing concertos for every million subscribers to become a tradition, but it has become a tradition anyway. There were rumors that Eddy would perform the Sibelius violin concerto for 2 million subscribers, but Eddy ended up playing the Sibelius for 3 million subscribers [1]. For 4 million subscribers, Brett performed the Mendelssohn violin concerto with the Singapore Symphony Orchestra and Bach Double Violin Concerto with Eddy. Eddy performed La Campanella by Paganini. For that performance, Tarisio lent Stradivarius violins to Brett and Eddy; Brett played the Empress Caterina violin and Eddy played the Regent violin [2].
Original Music and Collaboration with Jordan He[]
In 2020, Brett and Eddy created their own Lofi tracks with the help of their producer, Shaun. Brett had a lot of trouble creating his Lofi track, and his Lofi track became a meme with TwoSet using it to signify depression [3]. They also created a movie soundtrack with Shaun as well. Brett and Eddy are friends with composer Jordan He who has composed many violin duets for TwoSetViolin including CABBAGE, Prelude, and Meet Me at the CAFE. In 2022, Jordan He composed the soundtrack for TwoSetViolin's short film Fantasia.
Piano Accompanists[]
Numerous renowned pianists have accompanied the violin duo on their concert tours. This includes Sophie Druml, an Austrian violinist and pianist who has gained much notability for her guest appearances on TwoSet Violin's YouTube Channel. She is commonly known as Sophie Oui Oui, although the reasons for such are unknown, given that Druml is Austrian, not French.
Peiyi "Jenny" Li served as the duo's piano accompanist during their tour of North America in the fall of 2018, performing in several major cities throughout Canada and the United States including Chicago, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Vancouver, Toronto, and Montreal. Peiyi Li is a graduate of the Mannes College of Music and the Parsons School of Design and has since built a major career as a background animator.
Jenny Li, international concert pianist and animator, who served as piano accompanist for TwoSet Violin during their tour of North America in late 2018.
Quotes[]
- Practice!
- Ling Ling 40 Hours!
- Geniuses are born, not created.
- If you perform surgery the way you practice your scales, the patient already dead, lah! (Tiger Mum)
- If you can play it slowly, you can play it quickly
- - Sacrilegious -
- iNteReStInG!
- Accent the like button, and legato the subscribe button!
- Lamentable!
- Go Practice
Brett[]
- We are officially called a band by Saturday Night Live's standards.
Eddy[]
- The bridge to success requires pressure.
- We’re just TwoSetBoomers now.
- Amazing!
Subscriber milestones[]
- 1 million subscribers: March 26, 2019
- 2 million subscribers: February 8, 2020
- 3 million subscribers: December 27, 2020
- 4 million subscribers: February 15, 2023
Trivia[]
- Some of the special guests they featured on their channel are world-renowned instrumentalists such as Hilary Hahn and Ray Chen.
- They hate Flight of the Bumblebee because it is very overused when musicians attempt playing it fast to show off. Brett and Eddy say that they are just playing the piece sacrilegiously.
- Referencing a recurring joke in the orchestra community, they hate the viola, and always make a joke about it in their videos. For example, in a skit where Eddy is tuning all of the sections of the orchestra, the violas simply play scratching sounds. They also made a music video parody of "What Does the Fox Say," called "What does the Viola Say," where the viola simply plays scratching sounds.
- Brett has performed for world leaders such as Barack Obama and Angela Merkel at the 2014 G20 Summit.
- They both have an office in Singapore, which is currently their second location.
Gallery[]
